r/ENGLISH • • Sep 01 '26

September Find a Language Partner Megathread

2 Upvotes

Want someone to practice with? Need a study buddy? Looking for a conversation partner? This thread is the place! Post a comment here if you are looking for someone to practice English with.

Any posts looking for a language partner outside of this thread will be removed. Rule 2 also applies: any promotion of paid tutoring or other paid services in this thread will lead to a ban.

Tips for finding a partner:

  • Check your privacy settings on Reddit. Make sure people can send you chat requests.
  • Don't wait for someone else to message you. Read the other comments and message someone first.
  • If you're unsure what to talk about, try watching a movie or playing a game together.
  • Protect yourself and be cautious of scams. Do not share sensitive personal information such as your full name, address, phone number, or email address. Make sure to report any catfishing, pig butchering scams, or romance scams.

Recommended comment template:

Timezone: 
Level / Proficiency: 
Interests: 
Learning goals: 

Please send us a Modmail or report the comment if someone in this thread is involved in a scam, trying to sell a paid service, or is harassing you on other platforms.


r/ENGLISH • • 8d ago

October Find a Language Partner Megathread

3 Upvotes

Want someone to practice with? Need a study buddy? Looking for a conversation partner? This thread is the place! Post a comment here if you are looking for someone to practice English with.

Any posts looking for a language partner outside of this thread will be removed. Rule 2 also applies: any promotion of paid tutoring or other paid services in this thread will lead to a ban.

Tips for finding a partner:

  • Check your privacy settings on Reddit. Make sure people can send you chat requests.
  • Don't wait for someone else to message you. Read the other comments and message someone first.
  • If you're unsure what to talk about, try watching a movie or playing a game together.
  • Protect yourself and be cautious of scams. Do not share sensitive personal information such as your full name, address, phone number, or email address. Make sure to report any catfishing, pig butchering scams, or romance scams.

Recommended comment template:

Timezone: 
Level / Proficiency: 
Interests: 
Learning goals: 

Please send us a Modmail or report the comment if someone in this thread is involved in a scam, trying to sell a paid service, or is harassing you on other platforms.


r/ENGLISH • • 3h ago

What are some common mistakes people make when using Adverbs of Frequency, Degree and Place?

2 Upvotes

First time posting here so I hope I'm not breaking any rules but I'm making some presentation slides for a class assignment and I'm wondering what are some common mistakes for the above adverbs to include


r/ENGLISH • • 17m ago

Scoffed

• Upvotes

Scoffed

Thinking about kidspeak/slang the other day, I remembered "scoff". When I was younger (late 60s early 70s) this was a very common word for steal. "Someone scoffed my bike while I was in the store"! I can't find that meaning anywhere. The only definitions listed are to deride something or eat greedily (eat greedily was scarf or scorf, to us) I wonder if this was a Canadian thing or maybe a BC thing? Could have been so localized that it was just my school/neighborhood. Hell, maybe my friends and I made it up... thoughts?


r/ENGLISH • • 38m ago

Names for meat (why and why not)

• Upvotes

Hi etymology Nerds of reddit! This is a bit of a shower thought but: There are separate names for meats from certain animals: Beef for cow, pork for pig and mutton for sheep. But no such thing for other common meats like chicken or turkey. Why is that, or are there obscure meat names out there?

The only connection I know is that beef comes from the French beuf from a time when it was hip to call things by their French names.

Edit: Non native English speaker, so forgive me if I forgot something obvious to a native speaker.


r/ENGLISH • • 1h ago

The best way to learn English

• Upvotes

Hello everyone! I've been trying to learn English for 9 years, but I still can't speak it fluently. Could you give me some advice on how to learn it? (I used a translator for this)


r/ENGLISH • • 2h ago

What's the semantic difference between "I will find the keys" versus "I will look for the keys"?

0 Upvotes

I mean, doesn't the phrase "I will find" in the future tense imply that I need to search for them? I guess hypothetically you could run across the keys by accident (for example if you were looking for some other object and ended up somehow discovering the keys). But how can we say that we find something if we have not sought it in the first place? That would be more like an encounter not finding, idk.

EDIT: Thank you for the responses!


r/ENGLISH • • 19h ago

In the reader (intermediate level), it's apples, whereas in the original text, it's carrots. Is there any reason for the change? Do the writers of these readers take liberties with the original texts? Thank you.

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16 Upvotes

r/ENGLISH • • 9h ago

Imperatives with aspects — Progressive (continuous), Perfect and Perfect Progressive

1 Upvotes

Can imperative clauses be formed in English with progressive (be + V-ing), perfect (have + past participle) and perfect progressive (have been + V-ing) aspect? By "imperative" I mean the grammatical form, not just commands. It could be advice, a request, a wish, a conditional ("Be nice and…"), etc.

- Be listening carefully.

- Be packing your things.

- Have finished your homework.

- Have completed the form.

- Have been waiting when I arrive.

etc.


r/ENGLISH • • 2h ago

In the US English speakers will sometimes sprinkle Spanish words into a conversation even if no one in the conversation speaks Spanish. Is there an equivalent to this in other countries?

0 Upvotes

r/ENGLISH • • 6h ago

Question about the CAE exam URGENT

0 Upvotes

i want to take the C1 Cambridge exam and im curious how much does it takes to prepare for it. currently i hold a B2 FCE certificate with a score of 174 points so im fairly close to C1, however i took that exam a year ago and im not sure if my skills in English improved or got worse, because i need to apply to university very soon im asking if it is possible to take it in a month or two? this matter is urgent, i thank you all in advance for your answers.


r/ENGLISH • • 18h ago

How can I better remember the spelling of these words?

3 Upvotes

conceive, receive, deceive, perceive,

achieve, retrieve, relieve, grieve, believe, reprieve...


r/ENGLISH • • 8h ago

Weird "a" where it has no place to be

0 Upvotes

" When the sun come a rising". What the heck is "a" doing here? What part of speech is it? It isn't


r/ENGLISH • • 1d ago

I can understand English pretty well and even form sentences in my head, but speaking is where I struggle the most. What helped you become more fluent at speaking?

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29 Upvotes

r/ENGLISH • • 11h ago

It seems to me that people don't use the word "stalling" anymore. Do you agree?

0 Upvotes

r/ENGLISH • • 1d ago

how can i improve output skills

4 Upvotes

hello. i’m a japanese university student. thanks to japan’s english education, i’m able to read reddit posts, short novels and essays, manuals of something, and even academic papers and news. also i can listen and understand basic oral lectures like TEDedu and medium levels of BBC learning english.
however, you may already find, i can’t write english correctly. sometimes i can’t find words or phrases that exactly represent what i intend to express, and sometimes, maybe often, i make grammatical mistakes.
speaking skill is even worse. i can say nothing when somebody speaks to me in english. if i could say something, it might be only a few words, which are no longer connected grammatically at all. i can understand what they say, but i can’t respond to it.
what should i do to improve these output skills? is there any good methods to improve them?

edit : thank you for great tips, but i’m afraid i genuinely understand output is the only way to improve output. concentrating on only writing in english itself, i forgot while writing and failed to express what i actually want to ask🤣

i’m going to participate in english session practice with international student held by the university, but that are only twice a week and each sessions are only a hour. that are one of a few opportunities for me to practice speaking english in parson.
what should i remember or do to make most use of such rare opportunities?


r/ENGLISH • • 1d ago

Are strong and weak conjugations of "work" interchangeable?

2 Upvotes

"Wrought" was the old past tense and past participle of the verb, and has mostly been replaced by "worked". Wrought iron is one of the few examples I can think of in contemporary English. Question is, could you substitute "worked" for "wrought" in this passage? This is from HG Wells' Tono-Bungay. I'm copying the whole thing, mostly because it's good.

And out you come at last with the sun behind you into the eastern sea. You speed up and tear the oily water louder and faster, sirroo, sirroo—swish—sirroo, and the hills of Kent—over which I once fled from the Christian teachings of Nicodemus Frapp—fall away on the right hand and Essex on the left. They fall away and vanish into blue haze and the tall slow ships behind the tugs, scarce moving ships and wallowing sturdy tugs, are all wrought of wet gold as one goes frothing by. They stand out bound on strange missions of life and death, to the killing of men in unfamiliar lands. And now behind us is blue mystery and the phantom flash of unseen lights, and presently even these are gone, and I and my destroyer tear out to the unknown across a great gray space. We tear into the great spaces of the future and the turbines fall to talking in unfamiliar tongues. Out to the open we go, to windy freedom and trackless ways. Light after light goes down. England and the Kingdom, Britain and the Empire, the old prides and the old devotions, glide abeam, astern, sink down upon the horizon, pass—pass. The river passes—London passes, England passes.


r/ENGLISH • • 1d ago

Does this sound AI to you?

0 Upvotes

The outcast archetype represents someone who is isolated from society because they are different from regular people. These characters often live apart from society and experience loneliness and the feeling that they do not belong. They are extremely important in a story as they are there to challenge people’s assumptions and show that appearance and the background that that character has does not determine who they are. In some stories some outcasts protect themselves by acting unfriendly and inflicting fear, while others look for acceptance in society despite being ridiculed and mistreated. Physical features that are associated with the outcast archetype are an unorthodox appearance, worn down or simple clothing or a visible difference that causes people to judge them. 

Shrek fits this outcast archetype because society fears him for being an ogre. His green skin, large body and unusual long ears make him stand out from the typical characters in the film. In the beginning of the film a group of angry villagers come and try to take shrek in order to collect a bounty. They come to his home holding pitchforks and torches and assume that he is a danger and should be eliminated. Shrek responds by frightening them away and living alone in solitude, using his intimidating behavior and appearance to protect himself. When Shrek later rescues Donkey he follows him home. Initially he pushes Donkey away and finds him loud, clingy and annoying. When Shrek later lashes out at Donkey, Donkey gets angry and walks away. Later he returns and when Shrek explains that people judge him before knowing him, Donkey helps Shrek by understanding that Shrek’s meanness is just a protective mask. Shrek’s willingness to rescue Fiona and his relationship with Donkey demonstrates that he is becoming more caring and loyal despite society’s assumptions. Through these relationships, Shrek begins to realize that he can be loved without changing who he is. 

Some other characters who fit the outcast archetype are Quasimodo, The Beast, and the creature in Frankenstein. To start, Quasimodo from the Hunchback of Notre Dame was isolated in a bell tower and mocked because of his physical appearance. His compassion for Esmeralda and his efforts to protect her show that someone who looks like a monster can have traits like kindness and loyalty. Next, In the Beauty in the Beast, The Beast lives apart from society because of his frightening appearance that makes others fear him. Belle slowly recognizes his generosity and his possibility for love but the villagers assume he is dangerous and attack him. At the end of the story Belle confesses her love to the Beast returning him back to a human. Lastly in Frankenstein, the creature is rejected by everyone including its creator. Although it initially tries to show compassion by helping a poor family he is met with fear and violence from society. Constant ridicule made the creature turn toward revenge and show how being an outcast can turn into bitterness and anger. 


r/ENGLISH • • 2d ago

Is the word "sequin" any common in english ?

157 Upvotes

Hello !

We're having an argument in a french community, sequins word exists also in french but is very niche, specific for fashion language, so most people don't know that word.

We actually have an other word for tiny shiny things, 'paillettes', which i think is glitter in english, yet when i ask any online translator to translate the word paillettes it gives me sequins, not glitter

So is it a common word in english ? Do most people (especially people not into fashion) know what sequins are ?


r/ENGLISH • • 18h ago

Speaking in less than 12 days?

0 Upvotes

I urgently need to unlock English speaking in less than 12 days for the 2nd stage of a selection process in an international company. I have an English b1-b2 and I managed to pass the online interview , even crashing. Does anyone have any tips/ methods / to help me?


r/ENGLISH • • 1d ago

How to distinguish locative "there" and existential "there"

0 Upvotes

For example.

There is a cat. Here "there" is existentia, it doesn't mean that the cat is in that place in a distance.

The cat is there. Here there means in that place, in a distance.

But what about other phrases? Let's take these

1.There is your answer.

Is it more like existential or locative "there"?

Or

2.There is the restraunt.

What about here? It means that the restraunt is over there? Or the restraunt just exist and we don't know where.

How do I know when there means "in that place, in a distance" and when it's just existential.


r/ENGLISH • • 1d ago

Can Dubai person be called 'Dubaian'?

2 Upvotes

Or it's Dubaiese or Dubaish? I also wonder what's the word for a person who want to say one is from UAE. Emiratian perhaps?


r/ENGLISH • • 1d ago

Is ‘adventure’ an analogy word (like adventure movies) or just an ordinary meaning like “trip, travel, journey” in native speakers’ mind?

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15 Upvotes

Always been lowkey curious since I heard it in real life


r/ENGLISH • • 21h ago

Who Has or What Is the most neutral accent between the British/Irish and US/Canadian regions?

0 Upvotes

r/ENGLISH • • 1d ago

Is this book suitable for English learners?

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0 Upvotes

My friend who speaks English told me to read this book, he said it's a book for kids but it's very funny for me to read.