Question for advanced English speakers

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Post by Eivindo Mon May 27, 2013 8:30 pm

Often I hear this 'ehr' - sound coming from many words randomly it seems.

Example from footballitalia He says in the video that automatically starts when you enter the site (featuring Lazios win over Roma) : "For a sixth time Lazio lifted the CoppER Italia crown".

Is there a good explanation to when/why this happens? Can you do this 'EHR' piraty thing with any word and it's alright? scratch
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Post by fatman123 Tue May 28, 2013 12:57 pm

I think its more of an accent related issue, for example with an Australian accent the word 'Copper' is said 'Cop-a'. Im guessing when you hear the 'ehr' sound your listening to an American person talk because it certainly would match their accent
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Post by Forza Tue May 28, 2013 5:41 pm

The guy in the video has an English accent.

I cannot defintively explain why he monotonously says "copper" instead "coppa", but i will try...

1. One difference between speaking English and Italian is that you can speak English without ever having to fully open your mouth to pronounce something. Say coppa through your teeth and it will probably sound like the guy in the video. Notice that you have to open your mouth to say the vowels like an Italian would.

2. Another consideration is that in Italian, a vowel is almost always pronounced the same. Whereas, in English, words like "through" and "rough" are pronounced very differently.

3. Lastly, coppa is a foreign word, so the English language has no set way for it to be pronounced. This journalist has seemingly just invented a new way of pronouncing it even though he really should try to say it with an Italian accent.

Are there any English words where you've heard an -er sound replacing -a on the end of a word? As Fatman said, this might be exclusive to a particular accent.
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Post by Eivindo Tue May 28, 2013 8:17 pm

I have started to notice this more and more when I watch British programs on tv, and it is so annoying! they do it with English words too!
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Post by rwo power Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:57 am

In Germany we have a term for sport teams that only visit another team to give them their points - it is "Laufkundschaft" (literally "casual customers who go into a shop, buy something and are not seen again") or "Fallobst" (literally "windfall, fruit that fell from a tree and lie around on the ground"). Is there a proper term for that in English? The only thing that might come to mind is "cannon fodder", but I'm not sure it is really the best translation. Is there anything else?

Oh, and related - is there a proper translation for the term "Punktelieferant" (literally "points deliverer") as the literal translation doesn't sound really elegant?
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Post by Forza Sat Dec 07, 2013 4:31 am

No, none of these German terms have a direct and elegant translation into English. I should also point out that windfall also has a completely different second meaning to the German second meaning, and that is to receive an unexpected profit.
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Post by futbol Sat Mar 01, 2014 11:39 pm

Is "if I was" correct English? I always mess it up. I thought you say "If I were". Good opportunity to ask this question that is burning on my soul since like forever. hmm

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Post by The_Badger Sat Mar 01, 2014 11:53 pm

Fußball wrote:Is "if I was" correct English? I always mess it up. I thought you say "If I were". Good opportunity to ask this question that is burning on my soul since like forever. hmm

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=50929

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Post by Forza Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:24 am

The_Badger wrote:
Fußball wrote:Is "if I was" correct English? I always mess it up. I thought you say "If I were". Good opportunity to ask this question that is burning on my soul since like forever. hmm

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=50929

No, the difference is the tense.

"Was" is the past participle of "be". When you say "I was rich", that means you are talking about being rich in the past. It is not necessarily true that you are still rich now (in the present). When Sol Campbell says "If I was white..." he is talking about the colour of his skin in the past, but any sensible person would imply into that statement that he means being white-skinned in the past and in the present because people don't change the colour of their skin (unless they have a skin disorder or plastic surgery). This is not incorrect, but saying "If I were white..." is perhaps a more accurate expression.

Technically, it is more correct to say "If I were white..." because he is using "were" as the past subjunctive of "be". That is to say, he is expressing an opinion about the past which may or may not also apply to the present. Either way, nobody is going to correct you for using "was" instead of "were" when expressing an opinion about the past. What is more important is that you select the correct word depending on who is speaking/doing the action...

"Were" has other uses, for example:

Second person singular past of "be": "You were at the stadium."

Plural past of "be": "They were at the stadium."

Here, it would be incorrect to say "You was at the stadium" or "They was at the stadium". That is, unless you're some ghetto gangster rapper who holds a pistol sideways, wears trousers down at mid-hamstring level and also uses other florid vocabulary, such as "aight", "crib" and "dawg" in a non-sarcastic manner.


Last edited by Forza on Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:27 am; edited 1 time in total
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Post by futbol Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:36 am

Forza wrote:
The_Badger wrote:
Fußball wrote:Is "if I was" correct English? I always mess it up. I thought you say "If I were". Good opportunity to ask this question that is burning on my soul since like forever. hmm

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=50929

No, the difference is the tense.

"Was" is the past participle of "be". When you say "I was rich", that means you are talking about being rich in the past. It is not necessarily true that you are still rich now (in the present). When Sol Campbell says "If I was white..." he is talking about the colour of his skin in the past, but any sensible person would imply into that statement that he means being white-skinned in the past and in the present because people don't change the colour of their skin (unless they have a skin disorder or plastic surgery). This is not incorrect, but saying "If I were white..." is perhaps a more accurate expression.

Technically, it is more correct to say "If I were white..." because he is using "were" as the past subjunctive of "be". That is to say, he is expressing an opinion about the past which may or may not also apply to the present. Either way, nobody is going to correct you for using "was" instead of "were" when expressing an opinion about the past. What is more important is that you select the correct word depending on who is speaking/doing the action...

"Were" has other uses, for example:

Second person singular past of "be": "You were at the stadium."

Plural past of "be": "They were at the stadium."

Here, it would be incorrect to say "You was at the stadium" or "They was at the stadium". That is, unless you're some ghetto gangster rapper who holds a pistol sideways, wears trousers down at mid-hamstring level and also uses other florid vocabulary, such as "aight", "crib" and "dawg" in a non-sarcastic manner.

Proud

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Post by Thimmy Fri Mar 07, 2014 7:49 pm

Fußball wrote:Is "if I was" correct English? I always mess it up. I thought you say "If I were". Good opportunity to ask this question that is burning on my soul since like forever. hmm

Use ´were´in contexts where it can't possibly be true. "if I were you..", for instance. Obviously, I can't possibly be you. That's as simple as it can be put Smile
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Post by Robespierre Fri Mar 21, 2014 10:48 pm

I don't have still  understood when using " who " and when " that"  as relative pronome. Laughing
I do it at random ... in italian it's simple, it's always "che"..
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Post by ExtremistEnigma Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:53 pm

'who' is used when referring to a living being.

'that' is used when referring to an object.
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