English Flood Land

Haha... so that we can ALSO write randomities in English!

As if there was a piece of ground called "flood land" in both the province of Quebec and the outer English-speaking world! ..or in both France and the UK! Lol!

I agree with Jacinthe... it feels so weird to write in English here... quite odd!

So... the French Flood Land should be called "Le pays du n'importe quoi"??

I watch " Bruce le tout puissant" is really funny and I eat a fettucinie (?)

If you mean fetucini noodles, you should say:

I eat fetucini (without "a") because it's not only one fetucini, unless you just eat one noodle!! loool!! (that would be funny)

edit: is it fetucini or fettucini!?

edit2: OOOhh i just remembered!! i made a mistake
you should say "i AM eatING fettucini" because you are doing it right now. You should say "i AM watchING" Bruce le tout puissant too.
The present tense "i eat"/"i watch" is used when you do the action very often, like a part of your life (i dont know how to explain this better lol)

for exemple

you ALWAYS play violin. you can say: "i play violin" as you say "je joue du violon"

But if you want to say you're playing violin RIGHT NOW, you should say "i am playing violin" . In french, it's like : "je joue du violon en ce moment"

i don't know if i'm a good teacher loool

I'd say the best way to grasp English verbs is not to think about them. In English school, I was never "taught" verbs like French schools do. You just speak, and then you write as you speak - there is no equivalent to a "Bescherelle." We never talk about verb tense, etc - it just makes sense when we say it. If you asked me about first person, second person, or present or past tense in English I would be lost. That's just not how we learn. The approach that was popular when I went through school was the "whole-language" approach. You learn to speak and listen to the language and learn it as a whole. Then you just write how you speak. It comes naturally. That's why I always had trouble learning how to write French - everything is taken apart and you learn piece by piece (verb by verb, rule by rule, etc) - that's why it's so difficult to make a whole after. You have to fit all the pieces together. But when you learn through a "whole-language" approach, it may take you a while, but eventually it all comes naturally.

I see many French kids who are put into an English school who sometimes do not talk for months, even a year. They are not taught word by word or verb by verb, so they do not begin to talk in steps. Often it is very difficult for them and because they are silent we think they are not learning. But then suddenly, one day, they just start talking - and it's amazing because they are talking in a holistic way, as if they know the whole language. I know of a young girl who hated going to school for one year and never spoke in class. She cried everyday, begging her mom not to take her to school. But the next year she flourished, and she is now fluent in English and loves school.

Anyways, that's how I've always seen it work in English schools. I think that the reductionist technique used in French schools to teach the English language is misguided.

Wow, what was the Flood Land suddenly became a very serious conversation about methods of learning. Meh!

Goo-goo-googelidooh! [/flood]

Haha yeah. That's what my teacher always says: just speak it and you'll know which one sounds better. Most of the time when we do exercises in pairs, my friend thinks too much and she explains her point, so I'm sure she's right, but then she isn't and I am. (Not to sound rude but it's just to show that we should really trust our ears more than our logic sometimes).

The only thing that I absolutely hate are prepositions. It bothered me since grade 4 (since I started learning English at school ). How the heck are we supposed to know which one to use? Aaaah. It's the only mistakes I have in my written work.

Speaking of written work, I just remembered that I have one due on Tuesday O_O

What is a preposition??

It's like at, to, of, by, etc.

Yeah, don't prepositions exist in French too? Lol.

... it's weird, because I find it so much easier to write properly without giving a name to all those words and ways of writing and all. I just write things because they make sense, not because such or such rule told me that a particular verb tense should be written this way, and that a preposition should go that way, and all. But I know my English isn't perfect, perhaps because of that.

Same thing for me. I don't know half of the French and English grammar rules I should know. But I wish I knew them. I have an advanced grammar exercice book in English that my teacher made us buy in Cegep, hoping that we would keep it and that it would be useful to us later because it's very good for people that want to pratice by themselves. There are diagnostic tests for each chapter to see whether we need to improve in the topic of the chapter. Then there are grammar explanations, loads of examples, and exercices. I'm always telling myself that I'm going to take some time to practice. But obviously, I never do.

Same here. I teach in English and I don't even remember what a preposition is. I don't worry about the rules, I just use what makes sense.

Oh my god ! You should all come in my room and listen to me when I read your messages in english. It's funny how my voice change. (yeah, I read it out loud ! ) Well...

Arrrggg !! It's soooo disgusting ! I just came back from my uncle's house and my hands stink !! My uncle lives in St-Hyacinthe and he has so many pets. I think he has like 10 dogs outside, plus 10 dogs INSIDE the house, and almost 30 cats inside the house too (but in some cages and special rooms). I spent like an hour in the cats room... I looooove cats... but my god, its stink ! (He also has some mini-horse and one big female horse... but I don't consider it like pets... haha)

P.s. *sigh* my first message in english... hope it's not that bad !

^ Not bad at all

I just came back from my uncle's as well, but he doesn't have as many pets as yours: only 2 dogs and a cat.


Prepositions do exist in French too, though I always mix them with pronouns, déterminants, coordonnants and subordonnants. I have something in my grammar notes that say "prepositions are used to link a word to another", but that never really helped (maybe because I never remember). But Roxanne's right: at, to, of, by, etc.
But I know that it's sometimes not that simple (it never is ), because there are also some locutions prépositives, and that's so confusing.

And to say I'm going to have to teach that stuff. Hehe.

In French, I've always mixed up prépositions and conjonctions. Do conjonctions exist in English? What are they anyway? (lol)

And MUHAHAHA for your stinking hands, Chlowave! I agree that dogs do stink, but my kittens have an adorably smelly belly.

Conjonctions de coordination (coordonnants) : mais, ou, et, donc, car, ni, or, etc. They are used to unite two independent propositions in one sentence.
Ex.: J'ai faim, mais il n'y a rien à manger.
-> « J'ai faim » and « il n'y a rien à manger » are two independant propositions in the same sentence.
Conjonctions de subordination (subordonnants) : qui, que, quoi, dont, où, etc. They are used to add subordonnées to a sentence.
Ex.: Le repas que j'ai préparé était excellent.
-> Le repas était excellent is the principal proposition. "que j'ai préparé" is a subordonnée relative déterminative de « repas ».
There are tons and tons of types of subordonnées; that's what I'm studying in my grammar course... To recognise them and analyse them. It's very hard, I'm telling you. Sometimes a 12-word sentence can have 4 subordonnées, it's crazy.

But mainly, conjonctions are used to link together two sentences (subject+verb), whereas prepositions are used to link together two words.

I won't go too far with prepositions because as I've said, I have a lot of trouble with them and I don't want to write things that are wrong

To continue in the subject of the smell of animals...

I went to my aunt's house and she has a new dog.

IT'S THE DOG I ALWAYS DREAMT OF (okay... i never dreamt to have a dog, because in fact, i don't like dogs that much... but IF i would've dreamt about one, it would be like MAYA) She is sooooooooo cuute!! It's a teckel. So i't a very small dog, but not those UGLY SMALL DOGS with long hair. It's like a chien saucisse (lol) but not saucisse... (re-lol) SO IT'S CUTE. PLUS, she doesn't bark, doesn't lick, doesn't bite, AND she makes her besoins (loool) in a litter. AND she's very sweet and LOVES to be in people's arms. I WANT A DOG LIKE THIS. Other dogs = beurk. Maya = perfect dog.

http://openphoto.net/volumes/lrech/20061013/openphotonet_sofia_.jpg
http://www.dogsindepth.com/hound_dog_breeds/images/dachshund_h02.jpg
(THIS but CUTER)

*va se la fermer avec son monologue sur le chien de ma tante*

And i went to my mother's house after and she has a cat.

SO:

SUBWAY SMELL
+
DOG SMELL
+
CIGARETTE SMELL (my aunt smokes a bit)
+
CAT SMELL
=
ARK

I was happy yo take a shower when i returned home.

Thorgalson a écrit:

In French, I've always mixed up prépositions and conjonctions.

It's exactly what Marie-Ève was saying !! I mean, in french, we absolutly don't care if this or that is a preposition or whatever, we just USE them. So for someone like her, who has a great knowledge of english language I think, it's easy and she doesn't have to think about it.

Hihi, little story about it. An english friend told me one day that, in his french class, he learned (is learn a regular verb ?!)... so he learned by heart wich auxiliary ("avoir" or "être") to use with wich verb. It's so funny for us !! I imagine a little book of exercices...

J'ai mangé une pomme ou je suis mangé une pomme... weiiirrddd !

...*s'incruste* [it's said with an english, accent, i swear! 8D]
....but i don't read all the tread, i'm too lazy, ahah

Yeyyy another place where i could practise my english 8D ahahahh *run around*

sry :3

LOL! "Ssincruhst!"

English has always been "instinctual" for me more than anything like for many of you. That's why I have difficulties explaining English grammar to my little sister.
The worst decision I've took in regards to my learning of English has been to skip my English class of "secondaire 3". Since my grades had been high like a couple of classmates, they made us pass an examen (both written and oral) to see if we were good enough to skip "secondaire 3".
The result of that has been that the whole "passive form" (the -ed you add at the end of verb) has been difficult for me to assimilate since it has been explained in-depth in that English class I've skipped.

Oh well... I think I'm not that bad, although I'm rusty, both in writing and speaking since I rarely use English at work anymore So if you see mistakes, please let me know so I can whip my English back in shape lol.

It's funny (or not, depends on the point of view), but, when I talk, many words or idioms come in English first and I sometime have a hard time trying to find the French equivalent; like the word "stalker" or "addiction".

Ponctuation is another thing that is confusing for me in English. I remember learning all about it in Cegep and at the university, but, somehow, the rules have slowly dissappeared from my mind. I'll need to hit the books again I think

Sorry if my post has been long. I needed to practice a little.

I should try to write a fanfic in English or something lol.

Have a nice weekend everyone xxx

Yes... PONCTUATION!! i'm so mêlée with that, lol. Because sometimes i think you can't put comas (!?? what is virgule!?) in english at the same place as in french...

Do we put it before "but"!??? like in french?!?

Isn't it Punctuation? Lol... And yes, a virgule is a comma.

I don't think you have to put before "but" like in French, but I guess you can, if it fits. No?

I think you are right Germain, it is Punctuation lol... My bad

BTW (by the way), here is a website I found about punctuation. I haven't really looked at it, but it seems interesting.

http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/punct.html

I fall my writing exam but is not a tragedy because is ( compte) just for 2%

I read(ing)(not sure) harry potter 7 in english is a little difficult, but is ok I understand a majority of words('s)(?)