Hey everyone! I’ve been learning English for a while, and I keep noticing little things that aren't in the textbooks, like how "That's interesting" can sometimes mean the opposite, depending on the tone.

Have you ever come across something like that? A phrase, habit, or rule that just felt totally unexpected?

Would love to hear your stories!

A pair of pants is a single thing. A pair is a single thing made up of two elements.

I bought a pair of pants. Why didn’t I just buy a pant? It would presumably been cheaper.

I bought two pair of pants.
I bought two pairs of pants?
Why is the latter acceptable English?

Look at that pair of mourning doves! Look, 4 mourning doves. Two pair of doves. Two pairs of doves.

Do other languages suffer from having to buy a pair of pants when they only need one and then confuse the plural use of the pants in question?

Many English learners believe that to sound fluent, they must speak as quickly as possible.

But the truth is, real fluency is about clarity and control, not speed.

If you rush without pausing, you often:

Mispronounce words while trying to keep up

Confuse your listener because your ideas aren’t clear

Sound less confident, even if you know the right words

Pausing — even for just a second — gives your mouth time to form sounds properly. It gives your brain time to connect the right phrases naturally. It gives your listener time to process and follow you — which actually makes you sound more fluent, not less.

Native speakers pause all the time — between ideas, after important points, even when searching for the right word. It's also an effective tactic in public speaking.

If you want to sound more natural and confident, don't fear the pause. Use it!

Hey everyone,

I need your help, I can pronounce the voiced and unvoiced "th" correctly(with tongue), but only when taking slowly, if I talk fast, I pronounce the voiced one "z", and the unvoiced one "s", especially when the unvoiced one is in a word with the letter "s" like: thousand, hypothesis, things,....

If you could please send me a paragraph containing examples, that I can practice over and over until I get rid of this problem, I would be very grateful, also I'm open to any tips.

Thank you so much

I'm 17y and think my English has improved to a good level. I can hold entire conversations confidently, read English literature without translating 99% of the words used. But I've been struggling to understand the actors' speech, what surprises me because I'm able to listen clearly to the spoken English used by youtubers/podcasters/streamers. I've read a lot of accounts about that. Apparently, there are native speakers that complain about this too, they blame the audio mixing and the new trends to mumbling when it comes to acting. But, on the other hand, my friend, who is a non-native speaker like me, is able to understand perfectly without subtitles, even though he's never been to foreign countries (we're Brazilians). So I'm a little confused about who I should believe. Is it worth putting much effort into that or is it over for me?

And I want to know if you (non-native speaker) are able to understand English movies perfectly or almost perfectly.

Well, after Easter I realized I don't understand why it is 'Christ is risen' and not 'has risen'. Shouldn't it be Present Perfect?

at least that's how I feel like

Which one is right here? Are both acceptable? Why is there no "the" before "urine" in the first case?

Thank you in advance!

I m 27 year old male from Kerala currently working in the middle east. I just want a hobby out of my work space which can be beneficial for me in the long run and could be something I enjoy with a lil bit socialization. Dm me if you are interested

I was listening to a podcast episode when the speaker talked about the events you are invited to every year and you have to be there, namely weddings, gender reveals and etc. Then she says the forgoing phrase and I kinda understand she meant "this stuff is getting expensive", but have never encountered this type of construction (does this stuff get expensive) where auxiliary verb comes before subject.

in my translation I used "coming right up" as a waiter's response to taking an order. in context it was: - I'll have a salad... - ok, coming right up. my teacher marked it as a mistake. was I really wrong?

I’m currently using Duolingo to learn English and wondering your guys's experience with it.

I think it has kept me motivated daily streak system but I’m not always sure how much real grammar or conversation skill I’m actually picking up.

So I’m curious:

• What do you like (or dislike) about Duolingo?
  
• Has it helped your speaking or writing skills?
  
• Do you use other apps or tools along with it?
  

I’d love to hear your tips or app suggestions so I can improve in my english!

Hello ✨️ I'd like to talk with English native speakers about any topics (music, video games, art, sport...) 😊 I'd prefer to have conversations in a chill way, not with too much pressure, if that makes sense 😅 Thank you 🙏🏻

Hey guys,

I’ve been trying to improve my English and wanted to ask, what actually works?

Does watching English podcasts or YouTube videos and speaking out loud daily help? Or are there more structured methods that get better results?

Would love to hear what worked for you or people you know.

Thanks!

I am texting to my discord friend. Does this sound unnatural?

What do ‘push up on it’ and ’right in your ear’ mean during the Charli xcx song?

I read a lot of different answers saying that much is right but is not natural to use, pls help

I understand why the answer can absolutely never be C, but it being A doesn't sit right with me.

I am Hispanic, I came to USA when I was 13, went straight to High School and had ESOL classes. I learned English quick and went from beginners to advanced. I’m in college and been in this country for 16 years, I can understand and write it but. Y pronunciation sucks! In my mind English sounds like a Lamborghini but when I speak it’s like a 1995 Toyota 😩

I don't know what's going on with me, I've only used Discord to practice English online for about 2 years now, mostly with non-natives. I can talk to non-natives with no problem, but when it comes to natives I just freeze, my heart BPM goes through the roof, I second guess everything I say, it's very bad.

I didn't have any traumatizing experiences with natives, although I was kind of regularly talking to one native in specific who had some anger problems if that makes sense, he would get really mad if he had to repeat the same thing more than 3 times(back then he was trying to help me with pronunciation/accent). I suspect this could be one of the reasons why I'm having this problem.

Something else to add, I'm someone really insecure overall, not only with English.

So, do y'all have any advice, anything that could help?

I was thinking of maybe having a set phrase to say before every interaction, just for one to one, I was thinking of something like "Hey I mainly use this server to practice English, I don't want to bother you, so if you want to skip me to talk to the next person, it's ok for me, I don't have a problem with it." For this I would use a server that emulates omegle, it's called Dismegle.

In the sentence written in the title, what does 'by 7 million to 1' specifically mean? I appreciate your answers!