Tag: English Language Comments

Posted in Notes on English Cross Cultural Comments Hear it, Say it, Write it ! Keywords Online Language Resources for English

saying … telling … speaking … talking …

Four verbs we “do” every day. Probably because we do these things a lot !! Four verbs describing one of our favorite activities. I’ll just leave it to each reader’s imagination for the others.

You might expect me to immediately go into the differences … but I’d like to touch on some common uses of “say” first.

“What can I say?”   (Que veux-tu que je te dise ?)

“Do you know what I’m saying?”

Tu me comprends?

“What would you say if . . .?”

Que diriez-vous si…       Que dirais-tu si …

“I can’t say for sure.”

Je ne peux rien affirmer. Je ne peux pas te le confirmer (avec certitude).

“Say when.”

“Arretez-moi.”

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Posted in Notes on English Cross Cultural Comments Fluency Keywords

Is “thank you!” enough?

No. Probably not. Not just by itself. So let me add the essentials:

For your hospitality in the myriad meanings of the word:

Thank you, Murem, Tom and Eric! Thank you Sandra! Thank you Ann & Enoch! Thank you Leonard & Suzanne. Thank you Ronnie and Ann. Thank you Sherry, Brian, Stephanie & Lem and Macayla. Thank you, Charlie Teeple! And Thank you Raymond! Thank you Catherine & your wonderful friends! Thank you Gordon. Thank you Denis! Thank you Eric!! Thank you Sheldon! Thank you Gayle, Martin, Armide, and Constance !!!  Thank you Chase. Thank you, Ted. Thank you Betsy. Thank you Lisa. Thank you Roger! Thank you J’maih!  Thank you Arlinda!  Thank you Howard!

Thank you Mom! Thank you Dad! Thank you Kay!

Thank you Tybee … Thank you Savannah.

“Thank you” … and “I’m sorry” : Putting it into words. So … please forgive me if I didn’t mention YOUR name … C’est un simple oubli! Just human forgetfulness. Forget and forgive.

By the way … if you just change the vowel “a” in thank to an “i,” … you come close to the origin of the word:  think.

The English word “thank” comes from “think” which, in turn comes from … thought.

If you think about it for a minute …  “Thank you”  is simply … thoughtful.

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Posted in Notes on English Cross Cultural Comments punctuation Online Language Resources for English

the ; (semicolon)

and here’s an article by Ben Zimmer just about this underused marvel:

the semicolon.

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