MVent_20

'Alot' is not a word, unless you are referring to that town in India. Thus, 'a lot' is the correct way of writing it. Allot is a word though, which means to give an amount of something.

Every single time I travel. I try to learn languages so it would be easy for me to communicate with people wherever I go. It's best to learn a language before going to some place. It's okay if you know just a couple of words. I strongly believe that everyone must know English because that's the most common language everywhere. Knowing that COULD get you anywhere.

Spanish is one of the widely-spoken languages in the world. There are more or less 20 countries in the world where Spanish is spoken by many. But I think ANY language is worth learning! If you have the time and passion for it, go for it!

Using Google translate for one-word translations are okay, at times. But it cannot be relied upon if you are trying to translate a phrases, sentences or paragraphs. It translates the words individually -- not in the way the words were placed in the sentences.

I don't think it's necessary, but knowing a language other than English and your mother tongue is an advantage. I am assuming here that most people, if not all, know English and their mother tongue. Knowing more than one language is very useful especially if you travel often or communicate with people from different places.

I really want to be fluent in French and Spanish. French just sounds so sexy and sophisticated. I have been reading books about the language so I can learn it slowly. But I have also been wanting to take classes. It's better that way. I learned Spanish in college and it's somehow close to my mother tongue, Filipino. I want to be more fluent in speaking and writing the language. I think that next to English, it's also one of the widely-spoken languages in the world.

I am totally against shortcuts for chatting and texting. I can let tweets pass, sometimes, since there's a character limit. Annoying shortcuts like "Hru?" or "Wru? are so hard to figure out. How are you supposed to know that HRU actually means "How are you?" when "are" and "you" don't start with "R" or "U." And these are just three letter words. How lazy can you get? :bored: I am okay with BTW or OMG as they are acronyms of the phrase/sentence. Also, it's common and the meaning quite obvious for most, if not all. I am guilty of always using it though.

I usually hear "whilst" being used by my British and Australian friends. While or whilst can be used interchangeably IF used as a conjunction. --> Sarah drank her tea [during the time that] her son played the piano. Sarah drank her tea while her son played the piano. Sarah drank her her tea whilst her son played the piano. If you're using while as a noun, you cannot use "whilst" of course. That would be totally weird. --> Stay here for a while. Stay here for a whilst. (Funny, right?) When unsure, I think it's safer to use WHILE.

Using a comma before the word "and" depends on the thought and construction of your sentence. A comma is usually used when merging two independent clauses. 1. The car was taken by my sister, and was later found near her boyfriend's house. [The car was taken by my sister.] + [The car was later found near her boyfriend's house.] 2. Carla started dancing ballet when she was 5 years old, and is now teaching ballet to kids. [Carla started dancing ballet when she was 5 years old.] + [Carla is now teaching ballet to kids.] If the independent clauses are short, there's no need to use a comma -- but it can still be used. eg. I drank scotch, and Shelley had water. I drank scotch and Shelley had water. When enumerating, a comma isn't supposed to be used before "and." eg. 1. I would like a slice of bread with butter, strawberry jam, bacon on the side and orange juice. 2. Exercising helps you stay fit and healthy.

I sometimes become what people call a "grammar nazi." I wince and rant when I see a grammar error. I always get an urge to correct the person, but I don't -- unless we're close enough that I can joke about it. Nowadays, I usually see grammar errors in tweets. I let it pass sometimes since there is a character limit. I'm a broadcast journalist. In my line of work, it couldn't be said that your information is accurate if your spelling, pronunciation and sentence construction is wrong. It is also quite hard to get your message across to your audience if your grammar is incorrect.