If they understood you, that's what matters really. Same with writing I suppose but it's recorded there permanently, which is where the anxiety comes in; well it does for me, I think it's from doing languages at uni.
Pretty much all my language skills are self taught, so its probably the right words, just with weird grammar and such. (Plus French words just seem to slip in everywhere) Anywhoooooo, Senna
I and everyone I know who speaks a few languages get them mixed up a bit and slip foreign words in sometimes - perfectly normal! That confidence thing Fred said though, it's a killer.
Ugh, I hate taking up more space with this very much off topic stuff, but I have to reply(rather than creating a whole new thread that is off topic). Sorry :| Much appreciated Cosi! I have been studying English hard since last year and despite all my grammatical and spelling errors I actually managed to get an A in the first two courses(Basic and Advanced). Though, that is compared to other Swedish people and therefore wasn't particularly difficult. When I see your corrections, I get a feeling and thinking "you knew that Chris!". That is one of the reasons why I came to this forum in the first place instead of signing up on a Swedish one, to improve my English. I also mostly watch British TV and read the British news for the same reason. Though I am not always so sure that the forum will help me improve. One example is when I on an essay wrote "...I should of checked before..." and got a big red mark on it by my teacher (thanks guys lol). After that I am not paying as much attention to how things are written online unless it is the newspaper or equally correct resources. I said it before cosi, I admire the way you write things and do my very best to pick up on it(and some others too). Feel free to correct me should you see a big error, it is always appreciated. Cheers!
@everyone lol i started replying to cosi and then went to grab some food before I finished my reply, and now the whole thread went off topic lol. I guess it wont hurt much now that I ask this: I am currently taking care of my High School grades(which I completely ignored as a teen), to be able to apply to the University. As I will be working internationally, after I have finished my studies, and with English as primary language, I got the bright Idea to study in the UK. Hopefully I will be able to get rid of my dreadful Swedish-American accent. My ultimate goal is to be as fluent so that no foreigner could ever suspect that I was NOT a native Brit. ;P It is no biggie but I have spent many hours online, listening to different British accents, trying to decide which one is prettiest(or more professional sounding), to know what university to apply for(and will live close to). I think I have decided that I want to learn a tad posh sounding slight cockney(that would be near london?) but I am not sure yet. Any suggestion? The only thing I am sure about is that I do NOT want to pick up anything welsh sounding haha(no offence to anyone, Kyle)
As a teacher of English as a foreign language, I have some advice about your points, chrispa, but it's all a bit involved and it's late now, so I'll get back to you when my brain's a bit fresher.
No offence taken mate. hey, i have to live with being welsh, not the nicest thing to happen to a person. I have a gloucestershire accent apparently though, so i sound like a posh english person, which means i can hide my nationality a bit too.
How far off-topic can a thread go? My two-penneth: 'Coverage' is a mass noun and hence uncountable (as Max explained), so you can't have "both coverages" but the business world and what the British consider to be the Americanisation of English will twist basic grammatical rules to sound fresh or attention-grabbing. 'Coverages' is therefore acceptable in certain conditions, as is 'waters' in "still waters run deep". It's still uncomfortable, though, because you're counting a mass noun. "In one of the British broadcasts" would be better. You can't say "one of the both British broadcasts" because "both" implies that you're considering them together and "one of" tries to separate them. You should say, "one of the two British broadcasts." Your question, though, was whether to use "in" or "on" and these are largely interchangeable when you come to broadcasting. "In the show I watched" is correct (comparable with "in the film I watched") but "on the show I watched" is more common (similar to "on the BBC"). I must admit that I don't know what rules govern the usage of "on" and "in".
Bruno did his Family name proud yesterday and also gave his team some well earned points. I also note he is a more successful williams driver than his Uncle now
That's all he has to do. PM might be faster, but i'll take a consistant driver over a fast/unlucky one anyday (for williams at least) Will be interesting to see who comes out on top. I don't think Senna has the raw pace, but look at Alonso. Two good finishes by being there in the right position and not doing anything stupid ie crashing on the last lap....
I feel I should mention that Bruno Senna's use of English is excellent. However, even he may benefit from reading some of the responses in this thread. I particularly like the directives from Max and especially Genji' - who's last comment "two-penneth" (don't worry Chris: it's cheap, olde Englishe), is very eloquent. For further amusement… Note that I could also have finished the above sentence with, "…comment was very eloquent". It has been written (necessarily in the past) and therefore use of the past tense is correct; but since it is still on view, it also continues to exist in the present, thus justifying use of the present tense - because it is written for all to see! And here, I could also have said, "…since it has been written for all to see", although this is somewhat presumptive, since it may not have been! 'Is' and 'has been' are similarly interchangeable in this sentence; but it would be incorrect to say "has been very eloquent" unless it is entirely in the past!ORNote that I might (or 'may') also finish the above sentence with, "…comment was very eloquent". Genji wrote it (necessarily in the past), so use of the past tense would also be correct; but because it is still in view, it also continues to exist in the present, thereby justifying use of the present tense - after all, it is written for us all to see! Furthermore, here I could also say, "…since it was written for all to see", but it should be remembered that this is somewhat presumptive, since it may not have been Genji's intention to address anyone other than yourself*! 'Is' and 'was' are similarly interchangeable in this sentence; but it would be less correct to say "was very eloquent" unless it is reflective of the past! *I think I know Genji well enough to make the presumption that if his intention was to address only yourself, he would have used the Personal Message facility which helps to deal with 'off-topic' aspects which may arise in any thread… (Ha! This was half an hour of fun. Thanks!)
On another note entirely () I think everyone can agree Senna did a good job yesterday. Much like with Alonso's (fluke) victory, that sixth place could be crucial for him come the end of the season.
I don't know about "everyone" but I certainly was impressed. Yesterday was a very creditable performance from Senna. Now he need to build this sort of thing into his dry weather racing, where his relative untidiness on track has contributed to seeing him lose ground to more accurate competitors, over a full race distance.
Thank you Max, I would much appreciate any advice I can get. @Genji Thanks, I am not very good at grammar, and most often write what I think sound better rather than consider the rules behind it. I can in many cases write much better than what I present on/in a forum. But that takes plenty of extra effort and time, which for example here on a formula one board, is secondary to getting my thoughts/points through. Your/Max pointers about and explanation of mass nouns is great. I didn't even consider 'coverages' as being uncountable before. I feel that after having played games and 'chat'?(chatted sounds wrong. Chatting looks wrong because I used 'having'(I think).) online for the past 15 years, it has completely destroyed all the grammar skills I could had otherwise possessed. My online time has made it very difficult to separate between British, American, and foreign English as well. I hope that 4+ years in the UK will correct that, or at least improve it. @cosi Can you next time please attach and Aspirin with such a post? Seriously though, It gave me a lot to think about(in a good way), I enjoy it! And I will take the time to fully understand it all. Well, it is not understanding it that is the problem really, rather to pick up on it and remember as much as possible for the future. Oh I just want to add something. You corrected my phrase "..better my English.." to "..improve my English.." in a previous post. I think I would have chosen to use the word 'improve' had it been an academical letter or such, but in this case, I felt that 'better' sounded better. "Writers artistic freedom"? Question though, does that sound more American than British perhaps? If that's the case, I will not use the phrase again. Talk about snowball effect. I initially only got stuck on a single in/on lol. Sorry Bruno!
