6 Ways English is Bloody Difficult and What to Do About It

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eepurl.com/izRKww At the beginning English seems to be a pretty easy language but anyone who has studied it to an advanced level knows that it gets difficult, bloody difficult. In this way we look at 6 ways English is hard and try and find some solutions.
00:00 Uncountable nouns
01:41 How difficult is English?
02:48 Pronunciation and spelling
06:32 A BIG vocabulary
08:34 Four English registers and YOU
13:33 Imprecision and satellite framing
15:00 Phrasal verbs
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[@exs3574]

If I can give you a piece of advice - please never ever stop doing what you're doing. Your videos are so informative, very helpful and most importantly - very entertaining. Great to see you again Gideon 👍

[@manfredneilmann4305]

Totally agree with your comment!

[@christinabarrett]

I second that, twice...🤔 I agree w both of you✌🏾😁👍🏾

[@RicoBurghFan]

I would say "If I can give some advice" but that doesn't take away from your your excellent comment!

[@joshuawestlund]

You make this frustrating, problematic, beautiful and enchanting language feel fun. What a gifted, soulful and intuitive teacher you are.

[@douglasboyle6544]

As a lifelong native English speaker, it amazes (and infuriates) me when you make a video pointing out these odd eccentricities of English that I've never noticed and will now never forget and never not be angry at how stupid they are. Keep up the great work.

[@ismaelcaliz2705]

Could I say? I'll give You advice about....

[@josephcote6120]

@@ismaelcaliz2705 That doesn't sound natural. It partially depends on whether the person you're talking to has asked for advice or is just telling you about a situation. (American here.) "Something something. What would you do?" "My advice is ...." "... and then this other thing happened." "May I give you some advice?" (wait for yes or no) Can also be different if you are in charge of a person in some way, the boss or their parent, or a teacher. Then you don't have to ask. You can just say, "Here is my advice. ...."

[@-A-c]

Now I empathize with non-english speakers attempting to learn our world dominating language that much more

[@nolijninja4199]

I've recently started teaching English in Costa Rica, both to native Spanish speakers and English speaking children. The kids mostly struggle with the spelling. I eventually stopped apologizing for our language and now refer them to your videos to explain the fascinating logic underlying the apparent nonsense. For the Spanish speakers, I find it difficult to explain "it". In Costa Rica, everything has sex. For English speakers, hardly anything does. How do you explain? I'm open to suggestions.

[@RobBCactive]

When you coach English it really starts to strike you how natural intuitive English features are hard to explain. Then you discover all the categories of adjective ordering which I never needed to consider learning foreign languages.

[@sazji]

The things that make a language difficult or easy depend so heavily on the first language of the learner. Countables versus uncountables, mass nouns, abstract nouns, even what a particular tense conveys. But yes, English is definitely a language that appears easy when you start, and becomes maddening when you get into the details!

[@shibolinemress8913]

German speaker here. German verbs can have different meanings as well. My favourite example is "einstellen", which can mean "to adjust" (such as settings in an app or a dial on a machine), "to hire" (an employee) or "to suspend" (as in a service or a bus/tramline).

[@Ascagon]

Einstellen literally is the opposite of “put off”. 😉

[@Lily_The_Pink972]

Thank goodness I'm a native English speaker. I've never found it difficult at all!! In fact I love all its oddities and eccentricities!

[@danielmedtull6817]

I am so incredibly happy that I got the chance to learn English as a Norwegian. English is a simple, yet complex language. The earlier one starts to learn it, the lesser of a hard time you get later on in life. I have also been lucky to find some decent British friends that for many years has helped me with pronunciation. English is a fun language! Thank you for this channel, it helps me even further with all the advanced stuff!

[@pennypiper7382]

Especially when doing cryptic crosswords.😊

[@tracyfrazier7440]

FYI, “lesser” means smaller in size or importance, but not in difficulty. It wouldn’t be used in your sentence. I guess you would say, “the easier it is for you later on in life.” Fits in with Gideon’s lesson doesn’t it? And, your British friends “have” helped you. Friends is plural and requires the plural have. The corrections just struck me as I was reading your fine comment. Cheers!

[@Sauvageonne]

It's so amazing how you manage to spot all those unwritten rules or unwritten exceptions to (un)written rules! All the more so because English is your mother tongue, the language you learned to speak without having to analyse it.

[@leokot7228]

I've learnt and spoken English since childhood (non-native), now I'm 30 already, but phrasal verbs still blow my mind most of the time!

[@silke5057]

Prepositions all the way! I am a German native speaker and 50% we use the same preposition in a specific context like in English, constant struggle for me. Good point to learn them as vocabulary. Besides, you confirm that English gets anspruchsvoll beyond the intermediate level. Thanks for your videos, very enjoyable.

[@ilona101]

What a great topic Gideon! Would you mind to make more lessons about formal vs informal language please? I've noticed that many non english natives may sound a little rude/disrespectful to the english natives because of more direct speech and/or not using formal language. 😘😘😘

[@LetThemTalkTV]

A great suggestion

[@riggz7290]

@@LetThemTalkTV Yes please, it could be very useful

[@felaperez6480]

Interesting session. Keep at it, please... 🙂

[@orangie8426]

This isn't something that could be taught easily. Because in English there is no such thing as "formal" and "informal".. It's just English.. The confusion foreigners may develop is when they hear people speak using slangs and improper language which is incorrect and should not be used. Such as.. I ain't got it.. Or, CAN i go to the bathroom. It's... MAY i go to the bathroom... YES? Unless you have a medical ailment, you CAN GO to the bathroom... I am most certain you could physically go and use the toilet.....sure... Lol.. But that is not the question you truly are asking.. You want to know if you are allowed to use the bathroom.. So the correct question should be, May i.. not, can I The point is there aren't two forms of the English language... You should speak with correct english.. not anything else..

[@halamish1]

@@orangie8426 I think Americans would say can and not may in this context

[@brucewayne05]

Thank you Mister Giddeon, I ´m learning a lot off with your lessons, please don´t stop teach ever. You are right iniatially it seems the english language easy, but with the practice, it becomes more and more complicated. thank you very much again, for your valuable help.

[@angrycentrifugebobby7131]

Excellent video, thank you. As an entry level (basic) English teacher in Germany, I find teaching tenses to be the most difficult. In German, we provide context and chronological details by simply adding more words (adverbs, usually). In English, sentences tend to be a bit shorter, but you have to be very precise when choosing a tense. Also, in German we do not have an equivalent to the progressive variants. It is very overwhelming for most students even though it's said that German speakers should have an easy time learning English. I often refer to your videos and I'm very glad for having them!

[@juliocesarborda2394]

Excellent explanation. Congratulations. Paraphrasing Socrates: "I only know that I know nothing"... but I'll never give up and carrying on learning...

[@LetThemTalkTV]

A great quote. Thanks

[@nHans]

A fascinating quote indeed, coming from the logician Socrates. Fascinating because it's paradoxical! That's the exact kind of self-referential, paradoxical statement that Russel, Turing, Gödel and others have based their lives' work on! It's the exact opposite of what Descartes would (hypothetically) argue: _Even if I know nothing else, I know that much at least. So I definitely know something._ It's what protects grandfathers from being murdered by their _time-traveling_ grandchildren.

[@nHans]

​@@David-vq1zg Indeed.

[@ericbolton9512]

"A bit", or "some" are common for me. "I would just like some information." "I am looking for a bit of information."

[@dakotajohnson1655]

This channel is very underrated for the amazing content this man provides ❤️

[@marielawrence6100]

*Your videos are always the best do receive a notification each time you post a new video.. We'll have regrets for things we did not participate in...Investment should always be on any creative man's heart for success in life.*

[@vladimirpanov8672]

The most useful video of them all, Gideon, and with a deep academic touch, thanks a lot! My Russian students tend to ignore phrasals almost completely if left unattended. Everyone uses "I wake up / get up" and that's bloody it.

[@randalmayeux8880]

I'm very happy that English is my first language. I'm quite good at it, and have never stopped learning more about it, and I'm 67 years old. Having an extensive vocabulary enables me to communicate effectively with a wide variety of people, for after all we must not lose sight of the fact that making oneself understood is the most important thing. When writing it enables me switch to a synonym when I'm not sure of the spelling of a word.

[@skiegazer1953]

Love all your videos! I learned English in the U.S. as a second language in the early 80's. I don't think I will ever know the expanse of the English vocabulary, yet it's always fun to learn new words. Thanks for making these videos!

[@janetmackinnon3411]

As always, full of insight and good advice! Thank you.

[@gr8wings]

Thank you Gideon, your lessons are so interesting ! Making us understand the fundamental principles on which English is based and its distinctive characteristics, it helps us a lot in learning, it helps us to "think" and structure our thinking in English. Thanks !

[@jcrnda]

Thank you for contributing to a wealth of knowledge, it is helping those who are passionate about learning English! I started in my twenties and English was my first foreign language although it had to take a back seat for a decade while I learned and used Spanish for work. And then a third language. Recently I was amused by the Grammarly app reporting that I had used more vocabulary than 86% of its English language users. While I was much more advanced in Spanish and I'm confident that Grammarly could have calculated 99% proficiency, I can't imagine living a day without English. And I keep learning, thanks to you and other enthusiasts. Your work is greatly appreciated!

[@polloncombinaguai74]

This is definitely one of the most useful lessons I've ever watched. Since I'm italian, I often use words similar to my language - tipically the ones from latin, I guess - that may sound posh to a native speaker. Wow, I've found your channel just a few days ago and I already love it!

[@ihavenoname6724]

Thank you, we all learn so much through your videos. I just recently realized that "fruit" too is an uncountable noun. I used to say "Do you want a fruit?" all the time 😂 (I'm a native French speaker, therefore "Tu veux un fruit?" is super-intuitive to me). Anyway, baby steps, I guess. As far as phrasal verbs are concerned I've resorted to using Anki decks to memorize them, I've written the decks myself (I used a very good book), took me a lot of time and effort to make the decks. I've never used Anki before, so I have no idea whether it's an efficient way to study or not, many learners swear by it though.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Thanks for your comment. Fruit can be countable when you're talking about different types of fruit

[@user-jo7hd1hw3d]

In my opinion, as a learner of the English language, the abundance of vocabulary and its constant renewal because English has become the language of science, so learning vocabulary is difficult and the other thing is dictation because it is not dependent on the sound.

[@GoGreen1977]

The word "some" comes in really handy instead of "pieces" or "items." For example, "Can you give me some advice?"

[@pedropabloguijarrogarcia2575]

I completely agree with you. Phrasals verbs are the strongest problem for non natives speakers of English. I have the same problem with the "trennbare verben" in German. But any way is fun... and bloody.

[@HolgerJakobs]

The "trennbare Verben" in German exist similarly in English. "I gave up learning maths." becomes "I gave it up." when replacing the object by a pronoun. In German even the proper noun is said between the two parts of the verb.

[@frenchimp]

When I started learning German, I believed that trennbare Verben were similar to English phrasal verbs, but I eventually concluded that this idea was very misleading: they function in a totally different way. I remember I realized that when confronted with the sentence 'Pass auf meine Tochter auf'... I had a hard time accepting that you could have two 'aufs' in that sentence... aufpassen is really one verb, whereas take in or pull up are, well, phrasal verbs... idiomatic phrases which function as verbs.

[@andraceliabarbu5882]

I am an English teacher and it is very frustrating for me to have found your channel so late 😂 I feel like I need to go back in time 😮😢

[@mahindasiriwardena7404]

Very useful pieces of advice on becoming more familiar with phrasal verbs and other things. I learnt the use of 'stay mellow' from you.

[@HongNguyen-ve6wx]

Thank you so much for an excellent video. I've learned a lot from your videos in general and this one in specific. You are the best English teacher I have ever met. Keep up the good work!

[@ScotClose]

One thing I have noticed with non native English speakers is the subtle difference between little and a little. They literally mean the same thing, but the implication is frequently opposite.

[@nHans]

You mean, *native* English speakers distinguish between _"little"_ versus *_"a_*_ little."_ Non-native speakers may not always appreciate the opposite connotations of those two usages. Same with _"few"_ versus *_"a_*_ few."_

[@ScotClose]

@@nHans You’re right, that’s the example I was trying to think of. I have few reasons to trust my memory.

[@nHans]

​@@ScotClose Now, now, don't get despondent. I'm sure you can think of a few! 😜

[@paulbradbury4174]

It's not just subtle. 'She was little concerned' and 'She was a little concerned' are almost completely different.

[@douglaswilkinson5700]

Tried to define "to get" for a Swedish friend. I am so happy I'm a native speaker.

[@pakisa365]

Great content! Love your videos they are very helpful. 🙏🏼❤️

[@magorzatagrodzka5420]

Incredibly useful! I'm particularly interested in English advanced vocabulary of French origins. I would love to see a separate video about it :) Many thanks for your work :)

[@yasser6588]

Thanks for the lesson..

[@maricristinacastel]

Thanks a lot! Your kindness is really appreciate it.

[@evaddicted3224]

Nice video again and jolly useful too. The more I learn the more I realise how little I know about the English language. Even though I work for one of the largest banks in the UK and I speak 7 hours a day with customers over the phone I still have so much to learn and it does not get easier. But keep learning, there is no lift, you have got to take the stairs.

[@jormamaattanen3048]

Superb! Things you always wanted to know about the English language, but which were never taught you in school...

[@pennypiper7382]

It’s the clarity and moderate speed of any language that makes it either pleasant or unpleasant to learn , imo. Gideon makes it very pleasant.😊

[@soundscape26]

Great video Gideon. Full of tips and tricks to fine tune the English language.

[@thienkimnguyen1260]

Thanks for the lesson! One of the most difficult thing in English is preposition imho. I just can’t get them right. I quite like phrasal verbs though, i think it’s interesting how the meanings change just by adding prepositions.

[@hei7586]

That thing about defined registers in detail is quite new to me. Very illuminating!

[@IAmSweetPea]

Brilliant, etymologies and grammar advice……. This is my jam!

[@tarabarbarez7495]

Thank you! ❤️

[@rafaeduleal]

Thank you for all, teacher!

[@SpadajSpadaj]

Fun fact - in polish we also have more and less formal or rather "sophisticated" ways of saying things but the formal/informal verbs have not exactly 100% exactly the same settings. And it shows when someone tries hard to "sound clever" but doesn't have the skills. The typical mistake is wrong use of "posiadać" (which translates to "to possess" and only applies to objects) instead of "mieć" (which is a slightly more general "to have"). So people tend to say that someone - translating literarily "possesses skills" or "possesses kids". Another case of "faux clever" speach is when someone's whole sentence is relatively simple but single word (usually a verb or an adjective) is substituted with a "smarter sounding" one. Which in context of whole sentence being relatively unsophisticated produces a very humoristic effect.

[@chrst7346]

Gideon, I just love your very approachable methods of reflecting on the (English) language - so informative, yet you‘ll spend a jolly good time while watching your content though! And in this special video even more so - I wasn‘t put off at all, but my internal Ta-Daah-that’s-fun-alarm went off, when you showed off right after having had talked very much about French problèmes with pronunciation, that there will be always four fingers showing towards yourself, when fingerpointing on others… (German proverb)… Maybe this was even meant to be on purpose, still made me smile (in a compassionate and positive way) hearing your English tongue still struggle with the pronunciation of French U and OU in „tu et vous“ after having spent years in Paris… 😅 Cheers

[@DakotaCelt1]

The dual meanings and context for students learning English when their native languages are from parts of Asia or AFrica. Thanks for the insightful videos!

[@rushelm8101]

Excellent! Great communicator.

[@jameshitselberger5845]

Absolutely correct!

[@rafaelnavarro5583]

Outstanding, as usual 👌🏽

[@laurajamil8943]

Your videos are by far my favourites!

[@lucillvanzyl1864]

This is wonderful! I am enjoying the heck out of it!

[@robertdegroot8302]

One thing that should be included in this list is the enormous quantity of irregular verbs in English. In Spanish there are maybe 10 verbs that conjugate irregularly in past tense and perfect tense. In English it's hundreds, and there is not too much consistency among them. For example: cry - cried - cried, fly - flew - flown, buy - bought - bought.

[@billybill6604]

Outstanding pieces of information diclosed here. You are a Master, Gideon. To top it all up, your vids make me feel happy. Thank you so much! Warm regards

[@LetThemTalkTV]

You are too kind. Thanks for your comment.

[@infocan-immsolutions4753]

Love your videos...please keep up the good work.

[@huibert_geldrop48]

The most difficult thing about English for me: the tenses: I say, I am saying, I will say, will be saying, would have been saying and a hundred other possibilities. This system is even more complicated than, say, French ( Il parlait, Il parla, Il a parlé, il parlera, il parlerait) or Bulgarian (imperfect, perfect, aorist etc.).

[@sue6347]

I love your videos. The most difficult is everything. I have been learning English for over ten years and I still struggle to reach that level of accuracy and fluency that a native speaker has. By the way, I love your accent. Thank your for your videos, they are enlightening and enriching. My piece of advice would be to be consistent and patient with your learning and do not beat yourself for making mistakes.

[@soundscape26]

Judging by this comment your English level is more than ok. As for the native-like fluency, this channel also has a video about that and how you should not strive for it.

[@Woodman-Spare-that-tree]

Your English is very good but do you know what gave you away as a foreigner? Your sentence, “The most difficult is everything”, which is meaningless. Sorry! 😉. I don’t know about in the USA, but in Britain, if an Englishman says to you, “Let me give you some advice”, it means he wants to help you, but when an Englishman says, “Let me give you a piece of advice”, it means he is very angry - and you should probably leave now, before he hits you.

[@manjirabanerjee7169]

Sir, thanks for this immensely useful lesson .Would you be so kind to consider doing a lesson on ' irregular plurals' ?Much obliged.

[@boranelif]

I can’t find any appropriate adjective to praise your impeccable approach in teaching English! Have I just found one!? But again “impeccable” would not be enough! Thanks a heap teacher! 💝

[@Viky.A.V.]

Thank You, that was really informative. I think many things about English are difficult for me, I wouldn't chose one or two, but thanks to people like you I'm able to make many small and steady steps every day toward knowing more =)

[@k.chriscaldwell4141]

I’m an ESL teacher on the university level. Phrasal verbs are a minefield. So much so that I occasionally get confused teaching them. The split forms are the worst.

[@emilioruiz2059]

In my view, number 4, English registers are the trickiest part to master. I love your videos about it.

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Thanks. I plan to make another video just on this subject.

[@GoGreen1977]

As a native American English speaker, I'd say we don't worry 😉 too much about the first "register" too often these days.

[@emilioruiz2059]

​@@GoGreen1977 In my view, learning a foreign language is like seeing an upside-down picture: you know what you see, but it's hard to recognize things. I like this lesson because it goes into the very essence of the language.

[@lucias1276]

Why? Not for me🤔

[@matheussantosrs]

First time here and already loved the channel. by the way, your pronounciation is amazing.

[@arshadshafaei6032]

As you mentioned exactly spelling and pronuncition of English words stand at the top of difficulties and then phrasal werbs plus idioms can be included in this category respectively.

[@Eddi.M.]

Thanks, Gideon, yet again a very interesting video! For me, the subject of registers of formality was most interesting and I find it quite difficult to apply, I must admit. But now that you brought this to my attention, I will have a closer look at this. A related topic: The way how British and other Anglo Saxons always address everyone as friends or by the first name, even if you haven't met before, appears most suspicious if not unsettling for me and especially the Americans with their frequent offers of social interaction (just come to me, you'll have a place to stay; let's have a beer together; I'll give you a call etc.) which is just a way of friendly talking and not meant seriously in most cases, is very confusing for the more straight and serious German in me. I'd call that being excessively informal and I will suggest that English speaking business people have a disadvantage if they cannot adjust. (Nowadays, this way of informal talking is more and more copied by German business people, though, which really puts me off!) Phrasal verbs, on the contrary, are not a biggie, as my mother tongue seems to make this a fundamental principle of our language. Would you reckon this coming from Old English, which is the link between English and German?

[@MarkPMus]

I’m British and I don’t think we’ll ever get the level of formality correctly balanced. If you find old BBC News broadcasts from the 70s & 80s you’ll find a level of formality that can make the presenters seem very unapproachable. As a child at that time, of course we called our teachers Mr, Miss or Mrs. But also adults we knew in a formal setting were always Mr etc… and adult friends of the family were Aunty or Uncle, even if they weren’t related! Nowadays children seem to forget the aunty/uncle even for relatives. I also find it a tad confusing all this, “let’s go for a drink sometime” stuff. People don’t want to seem unfriendly (let’s have a drink) but neither do they particularly want to have the drink, so they put it on the never never, by adding “sometime”. It’s so unnecessary. And don’t get me started about formal business speak, where I’ll be addressed by my first name, and then spoken to in the most grammatically incorrect, stiff sounding language! “Is everything all right for yourself, Mark?” And on YT, “If you DID enjoy this video, then smash that like and subscribe.” The first clause is a very clumsy attempt at formality (but did enjoy is very archaic), the second clause is grammatically incorrect (“that” is singular but there are 2 buttons) and I don’t really want to smash anything. So it’s a really awkward mix of formal and informal. What’s wrong with sounding modern but friendly and polite? “If you enjoyed this video, please click the like and subscribe buttons.” I could carry on, but I’d never finish. It’s all so confusing because as Gideon says, in English, there is no specific vocabulary for formal/informal, only registers, which are dependant to a large extent on the social abilities of the speaker, and we frequently get it wrong.

[@cathygillies7271]

As a lifelong English speaker (I'm nearly 70), I learned something new -- informal and formal us of 'you'. Never realized this existed!

[@mch2241]

Thank you for that video.

[@Santoshlv426]

Can we have an audio version of all these videos. These are so educational even for a native English speaker that one can gain value as listening as a lecture

[@Daniel-tm9fg]

Lots of interesting insights and observations and as it's all explained in an interesting and funny way, it sinks in.

[@albertruppert1191]

You have just encouraged me to comment, why English is difficult for me. Well, I acknowledge that sometimes infinitives give me a hard time. There are so many ways to use them. Combined with nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verbs they can act like an infinitive clauses and object ect. revealing quite a lot of information. I usually stick to the relative clause when I write or speak.

[@MarkPMus]

As a native English speaker, and retired primary school teacher, I’m soooo glad I never had to teach half of this! However it’s all very interesting and I watch and am fascinated by loads of your videos. There is a but, though, and I’ve made this comment before elsewhere, the captioning on the videos lets the side down somewhat. For example in this video there were two examples where you clearly meant, “please”, but someone had actually written, “pleases”. There was a “you” that was meant to be “your”. Many sentences lacked basic punctuation, even full-stops. You are a far more knowledgeable person than I am in the field of grammar, and I don’t in any way want to diminish your expertise, just PLEASE get someone to proof-read the captions! Thanks for reading.

[@josephcote6120]

I believe it as an AI that captions it based on the speech. Minor mistakes can be expected. Far fewer outrageous bloopers than there used to be.

[@jockmoron]

@@josephcote6120 Correct. There are often some very amusing mis-dictations!

[@sirtorndr]

These are some of my favorite videos! You have a gift. Even so, I was hoping to use this one in my classroom, but dropping the f-bomb (at about 5:08) takes that off the table.

[@ilhambakhti1345]

Thank you thank you thank you so much

[@melstiller8561]

Hold on a minute... Why hadn't I seen your videos before tonight? But I should be able to watch them going forward. I've subscribed! 👍

[@sebastianardila7263]

i use the all the things ive learned from you when im teaching english, as a matter of fact, in spanish we have just ine sound per vowel, so people tend to pronunciate english words with spanish vowels sound.

[@thetirelesscrusader4745]

I am learning a lot from your videos. Thanks

[@lutchbizin6420]

Teaching a foreign language like English is an arduous task because there are so many fields to cover at the same time! Sth I find fascinating is the way languages ascribe meaning to their vocab words. In Portuguese, for instance, the verb 'conhecer', to know, is used in a way that makes English speakers confused. So a Portuguese speaker will ask: Do you know England when they means Have you been to England? They will say: Yes, I know Ann when they mean to say I've met Ann. They will say 'I painted my house over the weekend' when they mean to say 'I had my house painted'.

[@isabelatence7035]

Gideon, long awaited this video, your advice made me calm down, natives first learn verb phrases informally as children, then go to school, I will use the easiest ones, then grow more, I loved it today, stay mellow Gideon 🌞

[@LetThemTalkTV]

Yes, one step at a time. Glad you liked it. Stay mellow.

[@isabelatence7035]

@@LetThemTalkTV ❤️

[@a.p.kybalion5167]

You are the best really!

[@minookalantari]

Thank you

[@penelopeyoung4453]

I'm a native English speaker and have never even thought about a lot of this! English is fascinating but very idiomatic it seems to me.

[@ulhrick]

Such as great channel. Salute from Peru SouthAmerica

[@torbreww]

As a native speaker of English, I don’t relate to the discussion of formal versus informal. There may be different language customs across the English speaking world, but in my country the difference between formal and informal comes mostly from a respectful or relaxed tone of voice. At least that’s my perception.

[@TheMDJ2000]

Very interesting! I am a native English speaker and was for a while a teacher of ESL to adult migrants in Australia (I have since returned to my other profession of Engineering). I remember two things in particular being difficult to teach: past perfect and tag endings. To this day I don't believe my class of mostly Vietnamese women understood past perfect at all after my efforts, which probably says as much about my teaching skills as it does about the difficulties people from some backgrounds can have with past perfect. Tag endings are especially hard for everyone since, as I understand it; almost no language has the complexity in tag endings that English does (except I think Welsh, from memory - in fact there is a theory that our complex tag endings may have come from a Celtic source).

[@lucias1276]

Celtic?

[@danielpincus221]

Luv this guy.

[@kampai71]

In Polish we have also this you formal, as "pan", and informal "ty".Hence the verb in Polish "tykać" meaning to touch someone with informal "you"... For instance "Nie waż się tykać mego ojca. Mów per pan", don't you dare saying "you" to my father. Say "sir"

[@lumavis9294]

That video was amazing.👏🏻

[@LetThemTalkTV]

You are amazing

[@antongromek4180]

What a great teacher👌 I'm a fan since I saw your Trans Atlantic Accent vid.

[@marilu8763]

Muy buenas tardes.EXELENTE video. Nueva suscrita en su canal muchas GRACIAS.👍

[@saphorr]

Yes you can't use a singular indefinite article with "information", but you don't have to always say "piece" or "item"; just say "some".

[@jacekskrzymowski6715]

While talking about phrasal verbs, it is a bit of fun when you call PREpositions the little words that come POST a verb. There is some history beyond - in dark ages prepositions could stay before (and sometimes after) both a verb and a noun. Later on, those verbal prepositions tended to be more glued to the verb in some languages. And now, when in English the verbal preposition comes post the verb (go out), in German it became a prefix in certain forms (ausgehen) and postposition in other (geh aus!), while in Polish it was always a prefix (WYjdzie).

[@tommunyon2874]

I argued with an instructor about how I identified the parts of this sentence: "He reveled in the sabbatical calm." Because of the context of the rest of the paragraph (and my suspecting a trick question) I said that sabbatical was the noun, and that calm was the adjective, since the context was more given to poetic form. The instructor said it was the other way around, thus depriving me of a perfect score.

[@alanwilson175]

One challenge is the indirect or passive sentence construction. When a speaker strings together several verbs to be indirect. For example - I think I could have gone there, or I wish I would have thought of that. In a formal sentence these would be separated by some word like “that”, such as - I wish that I would have possibly thought of it. The extra words sound more formal, but they are also too cumbersome for most speakers to use in conversation. Another challenge is “tech speak” when a series of nouns is strung together to convey a precise, but obscure concept. For example: the Einstein black hole theory of gravitation was explained in 1915. This is often expressed with a series of abbreviations. For example: the IMO regulates GMDSS devices for SOLAS conditions.

[@TheRagingPlatypus]

Wait versus wait up can also denote urgency. If you say wait rather than wait up to a friend it means it's important.

[@joans2002]

You briefly mentioned how some English words are not pronounced as they are spelled. Teaching multi-sensory phonics-based English literacy was difficult until I meshed several techniques along with my own. I use correct phonics, syllable, homonym, roots, and grammar rules. Phonics can be utilized both to spell and pronounce words. For example, people know that friend is said frend, with a short e, but wonder about the rule, “When two vowels go walking, the first does the talking.” I amended the rule to say “the first USUALLY does the talking.” This word is not following the usual vowel rule because e is doing its main (short) sound. The student just needs to remember that the 2-vowel partnership is only partially functioning. Also, he can THINK and visualize something that helps him spell the word correctly, such as “fri-end.” The more a person converses and reads, the better mnemonics will function. As a foundation, one needs to know that 10 letters make or help make more than one sound and 16 make one, with a few being silent, usually with their own sub-rules. My program requires a small binder of colorful rule charts, which are the tools to read almost any word in an unabridged, English dictionary…rather than trying to memorize them by sight which is impossible. I use a specific guideline for the 26 letters’ sounds, based on my California English which is somewhat accent-free, based on feedback from others in different countries. But a sound chart, along with the other, cumulative rules I teach, could be tailored to any English accent. There are 2 kinds of letters in English: vowels and consonants. Vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y and w. Whether a word has one or several syllables, the amount and placement of vowels is key to correct spelling and reading. For example, in the word only, the o is long because it’s the sole vowel in the first syllable. In the second/last syllable, because the y is at the end of the word, and due to the word’s having more than one vowel, it is copying long e. When y begins a word, it does its consonant sound. While this is just a short explanation of the intro to my program, I hope it is helpful. I address much more when I teach, including the schwa, diphthongs, and foreign spellings. I would like to add that I simplified the phonetic, dictionary key and found this worked well with students of all ages. Here’s a “fun” word to exemplify that: laugh. L is doing its main sound, au in British English is the short o sound, and when gh is in the middle or end of a word it is silent or says “f.” So my key would show it as "lof". :^)

[@TheBicho12]

Excelente vídeo. Thank you! Just one question. Have some words French origin really? Or directly a Latin origin?

[@hridoygovindadas914]

I would love to see you dissect Caribbean Island English, i e Jamaican Patwa or Cruzian

[@user-iw5ow5lf4s]

'Don't fall into Mr Fish's trap' ha ha ha I simply loved it.