English class

[rajo]

New word for you: clueless

If you want to enhance your English skills, consult the youtube channel of GingerTheHorse

The Nekci Menij Show - YouTube

 

[CC92]

Or this one in particular is mine from Oldham I used to go to school with this girl actually

Meh, this sounds like an accent of North America.

 

[MyHeartIsYours]

Meh, this sounds like an accent of North America.

Nooooooooo!!!

 

[GRE]

My English is very bad.
When i was 15 years old, i have passed the exams of B2 (Lower).
After that, i didnt continue for C2.
I usually can understand what i read,and i have a good accent,
but the main problem is that i struggle to talk or write something.
Now, after 17 years, i have decided to try for C2.
It will not be easy, i know.
But my cousin will help me (she is from Wales).

 

[Sultana]

Two Years ago I had TOEFL and I got 870 out of 900 I was 15 years old, so it was quite a good success. However, since that time my English didn't improve much :O It is still on bad level with lots of mistakes

 

[ShoeFlo]

During my time in the Oberstufe (the German equivalent of "High school") I was in the English major course. In this time (3 years) my English improved much more than in the 6 years before, so I really benefited from the lessons. At the end I was one of the best students there and my final exam I passed with a grade of 13 points (in the grading system 15 is the best grade, whereas 0 points is the worst). Through passing the exam of major course I got B2 level.

Nevertheless, regarding my English knowledge there is still much room for improvement. I made good exams because I prepared well, but I have still lacks in terms of listening (understanding conversations and so on). My vocabulary is very good, but grammatic still not perfect and I think sometimes the way I build up a sentences is a bit weird. Moreover I struggle with using the correct preposition (by/of/from and so on)

 

[Gabe]

I made good exams because I prepared well

If you don't mind me saying - you've made the mistake that all my German friends make, which is using 'made' here. I know why you have made the mistake, what with 'machen' meaning both 'to make' and 'to do' but 'to make' in English isn't the same. A better way to say it would be 'I did well in my exams because my preparation was good'

(Every little helps, right? )

 

[Gera11]

I passed the exams for B2 this summer and now I'm studying for C1, which is tehnically, for me, "English for jurists" for 4 semesters. My english totally sucks I can't speak with british accent and that is killing me 2

Grammar is my arch-nemesis I mostly studied english by myself and from TV shows & stuff. Also this forum helped me a lot. I can watch movies without subtitles, but when it comes to use some tenses, I'm uber-noob

 

[revallsay]

Well, after all those years I've been learning English I can say one thing: I should be speaking it fluently without any mistakes (those spelling mistakes I make while I write on keyboard don't count, I just write too fast all the time and I can't control(l) it). I should be on C2 leven, but my really level is a mistery for me and is sure way lower.

 

[Gabe]

Don't worry guys, we can't speak it either. I took an English test while I was in Germany a year or two ago and I failed it. xD

 

[Leydan]

hahah, no one speaks English worse than the people who speak it as a native language. I've always faced a lot of problems with my English, I got tutoring for it as well but i still struggle with it, punctuation mostly.

 

[revallsay]

i still struggle with it, punctuation mostly.

I can feel your pain. I have to admit, maybe one of youis able to help me, I have no idea whether we put a comma before but or not. Oneof my lecturers said 'yes, we do put comma before but, it's very important' and another one said 'you can put a comma before but, but it's not necessary at all'...

 

[theCONWEL]

Looking back and seeing all the love for Geordie accents proud of mine

 

[r3gg13]

I can feel your pain. I have to admit, maybe one of youis able to help me, I have no idea whether we put a comma before but or not. Oneof my lecturers said 'yes, we do put comma before but, it's very important' and another one said 'you can put a comma before but, but it's not necessary at all'...

It's mostly the Brits who use the "Oxford comma," us Yanks, we practically never use it. I think the Oxford comma is more precise than not placing a comma right before "and" in a list or a sequence. Wikipedia says that it's Americans who approve of it more, but my teachers and professors advised against it.

For example,

Conchita, Cleo and Donatan (preferred format)

versus

Conchita, Cleo, and Donatan (accepted, though less common; usually used when you want to emphasize the separation between the three people)

Essentially, the use of comma in those instances depend on stylistics, the message you want to convey and your personal preference. It's not like we'd gasp in disbelief if you use one or the other

 

[lilka]

Well, after all those years I've been learning English I can say one thing: I should be speaking it fluently without any mistakes (those spelling mistakes I make while I write on keyboard don't count, I just write too fast all the time and I can't control(l) it). I should be on C2 leven, but my really level is a mistery for me and is sure way lower.

I can definitely feel your pain, I should be on C2 too, but I still have lots of doubts when it comes to punctuation and some other things like the articles...

 

[ShoeFlo]

Articles? really?
That's the easiest part of English language isn't it
only "the", "a" and "an"
Articles in German language THATs really difficult

 

[lilka]

No, it isn't.

 

[ClassifiedCat]

Our word of the day is: oximated

 

[MyHeartIsYours]

What's that, an oxymoron?

 

[lavieenrose]

Fun little grammar question that stumped a pair of native English speakers this morning:
"Emily Johnson will be walked down the aisle by her brother, Marcus Johnson."
"Marcus Johnson will walk his sister Emily Johnson down the aisle."
How many siblings are there in the Johnson family?
Follow-up question and hint: what are their genders?

EDIT: The original version of this post used real names that have been changed to fake ones for privacy purposes.