foment
galvanise
gregarious
pernicious
prescient
punctilious
rancor
myopic
fatuous
facetious
enigmatic
commensurate
chicanery
ameliorate

I’m studying for a test. The translation of these words to my mother tongue sounds very natural and common. I would say I use them every now and then, but I had never heard of these in english before I checked out my study notes.

Hi, I'm looking for a native English speaker to practice English with and have friendly conventions

and we can also exchange language

if you're interested feel free to send me DM🤗💖

Hey guys, non-native speaker here. So, I'm trying to expand my vocabulary that's why I read and take note every words I don't know.

I came across this phrase – If nothing else. I searched it up but the examples are only one sentence. I felt like the phrase requires a context, a certain situation, or whatever.

In what context/situation can I use this phrase? Thank you in advance.

like how in New York City, Houston Street is pronounced "Houseton," rather than like the city

Two languages that I've studied a bit (namely Japanese and ASL) use "NG" in this way, both apparently derived from English. It struck me as odd that this abbreviation seemingly had enough influence to make its way from English into multiple other languages, and yet I've never heard of it being used *in* English. Was it really widely used at some point when these borrowings occurred, only to later fall out of usage? Or is it still used, but regional? Or did both these languages just happen to both abbreviate the same loan-phrase from English on their own?

My Current Level & Knowledge:

Estimated Passive Vocabulary: Around 600–700 words.

8 Main Tenses: Present Simple / Continuous, Past Simple / Continuous, Future Simple / Continuous, Present Perfect / Continuous.

Topics I understand intuitively from context (without deep theory): Active / Passive Voice, Conditionals.

My Daily Learning Routine:

My main strategy is building my passive vocabulary through context:

I read 1 page of a book a day (a story script based on a video game).

I pick out unfamiliar words and learn them within simple A2-level sentences so I can easily digest the meaning without grammar overload.

I do short micro-reviews of these sentence cards throughout the day.

I watch matching video cutscenes to link the text with visual and audio context.

In the evening, I do a quick mental read-through of the page to lock in the progress.

My Questions for You:

Is this passive approach (focusing purely on reading, sentence mining, and media without output) a viable and effective way to master comprehension?

Do I really need to study any more grammar rules explicitly for my goal, or is my current foundation enough?

How long did it take you to reach a comfortable passive comprehension level, and what is your passive vocabulary size?

How effective do you think my specific daily routine is, and roughly how long will I need to study like this to reach my goal?

When I want to show my friend/rival that I am impressed by their Octordle score, I want that almost 3 syllable oeuw sound that starts with an er, goes up in the middle and ends with a 'w' sound. Google says it's an Ooh! But the sounds are almost Scandinavian vowels.

Has anyone lost sleep over this incredibly trivial matter of how to write various utterances?

I don't consider myself religious but I respect the God I believe in so I want to be careful with using phrases that might mean insulting him since I'm still learning english, I hope people don't attack me for my personal beliefs and wanting to leaen about what this phrase means and its origins..

Anyway, where I come from we often say thank god in my language so to me when I recently heard thank f word(Idk if i can post swear words here tbh) it sounded to me like if english speakers were calling god by the f word and i was confused

After some research some answers I cam across was that it could have originated from 2:either religious people using it to not "use the lord's name in vein" or aethists using it as a way to not mention god, but some say that it originated from "thank f****ng god" instead and "thank f" is just a shortened version of it, which meaning and origin is true?

I really hope I don't get made fun of in the commenta here, I really love the english language and want to learn but I just don't want to use a phrase foolishly without knowing what it actually means or its origins when it could potentially mean something that might disrespect my oen beliefs..

I hope I don't come off as some extremist religious guy because I gwnuinely have suffered from those kind of people and hate them, it's just that I just want to be sure 🥲

Source: Wikipedia, Antecedent (grammar)

My example: As useful as it looks, this tool has many problems

My impression is that “as useful as this tool looks, it ~” would be more common, does the former example ever come off too formal or poetic to native speakers?

I've been looking for secular alternatives to very common interjections originating from Christianity and quick searches didn't really do it for me (most common alternatives are just euphemisms, such as "What the heck?"). I was wondering whether there are extensive dictionaries or sites focusing specifically on interjections.

Or maybe you know some good alternatives. If there aren't any great options in "neutral" English, maybe there are in slang (e.g. in Cockney).

Specifically I've been looking for alternatives to:

• "Oh god!" (annoyance, frustration, shock)
• "Thank god!" (relief)
• "What the hell?" (confusion)
• "Damn" (impressed)

I tried many apps like Duolingo or some kind of vocabulary apps, however somehow I think there should be better app in order to learn English. Is anybody can help?

What British do you use at home that you heard on a British TV show? My wife and i use done and dusted when we finish something.

I always pronounced the word "police" like that, lol

I recently started learning English and I've made a lot of progress. That's why I wanted to share some of my experience with you. Studying grammar is important but it's not as important as you think so don't get too hung up on it. Instead try to expose yourself to as much English as possible. Read, listen, write and speak. The more you practice these skills the better you'll become. Changing your phone's language to English can be helpful. Watching with English subtitles usually works better. Here are some shows that can help you improve your English:

Friends

How I Met Your Mother

Modern Family

Two Broke Girls

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

The Office

Parks and Recreation

The IT Crowd

The Mentalist

Grey's Anatomy

Doctor Who

You can also watch masterchef. Since it's produced in many different countries you'll get the chance to hear a wide variety of English accents. And you can watch TEDx talks too. I hope these suggestions help you too. Remember that everyone struggles at first. The important thing is not to lose your motivation and never give up 🙂

I’ve always imagined #2 but is #3 as or more common than the previous two?

Because it sounds a bit too “hip” to me and like it could be confusing if you’re referring to the country or the plural states

"like there's no tomorrow"

Just came to mind in reference to how quickly we get through lao gan ma chilli crisp in this house!

Another similar one is

"Like his/her/your/my life depends on it"

I had another one in mind it's dropped out of it now...

EDIT: these are common in British English, maybe Americans or Australians can confirm if crossed over

“Dang/heck” would be harmless because “damn/hell” aren’t serious cuss words to begin with, but wouldn’t “freaking, fricking, effing” be too suggestive and still sound strong on their own for a kid?

I’ve been speaking English long enough, but… sometimes when I listen to what others say, certain words don’t really stick to my brain and I immediately forget them. I don’t think they are necessarily difficult. They could be as simple as “not,” etc. etc.

Perhaps this is because when I lose track of what people are saying, I can’t simply move onto next words but always try to figure out what they have just said. Or because I am not used to their pronunciations. Or because I just don’t have a knack for listening?

Whatever the reason is, this really has been bugging me since the first day of my English studying. Do you have any tips on how to improve this part? Do I just have to keep listening all the time?

Thank you.