English :)

[Nord]

Oh my, a topic about English! Cool beans! By the way, what do you think about the Old English? Personally, I'm really fond of it, though the majority of my fellow students really do detest it. We analize one & the same text from king Alfred's Bible, saying, 'Ohthere saede his hlaforde, AElfrede cyninge thaet he ealra nordhmonna northmest bude, etc.'
Sorry for the lack of diacrytics in my Old English. I'm writing the message in an Internet Cafe and don't have a moment for writing with a Unicode or at leasttyping in the MS Word (curse those programmers that made an interface of the computer I am working at!! )

[Veronique]

Nord: Sorry, don't have any views on the matter (the old English). I do enjoy reading but mostly contemporary stuff.

[andrewsiak]

I want to tell you ,that In the last year, i lived one year in America in the city "Chicago"  I like this city I had seen for many interesting  things,I had impression from this city And also I worked in the Chicago and I have earned  a lot of money

I am wondering if we should correct mistakes wherever they are...

[Nando]

Nando, if you are so fond of Chicago, what made you leave it?

hello! yeah!! it`s a good question!! why did i leave it? because, (one reason) I did not

have a citizenship... (second reason)I could not to stay there for a long time... And

besides,(Third reason) the visa has ended.

And  I visited my uncle...  it was a little trip,, I didn`t mean  to leave there forever..

[Digamma]

Dimma should I be flattered by your response?

Nope. I just noted your usage of "strings"...

[Veronique]

I am wondering if we should correct mistakes wherever they are...

I'm not into correcting anyone, unless he/she asks for it. Might make mistakes myself sometimes.

Nope. I just noted your usage of "strings"...

I admit, I've used "string-expression" in a wrong way. What I actually meant was: "I don't mean anyone in particular". After all English is not my mother tongue.
Qui s'excuse, s'accuse.

[Digamma]

Nope. I just noted your usage of "strings"...

I admit, I've used "string-expression" in a wrong way.

Well, actually I was quite surprised by your "no strings attached" because it has exactly programmer's meaning of the word "string" - single line of text. I'd rather use "no text attached".

P.S. I'll be thankful to anyone for comments about possible mistakes or misuses in my English (I know it's not prefect ).

[RawonaM]

Hopefully your English is not THAT bad as your Russian (no strings attached )
I think THAT is correctly used here, to emphasize the meaning so to say. Though I don't know any rule as such to prove it. What do you think? Thanx in advance.

It's kinda weird looking for proofs of "correctness". I don't actually understand what you need. Dictionary is a proof, isn't it? Though search engine results are much more important, in my opinion.

I am wondering if we should correct mistakes wherever they are...

I think we should. One learns from his own mistakes.

[Veronique]

Well, actually I was quite surprised by your "no strings attached" because it has exactly programmer's meaning of the word "string" - single line of text. I'd rather use "no text attached".

That's funny. It has just dawned upon me what you've meant by your comment (even before I've read your last message). Actually I don't know any programming languages. Once I'd joined Java courses, but after a while realised that it was not "my cup of tea". So, it took some time, before the meaning of your message kicked in. ha-ha

[Veronique]

It's kinda weird looking for proofs of "correctness". I don't actually understand what you need. Dictionary is a proof, isn't it?  Though search engine results are much more important, in my opinion.

The thing is that someone (who apparently speaks English quite well, but not a native) pointed it out to me, saying that one should not use THAT, but AS e.x.: Hopefully your English is not THAT (AS) bad as your Russian. Though I am pretty sure, that both variants are correct. I've cosulted a dictionary as well, but its explanation is rather ambiguous. That's the point of raising this issue here.

[Aramis]

Hello, folks. What are you arguing about? This world is beautiful. So let us not make it tenser.
Veronique, I may suppose that your the expression with THAT means "НАСТОЛЬКО" and may be used without any comparison. But I may be mistaken.

[Veronique]

Much appreciated, Aramis. I just wanted to know a second oppinion.

[RawonaM]

It's kinda weird looking for proofs of "correctness". I don't actually understand what you need. Dictionary is a proof, isn't it?  Though search engine results are much more important, in my opinion.

The thing is that someone (who apparently speaks English quite well, but not a native) pointed it out to me, saying that one should not use THAT, but AS e.x.: Hopefully your English is not THAT (AS) bad as your Russian. Though I am pretty sure, that both variants are correct. I've cosulted a dictionary as well, but its explanation is rather ambiguous. That's the point of raising this issue here.

Ah... this you mean... well, this construction sounds to me well, but I'm really not the one to judge, maybe I'll ask a native.

Hello, folks. What are you arguing about?  This world is beautiful. So let us not make it tenser.

It's just a discussion, does it seem like a heated debate?

I may suppose that your the expression with THAT means "НАСТОЛЬКО" and may be used without any comparison. But I may be mistaken.

I think you are absolutely right, I don't understand why you are not sure about this.

PS. Veronica, do you mind if I tell you that "opinion" should be written with one P? You wrote it incorrectly twice 8)

[Aramis]

It's just a discussion, does it seem like a heated debate?

Well... It seemed like this I hope that our discussion is turning now into a more friendly manner  :_3_19

[Veronique]

PS. Veronica, do you mind if I tell you that "opinion" should be written with one P? You wrote it incorrectly twice

Yes, you are right. That's why I don't want to correct anyone, even if a mistake catches my eye. People might fling it back at me, saying that I am hardly a paragon of literacy myself.

[RawonaM]

PS. Veronica, do you mind if I tell you that "opinion" should be written with one P? You wrote it incorrectly twice

Yes, you are right. That's why I don't want to correct anyone, even if a mistake catches my eye. People might fling it back at me, saying that I am hardly a paragon of literacy myself.

I think it should be bidirectional. I corrected your mistake, so when you see an error in my post and tell me about it, I'll probably remember it for the rest of my life. We both gain that way.
If we don't correct each other, we are losing the opportunity to improve our knowledge.

[Veronique]

If we don't correct each other, we are losing the opportunity to improve our knowledge.

Say no more. You are absolutely right.

[Физик]

so when you see an error in my post and tell me about it, I'll probably remember it for the rest of my life.

I am envious of your memory. It would be great if I could remember any information 'for the rest of my life'. Maybe you'll impart your secret to us?

[RawonaM]

so when you see an error in my post and tell me about it, I'll probably remember it for the rest of my life.

I am envious of your memory. It would be great if I could remember any information 'for the rest of my life'. Maybe you'll impart your secret to us?

No, sorry, it's for private use But really, my own mistakes I remember for a long time, I think I can make a list of all the mistakes I made on exams since highschool

[Digamma]

so when you see an error in my post and tell me about it, I'll probably remember it for the rest of my life.

I am envious of your memory. It would be great if I could remember any information 'for the rest of my life'. Maybe you'll impart your secret to us?

Write it down and always hold the notebook in a pocket.

[RawonaM]

so when you see an error in my post and tell me about it, I'll probably remember it for the rest of my life.

I am envious of your memory. It would be great if I could remember any information 'for the rest of my life'. Maybe you'll impart your secret to us?

Write it down and always hold the notebook in a pocket.

Better two. Just in case you lose one

[Физик]

Once I read a book, its title was a kind of "Притворись крутым философом". The author (by the way, he is the world-famous philosophy historian) wrote,

The buzzword meta-X means merely something describing X. My friend's memory was like a sieve, so he had a notebook. And as he used to forget where his notebook was placed, so he always carried a metanotebook - just a piece of paper, where he wrote down the notebook's depository.

[Digamma]

so when you see an error in my post and tell me about it, I'll probably remember it for the rest of my life.

I am envious of your memory. It would be great if I could remember any information 'for the rest of my life'. Maybe you'll impart your secret to us?

Write it down and always hold the notebook in a pocket.

Better two. Just in case you lose one

And laptop: just to ensure you'll be able to reproduce both hard copies.

[Nord]

You know, the best way of forgetting smth. is writing down on a sheet of paper that you have to memorize that thing. I don't remember who wrote it, but that witticism suits this discussion fine.

[Nord]

I don't realize why the discussions have ceased. Has everyone acquired Lovermann's famous contempt of everything connected with the sweet English tongue?Why not share some awesome texts in English, e.g. Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin's (as you can see, she's originally an Irish speaker) poetry?
Studying the Language:

On Sundays I watch the hermits coming out of their holes
Into the light. The cliff is as full as a hive.
They crowd together on warm shoulders full of rock
Where the sun has been shining, their joints crackle.
They begin to talk after a while.
I listen to their accents, they are not all
From this island, not all old,
Not even, I think, all masculine.
They are so wise, they do not pretend to see me.
They drink from the scattered pools of melted snow:
I walk right by them and drink when they have done.
I can see the marks of chains around their feet.
I call this my work, these decades and stations —
Because, without these, I would be a stranger here.