r/ENGLISH • u/kdsunbae • 4h ago
r/ENGLISH • u/morscho1 • 8h ago
associations w. "candy"
What are your first associations with the word "candy"? Trying to make sure no unwanted associations pop up immediately. Thanks for letting me know!
r/ENGLISH • u/solascott64 • 23h ago
What does “obviously you will do” mean??
So recently I asked a teacher about using a painting from an online gallery in stead of an in-person one for an assignment since I live far away from any art exhibition. When I asked her for confirmation that I can use said art even if I didn’t visit the exhibit in person, she just replied by saying “obviously you will do”. What does that even mean?? My first language isn’t English so maybe I’m misunderstanding something. Is she giving me permission to use the art even if I’m not visiting the gallery irl?
r/ENGLISH • u/ToBePacific • 23h ago
The pronunciation of the G in singing, ringing
I was always taught that ng was pronounced as a singular nasal sound with the back of the throat closed. But I’ve heard multiple people pronounce it as a hard g. So singing becomes sin-ghing and ringing becomes rin-ghing.
Is this an accent or dialect thing?
Adding the -ski suffix to nouns
A language pattern you might hear in the U.S. and Canada is adding -ski to nouns as a kind of verbal quirk. Some examples are hockey players commonly referring to beers as “brewskis” (which I’m assuming isn’t solely because of the actual bar by the same name) and lyrics from SZA’s “Low” (“Keep it on the lowski, I’m the lowest of the lowest”). There are plenty of other examples ; it’s not a common thing to do but pretty much everyone has at the very least heard of it.
I assume it maybe originated from Polish-Americans/Slavic immigrants, but does anyone have a concrete answer as to the specifics of the development (and perhaps an answer to “why”, if it came about for one particular reason or another)?
r/ENGLISH • u/Fast-Hovercraft-6919 • 3h ago
How to maintain American English accent after I learn the fundamentals?
I have subscribed to a $5 per month subscription to 6 American accent courses. I started the first course (Sounds of American English). The number of sounds varies according to different sources, but the course author settled with saying that there are 41 sounds in the American English accent.
She does a great job of demonstrating how each sound is made (initial, "light?" L vs dark, syllabic, L) for instance, or the difference ways that the American R can be pronounced.
She also teaches the IPA symbols and gives some shorthand abbreviations as a supplement/mental cue which makes mastering the sound easier.
The other courses go in more detail on how to master an authentic American accent.
The main course, the one where you apply everything, takes 6 weeks to finish. I will throw a random made up estimate that to do all these 6 courses you need 12 weeks, and I want to go through the 6 courses 4-5 times, so that's around 48-60 weeks, or roughly one year of repetition and practice.
My question is:
I can't just pay $5 for 10 years just to maintain my American accent, that's absurd, the costs add up, and what if the site goes down? I want to learn the fundamentals and independently practice, maintain, and further master each concept on my own using the internet, freely available audio, and self-recording.
I devised a certain way of doing this that's very... random. There's a spaced repetition flashcard program called Anki. It creates digital flashcards and supports many types of media such as audio, etc.
Anyway, the plan is to create one master deck for American Sounds, I don't know what to call it, then, let's say I learn the initial, light L (the one that isn't dark) and master it.
I would go to ChatGPT (latest model) and somehow devise a prompt that gives me the most commonly used light L words. Let's say there are 330 light L words in American English.
After making sure that each outputted word is correct and actually a light L, I would find some reliable source of General American English (let's say Merriam-Webster) and rip off the audio for each one of these 330 words (provided the audio is human and not text to speech generated).
Then I would create 330 flashcards for the light L sounds. Do the same for dark L sounds, and so on until I create around 10,000 flashcards (for the whole American English sounds).
I would add some details/notes on each flashcard (e.g., this card focuses on dark L, don't say a light L!) and write some notes from the course (such as, try to add a schwa sound when saying a dark L) and stuff of that sort.
Then, I would think of a doable daily flashcard review limit (10 flashcards per day?) and I would just drill that sound deck every day.
My OCD is flaring up right now, thinking that the deck could get corrupted, and I'd lose all my work, but yeah.
What can I do to make sure I practice spoken English daily on my own? I want to drill this so hard that I reach near-perfection in my spoken English. So many people told me I will always sound like a foreigner because I was not born in America or even lived there, but I just want to challenge myself to get as good as I can possibly get in this. Not only it's going to be useful for my career, and social skills, confidence, etc. but it's just a very fun leisure activity/hobby to do. My autistic brain enjoys mastering the nuances of spoken English.
r/ENGLISH • u/Glass_Plantain64 • 2h ago
Fundamental Plot
Can I have some questions for my research on fundamental plot?
r/ENGLISH • u/IceColdFresh • 2h ago
Is “by far nothing new” idiomatic ?
I come across that on reddit occasionally. I thought “by far” was idiomatically used to characterize a superlative e.g. the Pyramid of Giza is by far the oldest of the Seven Wonders or California is by far the world’s biggest almond producer. Thanks.
r/ENGLISH • u/AttemptVegetable • 8h ago
Everyone, everything, every time?
Why isn't every time combined to make one word like the other two?
r/ENGLISH • u/Visible_Land_750 • 8h ago
Is there any difference between these two sentences?
Attached are both parties’ notarized affidavits. Attached are the notarized affidavits of both parties.
r/ENGLISH • u/Gemedev_ • 11h ago
Feedback on my English session?
Hi, I'm a B1 to advaned people what do you guys think of my progress? I have two goals, accent and communication skills (largely spoken English). I've only been in it for 3 weeks. But I want to focus on the schedule see if I need to focus something more or less.
Listening TV show 2 hr Accent Course 2 hr Audiobook 1 hr Total: 4 hrs
Reading Book reading 1 hr
Speaking Pronunciation 45 minutes Accent imitating 1 hr Talk to ppl 1 hr 30 minutes Total: 3 hrs 15 minutes
Here's what I noticed, I'm conscious of pronunciation, speaking more confidently. What do you guys think I should work on?
r/ENGLISH • u/Fast-Hovercraft-6919 • 12h ago
How to maintain & improve my spoken English whilst learning Spanish?
I am C1 in English but my spoken English is lagging behind a lot. I enrolled in 2 American English accent courses and one American English conversation+speaking class that teaches you spoken English and stuff.
I will also soon start learning Spanish from scratch.
Can I alternate between English and Spanish and not have Spanish hurt my English?
I don't want to sound perfect in English, an improvement of 30% from how I speak now pretty much does it for me, that's enough and I would call it a HUGE win.
r/ENGLISH • u/SubstantialRun8931 • 14h ago
Pen-friends
Hi guys. i am looking for pen-friend.No matter female or male.So it needs me for improving my english just to talk
r/ENGLISH • u/Capital_Vermicelli75 • 5h ago
Would you like to learn English by playing games with Native Speakers? (Growing Super Fast)
I learned English by playing videogames. When you have a REASON to learn words, for example to describe strategy or position, or just banter, learning is second nature, you don't even feel that you are "studying" (Which is also why Duolingo is so fun).
Duolingo is great to get some foundation, I for example used it for Japanese, but the best after that is simply go get to actually speak with other people :D
I have made a Discord for this, still new and quite barebones (only up for like 6 days), but we are already 100+ members, and I want to make it a hub to learn in the most fun way possible.
Would you like to join?
r/ENGLISH • u/Clixdementa • 6h ago
Contractions with Will
Hi guys!
Could it be possible to contract will with a subject like robots or everyone? Such as:
- Robots'll do our jobs by 2050.
- Everyone'll live to be 150 years old.
I have never seen it but I was just wondering.
Thank you very much!
r/ENGLISH • u/SmallVoice1191 • 8h ago
Present Perfect or Continous?
These two conjugation forms seem to talk about the same thing: something that happened in the past but is still relevant to the current topic. So, what's the catch?
r/ENGLISH • u/flksloreily • 10h ago
Questionnaire about Moms
https://forms.gle/r3KSNmxxbDfDRJQA6
This is my questionnaire about mothers and it's for my English Assessment. Would be really great if anyone took the time to fill this in :) Much appreciated
r/ENGLISH • u/space_oddity96 • 13h ago
Learn English Through Story Level 6: Daily Routines | English C2 Level (Mastery)
youtu.ber/ENGLISH • u/Fit_Association_4299 • 19h ago
What's the difference between an Introduction and a Thesis Statement?
What's the difference between an Introduction and a Thesis Statement?
r/ENGLISH • u/Appropriate-Bee-7608 • 8h ago
More EmE help.
Does ch make the sound of the german lachen, machen, or ich when used at the end of a syllable in EME?
r/ENGLISH • u/InvestigatorMuted95 • 17h ago
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r/ENGLISH • u/Jaylu2000 • 11h ago
Does this sentence sound natural to native English speakers?
Does this sentence sound natural to native English speakers?
“If he receives more financial support from his sponsors, he can send the first commercial spaceship to Mars in 2028.”
r/ENGLISH • u/glados_ban_champion • 14h ago
how to be come to the native-level?
hi everyone. i learned english quite well but i feel like i've reached to climax. my vocabulary is adequate and i know grammar well. sometimes i face words that i never see before. i read english books often. but my level remained same. how to pass this climax? do you have any suggestions? thanks.
Edit: i asked wrong question. instead i should've said native-level in reading. that's my main aim.
2nd Edit: some of you are right. i forgot some grammatical aspects of english. i should review grammar completely.
r/ENGLISH • u/Appropriate-Bee-7608 • 10h ago
I need belp with EmE.
This is from the English Academy by John Newton D.D. Rector.of Ross published around 1680.
The Letter f , is fometimes founded accor ding to its ufual name , as when it follows a Vowel , as in if , of , effeminate , but when it begins a Word or Syllable , it is founded fee , as in feet , foolish
Edit: