Help me to learn English Like a native

[Johro]

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

English doesn't even have a grammatical gender.

True, but I never really had problems with genders. I guess it's something else to learn, but once you get the hang of them, words just look "right". Maybe that's just me, I have a pretty good memory. It's really the fluidity of the spoken sentences that is the hardest in English I suppose. You could have two synonyms, but one is never used in a particular sentence and there is no way to know that but practise(a lot of languages are similar, but boy do we love our synonyms). I work with a dude who's native French, but has spoken fluent English for 15 years.... and every now and then there's still a slip.

[cursosenvalladolid]

You can learn English online, I think http://www.idiomaswatson.com/ this will help you to learn English.

[Andorxor]

You can play Hidden-Object games,to learn lots of nouns

[flesk]

Originally Posted by Andorxor

You can play Hidden-Object games,to learn lots of nouns

And they'll make you want to learn lots of profanities.

[N7.]

When should we use of this sentence ? "We have been down this road before"
I know what is mean of this sentence, I just would to know when should we use such a sentence like this ?

[WarpSpeed]

It means someone is suggesting to do something that has already been tried, and has not been successful in the past. It could be in business or in a relationship. (Sometimes sports announcers use it, too.)

A business example: In the past year, two social media companies, Zynga and Facebook, have "gone public" (meaning they issued stock for public trading for the first time). In both cases, the value of the stock has gone way down since it was issued. Say some third social media company has an idea to go public now. We've been down that road before.

Relationship example: A man and a woman have two children, but the man and the woman fight a lot. The woman wants to stop fighting and suggests to the man that having another child might bring them closer together. The man could say, "We've been down that road before," meaning it didn't work the last two times. Everyone else would just scream "NO!" at them.

[N7.]

Originally Posted by WarpSpeed

It means someone is suggesting to do something that has already been tried, and has not been successful in the past. It could be in business or in a relationship. (Sometimes sports announcers use it, too.)

A business example: In the past year, two social media companies, Zynga and Facebook, have "gone public" (meaning they issued stock for public trading for the first time). In both cases, the value of the stock has gone way down since it was issued. Say some third social media company has an idea to go public now. We've been down that road before.

Relationship example: A man and a woman have two children, but the man and the woman fight a lot. The woman wants to stop fighting and suggests to the man that having another child might bring them closer together. The man could say, "We've been down that road before," meaning it didn't work the last two times. Everyone else would just scream "NO!" at them.

Thanks a lot, it was a complete description
I have two more questions

first:
What is mean of sidelines ? for example she's staying on the sidelines

second:
When should we use "pieced together" ?
for example "Have you pieced together how should we do that ?"
I mean when people use this
is it general ?

[WarpSpeed]

Sidelines comes from sports. Some sports are played on a field, where the lines at the top and bottom are goal lines, and the lines on the side are sidelines. They are called different things in different sports, but you get the idea. The people playing the game are in the field. Someone standing on the sidelines is watching the game but not playing it. That can be made more general, so for example, someone who is reading this message but never posts on this forum could be said to be reading from the sidelines.

Pieced together is like a puzzle, where you have to put pieces together to finish the puzzle. It just means you need to work to figure out the solution.

[Chyron8472]

Originally Posted by N7.

Thanks a lot, it was a complete description
I have two more questions

first:
What is mean of sidelines ? for example she's staying on the sidelines

It's a reference to sporting events.

Many sports use a field, and the edges of the field are usually marked by lines. The sidelines refer to the lines which run from one goal to the other; while goal lines are the lines on either edge of the field which is nearest to either goal. "Staying (or sitting) on the sidelines" refers to watching the game without actually being a part of playing it.



This, in common (non-sports-related) usage, means to deliberately not get involved in a situation more than to just watch what is happening.

second:
When should we use "pieced together" ?
for example "Have you pieced together how should we do that ?"

When you think "pieced together", think of something you have to fix, like a jigsaw puzzle:

So, "piecing (something) together" basically means solving a problem by looking at the different things involved in the problem and figuring out how they fit together.

[N7.]

I really appreciate both of you, I think I'll never forget mean of this word "Sidelines"
thanks

I'll come back with more questions

[N7.]

Hi again, I have some more questions

1: What is mean of "surged" ?
for example "they surged through the relays and hit Arcturus station"
this sentence is from Mass Effect3

2: What is mean of "I'm flattered" ?

3: In this sentence what's mean of "principle"?(it's the larger principle that matters
)

4: what's mean of "I'll hammer them " ?
for example "I'll hammer them with every soldier, ship, and bullet we've got"
it's from ME3 too

5: What does mean bold section in the bottom sentence ?
How long can we keep that up ?

6: What does mean blod section in the bottom sentence ?
I'm buying us time, keeping us in the game while you gather what we need for this Prothean device
this sentence is from ME3 too

7: and finally what is mean of "So keep at it" ?

thanks a lot

[Darth Marsden]

1) Surged. There's several meanings to the word, but in this case, it would mean that a very large group of 'them' passed through the relays very quickly.

2) I'm Flattered. If you flatter someone, you compliment them - for example, I could say that you wanting to learn more about English shows you are eager and willing to learn. That would be praise / flattery. Saying "I'm flattered" means that you accept the praise and appreciate it.

3) Principle. "It's the larger principle that matters." Hmm. Not sure.
I'd need more context to explain this one. Can someone else help?

4) I'll Hammer Them. In this case, it would mean that they will attack with every soldier, ship and bullet they've got. When you use a hammer, you smash it against something (usually a nail) with great force. 'Hammer Them' is another way of saying Smash Them, or Attack Them.

5) Keep That Up. 'How long can we keep that up' is another way of saying 'how long can we keep doing this'.

6) Keeping Us In The Game. It's another way of saying 'buying us time'. To keep yourself in the game, you need to do things to extend the amount of time you remain in the competition, even if they aren't positive things. You simply do them to prolong the experience.

Say we have a conversation that is supposed to last 5 minutes. But you want to keep it going, so you start talking about, say, Doctor Who. Because I like Doctor Who, I will keep talking for much longer than I intended to. By bringing up Doctor Who, you 'kept yourself in the game', with the game being the current situation - in this case, the conversation.

7) Keep At It. 'Keep doing what you are currently doing'.

Mass Effect 3 is a very wordy game. You're going to be asking us for a help a lot if you're playing it!
(Not that we mind helping you, of course. Just warning you!)

[N7.]

Thanks alot it was really helpful

[Darth Marsden]

Happy to help.

[Alcoremortis]

A principle is generally some truth or founding thought that is the basis for other actions. An example would be some sort of rule that you use to govern your behavior, like never telling a lie.

So in the case of "larger principle that matters" you'd be referring to a commonly held founding idea that is more important than the other ideas that have been presented in the conversation.

[Iryon]

Note on grammar:

Originally Posted by N7.

What is mean of ...

is incorrect.

More correct would be "What does ... mean" or "What is the meaning of ..."

The word 'mean' can be a verb (to mean), a noun (the mean) or an adjective (mean) which are used very differently and have largely varying meanings.

The word 'meaning' is the correct noun to the verb 'to mean' when referring to what a word means.

(Could any of you native speakers please be so kind and make this a bit more understandable? Because reading my post I just realised that I don't understand what I mean here ...)

[Alcoremortis]

Honestly, Iryon, you did a better job that I could have. Maybe even the majority of English speakers here (not counting those who have studied the language in detail). It's often hard for native speakers to talk about grammar because we often don't think about why we use certain words or why we order them a certain way.

For N7's benefit, saying "What is the mean of..." actually means something quite different than "What is the meaning of..." We automatically assumed you meant the latter because of context. Asking the "mean of something" generally means that you wish to know the average value of that thing.

[N7.]

Thanks
Honestly I'm embarrassed to ask more questions, because some of you answering my questions very carefully and because of that It's hard for me to ask more questions

The only thing that I have is just questions and more questions
if it's Ok I would like to ask more questions

[Darth Marsden]

Don't be embarrassed! You won't learn if you don't ask, and we're happy to help. Ask away!

[N7.]

Now what I want know is that what's the difference between this three words ?

abhor
abhorrence
abhorrent