English grammar

[Caroline]

To start this thread with such a question sounds a bit weird to me though. These years English lesson is quite essential for all the school students back in China. I have to say even my 7-year-old niece is not expected to make a mistake about this vowel/consonant issue. I am really surprised that Barry can find this forum, get registered and knows how to start a new thread...but still confused by this basic grammar existance.

[Nina]

Not sure if you've read any of Irvine Welsh's books as you'd be an expert in the Scoatish dialect after reading 'Trainspotting' for example.

Although talking to Semih would be just as good.

Thanks for the tip Danny, I looked it up and got an idea. Having second thoughts about taking up Scottish as a foreign language now!

[elvaago]

No need to mock someone for asking a question like that.

I'm sure the people who took the time to actually explain it were much appreciated though.

[Valderie]

No need to mock someone for asking a question like that.

I'm sure the people who took the time to actually explain it were much appreciated though.

I think it's amazing and embarrassing that most of the people on this site who are not English, know much more about English grammar than those of us born here!

[Ellena]

I think it's amazing and embarrassing that most of the people on this site who are not English, know much more about English grammar than those of us born here!

Thats inevitable .. they teach us in school all this stuff so we can speak the English...Part of them grammar rules ya forget in time, i for one have .. thats why i found the "fred" interesting. I dont say "an hour" now cause i remember the rule , i use that cause "a hour" simply doesnt sound right for my ears.

Nice to learn some Scottish too ..i am getting used to it already.

[MrRottweiler]

I was reading the dictionary last night. Not much storyline to it but it describes every word.

[Semih_Sayginer]

I was reading the dictionary last night. Not much storyline to it but it describes every word.

i was going to "say" that

(you took the WORDS out of my mouth)

[mchpddl1]

Thanks everyone, for explaining to me this daily english usage technically and professionally........quality guys you are. Cheers.

[Maija]

No need to mock someone for asking a question like that.

I agree.

Using a forum in a foreign language can be quite confusing and others making fun of questions isn't going to help at all.

Back when I started learning German, I signed up on a band forum. I posted a sentence in German, consisting of three words, two of which were grammatically incorrect. Yet I wasn't mocked for that: Someone sent me a friendly PM and told me the proper way. Let's keep things nice, shall we?

[Robert602]

If we're talking about Caroline's comment I'm sure it wasn't intended to mock. I think she just found it curious that one could be unsure about a relatively basic point whilst clearly having a good enough grasp of the language to raise the question on an English speaking forum.

Anyway, I don't think there's anything on topic I can add to the comprehensive responses of others. Valderie's right though - as a typical Brit (useless with foreign languages) the fact that many of the replies here came from overseas members is remarkable to me and indeed embarrassing.

[JPK123]

While we're on dialects, if you're interested, you can have a look at some of the words heard in my hometown. (To be honest, I've never heard some of them myself!)

Click Me

Oh, and from the same site, a take on the accent of our neighbours . See if you can understand it .

Click me as well, if you're that bothered

[Caroline]

Thanks for your good understanding Robert. I was just wanting to let you mates know some more aspects in China concerning English studying or whatsoever if may cause some interests, and I was by no means making fun of my Hong Kong fellow about his language knowledge, either. I really have no idea why Maija and Elvago possess such a hostile attitude towards me for my earlier comments. I do not post too often on this forum and I do not think I ever talk about anything offensive against these two pals or any other members before. It is really disappointing to have an accident like this today.
I used to be a teacher. According to my judgement, this question raised by Barry looks just too obvious to be one. "If you put it up as a question, hence you should have already known the answer?" That would be what I will reply to my student immediately.
Not a very happy community here, with me or without me.

[dannyd0g]

Argh its all just slight misunderstandings all round im sure no one is being hostile.

I must admit I didnt expect to learn formal rules of English grammar on here in this way. I mean, i kind of knew about the silent h and 'a and an rule' in a "it just sounds right" kind of way as Ellena said. But i never understood why many other English people seem to get this wrong, and wrongly and gratingly say "an hotel" for example, and i always found this strangely annoying.

Now i know for sure though that they should only say that if they have a cockney accent, otherwise its not acceptable.

[Billy]

Once, I used Yahoo Answers to ask the question, 'Should we be concerned about the level of illiterateness in this country?' and felt like a complete clown when people started replying by asking if I was trying to be ironic and pointing out that the word I should have used is 'illiteracy'.

But the word 'illiterateness' is included in most of the online dictionaries, so was I completely wrong to use this word?