aaleks's log

[aaleks]

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[aaleks]

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[aaleks]

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[reineke]

"Imput" is not a word and is often referred to as a misspelling or mispronunciation of "input".

You and a couple of natives have made this mistake a few times.l won't go into "langauge" which is unfortunately a common error here. I also see some plural issues. Overall you're definitely C level. Go through a stack of Newsweeks and keep writing. Good luck.

[aaleks]

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[StringerBell]

Just a thought

Today reading on the other forum a thread about whether it's important or not to know the difference between gerund and participle

Were they discussing whether it was important to understand the difference in usage or to be able to identify/label them as "gerund" vs. "participle"?

As a native English speaker, I have a solid understanding of what is correct or incorrect, but I don't know what most things are called. Embarrassingly, I don't know what is a "gerund" is (though if I saw an example, I'd have no issue using it in even complex or academic writing). I vaguely remember hearing "past participle" referred to on occasion in school, but I don't even know what it is specifically, I just know that it has to do with past tense.

Off topic: When my husband (who studied English in school forever) told me that he wished they spent more time learning useful things about how to speak English in school, I asked him for an example. He said that they never learned important things, like the fact that we use the word "pretty" to mean "very" and they aren't taught contractions, but the teacher did spend 6 months hammering into them the very important difference between "I have to" and "I must". I looked at him with a total deer-in-headlights look because as far as I know, there is no difference, they are totally interchangeable. It impresses me the length that people go to to learn "correct" English as a foreign language when we natives make mistakes left and right and don't know most of the rules, ourselves.

[aaleks]

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[aaleks]

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[reineke]

After reading Pete Mollenburg's log recently (yesterday, today) I thought that maybe it'd be wise to drop Italian for some time because I really want to get my English up to a level I will see as comfortable.

OMG!!!

[aaleks]

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