Wonderful English from Around the World

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  1. Posts : 17,545
    Windows 10 Pro x64 EN-GB
       #21

    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part of English for me. I never know, or I think I know but I', not sure, if it's in or on, to or for etc.

    For instance, take the first sentence of this post. To my ear it sounds correct to say it as I wrote it, but it sounds as correct if I end that sentence in English for me, in English to me or of English to me.
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  2. Posts : 6,857
    Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1 (desktop)
       #22

    madtownidiot said:
    Learning English first also handicaps a person trying to learn nearly any other language, simply because the grammar is backwards from most other languages.
    That is an excellent point!
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  3. Posts : 258
    Windows Home Premium (64)
       #23

    Thorsen said:
    Through a tough thorough thought we slapped down the dough and bought the iPad.

    Then noticing our mistake, promptly returned it.

    *note the last ones dough matches thorough and bought matches thought so This has only 4 different pronunciations of ough
    No, you're Ok - you've got 5. "Thorough" is generally pronounced "thuh-ruh" - with the "uh" sounding like Elvis' "uh uh"
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  4. Posts : 1,086
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64.
       #24

    There are also other difficulties but one of the main obstacles to overcome is homophones, words that sound alike but have completely different meaning ie their and there, where and wear, stair and stare, rein, rain and reign, weather and whether. There are many many more and for a foreign tongue these are the hardest to get your head around(or so I believe)

    Thanks for that soundbite greatblessings, wonderful.
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  5. Posts : 1,117
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #25

    One thing I've long thought odd is how some words are transformed, but lose their original meaning.

    Example:
    horror and horrific - both word indicate fear
    terror and terrific - terror indicates fear whereas terrific indicates something great or grand. Odd.

    I've also thougth that the English alphabet needs to be revamped -- to a more phonetically based alphabet.
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  6. Posts : 3,300
    Win7 Home Premium 64x
       #26

    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part of English for me
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part in English for me
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part in English to me
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part of English to me

    All good.


    in some instances, it doesn't work right
    Of some instances, it doesn't work right <<<< this doesn't sound right
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  7. Posts : 17,545
    Windows 10 Pro x64 EN-GB
       #27

    mpcrsc562 said:
    One thing I've long thought odd is how some words are transformed, but lose their original meaning.

    Example:
    horror and horrific - both word indicate fear
    terror and terrific - terror indicates fear whereas terrific indicates something great or grand. Odd.

    I've also thougth that the English alphabet needs to be revamped -- to a more phonetically based alphabet.
    Some compound words are interesting. A good example is breakfast. Is it because you are fasting when you sleep, when you wake up you break fast?


    Thorsen said:
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part of English for me
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part in English for me
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part in English to me
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part of English to me

    All good.


    in some instances, it doesn't work right
    Of some instances, it doesn't work right <<<< this doesn't sound right
    Thanks for confusing me even more...
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  8. Posts : 3,300
    Win7 Home Premium 64x
       #28

    Kari said:

    Thorsen said:
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part of English for me
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part in English for me
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part in English to me
    Personally, prepositions are the most difficult part of English to me

    All good.


    in some instances, it doesn't work right
    Of some instances, it doesn't work right <<<< this doesn't sound right
    Thanks for confusing me even more...

    Actually (sorry for confusing you btw)

    that last one "Of some instances, it doesn't work right" this actually in this context sort of sounds right.....

    but again sorry for confusing to you of me?
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  9. Posts : 258
    Windows Home Premium (64)
       #29

    If you go to the cinema to watch Mad Max, The Thunderdome Scene is a part of the film but Mel Gibson has a part in the film.
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  10. Posts : 171
    Windows 7 (x64)
       #30

    Wishmaster said:
    Ive always heard English is the hardest language to learn.

    When you really start to think about and look at things like this, it's no wonder why.
    Speaking as a former ESL instructor... For what it's worth the various dialects of Chinese are supposed to be the most difficult for non native/western speakers to learn. Chinese is a "Tone" language, where "How" you say a given syllable changes it's meaning. For example, Chinese has a steady tone, a falling tone, a rising tone, high~low~high, Low~high~low.. and the same syllable on paper - say 'Ma' - can, and usually does have a completely different meaning depending on which tone the speaker used. Arabic is right up there with Chinese in difficulty. Russian, Hungarian, and Basque are also supposed to be among the most difficult.

    Where you were raised obviously has a great influence: I lived in Japan for a long time, and native Romance language speakers (French, Spanish, Italian) had relatively little trouble learning to speak Japanese because structurally they are similar: Subject/Object/Verb, and you denote time and motion by conjugating the verb with various relatively standard endings.

    Of course... Writing in Japanese, on the other hand... < shudder >




    English is just hard because we have all these rules that we don't follow, and a penchant for highly creative usage.


    Though I must admit to the numberous possiblities due to the crucial role punctuation plays in English

    I helped my uncle, Jack, off his horse




    (yah... it's a really old joke, but...)
    Last edited by Scotteq; 30 Jun 2010 at 16:08. Reason: add horrible joke
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