Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / February 2004

I was tought to use 'who' for persons and 'which' or 'that' for animals and
things.
The man who ate his bread.
The dog which (that) ate his dog food.

This is a sample text for anyone to correct and comment on. But I
specially ask native English speakers to please check it out, and tell
me if my written English is good enough as that of a person whose
mother tongue is English. This is because I am planning to do English

Hi folks :-)
Yesterday I fond the following sentance and I'm not able
to translate it.
"he's unable to shake a crush on the kid down the street"

"Willie-nilly I will go decreasing ..." Please tell me what willie-nilly
means. Should it be written otherwise? Is it a much used expression? Please
elaborate. Thanks.
M.R.

"In English we use many nouns as adjectives.  Car, for example, is a noun.
But we talk about car dealers, car lots, car problems, and car payments.  In
those cases car is being used as an adjective".
What do you think of that statement that I just saw in an other forum? Is

While I know it is common usage to place I, we, me and us after
another noun or pronoun in a sentence, I wonder if it is ever
acceptable not to do so. For example, it sounds better to me to say,
"We and Jack went to the movies," than to say "Jack and we went to the

If you say that they  held a "take-note" debate, what do you mean exactly by
"a take-note debate"? Thanks, once again.
M.R.

Here is the full context:"The precious metals and base metals sectors look
good in terms of long term stock positions; if you feel like going short,
it's all in the shoes says Leeward Hedge Funds Portfolio Manager Kyle
McKay".

q

1. Fresh oil has a 6 months maturing process, at least, for gaining those features.
or Fresh oil has a 6 months maturing process, at least, to gain those features.
2. Tell me when do you finish your work to go with you to the party
or Tell me when do you finish your work for going ...

I've thought about this sentence since last night but still haven't
figured out or even guessed what it means. It appeared in a
conversation like this:
A: Bad day?

I am doing a dissertation which requires me to use a wide corpus
of English. I have looked at the BNC and the Bank of English but
the costs are prohibitive as I am funding this myself.
Has anyone any idea where I might get a corpus of a few million

hi, i'd like to know the differences between them. thanks

hi, all,
I have come across this passage:
 "Now that it is surrounded by EU countries on all sides, Switzerland
feels less need to be armed to the teeth to repel potential invaders.

I am doing a dissertation which requires me to use a wide corpus
of English. I have looked at the BNC and the Bank of English but
the costs are prohibitive as I am funding this myself.
Has anyone any idea where I might get a corpus of a few million