http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ An area for general discussions about the English language. Any non-language discussions should be conducted in the General Members Discussions area. en Fri, 24 May 2013 14:55:38 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/images/misc/rss.png http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/ http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/191165-language-underpin-our-society.html Wed, 22 May 2013 08:49:35 GMT I was wondering whether all users of language on this forum agree with the following statement.

'Language is the social underpin of our society, responsible for every action that takes place.'


It's more of a general curiosity, stemming from a recent discussion I had in regards to the many different literacy practices used in society. ]]> General Language Discussions HanibalII http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/191165-language-underpin-our-society.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/191156-compulsory-demand-computer-skills.html Wed, 22 May 2013 02:40:24 GMT I think i should follow some following questions:
1. What are compulsory demand for computer skills ?
2. Why are these skills important?
3. What should a person do to get there skills?

But what's detail ? Please give me some example ! Thank you ]]> General Language Discussions chelsea92 http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/191156-compulsory-demand-computer-skills.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/191029-english-test.html Sat, 18 May 2013 10:46:23 GMT Hello guys, I would like some volunteers to help me with a research project. I need people who started learning English at the age of 13 or later. All you have to do is take a test consisting of 10 tasks. Here is the link: English test.doc... Hello guys,
I would like some volunteers to help me with a research project. I need people who started learning English at the age of 13 or later. All you have to do is take a test consisting of 10 tasks.
Here is the link: English test.doc (click 'pobierz ten plik' to download). When you are done, PM me with your answers. ]]> General Language Discussions Ola2705 http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/191029-english-test.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190862-clarrification-correct-usage.html Tue, 14 May 2013 04:22:58 GMT Appropriate use of "which" and "That" will make a difference in English. Cud someone help me out to bring clarity in differntiating between using these two words with suitable examples/situations? ]]> General Language Discussions Rameshsundar http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190862-clarrification-correct-usage.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190726-whats-term-windy-blast-font-has-wind-blasted-effect-onomatopoeia.html Sat, 11 May 2013 19:15:09 GMT Hello Any help would be much appreciated.:-D Is there a term for fonts that contain the character, quality or persona of the word, is it Onomatopoeia? for example: *URGENT* LEANING Hello

Any help would be much appreciated.:-D

Is there a term for fonts that contain the character, quality or persona of the word, is it Onomatopoeia? for example:

URGENT

LEANING

very very small

W I N D B L A S T

ORANGES ]]> General Language Discussions ditoploom http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190726-whats-term-windy-blast-font-has-wind-blasted-effect-onomatopoeia.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190327-doctor.html Sat, 04 May 2013 15:13:48 GMT please help me. which one correct. 1: My friend asked me to get the temperature checked from the doctor. 2: My friend asked me to get the temperature checked by the doctor. please help me out in these sentences. please help me. which one correct.

1: My friend asked me to get the temperature checked from the doctor.

2: My friend asked me to get the temperature checked by the doctor.

please help me out in these sentences. ]]> General Language Discussions xeeshan57 http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190327-doctor.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190269-ize-vs-ise-again.html Fri, 03 May 2013 19:35:22 GMT Hi all,

I know this may have been discussed before but I did search the forums and couldn't find an answer for my question:

Is the 'ise' variant dying?

I would like to start by saying I do not want to raise dispute between speakers of English, nor do I mean one English is more correct than the other. In fact, and unfortunately, I use both, and that has become a 'problem' for me, not to say a bit of a nightmare. From time to time I have to write formal documents and I tend to mix both 'Englishes', which is not acceptable. So every time I have to compose something, I need to carefully proofread the entire document with the help of a word processor, but even with help, some words here and there get lost between those differences (ise vs ize, -rol vs -roll, 'in' vs 'on' etc). And the reason I am raising this question is that even the British dictionaries prefer the 'ize' variant while I do not (no disrespect intended :up:). It is really hard for me to migrate to AmE (or any other similar, Australian, Canadian etc) because most words I can spell are in British English.

So, I would like your thoughts on this.;-)

Thank you.

Offroad ]]> General Language Discussions Offroad http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190269-ize-vs-ise-again.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190147-use-word-make.html Wed, 01 May 2013 14:41:15 GMT Hi, I have just joined this forum and this is my first post.

So I am wondering about a particular use of the word 'make', when the word is used to mean the expression of building/ creating/ producing something to/ for someone.

Say,

"I made him an omelet"

means

"I prepared an omelet for him"

Right?

So if I say,

"We make them (people) furniture"

Does it really mean "we build furniture for them"? Is it correct? Good English?
Or does it mean "we turn them (people) into furniture"?

Thanks! ]]> General Language Discussions dider http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190147-use-word-make.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190140-politeness-english.html Wed, 01 May 2013 11:34:56 GMT Hi everybody,

For my study I'm very much interested in different (cultural) perceptions of politeness.
What is polite in one culture, can be impolite in another. How do we perceive second language learners of English that are not familiar with the (cultural) norms and values, and therefore differ in their formulation of politeness from native speakers.

Therefore, I'm doing cross-cultural research on politeness in English.
I would very much appreciate it if you could find the time to fill out the questionnaire.
The questionnaire will take approximately 5-10 minutes.

Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen

Thanks in advance ]]> General Language Discussions K1ara http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/190140-politeness-english.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/189954-invalid-form-cast-something-certain-light.html Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:30:06 GMT You can cast, throw (?), shed something in a certain light. It can be positive, negative and many more things, apparently including "ironic". Would you go with sarcastic? I said something was thrown in a sarcastic light, in view of certain constrastive, problematic data. It wasn't a brilliant expression, for sure, but I think it expressed something. But apparently the corrector didn't think so. Do you think it is tolerable even if it's a little awkward, or what is supposedly so terrible about it?
Certain statitics in an argument may cast a certain position in a certain light, which would make one sarcastic about the position... That "light" is not literal and the expression "in a sarcastic light" would only be used for its simplicity rather than its beauty. I don't stand by the necessity to use it, but I see no reason to be smug about the error. ]]> General Language Discussions matt234 http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/189954-invalid-form-cast-something-certain-light.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/189914-2-verbs-same-sentence.html Sun, 28 Apr 2013 04:06:23 GMT I'm really not understand what the situation for 2 verbs that can be used in a 1 sentence .

As the below example I found form a book :

Violet made a face when all she saw inside was a funny-looking piece of paper.

( Violet opened the present and found a piece of paper inside)

Why the 'saw' & 'was' appeared in the same sentence as the verbs ?

Thanks ]]> General Language Discussions Kelagaga http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/189914-2-verbs-same-sentence.html http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/189896-what-do-you-call-kind-restaurants.html Sat, 27 Apr 2013 16:17:06 GMT Hi.

There are some restaurants that you pay a fixed fee/money at entrance and then you are free to have everything as much as you like! Literally translated, we call them "open-menu restaurants". What do people call it in UK and US?

Thanks in advance. ]]> General Language Discussions itecompro http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/general-language-discussions/189896-what-do-you-call-kind-restaurants.html