LauraM

I sometimes have trouble with calendar and license. With "calendar" I sometimes want to reverse the last two vowels. Just a couple of hours ago I was trying to spell "buoyant" and it took me a couple of tries before my spell check let me know I got it correct. It's one of those words with a tricky arrangement of vowels. This is a great topic as we're finding common ground in spelling errors as well as encouragement to get them spelled correctly.

I read Derek Walcott's "Sea Grapes" several years ago and I was deeply impressed. There is so much depth and emotional power in his poetry. It really stays with you. I agree with your overall assessment; his work is worthy of the Nobel Prize. Although it's been a while since I read his work that particular collection, "Sea Grapes," made a strong impression on me. I have also read some of his other poetry here and there in anthologies. Glad you mentioned him, as you've reminded me of how much I enjoyed reading his poetry. I think his poetry would be a great choice for people who are learning the English language. His work is so evocative.

Likewise, I agree. A secondary language would be the only solution that would preserve diversity. Language and culture are so deeply intertwined that a great deal would be lost without the diversity of many languages which, in turn, reflect these many cultures and societies. At the same time, in this day and age, the world is much more interconnected and we do face challenges still in communicating because of language barriers. These are so much more apparent nowadays. While English and a few other languages are dominant, especially on the Internet, they still exclude those who don't know those languages. Such tools as Google Translate are helpful, but can't replace what is lost in the inability to have unfettered communication. Perhaps it will always be a trade-off between diversity of distinct cultures versus a universal language, that is until there is some sort of technological advancement that makes instantaneous translation possible. If and when it happens, it could be very exciting!

Yes, I agree on all points. I think his books are vastly overrated. They are detailed and rich with history and people think that along with that they are getting something substantive. But fiction built upon an historical foundation that is faulty and does not acknowledge its faultiness is a problem. I hate to think that people are getting their historical and theological instruction from these books, but unfortunately, I believe that is the case.

Yes, that would be correct for just the reason you stated; two teams are each a single entity. If you have three or more teams, then, again the "one another" would be the correct usage. For example: "All of the teams in the tournament eyed one another warily." This would imply there are quite a few teams.

Daedalus, thanks so much for sharing this with us! I have always been curious about what English sounds like to someone who doesn't understand it. I think this gives us a good sense of that. I listened very carefully and, yes, it sounds like English, but most of it is incomprehensible. The cadence of speech, the vowel sounds, the consonants; it's all familiar, but yet, what they say is largely a mystery to me. It was a great experience just to sit and watch it. It gave me even more appreciation that I already know the language and that it is my native language. Thanks again.

I agree on both points. It's especially strange to hear people using "hashtag" in everyday speech. It reminds me of how children will overuse words they have heard but it's clear that they don't fully grasp the meaning of the words as they speak them. To the larger point, I think this kind of transposing of Internet terms and slang into spoken conversations is an unfortunate trend, as it's already brought about an erosion of spelling and grammar. I think it's also a threat to critical thinking and creative thinking to rely on these kinds of crutches instead of using language that is more precise and descriptive.

I agree. Getting into the habit of using correct grammar is essential. It's just like physical exercise; use it or lose it. It's much too easy to get lax these days because the standards of proper grammar and usage have really dropped noticeably. I think that using correct grammar continuously regardless of circumstances helps to reinforce the habit. It has helped me over the years. When I was growing up, myy parents simply didn't allow incorrect grammar in the house! So I had to learn it, and I'm very glad that I did, as it has become automatic, and I enjoy continually improving my skills.

I agree with previous comments on this thread. The basics, dealing with daily life -- greetings, emergency directions, etc. are all essential since we never know what we might encounter. To make sure I had the basics covered, I would get a phrase book for travelers and study it ahead of time. They are available in most of the major languages. In the days before Kindle and other eBook formats, you could get these in very small paperbacks, some as small as a wallet. I always found them very helpful even if I wasn't traveling just because they were so handy. These days you can get such phrase books on Kindle, iPad, etc. as well as your mobile phone.

I've always preferred subtitles to dubbing. I find that dubbing is very distracting, as the dubbed in voice is, of course, not in synch with the image which is jarring in and of itself. Plus I feel that I am losing the richness of the experience in not being able to hear the original language even if it's one that I don't understand. I greatly prefer hearing the actors' performances, their speech patterns and how the emotions are conveyed in the nuances of speech. All of that is lost with dubbing. It's well worth it to me to have the very slight inconvenience of reading subtitles; I feel I am getting much more out of the overall movie experience so to me, it's not much of a tradeoff.

Mark, thanks for the link to this resource. It's quite interesting. Thanks also for posing the question as it's been a valuable lesson. "Each other" versus "one another" is one of those rules that gets forgotten because the incorrect usage is so pervasive. I do think that "one another" adds much more clarity to the meaning when there is a group involved. And, as always, it's worthwhile to check and find out what is actually correct as we can't go by every day common usage, especially not on the Internet!

I'm very much an enthusiast of slang expressions and slang words. They are often so colorful and picturesque. To me, slang is the cutting edge of language evolution as so often what begins as slang becomes part of the standard language. I also find it fascinating to see how slang influences pop culture and vice versa. Think of "selfie" and "photo bomb" for instance. These slang expressions are both relatively new and became so pervasive as there's a real need for them to describe what we so often witness in social media.

Maybe it would help to clarify if you say that "each other" refers to two people only. In other words, it is a reciprocal action in which two people are involved. As to your example, "The boys like each other," another way of explaining it might be to say that the each boy likes the other boy. When more than two people are involved it should be "one another" to indicate reciprocal action or relationship. Thus if there were five boys, it would be "The (five) boys like one another." So I would definitely point this out as it might help to make the meaning more clear.

Yes, I see that error frequently. There are quite a few native English speakers who have trouble with the use of the apostrophe in general, not just with "its" and "it's." For instance when people try to make a noun plural, but they add an unnecessary apostrophe. Someone might say, "I talked to the boy's yesterday" or "We saw the letter's that were on the desk." Another error I see frequently is the confusion of "there" and "their" and "they're." People don't know which one to use so they wind up writing something like: "We took a look at they're new house yesterday. It was the one that is out their on the corner lot. We talked to there neighbors, too." It should be: "We took a look at their new house yesterday. It was the one that is out there on the corner lot. We talked to their neighbors, too." There are many common errors, unfortunately, but these come to mind as I do see them so often.

Thank you so much for sharing this site. I didn't know about it before. I've bookmarked it and I know I will be checking it out. I like the name of it, too "viki" as in "wiki" -- it captures perfectly what the site is about. This is such a great concept to have viewers sharing and taking part in subtitling the movies and other videos. It's quite impressive.

Of all of Shakespeare's plays, my two favorites -- can't pick just one! -- are Macbeth and Othello. I find the character of Lady Macbeth and her intense ambition and dominance over Macbeth utterly fascinating, as well as more than a bit horrifying. It's the kind of character that can literally give me nightmares. Othello as a character stays with me too. He is the classic tragic figure, a man ahead of his time and, as such, very much a victim of his circumstances which he is never able to overcome.

I wouldn't recommend either series. I have not read through these books but out of curiosity I have read some excerpts and I was not impressed with the quality of the writing or character development of either series. They are not well-crafted novels. Both are overly reliant on sensationalism and shock value -- especially "Fifty Shades of Grey," obviously -- and superficial romanticism. I think they are not so much works of fiction as they are springboards for readers' fantasies.

Yes, the Purdue Online Writing Lab -- OWL -- is one of my favorite resources. Thanks for sharing it! I think it's among the best of its kind on the Internet. It's extremely helpful and very well organized. This is the main index page: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/ The site map is also very helpful to find what you're looking for. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/sitemap/

I agree. It's important to pick books that are of interest to you. The more you read, the more your English skills will improve. I think biographies, for instance, can be very helpful. Find biographies of people whose lives you find fascinating or who you would be curious to learn more about. Or if you have an interest in history, then books on specific time periods in history might also be useful. Or if you have an interest in staying current with trends and popular books, check the bestsellers lists at Amazon or the New York Times or other sites to see what's popular. If you have an interest in literature and the classics, the works of such writers as Charles Dickens might also be helpful. Dickens' work is very engaging.

I have several favorite short story authors and stories, but as I think about this question, right now, Jayne Anne Phillips' "Black Tickets" stands out for me. It's the title of the book of short stories as well as one of the stories. I like all of the stories. Probably my favorites from this collection -- if I had to choose would be "Home" and "Black Tickets." They are just amazing. Evocative, and yet very sparse in language. Her stories take elements from pop culture and television of the late 1970s, as that's when the book was published, but transform them so you see how they have influenced the lives of the characters. Her characters are "ordinary" people who are often down on their luck, and living in America's Appalachian region. Really a remarkable collection of stories.

You may have seen "different from" and you may have seen "different than." Which is correct? Are both correct? "Different from" is actually the correct form. Thus you would say: The books I bought today are different from the ones I bought last year. They found the weather at the beach to be much different from the weather in the city. The new styles are not much different from last year's styles. Ideally it's best to use "different from" in all circumstances. But there's been a development in recent years -- especially in American English -- to allow the use of "different than" in some circumstances. In particular, it's considered acceptable to use "different than" if it precedes a clause. Here are a couple of examples. Living in a high-rise apartment seems so different than living in a bungalow. Working at the bank was different than what he expected it to be. But when in doubt use "different from" and you will be using correct grammar.

Yes, I think it is quite helpful. I listened to a lot of Spanish language music when I was learning the language and it did help. I would become curious about lyrics and look them up. I never formally studied Italian but over the years I've learned a fair amount of Italian from listening to opera. Having learned Spanish formally was helpful, as it gave me familiarity with romance languages. So yes, as I see it, listening to music is part of the immersion process. It's also enjoyable and can help if you're feeling entrenched in learning vocabulary and grammar.

Wow, that one is difficult to say! I can see why it would get the Guinness World Record. Your other example is a tough one, too. Here's another one: She is a thistle-sifter. She has a sieve of unsifted thistles and a sieve of sifted thistles and the sieve of unsifted thistles she sifts into the sieve of sifted thistles because she is a thistle-sifter.

"Did receive" is correct. It follows the same rules as with any other verb with this construction of the past tense -- "did" + present tense of the verb, both as a question and as a statement. Here are a few more examples. Did they walk to the bank? They did walk to the bank. Did we did see the car? We did see the car. Did he find his books? He did find his books.

Great topic! I'm glad to hear that tongue twisters have helped you with pronunciation. I can see how rap lyrics would also be effective. I think tongue twisters are fun especially the ones that are also riddle rhymes. Here's one that follows the same structure as the "Woodchuck" twister you mentioned. How much myrtle would a wood turtle hurdle if a wood turtle could hurdle myrtle? A wood turtle would hurdle as much myrtle as a wood turtle could hurdle if a wood turtle could hurdle myrtle. Here's another one: I know a boy named Tate who dined with his girl at eight eight. I'm unable to state what Tate ate at eight eight or what Tate's tête à tête ate at eight eight.