Miriam
Are you a bonafide wordie?
Tim mentioned in my discussion about expressions that mean "a lot" that the word "beaucoup" is used in English (<a href="https://www.italki.com/discussion/228743" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.italki.com/discussion/228743</a>;). This made me look up the word "beaucoup" and I found out that it was word of the day on 9th of January this year on this site: <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/beaucoup-2020-01-09/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/beaucoup-2020-01-09/</a>;. If you're bored by your basic vocab and want to learn some words to show off at the next party, you should definitely check this site out: <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/</a>;. Today's word (27th of February) is "vug" by the way. I'm pretty sure that the majority of English learners here, never heard of this word.

The website also offers a short and fun quiz with easily mixed up words: <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/games/quizzes/commonly-confused-words-quiz/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.dictionary.com/games/quizzes/commonly-confused-words-quiz/</a>;. If you get 11 of 11 questions right, "you're a bona fide wordie". The quiz isn't too hard. A learner on intermediate level should be able to pass it.
Feb 27, 2020 2:27 PM
Comments · 33
4
Whoever is doing all the down voting should find something more constructive to do with their time.

February 27, 2020
4
"Beaucoup" became popularized in the United States during the Vietnam War. People who fought in Vietnam came back using it. It is (of course? obviously?) a French word borrowed into English.

I only know "vug" because I play Scrabble. Scrabble is a word game in which you try to form words out of a limited set of letters. Scrabble players learn a lot of obscure, totally useless words. It is not really a good way to build vocabulary because so many of the words are so obscure. The odd thing is that many Scrabble players know words without knowing their meaning--the just know that "<em>vug</em> is a word!"

You want to be careful about learning words "to show off at the next party."

Dammit, I <em>know</em> the difference between <em>affect</em> and <em>effect </em>but "accidentally" clicked the wrong one, so, only 10/11. By the way, what do people think of their test question on "to" and "too?"

<em>I know your sweet tooth demands you ___ eat candy, but if you must, then try not to eat __ much.</em>

Obviously the right answer is

<em style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">I know your sweet tooth demands you to eat candy, but if you must, then try not to eat too much.</em>

But is it correct to say <em style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">I know your sweet tooth demands you to eat candy?</em> It seems very unnatural to me. Is it, technically correct, or is it actually incorrect? I think <em style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">demands</em> ought to be <em style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">compels.</em>
February 27, 2020
3
Richard at your request I uprooted upvoted the discussion but the counter did not increase by one and I did not down vote in the past.
I have often noticed italki's counter is out by 1 or 2 counts on several things votes and comments and also notifications.

Notice I have left my typo in situ
February 28, 2020
3
Like Phil and I said - the conjugation of these two verbs are at a minimum, challenging:

Infinitive - to lay
Simple Past - laid
Past participle - laid

Infinitive - to lie
Simple Past - lay
Past participle - lain


PS
I upvoted Miriam's Discussion and now I see that my single up vote has disappeared.
Negative, downvoters need to be shown that there are far more up voters than down voters,

so please UP vote this Discussion


February 28, 2020
3
I am 99% sure that the French word beaucoup was brought back to the States by the American soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War neither because it was French nor because it meant "a lot."
February 27, 2020
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Miriam
Language Skills
Chinese (Mandarin), Finnish, French, German
Learning Language
Chinese (Mandarin), Finnish
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