Come all who have troubles and problems with the English language, and ask them here in this thread.
Oxford comma: yea or nay?
Which of these is correct? KHAN'D KHAN'ED
>>57453345
Yea, I just think it sound better with the pause.
How do I get better at pronouncing
>>57453401
Khan'd, the extra E is unneeded.
>>57453345
Yes. Use it.
Is it center or centre?
how do i cut my dick
?
>>57453401
it would actually be Khaned,,, if you really wanted to be grammatically correct
>>57453466
center=middle of something
centre=shopping place
right?
>>57453466
centre
>>57453466
center is AmE
centre is BrE
>>57453492
center isn't a word
>mfw I see an American write theatre
>mfw practically every American now writes theatre for some reason
Where can I find a dictionary of abbreviations such as: tfw, idk, etc?
>>57453551
a parenting book about ten years from now
>>57453551
http://www.urbandictionary.com/
>>57453430
1. Watch TV w/ subtitles.
2. Pause and pick a good line.
3. Say line into recorder.
4. Play back recording.
5. Compare to TV, adjust for better sound, re-record, listen again.
6. Do this a little bit everyday for months.
Speech is a muscle memory activity. You have to train your vocal cord muscles like you would train yourself to type or play an instrument.
Something based on training your muscles with immediate feedback on how you're doing would be the best and fastest way to improve.
>>57453535
yes it is, but im assuming you meant centre cause thats always in red when I type.
its always used here though.
>>57453551
urbandictionary.com
Only use it as a reference for something you've actually seen on other sites. Most of the definitions posted there are made up by 13-year-old pranksters and are not actually used by most people.
>>57453588
>yes it is
proxy off hank
>>57453615
>hank
is that a hank hill?
why would anyone proxy as UAE anyway
>>57453586
Thanks.
>Something based on training your muscles with immediate feedback on how you're doing would be the best and fastest way to improve.
might try gaming with voice chat, thats always fun...
>>57453128
Well I don't understand too much phonetics, but, how do you pronounce a word that have never heard before?
>>57453694
guess, that's what the rest of us do
>>57453694
Look in a dictionary for it. It should have the pronunciation with the definition. Or sound it out, but that doesn't work well with some words.
>>57453694
Sound it out?
You can use dictionary.com to look up a word and play the pronunciation to check.
>>57453692
>gaming with voice chat
I don't think this will be helpful, because you won't be able to pause, listen to what you said, or compare it carefully to how native speakers say it. It would be like trying to teach yourself to type with your computer monitor turned off. You won't know when you've made mistakes.
I got another tip too... Since making specific sounds is a muscle memory activity, you should start slow. Don't try to say words at full speed. Say words slowly, and only go faster once you have mastered it at a slow speed. Again, it's just like learning to type or learning an instrument.
>>57453694
Learn IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) or some other similar system. Then look up how that word is spelled in IPA.
>>57453796
>>57453810
>>57453814
Thank you!
>>57453936
Thanks. I always thought my english was perfect/10 but when I listened to a vocaroo my dreams were crushed.
I'll record using that and compare it to native speakers' pronunciation, thank you.
>>57454026
protip: nobody cares how you pronounce shit as long as we can tell what you're saying. we may be perfidious but we're not autistic like the fr*nch
>>57453694
>how do you pronounce a word that have never heard before?
Look up an unfamiliar word in a dictionary software or a dictionary site, good ones have audio pronunciation. Use it.
Avoid British ones so you don't end up sounding like a fag.
>>57453997
>Learn IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet)
Are you serious?
>>57453694
howjsay.com
>>57454105
? It's an option. I would recommend it over listening to dictionary pronunciations.
What's wrong with it?
>>57453128
You forgot to add that Brits aren't needed.
>>57454230
>americans running the thread
>foreigners ask for help with english
>americans fuck them over for life
not on my watch
>>57454161
Yea it's a dumb option. You're learning a second alphabet to pronounce a word and you might still fuck it up vs just pressing an audio icon.
>>57453345
Yea, even though I grew up being told not to use it.
>>57453489
>implying there's a "grammatically correct" form of English spelling
>>57453492
No, see >>57453507
>>57453551
>>57454349
>I'm too dumb to utilise IPA
>>57453997
It's useful to know basic and common IPA symbols but some of the distinctions made there are so fine that you'll just end up confusing yourself and getting lost in the clusterfuck. It's better to learn to associate specific sounds with the writing system of the target language.
>>57454619
>utilise IPA
You have autism.
Pronunciation Test. Post vocaroo results.
"Thanes thoracify thistles by thinking in sixths."
American Pronunciation:
http://vocaroo.com/i/s1KGQJ6g4WT8
I can't pronounce "work" and "walk", "wrong" and "long" in distinguish
>>57454777
See
>>57454751
For ways to pronounce things. I'll make a Pronunciation test for you.
How do I write in passive voice? For instance,
1. Pull this down from the top
2. Use this metal to melt that plastic
3. Cut the ruler into half
How can these be converted to passive voice?
>>57454777
Try the recording the sentence:
"He works, talks, and stalks the wrong fox for long cock locks."
Post vocaroo results.
>>57454729
There is nothing wrong with chronic autism.
>>57454751
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0OLImKUPc7V
did I pass
>>57455031
Yes, by Alabama standards.
>>57454751
>sixths
Literally the only word I can't pronounce properly.
>>57454983
>>57454777
American Pronunciation: http://vocaroo.com/i/s11oK9YhtuOt
>>57454937
Those are imperative so I believe you can't use the passive voice without slightly changing the meaning.
>>57455067
Post vocaroo
>>57454349
You're the one with autism. Just look up how the word is spelled in IPA, then use the many available resources to check how each IPA letter is pronounced.
Dictionary pronunciations are worse because they say the word at full speed and slur all the parts together. It's not helpful.
When I am trying to learn to play a song on guitar by ear. You know what I do first? I slow the track down, and I do it for the same reasons.
>>57455147
No can do, I'm out now, so I'm posting from mobile
>>57454937
1. Ideally, this would be pulled down from the top, and the person pulling it would be the strong, black gentleman who impregnated my wife's daughter with his virile seed.
2. etc.
3. etc.
>>57455067
I can do it when I'm not thinking about it. If I am thinking about it, I can't do it at all.
>>57455067
it comes out kinda like siksthts
>>57455308
I get that, but I can't get my tongue to go between ks and th properly and quickly enough not to sound awkward.
>>57454937
Passive/active voice doesn't apply to those sentences.
Active: He walks to the store.
Passive: He is walking to the store.
Passive: The girl was kissed by John.
Active: John kissed the girl.
Seems like passive voice makes use of linking verbs (was, is, etc).
>>57455354
ah yeah I guess that would be the hard part for people who speak languages without th. If it makes you feel any better I'm pretty sure this is the hardest common English word to pronounce as far as consonant clusters go.
>>57454937
"Be" is typically used and "get" colloquially. Your example sentences are in the imperative and a direct conversion to passive would involve giving commands to inanimate objects which makes no sense. You might say
>This should be pulled down from the top
Or
>This gets pulled down from the top
Depending on the intended meaning here.
>>57455407
>Active: He walks to the store.
>Passive: He is walking to the store.
those are just two different tenses faggot. Passive would be "The store is walked to by him," but it doesn't really make any sense.
>>57455431
>the hard part for people who speak languages without th
Problem is it's my native/home language, so I don't really have an excuse. Though I usually just ignore it since you don't need to say "sixth" all the time.
>>57455354
Practice saying sixths by first repeating sixth over and over again.
Next once you have the th part at the end down, during the part where your tongue touches your front teeth, start making the ssss sound as.you normally would. If you do that enough you'll get the hang of it.
Tip: the faster you say it the easier it is. As a native speaker, saying sixths slowly is really difficult.
>>57455493
Yeah maybe the slowness is the problem. I'm a native speaker too but that word stumps me, maybe it's just because I overthink it and do it slowly.
>>57455407
This
>>57455148
Learning IPA is impractical.
I don't know what you're talking about. Dictionaries pronounce words fine.
You're rambling about guitars, you're autistic.
>>57455570
Yeah 99% of the time people understand what your saying. When Americans say it in the native tongue it sounds more like "sick ths" with a pause in between the sounds or "six ths". Either way it's an awkward sound to make.
