Does Spiderweb improve your English?
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| Author | Topic: Does Spiderweb improve your English? |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 1249
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written Thursday, April 21 2005 05:58
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My english has become quicker and better but maybe a little less formal and more American. I can't say who has influenced it the most. My native language is Finnish. I got an "L" (means an "A") in English from my matriculation exam, which is difficult in Finland and was a nice coincidence. Since the exam I must have forgotten some things. Posts: 259 | Registered: Saturday, June 1 2002 07:00 |
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Shaper
Member # 5437
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written Thursday, April 21 2005 07:10
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I would say being here has improved my English to some degree. I don't typically speak as I write, well I suppose in some ways I do. My mother is an English major, and still I have fairly improper English. I seem to have inherited a similar writing voice nonetheless. -------------------- Nena Posts: 2032 | Registered: Wednesday, January 26 2005 08:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 4592
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written Thursday, April 21 2005 09:47
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Trinity and Aran: couldn't agree more. In the commas department, since I come from a non-English background, and that background is commas/clauses heavy I tend to use way too much of both. I had a similar experience to Trinity. Even though I've been living the last few years in the same country that sprouted me (literally the Earth just puked me, long story), I cam here with ten good solid years of English speaking (grammar still sucked. It has always sucked.), and living here plus working as an ESL teacher (I know, I can pull out that kind of job in this country, not in many others), has started to affect me. One of the things they like to do here, which still hasn't permeated my English communication is "for to something," instead of "to something." (i.e. "I went to the supermarket to get something for to eat." or "I need some money for to buy a candy"), and there are other examples. (oh, and let's not even get into my abuse of parenthesis, which, unfortunately, I can't blame any language for. That's just me and me alone. Another good reason why Mr. Shaitan has a nice warm little cul-de-sac waiting for me in Hell.) -------------------- quote:Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga) Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00 |
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Guardian
Member # 3521
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written Thursday, April 21 2005 11:01
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Reading posts on Spiderweb has almost certainly improved my vocabulary, but as my grammar has always been excellent I see no major change there. Of course I still write in overly long sentences and abuse adjectives constantly, but those mannerisms are due to a flowery writing style I find myself unable to change. Although I am a native speaker, I still find myself occasionally making pronunciation errors while speaking. These errors are likely the result of a childhood spent with my parents, immigrants who are sometimes guilty of major pronunciation errors. [ Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:08: Message edited by: This Glass Is Half Stugie ] -------------------- Stughalf "Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed."- The Bhagavad Gita. Posts: 1798 | Registered: Sunday, October 5 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Thursday, April 21 2005 11:53
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Commas trip up native English speakers (or writers, as it were) too. I know I'm probably guilty, but there really isn't any good concensus among the literati as to what constitutes proper comma use and what doesn't. One day the linguistic partisans will rise up against each other and blood shall run like semicolons in the streets. As far as pronunciation goes, and this observation is general rather than Spiderweb-related, I've found that there are many words that appear almost exclusively in writing. Improving your vocabulary by reading can also result in some funny pronunciation. —Alorael, who will again state that he is always amazed by the non-native English speakers on Spiderweb. He is impressed by their fluency when compared to the foreign language skills of the stupid Americans. Gringos speak languages. Dead. Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Thursday, April 21 2005 12:03
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quote:Any other shocking news? :P -------------------- 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 |
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Apprentice
Member # 5549
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written Thursday, April 21 2005 17:14
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quote:donde vives? yo soy de chile Posts: 28 | Registered: Saturday, February 26 2005 08:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 4592
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written Thursday, April 21 2005 19:58
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StelarBoy: Venezuela (my dear, beloved, adored and revered President was just visited by Mr. Ricardo Lagos the other day to, once again, give away at a penny or two a part of our land (which by the way, you shouldn't take as a criticism of Chile (I love that country!) but as an observation of how mi Presidente has once again acted like a madam who opens the door to the rather exclusive and expensive brothel and announces that all the employees are working for free, or the quotas have been greatly diminished, or you can simply pay as you see fit over an extended period of time (emphasis on extended). but it should be remembered that it is all done for the benefit of the entire Latin American community and the betterment of the world in general (whatever energy agreements the two Presidents signed, not the brothel thing)) Sorry. Will stop the political comments. StelarBoy: there's another Chilean here in the boards, he pops up from time to time. His name here, if I'm not mistaken, is Kel-Aziz (sp). An Argentinian (Ogre, haven't seen him in ages) and a Peruvian. At least as far as I know. I'm probably missing a few other latin american luminaries. Alo: don't worry, Gringos will be speaking Spanish in no time at all. We're a plague that can't be stopped. Who knows, in a quarter of a century or so Spanglish can be another language. -------------------- quote:Random Jack Vance Quote Manual Generator Apparatus (Cugel's Saga) Posts: 604 | Registered: Sunday, June 20 2004 07:00 |
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BANNED
Member # 4
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written Thursday, April 21 2005 20:26
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Arancaytar and Alorael beating Alec and me is disturbing. Arancaytar and Alorael beating Thuryl is travesty. -------------------- 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 |
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...b10010b...
Member # 869
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written Friday, April 22 2005 03:01
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Perhaps these days I no longer have the patience to teach. Wouldn't surprise me. -------------------- My BoE Page Bandwagons are fun! Roots Hunted! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 5549
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written Friday, April 22 2005 15:17
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quote:Would you give me your MSN or email by PM? I think it would be nice to talk with you :) Posts: 28 | Registered: Saturday, February 26 2005 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Friday, April 22 2005 15:46
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quote:Do I write that much worse than you or Alec? -------------------- 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 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Friday, April 22 2005 15:55
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"For to" instead of "to" has been quite correct in some English dialects, though to me it has a strong archaic flavor now. You still get it in some old folksongs, for instance. Semicolons totally rule: I frequently make unnecessary compound sentences, just for their sake. The only punctuation mark better than a semicolon is a colon used in the same way; the only thing better than a colon in a compound sentence is two or more colons used that way in the same sentence. Thomas Carlyle could pull it off every few pages, proving his absolute supremacy in English prose style: Huah! -------------------- 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 |
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Shaper
Member # 73
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written Friday, April 22 2005 16:16
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I agree that semicolons are awesome; however, you are horribly misusing the colon. I think semicolons are much cooler than colons.  -------------------- The Lyceum - The Headquarters of the Blades designing community The Louvre - The Blades of Avernum graphics database Alexandria - The Blades of Exile Scenario database BoE Webring - Self explanatory Polaris - Free porn here Odd Todd - Fun for the unemployed (and everyone else too) Famous Last Words - A local pop-punk band They Might Be Giants - Four websites for one of the greatest bands in existance -------------------- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Posts: 2957 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00 |
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Infiltrator
Member # 1220
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written Friday, April 22 2005 16:20
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Well, If anyone remembers back when I was a young newbie my posts looked like this. hi im her and my names David. So I would have to say that Spiderweb has significantly helped me. Oh and on a side note I'm back. Well for a while atleast. Posts: 484 | Registered: Monday, May 27 2002 07:00 |
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Guardian
Member # 3521
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written Friday, April 22 2005 16:41
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Welcome back, Dolney. -------------------- Stughalf "Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed."- The Bhagavad Gita. Posts: 1798 | Registered: Sunday, October 5 2003 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 335
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written Friday, April 22 2005 20:28
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Some lead by example, some lead by correction, and some lead by volume. There's room for all kinds of learning experiences. —Alorael, who has found his fondness for more exotic punctuation to be much less than it once was. There was a time when he would have used semicolons liberally; alas, such days have ended. There is a reason: the full stop has a charm all its own. And nothing beats unnecessary emphasis on nonstandard sentences! Especially not excessive emphasis after a fragment!!! Posts: 14579 | Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 4214
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written Friday, April 22 2005 23:05
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quote:Yes, the results of this poll are clearly untrustworthy. Posts: 356 | Registered: Tuesday, April 6 2004 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
Member # 2984
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written Friday, April 22 2005 23:12
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I can see that my lapses (brought on mostly by extreme tiredness) could be somewhat detrimental, but Alorael, at least, has paramount grammar. I really don't know what you're talking about. Or is your confusion caused by Thuryl's low turnout more than Alorael's and my high one? -------------------- 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 |
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Guardian
Member # 2476
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written Saturday, April 23 2005 00:21
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I learned a lot. Still do. When I joined, Alec, Drakey, Alorael, X were among those most frequently participating in discussions, so I learned from them. -------------------- Polaris Posts: 1828 | Registered: Saturday, January 11 2003 08:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 4214
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written Saturday, April 23 2005 05:50
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quote:No. Only Thuryl's low score makes me sceptical. Posts: 356 | Registered: Tuesday, April 6 2004 07:00 |
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Electric Sheep One
Member # 3431
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written Saturday, April 23 2005 14:34
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The first sentence of the preface to The Book of Common Prayer: the acme of English prose style, as of 1549, when men were men, and colons were everywhere: quote: -------------------- 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 |
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Apprentice
Member # 5750
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written Monday, April 25 2005 05:51
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Oui, mon anglais s'est effectivement amélioré. Mon français n'est pas encore atteint. Posts: 31 | Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00 |
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