Christine Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I meant that his bucket list and his don’t have to correspond, this is why I used they, but I get what you mean. I should have probably said: “I have mine as well, and it doesn't have to correspond in every entry with his” ? Close. "It doesn't have to correspond to/with every entry in his." But it was a non-sense around church and saints and religiousness, aimed to introduce Fo’s show. It was even awkward at times Hmm, well even if Mika was perfectly articulate I don't agree with his views on the Catholic church anyway. I think the way to deal with any moral conflict you have with your church is to leave it and not expect it to change to suit your beliefs. Leave it instead of supporting it by calling yourself a member and being a participant in its crimes against humanity. But that's a whole other topic. Anyway, thank you for these advices and for the others as well, I feel that this English school of yours does work for me. You're welcome. Just a note, "advice" is singular. I guess it is not in romance languages because I notice French and Spanish saying "advices" as well? Think of it like "help" where it can encompass multiple things in reality but as a word it is singular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modeliko Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 it's quite interesting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwendin Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Just a note, "advice" is singular. I guess it is not in romance languages because I notice French and Spanish saying "advices" as well? You're right. (I was quite an active member of the church as a teenager. Then I grew up ) I have another question! I'll try and fix it or I'll try to fix it? What's the difference? it's quite interesting! Hi you classmate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 I have another question! I'll try and fix it or I'll try to fix it? What's the difference? It's "to fix it". The difference is one is right and one is wrong. It's just a bad habit of some English speakers to say "and". I don't know why we do it, it doesn't even make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwendin Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 :shocked: wtf. I've been using try and (go and etc) since ages as it sounded so weird that I thought it was a kind of saying of you people. You are a tricky population. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcdeb Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 I have another question! I'll try and fix it or I'll try to fix it? What's the difference? It's "to fix it". The difference is one is right and one is wrong. It's just a bad habit of some English speakers to say "and". I don't know why we do it, it doesn't even make sense. Ugh! Sylvie, you have discovered one of my pet peeves -- it drives me crazy when I hear people say, "I'll try AND do that." As Christine said, it's "try TO do" -- I don't know where "try and do it" comes from. I'm sure in casual conversation I say and write many things informally/incorrectly, but "try and..." is not one of them! :shocked: wtf. I've been using try and (go and etc) since ages as it sounded so weird that I thought it was a kind of saying of you people. You are a tricky population. You have no idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soaring Simpson Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 :shocked: wtf. I've been using try and (go and etc) since ages as it sounded so weird that I thought it was a kind of saying of you people. You are a tricky population. It is an idiomatic thing to say - most people do - but looks really bad written Yup -we're inconsistent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwendin Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 I'm hating aaaall of you. (just kidding) I totally get Mika when he's upset because no one ever correct him since he's so cuuuute when he does mistakes in italian. When you finally find it out, you feel like the only moron in the group, like they all know an inner joke about you and you are totally unaware of it. But I'm sooo cuuute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwendin Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Cute me needs more advice: odd, weird, strange. Differences? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 I'm hating aaaall of you. (just kidding)I totally get Mika when he's upset because no one ever correct him since he's so cuuuute when he does mistakes in italian. Well some mistakes are cute and some are not. Like I think it's cute when people say "Mika's gig" instead of "Mika gig". But when someone says "twit" instead of "tweet" I cringe. Whenever I see someone say "advices" I want to correct them. Even though it doesn't bother me and actually it sounds kind of sweet, it's so fundamentally wrong that I think it should be fixed if you are trying to work on your English. Whereas with "Mika's gig", while it is not something a native speaker would ever say it does actually make sense since you could look at the gig as belonging to Mika. When you finally find it out, you feel like the only moron in the group, like they all know an inner joke about you and you are totally unaware of it. But I'm sooo cuuute! Well unlike Deb it is not one of my pet peeves and I probably say "try and" all the time. I hope I don't write it very often but when you are chatting quickly you are bound to write what you are thinking and not necessarily what is correct. I KNOW what is right so it doesn't bother me if I say it wrong. Cute me needs more advice: odd, weird, strange. Differences? Well each word can have multiple meanings (odd can mean a number that is not even, strange can mean unknown). But if you are talking about the three words together I assume you are talking about the meaning of "unusual" or "not fitting in" that makes them synonyms. In that case I often use them interchangeably. Perhaps there is a subtle difference that leads me to choose one word over another based on the situation but I can't really explain it and another person might choose a different word and it would also make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertina Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 they taught me 'try AND do it' at school, and it's stuck in my head forever. Time to change then! thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcdeb Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 When you finally find it out, you feel like the only moron in the group, like they all know an inner joke about you and you are totally unaware of it. But I'm sooo cuuute! You're definitely not a moron, and you are soooo cuuute! Well unlike Deb it is not one of my pet peeves and I probably say "try and" all the time. I hope I don't write it very often but when you are chatting quickly you are bound to write what you are thinking and not necessarily what is correct. I KNOW what is right so it doesn't bother me if I say it wrong. they taught me 'try AND do it' at school, and it's stuck in my head forever.Time to change then! thanks Well, both of you, TRY AND GET IT RIGHT whenever you're around me, OK? Cute me needs more advice: odd, weird, strange. Differences? Perhaps there is a subtle difference that leads me to choose one word over another based on the situation but I can't really explain it and another person might choose a different word and it would also make sense. I use them interchangeably, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwendin Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 If they are interchangeable, then I've nothing to learn in this specific case. I got away with them easy! Lucky me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwendin Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) Could VS was able At school they taught me to use could whenever I needed the past tense of can Then someone told me it's was able. What now? and what does this mean :"Mika had a go at him" ? Edited June 27, 2014 by Elwendin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Could VS was able At school they taught me to use could whenever I needed the past tense of can Then someone told me it's was able. What now? and what does this mean :"Mika had a go at him" ? Easy one first - to have a go at someone usually means to criticise someone or be a bit mean to them (at worst, it could mean to hit them ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Could is usually the past tense for can - I can speak English, I could speak English since I was a child. Sometimes however in the past tense could is incorrect, if you are referring to a specific event. You would say "Yesterday I dropped a cup but I was able to catch it", but not "Yesterday I dropped a cup but I could catch it". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwendin Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Ok! So: SPECIFIC EVENT --> was able Whatever --> could. I'll try to remember it. And please don't have a go at me whenever I won't be able to remind all your explanations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IngievV Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Could is usually the past tense for can - I can speak English, I could speak English since I was a child. Sometimes however in the past tense could is incorrect, if you are referring to a specific event. You would say "Yesterday I dropped a cup but I was able to catch it", but not "Yesterday I dropped a cup but I could catch it". Could sometimes be used as the past of can, but that is not its only funcion. It is also used to express a less definite or conditional form of can referring to the past or future. Also in the scale of politeness, could is more polite than can. With may being more polite than could. Can and could are basically both used to talk about ability, to ask for and give permission and to make requests and offers. Could is also used to talk about the chances that something will happen while can can't be used that way. "It could rain this afternoon." -> there is a chance that it might rain. No "It can rain this afternoon." So "Can I ask you something?" -> not really polite. "Could I ask you something?" -> Politer. "What shall we do this evening? ~ We could go and see a film" -> not certain. "I could get a better job than this." - I would be able to get a better job than this. The difference between could and was able to is that can and could can have no infinitives (to could, coulding) or participles (I have could). So if you have a sentence in which you need to use an infinitive or a participle, you can use other words such as was able. "I'd like to be able to stay here." Because of the infinitive to, you can't use could. "I'd like to could stay here." doesn't exist in the English language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IngievV Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Also, about could as the past of can, it is possibly but it can't always be used. The ONLY time could can function as the past of can is when we talk about general ability. "When I was younger, I could play the piano very well." -> This is a general ability that lasted a longer time. We don't usually use could to say something happened on a certain occasion. For that we use other words. "I managed to run 20km yesterday in under two hours." It happened yesterday but it is not a general ability so we don't say "I could run 20 km yesterday." "How many tomatoes were you able to get?" Not "How many tomatoes could you get?" "After studying for a while, we succeeded in passing the test." Not "....We could succeed in passing the test." "I found a beautiful bag in the sale." Not: "I could find a beautiful bag in the sale." However, couldn't is used to say that something did not happen this one occasion. "I managed to get a ticket, but I couldn't make it to the Mika gig." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwendin Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 :shocked: sh*t This is getting serious, I have to study for good now! Ok, I'll do my homeworks, let just XF bootcamps pass and I promise I'll commit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Ingie - I was trying not to be complicated I know that there are other uses for could. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwendin Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Huge drama. I talked to you yesterday I've been looking for you since yesterday. Am I right? The first past tense is used for something that began and ended in the past, even if it happened just some hours ago, while the second one is for something that lasted much time, and that is still running right now. Right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertina Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 yep, the second is called 'duration form' non ti vedo da due giorni/da sabato Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwendin Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Tecnicamente non mi vedi da mercoledì Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IngievV Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Ingie - I was trying not to be complicated I know that there are other uses for could. I wasn't being complicated. I was just being expansive:mf_rosetinted: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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