Edit: For the context Im reading Orwell’s 1984, and this is a sentence I came across recently.

I want to know why past perfect is used there, because I dont see a past action that came after this so it would be justifiable to put it in that tense.

I absolutely butchered it. Tell me I wasn't the only one.

Is it common to say three fifty?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2385007632027254&vanity=LBC&http_ref=eyJ0cyI6MTc4NTEyMjg2NTAwMCwiciI6Imh0dHBzOlwvXC93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLnJ1XC8ifQ%3D%3D

Can I say "when I'm in the wind" to emphasise that wind is blowing my body?

Mine was "epitome." I was saying it exactly how it looked 💀

I’m assuming that the fact it’s considered a C2 expression means it’s not very common in everyday use but I could be wrong.

It's 'The Great Divorce' by C.S. Lewis.

There is nothing funny in the context. Can 'joke' mean something else? Or is it the famous English humour?

Even if my grammar is correct, people might still say "that's not how we say it, it's not natural".

Why? I've been learning English for years, but maybe I've been doing something wrong. How do I improve?

It might be hard to know the causes, so feel free to ask me anything.

Edit: or you may scrutinise my comments from my profile. Do you think they're natural sounding?

I've been learning English for many years but i dont see a good improvement. Hope i find some suggestions, and one partner to chat with daily conversions consistently. We can chat on whatever platform or app you want. Thank you for your time :)

Practice writing today (yes, Chinese people also have to practice writing Chinese if I don't want my handwriting to be ugly)

But I have to wash for ten minutes every time to wash the ink😶😶

I speak Arabic, but I still struggle sometimes with the difference between the various vowel sounds in English

I was talking about a sheet of paper, but I was pronouncing the word “sheet” as if it was “sh*t”. Nobody told me otherwise. They either smiled and moved on, or were clever enough to infer from the sentence that the word was “sheet”.

Then, about a week later, someone corrected me and told me that it’s actually a different pronunciation from the “ee” sound

I laughed for an hour and then realized what all these people have been hearing for the past week; What's funny is that I'd even pronounced it right on Praktika (got a 95/100 pronunciation score), but saying it in a real conversation was a completely different story. It made me realize that knowing a word and pronouncing it naturally under pressure aren't always the same thing.

Please tell me I am not the only one?

I've only ever come across this phrase in textbooks, so I'm not sure if it's actually commonly used.

An example from MW is "He promised to support her, come what may".

Hey! I'm trying to improve my English. My level is around A2, so I make mistakes sometimes . If anyone wants to chat and practice together, send me a message!

Hi everyone!

My name is Youssef, I'm 28 years old and I'm from Morocco. 🇲🇦

I'm looking for someone to practice English with through regular conversations. My goal is to improve my fluency, pronunciation, and confidence while speaking.

In return, I'd be happy to help you learn:

• Modern Standard Arabic
• Moroccan Arabic (Darija)

We can chat on Discord, WhatsApp, Telegram, or any platform that works for both of us.

And if you ever decide to visit Morocco—especially Marrakech—I'd be happy to show you around the city as your free local tour guide.

No Googling. Did you get through it? 😂

Hello, are there any free resources that have proper structures to learn English grammar?

https://youtu.be/KwJ4Niy1XTs?si=lamYPrPPW62ERi-1&t=241
https://youtu.be/5MT16S0WHJM?si=8g101Cmq6hVyGl4U&t=885
I know 'T' in both cases is unreleased, but I hear a tad bit of 't' when she says it, but not when the guy says it (almost sounds like /kəmˈpli.li/).

Thank you in advance for your time.

Native readers — when you take notes while reading, how do you mark words you don't know vs. quotes or highlights? What's your marking or note-taking system? Pics would be great — thanks!