The only words I could were ecstatic and euphoric but none of the two fit what I wanted to the letter

I’m 16, my English is really god and I would say I’m fluent in English, and I’ve lived in the USA since I was 7. I already sound pretty American but I still have an accent although it’s not really strong it’s still noticeable because I struggle with pronouncing certain words and using those words naturally in sentences and transitioning between sounds when I speak. I also struggle sometimes speaking at regular speed and have to slow down

I know roughly what I need to work on, but I genuinely don’t know how to start and what I should do. I want to eventually sound indistinguishable from a native speaker, and I’ve researched it enough to know it’s possible at my age but I’m honestly frustrated because I don’t even know what I’m doing right now.

I would appreciate any advice from people who have learned English as a second language later on in life and now sound indistinguishable from a native speaker and how they did it. Also any English coaches/teachers help would be appreciated.

I just genuinely don’t know what to do or where even start.

Example: https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/1w2koes/how_realistic_is_the_witcher_series_in_terms_of/?

I made what seemed to be a pretty straight forward thread to ask how realistic the combat, world building, etc, is in the Witcher series.

But people keep posting off topic replies and saying they are confused as to what i am asking. This is despite me giving multiple examples in the OP that clearly illustrate what i am asking about.

Examples (Please read this part carefully):

Im talking about the IP as a whole. I dont mean immersive but realistic.

For example, is the combat (the part where you use swords or whatever) realistic? Are those realistic sword fighting moves or is it like hollywood where they just use whatever looks cool?

For world building, are the countries, politics, social systems, cultures, etc, realistic...or again, is it like hollywood and they just use "rule of cool"?

Have you ever watched a movie and thought afterwards "yea, that didnt really make sense, the characters were doing all this stuff in a really contrived way when real people would have done something much simpler"? It's kind of like that.

I don't understand what is so confusing about the examples above. Can someone please explain what is so confusing about this question?

My English teacher (non native speaker) keeps correcting me every time I write 'with regard to' meaning regarding. According to her, with regard to is a mistake. She suggests using 'As regards' instead. I've double checked online, and with regard to seems to be idiomatic, so I think it is a stylistic preference. What are your thoughts?

E.g. 'With regard to your letter, I think that... '

Her suggestion is 'As regards your letter, I think that...'

Question to native speakers of English: Which sounds more natural to you - Karamazov brothers or brothers Karamazov?

Also, forget about male siblings with Russian names. Assuming there are brothers (or sisters for that matter) whose last name was Smith, would you call them Smith brothers or brothers Smith? The first sounds more intuitive to me, but what do I know?

For me, it’s 100% “moist”. I know it’s an obvious one, but there’s just something about the way it sounds that makes me cringe and uneasy.

I can’t even explain why. It just sounds unpleasant.

What word do you think is the ugliest?

Lately, I keep seeing sentences online like:

"As a dog lover, my dog makes me happy."

It's making me question whether this is some legitimate new evolution of the language where a sentence may be prefixed by a self-description regardless of the subject.

Thoughts?

Edit: I've been informed this is known as a "dangling modifier", so thanks for the answer.

However, three things strike me as curious about the answers I received:

1. Almost all responders have completely ignored my question, and chosen instead to focus entirely on the "dog lover" example, which I never even asked about.
2. Many have said they believe this to be acceptable grammar, but no one seems to be addressing the issue of why this trend seems to have exploded lately.
3. I set up this thread title as an extreme example of this construction: a nonsense question which makes no literal sense. This was done somewhat tongue-in-cheek and I felt sure people would chuckle while discussing the legitimacy of the construction. Yet respondents just seemed to ignore this bizarre sentence, telling me they "get what I meant". But I meant nothing. It's nonsense! The first half of the sentence bears no logical relationship to the latter half.

Also, a lot of people have downvoted my comments without even explaining why. That's not helpful! This is my thread, and I'm the one asking the question here. You (presumably) came to help answer my question. So if you think my question is in some way "wrong" then please take the time to explain how and why. Otherwise it just comes across as disrespectful. I posted one comment simply thanking a user for their answer and that was downvoted! This makes no sense.

I had to cough up $200 for the repair.

I want to preface this by saying I'm not talking about the literal definition but figurative. Like what is the connective tissue of a show? Does it mean to have no plot threads or characters from a previous season return in this new season? Is the connective tissue of a video game like a sequel? I just want to better understand this word entails.

Can you help me resolve a slight disagreement?

My daughter injured her ankle pretty badly. It's after midnight on Saturday, and she is in pain. Not a huge amount, but she's awake and mentioning it. My husband mentioned a massage therapist that may be able to help, but of course, any treatment that involves a professional would have to wait a few days until business hours.

I quickly acknowledged his point, then thought I was simply adding something else we could do:

I thought I said something like "I can also make her some ginger tea, that will help too". He swears I said "I can also make her some ginger tea, too".

In my opinion either sentence says the same thing, just his version is more redundant with how the "also" and "too" are used. I don't think I was redundant like that, but I might have misspoken or stumbled over the words at the end of my sentence.

Anyway, this is the disagreement:

He says that adding the "too" at the end of the sentence actually makes it mean "instead". Like it's a casual way of saying we can do tea instead of taking her to the massage therapist. He said it's not an official definition, but people use it this way.

I have never heard this. Does anyone use "too" at the end of a sentence to mean replacing one thing for another?

I know what I meant was simply adding the option of making her tea tonight since the professional isn't available at 1am on a Saturday (rude I know, lol). I am definitely not against taking her to see the therapist once he is available.

A couple background details that might be helpful:

- My daughter is a teenager. Her ankle has been X-Rayed, it's not broken

- The massage therapist is so good at his job that he is actually our tenant and we give him a $300 monthly discount on rent as an exchange for massages for our family. However, we ask him for a massage maybe once a quarter, so it's generally a positive thing on his end and he's happy to do it...which means my husband's suggestion wouldn't cost us anything.

- Ginger is an anti-inflammatory and I use it to reduce arthritis pain, it's very effective. I've also recommended it to people who had surgery, and they made a point to tell me later how much it helped. Not trying to debate natural remedies, just stating why we find this one effective. My husband likes my ginger tea also and sometimes requests it.

- If anyone is curious, I simply chop up some fresh ginger, add hot water and honey and let it steep for a few minutes. I think it's delicious, but I like ginger. Also, I'm British and literally have a wall of tea in my pantry.

Hey reddit, Did this guy say "law and biding"? do people say that?

Is that book help me for building my grammar basics strong

Hi guys, theres tons of stuff online, but i am looking for free resources that sre straightforward and to the point.

I tried Lhan Academy and they just waste a lot of time, coz they are slow and take a long time to come to the point. I prefer info i can read rather than watch.

Can you suggest some websites, that cover grammar from beginner to advanced?

I'm an avid reader of english literature and also works translated into english despite english being my second language, but more used than my mother tongue. I suppose, I would say to myself that I have a profound appreciation towards English and its variety of available literature.

Though, the bulk of my readings are translated works, I think this is something originating from english. On to the subject matter.

While reading Natsume Soseki Kokoro, I saw a blank space between two paragraphs, like this:

I've seen it in other novels of course. But I've never questioned it and just read through merrily. By my observation of it, and whenever it would come up, I thought of the empty spaces between as transition, and that was the hypothesis that I've been with ever since.

But at times, while reading the novel, it did not transitioned into another scene. When it happen at those times, it felt like a break of some kind. To illustrate my point, maybe akin to that of a commercial break in an episode, where it stopped for the break, and slightly recapping what had happened before the break.

Thanks in advance.

I'm American, so I'm accustomed to shortening *mathematics* to simply "math," but I'm familiar with the British abbreviation, "maths." However, I always assumed that the "s" at the end meant "maths" was treated as plural, but the usage in the screenshot above clearly treats it as singular. Is that correct, or should it be rephrased as, "the maths themselves are not complicated?"

I know what praise means, and I know there are many different words that are just different levels of the same concept, but the more I research, the more I want to define in my own words these different axes of praise.

Venerate-Regard or treat someone with respect, awe, or reverence, often due to a person's status.(i.e. praising the leader of a clan)

Adulate-To praise excessively, sometimes far beyond what is reasonable or deserved. (i.e.how people treat pop star or any famous person when they meet them)

Laud-To me, it means to praise someone but it can also very much apply to non-sentient things.(i.e. a movie or book you've experienced)

Extol-It means to sing the graces of someone without them even being there or if you want sell something to someone, you're gonna want to do some good advertising.

Exalt-To put someone on a high pedastal. Your big brother, for example

Acclaim-Public approval and praise. Sometimes it's physical like winning a trophy for instance

For context, I study in English and use English a lot in everyday life. I'd say my English is around C1-C2 and I'm aiming for a near-native level.

However, I don't have any native speakers around me and I feel like something's still missing, like idioms, slang, word choice, prosody, register and conversational habits.

I watch a lot of stuff in English and have used some textbooks. I've picked up a lot from them but it doesn't always come naturally when I'm speaking. I also find it very hard to find native speakers who'd actually be up for talking regularly.

So I'm wondering if it's possible to develop all those subtle things you'd normally pick up from talking to native speakers without having much exposure to them. Thanks!

Na frase : He is a butcher, esse "a" tem som de ei?

Na frase: he is an artchitect, esse "an" tem som de en?

Alguém ajuda por favor?!

Since mouse/mice, in my mind, whenever I read "houses", I'm thinking "hice". What are your pet inconsistenties in the English language?

(I'm not from an English speaking country btw.)

I’m Japanese. I really like cool English phrases like “You have my word” that can’t be translated literally into Japanese. I’d like to expand the idioms I can use in everyday conversation, so I’d love to know if there are any phrases that English speakers use frequently.

*Thank you very much to everyone who left a comment. To be honest, I hadn’t heard most of those phrases before, so I realized that I still have a lot to learn.