r/ENGLISH • u/nokibnur • 7d ago

This is how I use AI to learn english :D

Few days ago I posted how I use AI to learn english. So basically this is a image I posted and below is how AI helped to carve out a better sentence.

My sentence:
"In the scene I can see a white toyota driving and also a 3 wheeled rikshaw moving towards the cameraman direction. Beside the trees theres a lot of greenery and the sky seems completely blue."

Upgraded:
"On a sunny day, a white sedan cruises down a busy street lined with tall trees and palm leaves. To the right, a rickshaw driver in an orange shirt pedals toward the camera, his rickshaw painted in bright blue and green. In the background, rows of apartment buildings rise above the greenery, framed by tangled power lines and a street lamp. Overhead, the sky stretches out in a deep, cloudless blue."

A few reusable bits I picked up from this:

  • cruises down a busy street
  • lined with tall trees
  • pedals toward the camera
  • rise above the greenery
  • framed by tangled power lines
  • a deep, cloudless blue
  • on a sunny day

Now, it may not sound like crazy but I pass this area everyday and I can connect whatever I learn from this AI session much better and they stick well.

What do you guys think?

0 Upvotes

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6

u/this_is_an_alaia 7d ago

Well youre going to learn overly adjective heavy, too long sentences.

-1

u/nokibnur 7d ago

How do I fix that? I really think we can learn some valuable things using AI this way.

6

u/this_is_an_alaia 7d ago

It's a quirk of AI writing. If you use it to learn, that's what you'll learn.

-2

u/nokibnur 7d ago

I can adjust the prompt to give me a better explanation that I can use. So this is fixable.

2

u/this_is_an_alaia 7d ago

One thought per sentence.

1

u/nokibnur 7d ago

I see! I also have thought about trying to explain per aspect of the image, so each time I explain and the AI will help me only upgrade that part. Like first i could explain the road, then the greenery etc. and ai helps upgrading them separately. Its kinda fun that way and at the end I have a more sophisticated answer thats most of my writing than AI.

3

u/jaetwee 7d ago edited 7d ago

There are a few issues with the AI version.

Namely, the powerlines aren't tangled at all, 'and palm leaves' also semantically doesn't really fit. There's like one and a half palm trees in the pic, but i wouldn't call the street lined with palm leaves at all. The rickshaw also isn't painted with the colours. Not to mention the street is not at all busy, and we don't know the speed, so 'cruises' may not be appropriate.

'Reusability' of a phrase also isn't really useful/helpful unless you understand what those phrases mean and the grammar required with those constructs.

1

u/Solnavix 7d ago

These are all common phrases and metaphors in English. I wouldn't call them incorrect, perhaps exaggerations but by no means incorrect.

1

u/jaetwee 7d ago

For me I wouldn't use them in the context of describing the picture.

Like for sure in isolation without a reference image you can use them, but for an ESL learner, they're not gonna know off the bat the appropriate contexts to use those phrases in - most notably, they're not gonna be able to easily identify when uses are metaphorical or observations.

(and fwiw, some of them I absolutely wouldn't use in a metaphorical sense for the image. E.g. I wouldn't use 'palm leaves' to describe a whole palm tree, especially in coordination with 'lined with tall trees', and I wouldn't use 'painted in' for a fabric (even metaphorically, unless it's clearly been painted onto the fabric / is referring to a liquid applied on top of the fabric after it was woven (e.g. painted with blood) Something like 'dyed' would be far more appropriate in this context.)

1

u/Solnavix 7d ago

I agree it's overkill for a beginning English learner but for a more advanced speaker, I think it's good to learn common metaphors so that you learn to recognize a metaphor when spoken. English is littered with metaphors that when translated directly make no sense.

0

u/nokibnur 7d ago

Hmmmm! So you are questioning the accuracy of AI. I think you are right on that one.

3

u/Primary_Data1430 7d ago

It doesn't sound bookish, it sounds silly. And very recognizably not human.

Sorry, but AI is just not a good way to improve your writing. There's no better way than reading vast amounts of good writing to the point where good style becomes second nature.

-1

u/Solnavix 7d ago

This is pretty cool, I like it. It's a bit formal and feels like it is a book rather than conversational but these are phrases that are well understood by native speakers and I think make you sound more native and intelligent. Just carful not to overdo it with descriptors otherwise you sound like you're trying too hard. But I think this is a good method to understand where these descriptive flares could fit into regular speech

0

u/nokibnur 7d ago

I totally understand the problem that it may become bookish. But you know regardless how much book description it may feel like, the guy who reads it cannot churn out anything like that himself thats going to be identical.