Does Spiderweb improve your English?

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AuthorTopic: Does Spiderweb improve your English?
Agent
Member # 1993
Profile #0
This is a poll for grammar-wrenchers and specially for non natively english speaking members.
Has posting on these boards improved your English? Who from the frequently posting members influenced your knowledge most?

[ Thursday, April 21, 2005 02:42: Message edited by: spy.there ]

Poll Information
This poll contains 2 question(s). 45 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

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^ö^ vegetarians are sexy.
Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00
Apprentice
Member # 5719
Profile #1
Yes, immensly

even though I posted only once and didn't get any replies aimed at me

I wasn't quite sure about the teaching option, so I just voted for everyone, unless it was meant in an uh suggestive way, in which case that would have been a mistake
Posts: 6 | Registered: Sunday, April 17 2005 07:00
Warrior
Member # 5701
Profile #2
When I think about it, yes.
Posts: 64 | Registered: Tuesday, April 12 2005 07:00
Master
Member # 1046
Profile Homepage #3
Back when there were actual RPs, probably. The good ones, obviously, but that was long ago.

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Polaris - Weather balloons, ninjas, and your big daddy Wise Man. What more could you want?
Undead Theories - Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Posts: 3323 | Registered: Thursday, April 25 2002 07:00
Agent
Member # 1993
Profile #4
quote:
Originally written by The_Great_Unknown:

...
I wasn't quite sure about the teaching option, so I just voted for everyone, unless it was meant in an uh suggestive way, in which case that would have been a mistake

It was meant to build possibly a rating of the most popular / favorite literary poster. Well, It might have been better to set the "choose one"-option - but it's more democratic like this.

:) And I forgot the question: What is your native language? Mine is German.

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^ö^ vegetarians are sexy.
Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00
Infiltrator
Member # 4592
Profile #5
My native language is Spanish, but I'm not very good at it (I'm serious, no kidding. I handle Spanish worse than English. Scary, huh?)

This place sure improves my English. Anything that makes me write anything and forces me to sit on my lazy butt and read is appreciated these days.

(spy.there: I think the option now to choose multiple people in the second question is fine as it is. Only one option would suck, I think)

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quote:

"I suffer from spiritual malaise," said Cugel meaningfully. "which manifest itself in outburst of vicious rage. I implore you to depart, lest, in an uncontrollable spasm, I cut you in three pieces with my sword, or worse, I invoke magic."
Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga)
Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00
Apprentice
Member # 5719
Profile #6
my native language was German, and now it's English, due to Spiderweb! Well, maybe not
Posts: 6 | Registered: Sunday, April 17 2005 07:00
Cartographer
Member # 1851
Profile Homepage #7
Mine's Finnish. I doubt the boards have had much of an influence on my writing at all. I don't really pay much attention on the language, unless it's horribly mangled, and tend to speed-read (please tell me that's a real word) most things. Also, I don't post very often so I don't have to think how to word posts in English a lot. Perhaps that is why it seems, yet again, rather annoyingly difficult to write this one. I'm too self-conscious, clearly...

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"Son--err," her father said, "I mean... Daughter, I give you your first and only sword. Use it for with skill for great villainy." Nanoisms

Ooh! Homepage - Blog - Geneforge, +2, +3 - My Elfwood Gallery - WannabeCool Forums
So many strange ones around. Don't you think?
Posts: 1308 | Registered: Sunday, September 8 2002 07:00
Master
Member # 1046
Profile Homepage #8
Chinese, although after over a decade in Canada, I can't exactly write in Chinese anymore... >_<;;

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Polaris - Weather balloons, ninjas, and your big daddy Wise Man. What more could you want?
Undead Theories - Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Posts: 3323 | Registered: Thursday, April 25 2002 07:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #9
I voted even though English is my native language. Anyone can improve their style.

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It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem.
Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
Law Bringer
Member # 2984
Profile Homepage #10
Am I really the only non-native speaker on there? O_o

That would be amusing... :D

[ Wednesday, April 20, 2005 16:20: Message edited by: And laid on him undying doom ]

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The Encyclopaedia Ermariana <-- Now a Wiki!
"Polaris leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some strange message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey." --- HP Lovecraft.
"I single Aran out due to his nasty temperament, and his superior intellect." --- SupaNik
Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00
BANNED
Member # 3477
Profile #11
i think it improved. i think...

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Avernum is as addictive as skribbane!!! Withdrawal symptoms are harsh so I just keep playing.
Free skribbane at Wal-mart
Posts: 296 | Registered: Monday, September 22 2003 07:00
Law Bringer
Member # 2984
Profile Homepage #12
quote:
Originally written by Skribbane now. Ask me how.:

i think it improved. i think...
With a name like that you're asking to be sniped. Don't say I didn't warn you.

—Aran, who would like to add that even communists should Capitalize. :P

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The Encyclopaedia Ermariana <-- Now a Wiki!
"Polaris leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some strange message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey." --- HP Lovecraft.
"I single Aran out due to his nasty temperament, and his superior intellect." --- SupaNik
Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00
Infiltrator
Member # 4248
Profile #13
Tottakai!

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Somebody PLEASE turn the heat on.
Posts: 617 | Registered: Tuesday, April 13 2004 07:00
Cartographer
Member # 1851
Profile Homepage #14
Mmm.. ja syyskuussa tulee kolme vuotta täyteen, luonnollisesti.

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"Son--err," her father said, "I mean... Daughter, I give you your first and only sword. Use it for with skill for great villainy." Nanoisms

Ooh! Homepage - Blog - Geneforge, +2, +3 - My Elfwood Gallery - WannabeCool Forums
So many strange ones around. Don't you think?
Posts: 1308 | Registered: Sunday, September 8 2002 07:00
Infiltrator
Member # 4248
Profile #15
quote:
Originally written by PentEle:

Mmm.. ja syyskuussa tulee kolme vuotta täyteen, luonnollisesti.
Luonnollisesti. But should we switch back to english so others can understand us too?

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Somebody PLEASE turn the heat on.
Posts: 617 | Registered: Tuesday, April 13 2004 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 5459
Profile Homepage #16
Mitä turhaan, mitä turhaan...

Spiderweb hasn't really improved my English since I'm fairly new here and don't post that much.

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I have two scenarios. You could rate them, you know?
Backwater Calls, Magus of Cattalon
Get them here
Visit The Lyceum for all your rating needs.
Posts: 211 | Registered: Sunday, January 30 2005 08:00
Shaper
Member # 5450
Profile Homepage #17
quote:
Originally written by Student Of Trinity:


I voted even though English is my native language. Anyone can improve their style.
I agree. Reading anything can help.

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I'll put a Spring in your step.

Polaris
Posts: 2396 | Registered: Saturday, January 29 2005 08:00
Law Bringer
Member # 2984
Profile Homepage #18
quote:
Originally written by Sprung Spring:

quote:
Originally written by Student Of Trinity:


I voted even though English is my native language. Anyone can improve their style.
I agree. Reading anything can help.

It did for me too. The internet has been my best teacher in colloquial English (before that, most of my English was from Tolkien and Shakespeare).

Come to think of it, that might be the reason I talk so... formal?

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The Encyclopaedia Ermariana <-- Now a Wiki!
"Polaris leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some strange message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey." --- HP Lovecraft.
"I single Aran out due to his nasty temperament, and his superior intellect." --- SupaNik
Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00
Agent
Member # 1993
Profile #19
quote:
Originally written by And laid on him undying doom:

Am I really the only non-native speaker on there? O_o

That would be amusing... :D

Oops ... I thought you are a native english person living in Germany. See, thus good is your style.
Then of course I could have put ef on the list too, but in her case I knew she is german.

Wise Man is Chinese? Surprise o_o
It's true that everybody can improve language by reading and using it.
*edits quickly the poll description*

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^ö^ vegetarians are sexy.
Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00
BANNED
Member # 4
Profile Homepage #20
The results of this poll are mirroring the statistics of whoever posted the most. Hmm...
PS- Formally.

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人 た ち を 燃 え る た め に 俺 は か れ ら に 火 を 上 げ る か ら 死 ん だ
Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00
Agent
Member # 1993
Profile #21
I don't think so. If you compare them to that actual listing ...

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^ö^ vegetarians are sexy.
Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00
Law Bringer
Member # 2984
Profile Homepage #22
quote:
Originally written by Le Martyre de la Terreur:

The results of this poll are mirroring the statistics of whoever posted the most. Hmm...
PS- Formally.

A similarity is inevitable, since the candidates on the poll are also almost exactly the top ten posters.

Alec is the only one nominated who is not in the top ten (he goes for quality over quantity ;) ), and BSC, VCH and Toenail are the only ones in the top ten who weren't nominated.

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The Encyclopaedia Ermariana <-- Now a Wiki!
"Polaris leers down from the black vault, winking hideously like an insane watching eye which strives to convey some strange message, yet recalls nothing save that it once had a message to convey." --- HP Lovecraft.
"I single Aran out due to his nasty temperament, and his superior intellect." --- SupaNik
Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00
Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
Profile #23
A native speaker can also lose fluency from exposure to non-standard language. A couple of years in a German environment seem to have permanently scarred my spoken English with a couple of durable Germanicisms -- not from speaking German, of which I did lamentably little, but from unconsciously imitating the English of native German speakers.

For instance, I frequently end sentences with, "..., or?", and begin with them, "I have to say ...". These verbal tics, although unusual and odd-sounding in colloquial English, are arguably not actually improper. But I also usually invert the order of indirect questions, making them like direct questions, which is grammatically wrong. That is, I say things like "I wonder why is this so" instead of the correct "I wonder why this is so".

[ Thursday, April 21, 2005 05:00: Message edited by: Student of Trinity ]

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It is not enough to discover how things seem to seem. We must discover how things really seem.
Posts: 3335 | Registered: Thursday, September 4 2003 07:00
Apprentice
Member # 4001
Profile Homepage #24
Heh...

Make you also use of commas, where they not are needed? :D

That's the most distinguishing give-away I think. Perhaps I'm taken for a native speaker because I don't do this?

Edit: Whoops! What's up with the multiple account posting again? Cookie problems I guess...

[ Thursday, April 21, 2005 05:16: Message edited by: Aran, The Eternally Late ]
Posts: 21 | Registered: Tuesday, February 17 2004 08:00

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