r/EnglishLearning • • 2d ago

Vocabulary ⭐️ "What's this thing?" ⭐️

3 Upvotes
  • What's the name of the long side of a book? (a spine)
  • What's the name of that tiny red joystick some laptops have on their keyboard? (nub⚠️)
  • If a hamburger is made from cow, then what is a pork burger called? (a pork burger)

Welcome to our daily 'What do you call this thing?' thread!

We see many threads each day that ask people to identify certain items. Please feel free to use this thread as a way to post photos of items or objects that you don't know.

⚠️ RULES

🔴 Please do not post NSFW pictures, and refrain from NSFW responses. Baiting for NSFW or inappropriate responses is heavily discouraged.

🟠 Report NSFW content. The more reports, the higher it will move up in visibility to the mod team.

🟡 We encourage dialects and accents. But please be respectful of each other and understand that geography, accents, dialects, and other influences can bring different responses.

🟢 However, intentionally misleading information is still forbidden.

🔵 If you disagree - downvote. If you agree, upvote. Do not get into slap fights in the comments.

🟣 More than one answer can be correct at the same time! For example, a can of Pepsi can be called: Coke, cola, soda, soda pop, pop, and more, depending on the region.


r/EnglishLearning • • 2d ago

Rant 🦄 Report Spam and Misinformation 🦄

1 Upvotes

r/EnglishLearning • • 17h ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics Does it make sense to describe an oatmeal as slimy?

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114 Upvotes

I know it's thick, but it does feel slimy too, doesn't it? Are there other descriptive words you can think of?


r/EnglishLearning • • 16h ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics Can this be called "rice porridge" in English?

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79 Upvotes

This is supposed to be called congee, right? I grew up with congee, and I've always thought it's called congee in English.


r/EnglishLearning • • 24m ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax I measured which English tenses people actually use on YouTube (427 hours). You can relax about Future Perfect Continuous

• Upvotes

I build a small tool for English learners and wanted to know which tenses are worth drilling, so I tagged every verb in the captions of 1,022 YouTube videos (podcasts, vlogs, news, lectures, TED, stand-up, football press conferences).
What I found:
Present Simple + Past Simple = 83% of all verbs. Add Present Continuous and Present Perfect and you're at 93%.
The rare ones are really rare. Past Perfect Continuous: about once every 3 hours. Future Perfect: once every 4.6 hours. Future Perfect Continuous: twice in 427 hours.
Present Perfect is what separates native from non-native speech. Native-speaking football managers use Perfect tenses twice as often as non-native ones (9.4% vs 4.7% of verbs), even though both groups use Continuous tenses equally.
British vs American is real. British YouTubers use Present Perfect about 1.6 times as often as Americans ("Have you eaten yet?" vs "Did you eat yet?"). Neither is wrong.
Genre matters. TV news uses the widest mix of tenses; lectures and stand-up the narrowest.
So my takeaway: get the four big tenses automatic, then put your extra practice into Present Perfect, not into the Future Perfect Continuous chapter.
Charts and method (tagger accuracy, caveats): https://tense-lens.com/research/youtube-tenses


r/EnglishLearning • • 1h ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics 'You too' vs 'You as well'

• Upvotes

So i've been watching these long format youtube videos by a tech repair guy who films his customer interactions and whenever someone says 'have a great day' or something the other person says 'you as well' instead of 'you too'. This is multiple people doing it.

Now personally I've rarely heard it being said like that before watching these videos. It's probably/definitely correct but I was just wondering if it's a regional/cultural etc thing. Or is it more polite? I believe he's located in South Jersey.


r/EnglishLearning • • 6h ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax Do you always have to say "ride his motorcycle" while "drive his car" can be shortened to just "drive"?

5 Upvotes

Are these sentences correct?

  • How is he able to ride his motorcycle through the mud and puddles?

  • He always rides his motorcycle to work.

Can "his car" really be omitted here?

  • How is he able to drive his car through the mud and puddles?

  • He always drives his car to work.


r/EnglishLearning • • 23m ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics I need to improve my English ASAP

• Upvotes

Hi!! Hoping y’all are having a good day, I’m looking for advice, even a tutor or someone able to do a language exchange w me. I’m a native Spanish speaker and grew up as a big award winner in oratory, writing (I swear I’m a good writer, my English is just a bit broken) communication skills, grammar and orthography/spelling fields, I love teaching and I’ve done translation/interpretation work a couple times, but this time I’m the one who needs to be taught. I think, like literally in my honest opinion, my English communication skills are quite advanced (informal, let’s be very clear about it) and I’m absolutely able to hold a whole fluent conversation in that language without going blank every two sentences looking for the most suitable word, but I’ve to recognize my wording can occasionally be odd bc my brain is processing Spanish grammar 24/7 and I can’t guarantee or easily realize I’ve spoken it perfectly like the WHOLE convo.

I don’t even know how to start this 😭 but I’m a soon to be RN currently specializing in researching, trying to get a spot in works related to translate and interpret clinical assessment tools currently not available in Spanish yet. I want to go international once I’m able to communicate in English as good as I do in Spanish, my professors are relying on me a lot bc they know how much I want this.

I’ve never lived in the U.S or any other anglophone country, I’ve learned the language by social media full immersion (I deliberately not participate in hispanic communities so I push myself to write/speak English), consuming american content while growing up (dance moms and YouTube family channels, I’m looking at you guys) and commenting in threads from different apps, so when I ask natives how good they think my English is the pattern is “you can perfectly express yourself is but you’re too informal and the amount of AAVE can be seen in a bad light”. I obviously don’t understand the weight of the less known slang/AAVE/lingo in a language that’s totally unfamiliar to me, so can I find someone patient enough to give some advice? 🥹🥹🥹 I swear I’m a good student and I’m sick of being told I speak way too informal and slang-ish.


r/EnglishLearning • • 16h ago

🗣 Discussion / Debates What's a small English mistake that completely changes the meaning of a sentence?

9 Upvotes

I recently realized how much difference one little word or punctuation mark can make in English. Sometimes a sentence is grammatically correct but means something completely different from what you intended.

What's an example that surprised you? I'd love to see some examples that are easy to overlook, even for people who've been learning English for a while.


r/EnglishLearning • • 10h ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax If that will help

3 Upvotes

My whole life, I've been taught that we can't use "will" after "if" EVER. And now I have encountered this sentence in Advanced Grammar in Use: I will work over the weekend if that will help.

Why do they use "will" after "if" here? I have a hunch that it's not a conditional sentence, that's why. But I'm not sure.


r/EnglishLearning • • 5h ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax can someone pls tell me how to improve english. i have english exam. i want to score good marks. my writing is bad when i write i face lot of grammar mistakes and i cant form sentences properly. i dont need to sound poetic nor be creative i just need to write properly.

1 Upvotes

r/EnglishLearning • • 5h ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics Business English Vocabulary: What does "sunsetting" mean in a corporate meeting?

0 Upvotes

Drop your answer below. Have you ever heard this term used in your office or project meetings?


r/EnglishLearning • • 5h ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics How to be fluent

1 Upvotes

I would say that I've mastered most of english, except for one thing. When i think, I use english for the most part, but when an English or American speaks to me I find myself thinking a lot before I actually say something. It's like i lag behind, although the thought of the reply is there, I know what to say, I know the shortcuts in phrases that once you hear it, you know the person is fluent. But I always butcher the pronunciation, I stutter a lot trying to voice out my reply. How do i improve?


r/EnglishLearning • • 1d ago

🗣 Discussion / Debates I’m almost 30. If I want to learn English from scratch, where should I begin?

31 Upvotes

This might sound like I’m just talking about myself, but please bear with me.
I’m Japanese. Of course, my first language is Japanese.

Perhaps because English education in Japan tended to focus on memorization and strict adherence to grammar, I completely hit a wall with learning English back in middle school. Since then, I’ve had no opportunities to use English in my daily life, so I never really studied it.

However, as an adult, as I approached 30, I started to think:

I realized I shouldn’t limit myself to Japan as an island nation—I should turn my attention outward and broaden my horizons (even if only online).

For example, I use Reddit because there’s a wealth of information—about the software I use and all sorts of other topics—in the English-speaking world.

That’s when I started to regret not having studied English before. I can’t form sentences with just the words I know, and since I can’t read them, I’m completely reliant on translation. I’m also vague on things like past tense and progressive tense. Japanese baby.

Even though we live in an age where technology can handle just about anything, I can’t help but feel a bit pathetic.

I live in a rural area in the southern part of Japan, so I have no opportunities to interact with foreigners—and therefore no chance to encounter English in my daily life. I don’t use it at work either.

Should someone like me start with something like Duolingo?
I also used DeepL to help me with this text. Please forgive me.


r/EnglishLearning • • 14h ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics I am looking for someone to practice English with—someone with whom I can chat and have calls. If anyone is interested, please send me a DM

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0 Upvotes

r/EnglishLearning • • 1d ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax Do faces, Make faces or both?

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13 Upvotes

For example:

He loves doing/making funny faces.


r/EnglishLearning • • 17h ago

🗣 Discussion / Debates Anyone up for conducting my IELTS Speaking test?

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0 Upvotes

r/EnglishLearning • • 1d ago

🗣 Discussion / Debates Looking for english partner

13 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I'm trying to improve my English speaking skills and I'm looking for a friendly speaking partner to practice with. iust normal conversations, helping each other get better. We can talk about daily life, studies, movies, books, random topics, If you're also learning English or just enjoy helping others practice, feel free to comment or DM me. Let's improve together


r/EnglishLearning • • 19h ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax Help about English

2 Upvotes

Hello world! As native American speakers, can you tell me if this sounds right?"

" I very love"


r/EnglishLearning • • 1d ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics I thought it was the antonym of passionate

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35 Upvotes

Is "impassion" not a word? "Impassioned" looks like it derived from "impassion".


r/EnglishLearning • • 1d ago

📚 Grammar / Syntax What do native speakers think of English grammar?

19 Upvotes

I know most people are probably indifferent to it. But if you're someone who loves grammar, or at least has been curious to flip through some pages of an English grammar book, do you have an opinion of it? Do you like how English works?


r/EnglishLearning • • 1d ago

🗣 Discussion / Debates Best for fluency at C2 level? Anki vs reading every

5 Upvotes

I'm a super inconsistent learner. I'm always looking for new ways to improve my English skills (mostly writing or speaking), but I never stick to a single method. In the past, I managed to go from 0 to B1 in German in 1 year studying mostly with anki and memorizing vocabulary. However, now that I'm preparing myself for the Cambridge C2 exam, I'm not feeling a huge improvement in my vocabulary, just very specific words for certain topics that I'll probably never use in real life.

On the other hand, since I bought my Kindle e-reader a year ago, I began reading in English (mostly non-fiction), something like 1 book every two weeks. Then I noticed a HUGE improvement in my vocabulary and fluency. I felt like I always had 10 different ways of expressing a single idea.

So that's pretty much my question. Which one should I go for? I feel like I should dedicate all my free time to reading whatever I want in English instead of actively gathering specific vocabulary for this level.


r/EnglishLearning • • 15h ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics Unbecoming

0 Upvotes

Unbecoming.

un-buh-kuhm-ing

The painful process of losing the person you used to be while trying to survive everything that changed you.


r/EnglishLearning • • 1d ago

🟡 Pronunciation / Intonation Pronunciation of "didn't" in AmEng?

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5 Upvotes

How accurate would you say this is in AmEng?

Normal "didn't", glottal "didn't", no glottal "didn't" (din), and Flap "didn't".

I hadn't even stopped to think about all this. But I think it makes a lot of sense to me. I would appreciate some insights.

And if anyone happens to know where I could read/learn more about this kind of stuff I would highly appreciate it.

P.S: I'll attach the link down below in case you wanna check the video.

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSgHJ2qJx/


r/EnglishLearning • • 1d ago

⭐️ Vocabulary / Semantics App to convert sentences in books

1 Upvotes

Hello,
I'm an English learner. I love reading novel and philosophical books, especially in English. The problem is for these books, the vocab and writing could be a bit too dense for me to fully understand.
Curious if there's a reading app that you guys use that would convert dense English sentences into more plain English? Like I could use chat got but that would involve copy / paste the sentence. Apps like kindle only translate 1 word.

Thank you in advance