ceigered:

Ailanto:The one that drives me nuts is misuse of the word "myself". For example, something like Fire alarm test today at 12:00pm. Please email Gordon and myself to confirm you heard it.

Keep in mind though that "myself" can be used emphatically, and this is a separate function to the reflexive pronoun. In fact, here, you could call it an emphatic pronoun (loosely speaking).

But that makes no more sense than the proper "Gordon and me"

But as long as we're sharing: It's a very esoteric rule (apparently) but the refusal to use the possessive case for the subject of a gerund (English type: verbal used as a noun) really irks me. "I told you your kvetching is driving me nuts!" is usually done as "I told you, you kvetching is driving me nuts!" BLECH!

orthohawk:

ceigered:

Ailanto:The one that drives me nuts is misuse of the word "myself". For example, something like Fire alarm test today at 12:00pm. Please email Gordon and myself to confirm you heard it.

Keep in mind though that "myself" can be used emphatically, and this is a separate function to the reflexive pronoun. In fact, here, you could call it an emphatic pronoun (loosely speaking).

But that makes no more sense than the proper "Gordon and me"

But as long as we're sharing: It's a very esoteric rule (apparently) but the refusal to use the possessive case for the subject of a gerund (English type: verbal used as a noun) really irks me. "I told you your kvetching is driving me nuts!" is usually done as "I told you, you kvetching is driving me nuts!" BLECH!

My layman's (and foreigner's) opinion is that the last one conforms to Esperanto vi ...anta while the first one is via ...ado. However if you apply this logic, you probably need to change is to are ...

I always remember about these ideas. Thank you.

Francisko Garcia

andogigi:As far as English goes, I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over it. The great mass of people in the US and abroad tend to misuse our language in sundry and creative ways. A slip of the tongue here and there will probably be missed by most people.

I mention this because you simply can't be self-conscious when you learn a new language. The simple fact of the matter is that you are going to make mistakes. It is best to make friends with that fact, accept it, embrace it, and not shy away from it. Too many people are so afraid of making a mistake in their new language that they never use it. Because of this, they never improve. They fall into a vicious cycle which ends with them throwing their hands in the air in disgust.

In short, just start telling yourself that it really doesn't matter.

Rule 1) Don't sweat the small stuff.
Rule 2) Realize that it's all small stuff.

darkweasel:

orthohawk:

ceigered:

Ailanto:The one that drives me nuts is misuse of the word "myself". For example, something like Fire alarm test today at 12:00pm. Please email Gordon and myself to confirm you heard it.

Keep in mind though that "myself" can be used emphatically, and this is a separate function to the reflexive pronoun. In fact, here, you could call it an emphatic pronoun (loosely speaking).

But that makes no more sense than the proper "Gordon and me"

But as long as we're sharing: It's a very esoteric rule (apparently) but the refusal to use the possessive case for the subject of a gerund (English type: verbal used as a noun) really irks me. "I told you your kvetching is driving me nuts!" is usually done as "I told you, you kvetching is driving me nuts!" BLECH!

My layman's (and foreigner's) opinion is that the last one conforms to Esperanto vi ...anta while the first one is via ...ado. However if you apply this logic, you probably need to change is to are ...

Thanks to Francisko's comment, my attention has been drawn to this hibernating thread, and I must say.. After thinking of this,
"You ketching is driving me nuts" is not "Your kvetching (gerund) is driving me nuts", nor "You kvetching (you, while doing something) are driving me nuts", but in fact
"the fact that you are in a state of kvetching is driving me nuts".

And because there is only one compilation of "you" and one lot of kvetching occurring being referred to, it gets compressed into a sort of abstract single 3rd person noun form.

A bit like in Spanish how "lo" (3rd person neutral definite article/pronoun) gets put together with adjectives to make things like "lo importante es amar" (the important thing is to love; stolen from About.com).

So essentially "You (doing an action" becomes an abstract 3rd person singular construction, even in the case of "You eating and drinking is driving me nuts", since there is only one "you", "eating" and "drinking" being referred to.

.

Incredible. Jonas/Jonny M (germana Reggae ulo) learned E-o in ĉirkaŭ one year, wrote lyrics for a Reggae song en E-o and performed it recently live. Incredible.

Kiam finfine E-o fruktas mojosu?!

E-o freŝiĝas/ estas jam mojosa!!!

Vinilkosmo anonco

vive

Incredible.

Esperanto estas easier than the english language,

francisko

qwertz:Incredible. Jonas/Jonny M (germana Reggae ulo) learned E-o in ĉirkaŭ one year, wrote lyrics for a Reggae song en E-o and performed it recently live. Incredible.

Kiam finfine E-o fruktas mojosu?!

E-o freŝiĝas/ estas jam mojosa!!!

Vinilkosmo anonco

vive

Incredible.

Mi cxiam memoras pri cxi tiu artikolo.

Francisko1:I wanted to say about the second message of this group.

Fracisko

Francisko1:When I am without hope about the english language, I read this message and it calms me. Thanks.

Francisko

andogigi:As far as English goes, I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over it. The great mass of people in the US and abroad tend to misuse our language in sundry and creative ways. A slip of the tongue here and there will probably be missed by most people.

I mention this because you simply can't be self-conscious when you learn a new language. The simple fact of the matter is that you are going to make mistakes. It is best to make friends with that fact, accept it, embrace it, and not shy away from it. Too many people are so afraid of making a mistake in their new language that they never use it. Because of this, they never improve. They fall into a vicious cycle which ends with them throwing their hands in the air in disgust.

In short, just start telling yourself that it really doesn't matter.

Rule 1) Don't sweat the small stuff.
Rule 2) Realize that it's all small stuff.

One disadvantage of knowing multiple languages is that you notice ambiguities / imprecisions that exist in certain langauges but not in others.

For example, sentences like "Nancy gave Mrs. Brown her book" always bother me because I'm not sure who the book belongs to (Nancy or Mrs. Brown) ... this is crystal clear in Polish.

Amike,
Paul

Lunombrulino:Then he announced proudly, "I hit the table hardly!"

I'm just impressed that he knew to use an adverb ... most (adult) speakers of American English don't seem to be able to do this, and advertisements like Apple's "Think Different" don't help.

erinja:What's wrong with calling them AA batteries?

They could be anti-aircraft batteries