Help the bloody immigrants to speak like an aussie lol
- Thread starter Lorenzo
- Start date
Since you've given us the all clear, one of things that kinda annoys me about your posts (I'm a Grammar Nazi) is that you use
This thing: `
When you should be using
This thing: '
So instead of: Let`s start
Say: Let's start
I dont even know what ` is supposed to be used for - when I become dictator of Earth I will pass a law that has the ` key removed from all keyboards.
P.S: I would kill to be as good at Italian as you are at English.
This thing: `
When you should be using
This thing: '
So instead of: Let`s start
Say: Let's start
I dont even know what ` is supposed to be used for - when I become dictator of Earth I will pass a law that has the ` key removed from all keyboards.
P.S: I would kill to be as good at Italian as you are at English.
johno69
Top Contributor
Spaces before comma's annoy the shitter out of me. As per my sig.
Also when people mess up then and than.
Then is used when referring to time. So many on other forums I use say things like.. "I'd rather blue then red" when referring to which ONE of the two they prefer. Which is incorrect.
awesome thread btw.
Also when people mess up then and than.
Then is used when referring to time. So many on other forums I use say things like.. "I'd rather blue then red" when referring to which ONE of the two they prefer. Which is incorrect.
awesome thread btw.
Lorenzo
Top Contributor
Spaces before comma's annoy the shitter out of me. As per my sig.
Also when people mess up then and than.
Then is used when referring to time. So many on other forums I use say things like.. "I'd rather blue then red" when referring to which ONE of the two they prefer. Which is incorrect.
awesome!!!
This is exactly what I needed!
I usually add a space because I hate squashed text
and I do it in Word docs too so I get always a green line.Regarding the ` instead of ' I guess I got used to the Italian way, so great in English, not just Aussies (or aussies?) you use ' ?
by the way do you know that in Italy to write 1 thousand we write:
1.000 while here and in the US you use the comma (1,000) , so comma and dot have inverse use! (but I knew that)...
Keep going, the more you bash my grammar the faster I learn!
Cheers
montecristo
Top Contributor
Absolutely. Annoys the hell out of me.
Almost as much as your instead of you're when stating "you are".
It's hardly rocket science.
IDragon in regards to 'aussies", it's always Aussies with a cap when referring to a name or nation name for example American, not american when referring to a person. If it's not referring to a person, there is no need. There's Englishman, and english language.
The ` can be used to emphasise an "A" sounding english "E" most notably in French and Spanish words for example cliche` and ole` but in the english language it is perfectly acceptable to disregard it.
marketingweb
Top Contributor
Hi Italian,
You are doing very well, but still have a little way to go before being mistaken for an Aussie!
On another thread you posted this:
Which I would write like this:
I was not complaining about your service, I was just answering a question. You had already explained this to me. Unfortunately I did not know there was a backorder option until it was too late.
Again English is unfortunately a language with a lot of subtlety. The bits that aren't completely correct are:
You can give the answer to a question
or you can answer a question
but you can't answer to a question.
Answering to someone or something is like saying that they are in charge of you and you will be in trouble- ie "I will have to answer to my parents if I get caught doing that".
I know that probably sounds silly, but it's just the way it is.
Second one is we would say "you had already explained this" or "you had already explained this to me", but not "you had already explained me this"
If you use all these types of sentence structures everyone will understand perfectly what you mean most of the time, so it's not a problem for most general communication. The only problem is that if it's your goal is to to sound like a native English speaker there are a lot of subtle things to get right, which can take years to master i'm told.
Best of luck with it all.
You are doing very well, but still have a little way to go before being mistaken for an Aussie!
On another thread you posted this:
Which I would write like this:
I was not complaining about your service, I was just answering a question. You had already explained this to me. Unfortunately I did not know there was a backorder option until it was too late.
Again English is unfortunately a language with a lot of subtlety. The bits that aren't completely correct are:
You can give the answer to a question
or you can answer a question
but you can't answer to a question.
Answering to someone or something is like saying that they are in charge of you and you will be in trouble- ie "I will have to answer to my parents if I get caught doing that".
I know that probably sounds silly, but it's just the way it is.
Second one is we would say "you had already explained this" or "you had already explained this to me", but not "you had already explained me this"
If you use all these types of sentence structures everyone will understand perfectly what you mean most of the time, so it's not a problem for most general communication. The only problem is that if it's your goal is to to sound like a native English speaker there are a lot of subtle things to get right, which can take years to master i'm told.
Best of luck with it all.
Lorenzo
Top Contributor
EXCELLENT! Thank you! The reason why I am doing that kind of errors is because I base the translation from Italian obviously.
I have lots to learn. (or a lot to learn?)
But I did read the other day that "until" is considered less formal then "till".
And how about:
breakkie
doggie
kittie
Tassie
Postie
Wollies
Is that correct English?
Lorenzo
Top Contributor
ahhhhhhhh!
Before I forget, I have to add the music section to this topic.
Sometimes, even popular artist such JLO, for their songs, choose titles which make me wonder.
Examples:
1) JLO "Love don`t cost a thing" (as far as I know, should be "Love does not cost a thing"
)
>>>Listen it here<<<
2) JCA "I begin to wonder" (you may not know this European Deejay but you`ll find it in Wiki. This song was an enormous Dance success in Europe in 2002, then Denni Minogue made a cover. It`s been 8 years now that I wonder why it sounds like she says "I began to wonder".
>>>Listen it here<<<
Before I forget, I have to add the music section to this topic.
Sometimes, even popular artist such JLO, for their songs, choose titles which make me wonder.
Examples:
1) JLO "Love don`t cost a thing" (as far as I know, should be "Love does not cost a thing"
)>>>Listen it here<<<
2) JCA "I begin to wonder" (you may not know this European Deejay but you`ll find it in Wiki. This song was an enormous Dance success in Europe in 2002, then Denni Minogue made a cover. It`s been 8 years now that I wonder why it sounds like she says "I began to wonder".
>>>Listen it here<<<
Data Glasses
Top Contributor
I would suggest 'let us start' is for let's start . please note that is the best you will get from me
montecristo
Top Contributor
The reason why I made those kind of errors.. (more than one error that happened in the past)
The reason why I made that error... ( a single error that happened in the past)
The reason why I'm making these errors (more than one error and still happening)
The reason I made this error ... (single error and still happening)
This & These = you have it or them in your hand.
That & Those = you had it or them in your hand.
Lorenzo
Top Contributor
montecristo
Top Contributor
More just found:
"Pat Craig's Wild Animal Sanctuary an hours drive from Denver Colorado"
is that right? (American English obviously in this case...)
I would have written it like "an hour drive"
Nah, it's actually correct.
Same with a minutes drive or a days drive.
If you put a number before it, then it changes.
One minute drive, a one hour drive or a one week drive.
Don't ask me why, it just does.
Lorenzo
Top Contributor
Picture a 10 years old Italian boy trying to sing Madonna's songs...
It gets bad....reaaaaaaaaaaaly bad
Last edited:
Lorenzo
Top Contributor
I thought that if the word after the article "a" starts with a vowel, then it becomes "an"
But also, how many hours is "a hours drive" ? I thought it was 1.
No one answered about the 2 songs earlier today.
And, I was thinking while I was having dinner, about your correction regarding
"I was just answering to a question" being wrong....well, that`s exactly how Italian works. You answer to a question but you can`t " answer a question", so another opposite rule.
Great, I am improving...(I wish!)
montecristo
Top Contributor
I thought that if the word after the article "a" starts with a vowel, then it becomes "an"
But also, how many hours is "a hours drive" ? I thought it was 1.
No one answered about the 2 songs earlier today.
And, I was thinking while I was having dinner, about your correction regarding
"I was just answering to a question" being wrong....well, that`s exactly how Italian works. You answer to a question but you can`t " answer a question", so another opposite rule.
Great, I am improving...(I wish!)
You are correct, but exceptions are acceptable although not completely correct. Some swear that starting a sentence with "and" is a massive no-no and throughout history it was, though now you can start a sentence with "and" to make a point ... working out which points are suitable is anyones guess ... but that's the english language for you.
Back to the question though you could have either:
Pat Craig's Wild Animal Sanctuary is an hours drive ....
Pat Craig's Wild Animal Sanctuary is a one hour drive ....
Pat Craig's Wild Animal Sanctuary is an one hour drive ....
Regarding the songs, JLO's song fits. The Afro American slang is used to fit the song melody. If you listen to it, she would have to speed up 'love does not cost a thing' and therefore wreck a perfectly wrecked song already.
The DJ is stating something that is happening and Minogue is stating something that happened. Both correct.
In regards to your ponderings over dinner, that was MarketingWeb, not moi. (Moi = Narre Warren for Me made famous by Kath & Kim.)
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