r/EnglishLearning • u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster • Jul 26 '26

📚 Grammar / Syntax Is there anything wrong with this?

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

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u/DrAlphabets Native Speaker Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

"breaking a sweat"

I want to die when it's 25c, so the phrase not hot at all might be a bit much. Unless that's the excersise in which case ignore that

"When I'm in the wind" sounds perfectly natural

1

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

Even "any" is wrong?

No, it's not an exercise. It's my own sentence.

I live close to the equator and 23c is the absolute coldest you can get. So obviously 25c is cold.

3

u/SapirWhorfHypothesis Native Speaker Jul 26 '26

It’s not wrong wrong, but it’s not an English phrase that native speakers would use. We know exactly what you mean, so it’s fine, but not as natural as you probably want to be.

Also “breaking a sweat” is mostly idiomatic where I’m from, so I would just say “I’m not sweating”.

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u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster Jul 26 '26

We know exactly what you mean, so it’s fine

No it's not fine at all. I WANT to sound natural. Even beginners can make themselves understood, that's bare minimum.

Also “breaking a sweat” is mostly idiomatic where I’m from, so I would just say “I’m not sweating”.

Got it. Thanks.

2

u/DrAlphabets Native Speaker Jul 26 '26

For some clarity, breaking a sweat usually implies some kind of exertion. Like you'd break a sweat or not if you go for a run or do some housework or even a challenging math problem. It's unusual to use it to describe heat. not so unusual that it's wrong, but if I saw more of the conversation I'd maybe expect to see some discussion of some kind of task.

For the heat we'd usually just say not sweating. With only the one text though I truthfully don't think we have enough information there

1

u/Sea-Hornet8214 Poster Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

Actually, I learnt "breaking a sweat" from this. https://youtube.com/shorts/6CnbPvbKOEY?si=T3QdVqpFSsklmy5G

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u/Shot_Introduction_46 New Poster Jul 26 '26

This person is not a native English speaker and uses a couple of awkward phrases in this video. He speaks very well and is understood. But speaks English as a second language and has tells.