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Esato English Language Club


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Posted by adnansanni
In Esato, most of people's first language isn't English, include me. Sometimes it's really difficult to understand what actually it means. So why shouldn't we have a Language Club.

People should question about English language related and someone will answer (hopefully) them in here.

My first question is: What does finger crossed means?


Posted by ceaser2008
Comman meaning is you are hoping something to happen the way you want.

Check this out.

crossed fingers

Posted by Caspa
Excellent idea for a thread mate... I will try to answer any questions when they come up...

Posted by aquared29
great idea, we gonna try too,

Posted by mriley
word of the day - soporific

it means it causes you to feel sleepy/fall asleep

E.g

Guy 1 has fallen asleep listening to bob marley

Guy 2 : "he must have found that music quite soporific"

Posted by Bonovox
I never understand why people say GET ON LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE. Just wierd saying

Posted by mriley
does that mean they get on well or bad together?

Posted by mallaccra
what about atm?? is it #1. at the moment or #2. automated teller machine

Posted by Bonovox
It means get on great but the saying is odd

Posted by kawaii

On 2010-01-03 14:59:00, Bonovox wrote:
I never understand why people say GET ON LIKE A HOUSE ON FIRE. Just wierd saying



does it mean a sort of a happening like disco or a victory party?



Posted by mrmilo69
I'm english but there are certain sayings i don't understand. These may be incomplete.

I've never been one for using sayings like these so i've never understood them.

"...can't see the wood for the trees"

"...not in a month of sundays"

"...par for the course." - I assume this means that in an activity someone is doing, certain things that happen are to be expected. Correct?
[ This Message was edited by: mrmilo69 on 2010-01-03 16:11 ]


Posted by Bonovox
Well i know what get on like a house on fire means but i just dont get the logic in the saying

Posted by Marly

On 2010-01-03 15:21:11, mallaccra wrote:
what about atm?? is it #1. at the moment or #2. automated teller machine



It's #1.

Posted by fatreg
atm = At the moment
ATM = Automated telling machine (not really used in the UK, we use Cash machine)

Posted by masseur
this topic reminds me of previous topics

nuances of the english language

and

Short Keywords Used Here (including boba's + the Mixionary? )

hopefully a read through those will add inspiration to this topic!

Posted by ceaser2008
ATM- Any Time Money.

Posted by adnansanni

On 2010-01-03 09:30:05, ceaser2008 wrote:
Comman meaning is you are hoping something to happen the way you want.


Thanks.

Posted by Bonovox
eye hte it wen pple use text spk DRIVES ME MAD

Posted by adnansanni

On 2010-01-04 16:13:46, Bonovox wrote:
eye hte it wen pple use text spk DRIVES ME MAD

It is totally bad habit, sometimes its really hard to read.

Posted by mriley
I thought I'd plop this in here - difference between there and their

You use their when someone owns an object

"i can see their flowers from my garden"
the flowers belong to those people

"i want their cookies"
they own the cookies!

it basically means who owns a certain object/objects

mine - I own it
yours - you own it
his - he owns it
hers - she owns it
its - it owns it (don't really use this one much in English)
ours - we own it
theirs - they own it

and you use the word "there" when you say where somebody is,

"where is my long lost son?"

"over there!"

"where is the police station?"

there!

You use "there" much more than "their" as "their" just means someone owns something but "there" can be used to express lots of things like " there has been a murder "
[ This Message was edited by: mriley on 2010-01-04 14:50 ]

[/quote]


it basically means who owns a certain object/objects

mine - I own it
yours - you own it
his - he owns it
hers - she owns it
its - it owns it (don't really use this one much in English)
ours - we own it
theirs - they own it


You use those when you are stressing who the object/objects belong to

"this piece of chocolate is MINE! not YOURS! "

"is this pen yours?"

"yes its mine"

----------------------------

but you use these when you talk about owning something in a casual way and not stressing who owns somthing

my
your
his
her
its
our
their

"they are bringing their cousins!"

"we are bringing our parents..."

"will you open your suitcase?"



Posted by Bonovox
Explain then Matt if someone on here say's INIT some people here say INIT instead of IS'NT IT When they explain something they say THATS REALLY GOOD INIT instead of THATS REALLY GOOD IS'NT IT
[ This Message was edited by: Bonovox on 2010-01-04 17:42 ]


Posted by mriley
txt spk mks u angry dunnit

Posted by Bonovox
Yes my girlfriend, she is not common but she does do the text speak on text messages. Sometimes I have to re-read the message. She says WEN instead of WHEN & things like SED instead of SAID

Posted by adnansanni
What is BUMP?

Posted by mriley
Bring
Up
My
Post

It also means "I have no idea" apparently

Posted by mriley
Special for mrjulius

I will do AT and IN other days because the range of use of them is huge

ON - quite a lot of ways it can be used so quite complicated

"On" can be used to describe where something is -


"That apple is on that table"

"Mrjulius put his cat on a big branch to take a photo of it"

===================

"On" can also be used in other ways, such as to suggest continuity (progress and moving forward)

basically with a sense of forward motion...

"March on" - moving forward to keep going

"Come on!" - moving forward to keep going

"I'm on the way" - moving forward to get to somewhere

"His spirit lives on" - Spirit lives and continues so has the sense of moving forward as it hasn't died and stopped

"Shall I read on?" - moving forward with the story

=======================

"On" can also suggest when something is functional / opertional / working (function means something's purpose)

In this context:
on - working
off - not working*

* Maybe working is the wrong word, i would say Operational (whether something can be used) or Functional So this is probably better:
on - functional so fulfilling its purpose / operational can be used (put into operation)
off - still working as it hasn't broken but isn't fulfilling its purpose / not perational


"You left the oven on and burn the Christmas turkey!"

"No, I'm sure I remember turning it off"

"This switch has an on and off configuration!"

=================

You always use "on" when you say what happened on a date of the year and the day.

"On the 25th of December I got a toasty maker"

"On monday i went to the zoo"
=================

You can also use "on" when you talk about planned events

"The party is still on for tonight" - this means the party will still happen

"The meeting was called off due to bad weather" - meeting is canceled*

* You couldn't say "the flight was called on" that wouldn't be right.

================

"On" can be used when travelling

"Im on the bus/tram/train/my bike"

But you don't say "I'm on my car" you say "I'm in my car"


There you go - you see how widely these words can be used so i understand its easy to confuse them


Do you when you should use the words "The" and "That" ?
[ This Message was edited by: mriley on 2010-01-05 21:16 ]



Posted by Raiderski
I have huge problems with 'the' and 'a'
I'm not sure when and which ('the' or 'a') I should use just before nouns

BTW. great topic

Posted by mriley
ill try explaining tomorrow for you, when you speak English as your first language you don't realize how complicated these little things are

Posted by mriley
@raider
Do you know when to use "an" instead of "a" in English? I can explain if you don't know.

Posted by tranced
"An" is used before vowels

"A" is used to describe a single article.
[ This Message was edited by: tranced on 2010-01-06 16:47 ]


Posted by mrjulius
This is really helpfull

thx for teaching professor mriley
gonna read it again tom.

Posted by mriley
ill do other lessons another time
I still need to do in,at,the and a but im really tired at the moment so maybe tomorrow

Posted by adnansanni
@mriley: thanks.
I was going to ask about difference between on and in. When you have time then please explain also about in. I've always confuse between them.

I think “The” use for specific or particular subject, which can identify separately or reader or listener can identify.
Example,
A car: means one car but it can be any car of the world.
The car: means specific one.

@Raiderski: I'm glad that you've found this thread useful.

Posted by mrjulius
perfect i know where to use on

thanks for this prof mriley
...
its to late to go back in elementary and highschool

Posted by mrjulius
help me to how to speak with foreign people...
heres the problem...
i know how to speak english and write...
but when im in the middle of questioning and asking...
like my classmate a korean student, chinese, japanese, iranian, african..
i dont know how to construct a sentence ways of speaking
any tips

Posted by mriley
practice speaking more languages are tough to learn and speak

Posted by mrjulius
when they ask me...
korean student (hi schoolmate where is the bookstore)
i just say there with a pointing finger...
im just being shock and mental block and don't have a good conversation

maybe your right mriley years of practice
[ This Message was edited by: mrjulius on 2010-01-06 19:12 ]


Posted by Raiderski
mriley
yep, I know. 'an' instead of 'a' is used when it occurs before a vowel

a car
an orange

today I found quite useful informations about 'the' and 'a'. I think I'm a bit smarter now


Posted by hihihans
Funny, you guys are posting here for many years, edit everything in your phones and now wonder about "an and a". I'm not laughing, I just want to say: stay curious, continue asking, keep on growing. I love this thread.

Posted by mrjulius
oh i can follow you master raiderski
I GET IT!!!

a e i o u first letter word
use an..
and for a for other letter

nice!!!!

thanks master raiderski

weeeeeeeee this is a GREAT THREAD
gonna store it in my unlimited memory brain

Posted by adnansanni
What does "hands down" means?
I read it when people talk about quality of something.

Posted by ceaser2008

On 2010-01-17 06:04:19, adnansanni wrote:
What does "hands down" means?
I read it when people talk about quality of something.


Look this hands down

Posted by adnansanni
Should I use "on 1990" or "in 1990"?

Posted by hihihans
Things happened in 1990
I put the stereo at 10
We go on the count of 3


Posted by michka
Things happened in 1990, but
Things happened on the 1st of July 1990.
It happened either anytime during the year 1990 (first sentence), or precisely the 1st of July 1990 (second sentence).

Posted by VLADISLAUS
What is "FU" mean?
I found it in any marketplace forum, like "iphone 3Gs FU"
And then, what is "e.g." and "i.e." stand for?

Posted by mriley
Ie and eg both mean ´for example´ its just a short easy way of writing it

Btw its ´what does´ not ´what is´ when asking for meaning not substance

Posted by MWEB
I can tell you what "FU" means, especially in the context of the iphone

Posted by hihihans
CK ain't Calvin Klein

Posted by VLADISLAUS
I can tell you what "FU" means, especially in the context of the iphone
So what is FU sir?


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