For non-native English speakers

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Posted by Caroll
October 3, 2012 12:12 am
#21

What about get? Get means whatever you want! 


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“The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.” HP and the Deathly Hallows

"Why's it always the hat photograph?"The Reichenbach Fall
 
Posted by Davina
October 3, 2012 5:37 am
#22

American English uses get a bit more than British English, although young people here ( my daughter for example) have started using it instead of have. e.g. 'Can I get...?' when ordering in a restaurant rather than 'May I have...?'


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Don't make people into heroes John. Heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them.
 
Posted by tobeornot221b
October 3, 2012 5:53 am
#23

Davina wrote:

American English uses get a bit more than British English, although young people here ( my daughter for example) have started using it instead of have. e.g. 'Can I get...?' when ordering in a restaurant rather than 'May I have...?'

Oh yes - the become/get thing!
I always cringe at customers e.g. in a bakery when they order  - not: "May/Can I have/get... - but: "I get a bread." As the seller, I would tell them: "No, you won't get a bread unless I'm so kind as to give it to you..."
Btw,  there's the famous German/English exchange between "get" and "become". The German verb "bekommen" means "get" and the English "become" means "get" in German.
("Waiter - may I become a beefsteak?" - "If you wish...")


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John: "Have you spoken to Mycroft, Molly, uh, anyone?"
Mrs Hudson: "They don’t matter. You do."


I BELIEVE IN SERIES 5!




                                                                                                                  
 
Posted by Mattlocked
October 3, 2012 7:24 am
#24

Get and become always is difficult for me. I get a cold, but I become sick? Or do I get sick? 


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"After all this time?" "Always."
Good bye, Lord Rickman of the Alan
 
Posted by Davina
October 3, 2012 10:56 am
#25

Not really get sick as the sick bit is not a noun like a cold is a noun (I think that's why anyway, never really having ever thought about it before). So someone can say phrases like:

I am sick. I'm sick.
You will be sick. You'll be sick. (Often said to children who have eaten too many sweets).
I think I am going to be sick.

Also the phrase: sickening for something can be used e.g. I think I am sickening for something. I really don't feel well.

Sick can also mean being really fed-up, tired, upset or repelled with something e.g. I am sick of your behaviour. They are sick of the way they are treated at work. Similar is the use of sicken e.g. You sicken me. This is sickening.



I bet you wish you had never mentioned this now! Lol! Sickening isn't it.


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Don't make people into heroes John. Heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them.
 
Posted by SusiGo
October 3, 2012 11:03 am
#26

Now don't tell me German's difficult to learn.


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"To fake the death of one sibling may be regarded as a misfortune; to fake the death of both looks like carelessness." Oscar Wilde about Mycroft Holmes

"It is what it is says love." (Erich Fried)

“Enjoy the journey of life and not just the endgame. I’m also a great believer in treating others as you would like to be treated.” (Benedict Cumberbatch)



 
 
Posted by Davina
October 3, 2012 2:37 pm
#27

Ah! It's your grammar that's difficult.


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Don't make people into heroes John. Heroes don't exist and if they did I wouldn't be one of them.
 
Posted by SusiGo
October 3, 2012 2:57 pm
#28

Agreed. And in English it's the countless words expressing slightly different nuances of something and the quirky pronunciation. So let's call it a draw, shall we? 


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"To fake the death of one sibling may be regarded as a misfortune; to fake the death of both looks like carelessness." Oscar Wilde about Mycroft Holmes

"It is what it is says love." (Erich Fried)

“Enjoy the journey of life and not just the endgame. I’m also a great believer in treating others as you would like to be treated.” (Benedict Cumberbatch)



 
 
Posted by Mattlocked
October 3, 2012 2:57 pm
#29

So I never get sick? Something I have to erase from my harddisk then....


__________________________________

"After all this time?" "Always."
Good bye, Lord Rickman of the Alan
 


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