English conversations

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Adam Wysokiński - 13 Aug 2005 11:29 GMT

Hi,
I am looking for some English conversation, medical topics preferred
(as I'm an MD), but I will talk about everything else too - I'm in great
need of improving my language :) If you have time and would like to talk -
feel free to email/MSN me. I can help you practising Polish in return.
Best regards for all of you.

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www: http://www.e-medicus.org/
blog: http://spaces.msn.com/members/adamwysokinski/
mobile: +48 609 676 178
MSN: adam.wysokinski@post.pl

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credoquaabsurdum - 13 Aug 2005 20:02 GMT

There's a nifty little book for people like you: _English in Medicine_,
Second Edition, Eric H. Glendinning and Beverly A.S. Holmström,
Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-59570-3. There's also a tape
that goes along with the book. The package has all kinds of
conversational exchanges relevant to your profession in it.

It also costs, as I found out to my chagrin, about seventy euros.

By the way: help somebody DO something, e.g. help sby practise, help
sby learn, etc. You may also say and write, 'help somebody TO do
something,' but that form is less common. This whole issue of what
follows 'help' gets even more complicated when we add 'can't help doing
something' to the mix.

Good luck, Adam.

Adam Wysokinski wrote:

> Hi,
> I am looking for some English conversation, medical topics preferred
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> mobile: +48 609 676 178
> MSN: adam.wysokinski@post.pl

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Adam Wysokiński - 13 Aug 2005 21:05 GMT

> There's a nifty little book for people like you: _English in Medicine_,
> Second Edition, Eric H. Glendinning and Beverly A.S. Holmström,
> Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-59570-3.

Thank you very much, I will try to get this book.

> By the way: help somebody DO something

Thank you for pointing this to me. You see, that's the kind of improving
that I was talking about :) I know this general rule, but because of lack
of practising (aren't there to many "ofs" in this sentence?) I forgot about
it.. I have no problems with reading and listening, but when it comes to
writing/speaking - ouch, that hurts :)

One more question about this "help DO sth" - what if I'm doing something
right now and I want somebody to help me with this, for example: "I'm
washing the dishes, help me doing this". Would it be correct?

Best regards.

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credoquaabsurdum - 14 Aug 2005 21:36 GMT

Adam Wysokinski wrote:

<snip>

> > By the way: help somebody DO something
>
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> it.. I have no problems with reading and listening, but when it comes to
> writing/speaking - ouch, that hurts :)

The productive skills (writing and speaking) in general lag behind the
passive skills (reading and writing) in normal second language
acquisition. I speak Greek with relative ease and a bit of French, but
writing with the kind of ease you display in English in either language
is beyond me. I sincerely hope I have not offended you.

> One more question about this "help DO sth" - what if I'm doing something
> right now and I want somebody to help me with this, for example: "I'm
> washing the dishes, help me doing this". Would it be correct?

No.

I'm washing the dishes. Please help me do it/them. (The "it/this/them"
issue here is another strange thing about English.)

I'm washing the dishes. Can you help me (to) do it/them?

By the way, a British English speaker might not use "washing the
dishes" but rather "doing the washing up," which would then definitely
be referred to by the pronoun "it."

Of course, if you use "help" WITHOUT another verb, all kinds of
constructions are possible.

"Help" is a strange verb in English mainly for these reasons, and
generally gives a lot of language learners an extraordinary amount of
trouble. Just remember: if you're going to use "help" with another
verb, the structure is help + object + either full or bare infinitive.
It seems that educated Britons tend to use the full infinitive more
often than the bare infinitive in this construction...which is
something I just learned as well, from my formal usage books.

Could someone confirm this, please? I believe that in an earlier post I
told this gentleman that the bare infinitive is used more than the full
infinitive. It's one thing to put your foot in your mouth, but
negligently misleading language students is quite another. Thank you.

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Adam Wysokiński - 15 Aug 2005 10:06 GMT

> The productive skills (writing and speaking) in general lag behind the
> passive skills (reading and writing) in normal second language
> acquisition. I speak Greek with relative ease and a bit of French, but
> writing with the kind of ease you display in English in either language
> is beyond me.

I think it is because getting something to read in foreign language is
much easier than having something to write or somebody to talk to. I
read several pages of English text (mostly news and medical journals)
every day but have a very rare opportunity to write something. And
that's why I'm on this group.

> I sincerely hope I have not offended you.

Of course you didn't, I'm here to learn something :)

>>One more question about this "help DO sth" - what if I'm doing something
>>right now and I want somebody to help me with this, for example: "I'm
>>washing the dishes, help me doing this". Would it be correct?
>
> No.

Ok, it is much more clear now, thank you.

> By the way, a British English speaker might not use "washing the
> dishes" but rather "doing the washing up," which would then definitely
> be referred to by the pronoun "it."

BTW, is the usage of American constructions/pronunciation in British
English acceptable or is it treated as a mistake?

> Just remember: if you're going to use "help" with another
> verb, the structure is help + object + either full or bare infinitive.

I will for sure, thank you for your explanation.

Best regards.

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Einde O'Callaghan - 15 Aug 2005 11:09 GMT

<snip>

> BTW, is the usage of American constructions/pronunciation in British
> English acceptable or is it treated as a mistake?

American constructions and pronunciation are no problem in Britain. And
if foreigners use these nobody will really notice, particularly if they
have a non-native accent. The only thing you have to be careful about is
the small difference in vocabulary. A number of words have a different
meaning, e.g. subway, pavement, pants, suspenders, knickers, vest,
(potato) chips etc., but this is usually no great problem.

In Cambridge exams both British and American English are acceptable, but
in writing you should be consistent about which spelling you use - so
you should not, for example, use "colour" and "center" in the same text.

Regards,einde

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Adam Wysokiński - 15 Aug 2005 18:57 GMT

> In Cambridge exams both British and American English are acceptable, but
> in writing you should be consistent about which spelling you use - so
> you should not, for example, use "colour" and "center" in the same text.

It's good to know that, thanks Einde.

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skype: adamwysokinski

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Django Cat - 13 Aug 2005 21:20 GMT

> There's a nifty little book for people like you: _English in
> Medicine_, Second Edition, Eric H. Glendinning

Good bloke Eric Glendinning, I work for him most summers.

DC

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Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / August 2005

English conversations