Please correct me if I made a mistake in my English

[wongwingwing]

First of all, I’m very sorry that this is a personal question that has nothing to do with any of the forums.

I am an international student studying in a boarding school in the uk. I was telling one of my classmates today that "Seeing your accomplishments makes me feel happier than getting good grades on my assignments." My classmate did not respond. And I was wondering if I had said something wrong. I know it sounds silly, but I'm worried that i said something offensive to her and make her think that I’m bragging. Because my intention was not to brag... What I meant was, " It makes me feel happier than if I received a good grade once in a while."

Because English is not my first language, and I still have a long way to go. Therefore I'm not sure if I said something that I shouldn’t say... but if I did, I would like to apologise to her.

If someone could tell me if I made a mistake in that sentence and how I could say it better next time, that would be great. I apologise for my poor English and asking some personal questions here; I couldn't think of a better place and who to ask. Also, thank you so much for responding to me!

 

[tedmc]

Seeing your accomplishments makes me feel happier than getting good grades on for my assignments.

I think it is not so much your English as what you said being unnatural, exaggerated and somewhat pretentious. Did you really mean it? How could one be happier about other people's achievements than their own? Why make the comparison? I think it is out of place. I would say something like "I am really happy about what you have achieved. Well done!".

Other than that, your English is reasonably good I would say.

 

[Tarheel]

I don't know your relationship with that person. (Apparently, you are classmates.) However, she might have been confused. Try being a little more straightforward. Perhaps:

Congratulations! You did a great job on XYZ! Way to go!

I can't guarantee you'll get the desired response.

(Don't forget to capitalize UK.)

 

[jutfrank]

There are a thousand possible reasons why she didn't respond but I promise you it wasn't to do with your choice of English grammar or vocabulary.

 

[emsr2d2]

Is your classmate a native English speaker? If not, it could simply be that she didn't understand what you said. There's certainly nothing grammatically wrong with what you said but it was rather convoluted. If you'd said "It makes me really happy when you do well - even happier than when I do well!"
I don't agree with tedmc's assertion that it's unlikely that someone would be happier about someone else's achievements than their own. There are plenty of very selfless people out there.

 

[5jj]

My feelings are similar to ted's on this occasion. Most British teenagers I have encountered would find being approached with the words "Seeing your accomplishments makes me feel happier than getting good grades on my assignments" from a relative stranger rather creepy.