Community Discussions
Using present tense to tell stories
I thought I have to use past tense when telling stories. Recently, I have read in a book that present tense can also be used to tell stories. Is it true? Can I really use present tense in writing stories?
Do any people use the idiom "take pot luck" like this where you live?
I'm specifically interested in the case when it's used like this: Imagine you go over to somebody's house in the afternoon. And you hadn't planned to stay so late, let alone to have dinner there, but you are comfy and your host is very pleased with your being there, and when they ask you to stay for dinner and you happily accept, they tell you: *I’m not sure what there is in the fridge though – you’ll have to **take pot luck**.*
Why is I am on the bus used to refer to being in the bus.
Why does on when referring to some modes of transport transport work in place of in. On the bus, on the train, on a plane and are there other cases of on being used like this?
this is insane
this is an English text on korean preliminary CSAT I can’t understand what it says question is asking which is the incorrect one grammatically, but I tried understanding what it says… and I failed to do it
I can't learn English. Help me please
I am Turkish, and my native language is Turkish. I took English lessons from the age of 8 to 22 in school. I also attended an English course for a short period when I was 25. I don't watch movies or TV series, play computer games, or listen to songs with lyrics. I am currently 36 years old, and my English level has dropped from A2 to A1. I forget it more the less I use it. Do you know any effective method to learn English?
Do you use inversion in everyday conversation?
Hi. Could someone tell me if native speakers actually use inversion in sentence like, "Ugh. Did I say something dumb!😱 " (meaning "Ugh. I totally said something dumb! 😱") or "Had I known about the traffic, I'd have left earlier!" meaning "If I had known about the traffic, I'd have..." ) in everyday conversation? Or, is this something that's mostly used in literary writing? English classses in Japanese schools or English textbooks teach this kind of thing. I think it's good to know this as general knowledge since it can be useful when reading novels and such, but I still don't know if it's something I should actually use in conversation. Thank you in advance!
“This isn’t a good movie.” “I think so.” Does “I think so” here mean I disagree and think it is a good movie? Thanks.
If I say “I think not” or “I don’t think so”, will it mean I agree it’s not a good movie”?
And 'Preface' too...
https://i.redd.it/py50adj6lcde1.png
Can "apparently" be used as an alternative to "it's said that"?
For a long time, I thought "apparently" is quite similar to "obviously". The biggest reason I have this confusion is that when I first met this word, my vocabulary provided a really bad translation. I didn't take it seriously at the very beginning, so I was misled for a long time. Today, I watched a video, in which I came across "apparently" again. I looked it up in an English-English dictionary, and it dawned on me that my previous understanding is wrong. "So, **apparently**, if you walk on the street in Miami, you're probably as likely to hear people speaking Spanish as English." The vlogger has never been to Miami. He just provided some views, that's why he uses "apparently". Does it mean, "apparently" is basically equavalent to "it's said that"? Thank you in advance. https://preview.redd.it/3o4cq97y7dbe1.png?width=1914&format=png&auto=webp&s=4a786fd54b90a3948eda6f7b4b55814c1cc30087
Does “not all” mean “none” here?
Chapter 3 of *Pride and Prejudice*. From the context I feel the author wants to say Mr. Bennet gave no satisfactory descriptions despite all efforts by his wife. But doesn’t “not all” mean “not every but some”? Or am I misunderstanding the context?