Community Discussions
How to actually get to native speaker level?
I really feel my English has plateaued. I live in the US, work full time, talk to my neighbor and coworkers every day. However, I don’t feel I’m improving, because the people I talk to will not point out my problems. I’m also comfortable speaking at work but I only use the words I know repetitively. Any suggestions? Any platform is helpful? Most of the tools on the market are for beginners IMO.
How to say something bad that is not as bad as being hospitalized?
For example, in this picture, I was saying that I can’t sleep for one night, but it seems like the person mistakenly thought that I had a long term bad sleeping disorder, and he gave me a prescription??? It is not that serious. How can I reply him? Or, how can I reword my question in that picture? I was thinking this sentence: “It’s not that serious. It is just one night.” But something inside tells me that my sentence is not natural and it’s wordy. I don’t know, please help me?
She's pregnant with a baby
Can one be pregnant with something else?
What is the logic behind this?
I often watch YouTube videos in English, and I've noticed phrases like these very often. For example, if the video is about a dog eating, a comment might say: "Not the dog eating faster than Olympic runners 😭" Or "Not the owner giving the dog a whole family menu to eat" Why do they deny what’s happening? I think it’s a way of highlighting something funny or amusing, but I’m not sure about that. I’ve also seen them adding -ING to words that are NOT verbs. For example, if in the video someone tries to follow a hair tutorial and fails, someone might comment: "Her hair isn't hairing" "The brush wasn't brushing!"
Native English speakers, do you say "and you?" instead of "how about you?"
I'm a native English speaker and I've never said and you in English in my life. I find it to be unnatural, but it's definitely not grammatically wrong. When I started learning Italian and later Spanish I learned that the most common way to say it is and you in those languages. I'm wondering if some other native speakers say and you or if they say hbu or wbu or something else.
How to pronounce “isle” and “aisle”?
aye-l, ail, ah-yuhl?? Thanks
Is “costed” correct?
I just heard someone use it in a sentence and realized I’ve heard a few people use it on social media platforms. As a past tense, is it correct?
Does anyone say “…in the C drive”?
https://i.redd.it/ubdvn7qo49he1.jpeg
Is using the "s" for the first person ("I calls" and "I sees") some kind of dialect ?
https://i.redd.it/4blyig9hwade1.jpeg
"I've been reading until you came" vs "i read until you've been coming"
Someone stops you while you were reading to ask you which book you've been into and then you reply: a) This one (pointing at the book itself) i've been reading until you came. b) This one (wiggling the book about) i read until you've been coming. Questions: Are there any subtle difference between these two options? I know "read" (past simple) naunces more the action now gone but this might as well have a more stress on why the action ended. Like being mad because of someone coming and crossing words. Do you agree?