Squirrel's nest

Discuss any questions in English. Practise your writing skills.

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Yety
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#26

Сообщение Yety »

acapnotic пишет: 26 мар 2018, 08:48 don't trust Mr Google blindly,
Google, "your precarious friend"...:-)
Belka_Teacher пишет: 26 мар 2018, 00:55 I guess just Ukrainian google is smarter than the Russian one)))
It can even be smarter or dumber in one and same country.)
I wonder why it gives Yety different numbers; the settings he has never touched.

"spot a mistake"
Page 10 of about 174 results (0.37 seconds)
"spot the mistake"
Page 8 of about 153 results (0.49 seconds)
"find a mistake"
Page 9 of about 164 results (0.35 seconds)
"find the mistake"
Page 14 of about 269 results (0.64 seconds)

Besides, you have to run the whole paradigm ("spotted, spotting") to evaluate the frequency more correctly and do the same with "spot the error":
Page 10 of about 189 results (0.40 seconds),
which seems to be the collocation more frequently used in language learning contexts.(?)

PS And then you suddenly find yourself where a dictionary brought you the first time...)))
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#27

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

Yety, so what is the best collocation then?)))
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#28

Сообщение Yety »

Belka_Teacher пишет: 26 мар 2018, 11:35 what is the best collocation then?)))
It's probably a matter of your personal preference.))
"Find a mistake" sounds more general, and "spot an error" seems more specific, but these subtleties, you know, ...
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#29

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

Yety, well, I'd go along with 'spot a mistake' then, just to be a trifle posh)))
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#30

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

OK, I guess it will be the first post in my little blog, and it will be about French.

I studied the language for a year at school and then for three years at university. I fell in love with French almost instantly even though the school lessons were boring. Luckily, my teacher at university did his best to make his lessons entertaining. We played games, sang songs, read stories and newspaper articles, and watched films. Then, several years after I graduated from university, my teacher even organised a two-week trip to France for some of his former students. We lived with French families and had a chance not only to practise the language, but also experience the culture and the spirit of France first-hand. These two weeks have been the happiest time of my life so far! I must admit I also became quite fluent at in French during that trip and could speak on almost any topic with ease.

Then I didn't practise French for more than ten years. Well, I read a paragraph or two in French now and thenUnfortunately, I stopped practising French after that trip. For more than ten years I hardly made an effort to do anything more than to idly read a paragraph or two in French (not even a page!) and that's probably it. One A year and a half ago I decided to study take up French again as I realised I was losing my skills and would soon forget the language completely. I decided to take pass some tests first to assess my level. To my surprise, my reading was at B2 level, and so was my grammar. Listening was a bit weaker - at B1. However, I am pretty sure my speaking and writing were not better than A2 or even A1. As I really enjoyed studying the language with my university teacher, I decided to get in touch with him and arrange lessons. We agreed upon the day and time and I was eagerly waiting for my 'first' lesson, but I received a text from him saying that he didn't have time to teach me. I was so disappointed and frustrated that I neither wanted to look for another teacher nor answer that text. I know that was rude, but I just couldn't find the right words and didn't want to offend him in any way, as I am still grateful to Yevgeniy Yuriyevich for all his hard work.

So, a couple of months ago, when I was trying to explain something to a flight attendant on a French airplane an Air France flight attendant, I realised that I actually can't couldn't say even the simpliest phrases. It was so embarrassing and upsetting! I know it is quite logical that you lose a skill if you don't practise it, but that was still frustrating. So, I've set my mind to learning how to speak in French again. As I was too lazy to search for a teacher, I just decided to study with my Spanish teacher tutor, as, despite some disagreements about methodology of teaching, he is good at explaining phonetics and grammar and is a nice person. I've decided to start with phonetics as this part of language competence is becoming increasingly fascinating for me. So, last week I had my first French lesson in more than ten years.

This lesson has really helped me understand my students better. The tTests show that I know vocabulary and grammar, but speaking the language is just so damn hard! This feeling is absolutely new to me, as it has always been the easiest skill for me to master. However, now I am so upset after each silly mistake I make and I am afraid to say anything! I just can't help comparing my speaking to what it used to be. Anyway, I am not going to give up. I will continue studying until my speaking is B2 and my reading and listening C1 so that I can watch French films and get down to reading all those wonderful French books I bought on a spree one year and a half ago. I also sincerely hope that this experience will help me become a better English teacher, too, as I am going to try to figure out how to make this process of learning to speak again less stressful.
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#31

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

In addition to pointing out my mistakes, can anybody tell me if my writing is easy and comfortable to read and in what ways it can be improved to make the reading easier. I really appreciate the contribution of each and every one of you.
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#32

Сообщение life-long learner »

I've always thought that 'an error' is bigger and worse than 'a mistake'. When people say: 'an error was made' it means something bad is going to happen. So I thought.
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#33

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

life-long learner, Oxford dictionary agrees with you

error - a mistake, especially one that causes problems or affects the result of something
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#34

Сообщение acapnotic »

Belka_Teacher пишет: 26 мар 2018, 16:36 can anybody tell me if my writing is easy and comfortable to read
Yes, it is.
Belka_Teacher пишет: 26 мар 2018, 16:34 Even though school lessons were boring
the school lessons, I think.
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#35

Сообщение Xander »

Belka_Teacher пишет: 26 мар 2018, 16:36 can anybody tell me if my writing is easy and comfortable to read
Yeah, it sure is! Keep it up!
in what ways it can be improved to make the reading easier
Hard to say ...
I had no difficulties reading the piece.

Years ago I also took up French; now remember that I even used some Cambridge handbook for English speaking audience; was making a significant progress, yet gave it up after some months of self-studying, despite the fact that I really loved the language, especially the sound of it. The thing alone could make up for all the grammar complexities.

Different languages, different worlds.
Can't even begin to imagine how you gonna juggle two. But it definitely will be an exciting experience!
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#36

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

Xander, actually, four. I am also studying Spanish and Italian, but my level is quite low.
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#37

Сообщение life-long learner »

My knowledge of English is small but I am brave... :)
So:
Belka_Teacher пишет: 26 мар 2018, 16:34 I studied [the language](you didn't introduce this language yet) French for a year at school and then for three years at university. Even though school lessons were boring, I fell in love with the language. My teacher at university, [though,](you don't need this word because the meaning of the sentence doesn't contradict with 'I fell in love with the language') did his best to make his lessons entertaining. We played games, sang songs, read stories and newspaper articles, and watched films. Then, several years after I graduated from university, my teacher even organized a two-week trip to France for some of his former students. We lived in French families and had a chance not only to practice the language, but also experience first hand(my addition :) the culture and the spirit of France. These two weeks [have](my humble opinion :) had been the happiest time of my life so far! I must admit I became quite fluent at French during that trip and could speak on almost any topic with ease.

Then I didn't practise French for more than ten years. Well, I read a paragraph or two in French now and then and that's probably it. [One] A year and a half ago I decided to study French again as I realised I was losing my skills and would soon forget the language completely. I decided to take some tests [first and](my humble opinion :) to assess my level. To my surprise, my reading was at B2 level, and so was my grammar. Listening was a bit weaker - at B1. However, I was pretty sure my speaking and writing were at A2 or even A1. As I really enjoyed studying the language with my university teacher, I decided to get in touch with him and arrange lessons. We agreed upon the day and time and I was eagerly waiting for my 'first' lesson, but I received a text from him saying that he didn't have time to [study with](again, my humble opinion :) teach me. I was so disappointed that I even didn't answer [that text] him. I know that was rude, but I just couldn't find the right words and didn't want to offend him in any way, as I am still grateful to Yevgeniy Yuriyevich for all his hard work.

So, [one] a year and a half later, when I was trying to explain something to a flight attendant on a French airplane, I realised that I actually can't say even the simpliest phrases. It was so embarrassing and upsetting! I know it is quite logical that you lose a skill if you don't practise it, but still that was [still] frustrating. So, I've set my mind to learning how to speak [in] French again. As I was too lazy to search for a teacher, I just decided to study with my Spanish teacher, as, despite some disagreements about methodology of teaching, he is good at explaining phonetics and grammar and is a nice person. I've decided to start with phonetics. So, last week I had my first French lesson in more than ten years.

This first lesson really has(my addition :) helped me to(my addition :) understand my students better. The tests show+ed (you did it some time ago) that I know vocabulary and grammar, but speaking the language is just so damn hard! This feeling is absolutely new to me, as speaking was always the easiest skill for me to master. However, now I am so upset after each silly mistake I make and I am afraid to say anything! Anyway, I am not going to give up. I will continue studying until my speaking rises to(my humble addition :) [is] B2 and my reading and listening to C1 so that I [can]could watch French films and get down to reading all those wonderful French books I bought on a spree [one](I don't like it I'm sorry) a year and a half ago. I sincerely hope that this experience will help me become a better English teacher, too, as I am going to try to figure out how to make this process of learning to speak again less stressful. Right now I just can´t help comparing my speaking to what it was around ten years ago and I can´t help feeling down because of how much worse it has become.
Hunting for mistakes in writings of others is fun! :))) And sorry for all.
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#38

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

life-long learner, wonderful! I do not quite agree with 'had been so far', as so far requires present perfect here - up until the present moment.
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#39

Сообщение life-long learner »

I think you are right, but of course you can always omit 'so far' :)))
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#40

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

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#41

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

life-long learner, anyway the meaning of this sentence is 'from that time in the past and up until now', so I will go with Present, not Past. But thank you for your thoroughness.
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#42

Сообщение life-long learner »

I understand.
And thank you very much for fun I had.
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#43

Сообщение Бубль Гум »

Belka_Teacher, your writing is very readable! One might say that reading it is like smooth sailing. ⛵
just some babblingПоказать
life-long learner пишет: 26 мар 2018, 16:39 I've always thought that 'an error' is bigger and worse than 'a mistake'.
That depends on the field one's in :) In IT, there are almost no 'mistakes', only 'errors', sometimes 'fatal' ones. Just kidding :)

And in IT we also don't 'spot' or 'find' errors, we 'detect' them :) Just in case someone wants to add a nerdy tinge to their writing :)
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#44

Сообщение tourist »

Belka_Teacher пишет: 26 мар 2018, 16:36 In addition to pointing out my mistakes, can anybody tell me if my writing is easy and comfortable to read and in what ways it can be improved to make the reading easier. I really appreciate the contribution of each and every one of you.

OK, here is my second installment )


-fluent in French

-one year and a half - > year and a half ,unless you try to emphasize that it was indeed one year and not ,say, two

-study French again -> brush up /refresh my French

-that's it -> that was it ( that's is not a contraction for that was)

-we agreed upon the day and time -> we arranged the time/meeting

- I even didn't answer that text ->I didn't even answer

-I actually can't say -> couldn't ... may be ?

-flight attendant on French airplane -> French speaking flight attendant
As I was too lazy to search for a teacher, I just decided to study with my Spanish teacher, as, despite some disagreements about methodology of teaching, he is good at explaining phonetics and grammar and is a nice person.
A bit too heavy : you use as twice, teacher twice + teaching


All in all: not too bad, but a bit juvenile at the beginning ( read books, watched films, sang songs, after I graduated from university ? better after graduation )

Off topic

Flight attendant is a politically correct improvement on stewardess
but these days hungry feminists are demanding even more.
British Airways call them the cabin crew now , even though they are still just glorified waitresses ))
Последний раз редактировалось tourist 26 мар 2018, 22:55, всего редактировалось 2 раза.
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#45

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

tourist, that's it = that is it. It should be in present.
Why French speaking if I wanted to point out the plane?
Why refresh if I really want to study?
And why I didn't even and not I even didn't? I would appreciate some explanations.
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#46

Сообщение tourist »

I read is past so I think That was it should be in the past as well, I could be wrong on this one..

French airplane ? What does it mean ? French made Airbus ? Air France ? Plane flying from/to France ?
All sound ambiguous and irrelevant , you wanted to say that you were asking a French speaking person . Right ?

Refresh vs study .. you say "study again". Are you studying from scratch ? Obviously not, hence my comment

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads ... w.2558435/
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#47

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

tourist, I read is in Present Simple. Now and then is a phrase that should make it clear.
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#48

Сообщение Belka_Teacher »

tourist, OK, will change it to Air France.
Actually, now I am studying things I didn't study before. Brushing up means more like reviewing. I want to move way beyond the level I used to have.
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#49

Сообщение tourist »

https://english.stackexchange.com/quest ... -or-future
it could be both past or present I interpreted it as in the past, but I don't insist )
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#50

Сообщение tourist »

Belka_Teacher пишет: 26 мар 2018, 23:01 tourist, OK, will change it to Air France.
Actually, now I am studying things I didn't study before. Brushing up means more like reviewing. I want to move way beyond the level I used to have.
still, study again just doesn't work for me ... let's wait for a second opinion)
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