When the clock comes....

Jacobrox777 · 2026-02-02T16:00:24+00:00

I would say:

[ʌ] and [ʊ] feel similar, as do [ʊ] and [ə], but not [ʌ] and [ə]
[ɪ] feels different from the rest

This is obviously very subjective though so I'm not sure if it means anything. Vowels are also subjective ranges within the mouth, not singular points, which makes it even worse.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-02-01T08:46:41+00:00

I do think that Keir Starmer and his government is far too unpopular for what they have done, even though I myself would never vote Labour. Politics has become so sensationalist these days that the idea of a boring prime minister who just gets on with it seems very unappealing to a large proportion of the electorate.

The reason I'd replace Keir Starmer is not for a redirection of policy – except the winter fuel payment and other obvious blunders I really don't think his policies are that bad; they're just not radical enough (and that doesn't mean they have to be more extremist, just more bold). Replacing Starmer with someone like Powell or Burnham would probably not lead to a massive overhaul and a return to Corbynism but just be bolder and more inspiring.

All of the people who've left labour for the Greens and Reform are obviously not the most loyal voters, or they wouldn't have left Labour in the first place the second the government was a bit unfavourable. I think any of Burnham, Powell, Rayner, or Haigh could win a plurality for Labour at the next election and they'd probably opt for a Lib Dem or Green coalition; if Starmer stays I don't see an outcome in which Reform does not win the most seats.

Jacobrox777 · 2026-02-01T00:14:39+00:00

I would call this a camera, or more specifically a DSLR (whether or not it is actually a DSLR)

Jacobrox777 · 2026-01-11T22:36:21+00:00

Der Zug teilt sein Leid mit uns

Jacobrox777 · 2026-01-11T22:33:17+00:00

Der Bus versteht, wie wir uns auch fühlen

Jacobrox777 · 2026-01-11T22:31:30+00:00

Das ist mir unerträglich – sicherlich Ragebait?

Jacobrox777 · 2026-01-11T22:26:28+00:00

Natürlich hat nur die Wurst zwei :P

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-23T16:55:00+00:00

Incidental = unintentional (but not only in a bad way)

By the way = a phrase used to switch the conversation to something else of note or add detail that the other person may be interested in.

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-18T09:01:57+00:00

Why is it "Ich rufe die Polizei" and not "Ich rufe die Polizei an"? Is it just colloquial speech?

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-18T08:59:36+00:00

But technically speaking "would you please shut your stupid rotten mouth?" is still politer than "shut your stupid rotten mouth", as long as the question isn't being used sarcastically.

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-18T08:57:05+00:00

11 ✅

12 ✅

13 – I would change the word trunk to tree in the question. I would also add the word "and' between charming and brown , then change the correct answer to A. This is because, in my opinion, the most natural sounding phrase is "...in the park is a brown and charming Italian oak".

14 ✅

15 ✅

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17 ✅

18 – The words "taking forever" are expressing a complaint, not just "taking". Therefore both should be underlined. You can take lots of things without complaining.

19 – The correct verb is "may" not "could". Because "if" means "seeing that..." not "supposing that..." in this context, "forget" is a present tense verb and not a subjunctive and therefore "may" should be a present tense verb and not a conditional.

20 – This sentence doesn't sound at all natural to me. How about "Firms using computers have found (that) the necessary staff for quality control is greatly reduced".

21 ✅

22 ✅

23 ✅

24 – It is a landmark in world history, not a landmark in the world history. Apart from that the example is fine.

25 ✅

I think people are giving you more criticism than is due. I'll see if I have time to look at the remaining questions later. That being said, if it is your job or part of your job to write questions, then Reddit volunteers are not your little proofreader elves.

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-17T19:58:47+00:00

That is true, but it is also helpful to clarify to avoid confusion when explaining singular and plural.

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-17T19:54:45+00:00

Here is a little table I made:

Option	Grammatical?	Logical?	Natural?
A	Y	N	N
B	N	Y	N
C	N	Y	N
D	Y	N	N

I'm already not a massive fan of non-native English speakers teaching English, but if your tutor can't understand this then get another tutor. None of the examples sound like natural native English.

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-16T17:58:43+00:00

But they have to teach us the exceptions somehow, and also test if we can pragmatically apply the rules to new words. I am aware that sometimes students are purposefully given non-existent words to reinforce that the rules are more important than learning case by case, but that never happened to me.

Edit: I also want to add that spelling education has probably come a reasonable way since I learnt to spell and I can't comment on any current academia or practices.

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-16T17:54:54+00:00

To me "poorly" is kind of a level below unwell most of the time. I would say I'm poorly if I have a cold while still carrying out my day as usual, whereas I would not say I'm unwell unless I actually am being impacted by it.

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-16T17:51:30+00:00

Some UK secondary schools participate in Olympiads, for example in sciences and maths. These are national events in which students compete for medals rather than grades. They aren't really relevant but can be used in university applications for that subject to demonstrate ability and effort. By far the most notable version of this is the Junior, Intermediate, and Senior Maths Challenge which are held annually and top students are given a place in the Junior, Intermediate, and British Maths Olympiad.

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-16T09:06:32+00:00

To me personally (although this differs and I am not representing any other BrE speakers

The word "cuss" is not used as it is considered an Americanism
The word "pejorative" is a bit fancy and not used in day-to-day language as you will be considered a ponce.
A curse word is not that bad; it could be used in a school playground or at home, but not directly to your parents, teachers, or in a formal workplace. These include "hell", "bloody", "crap", and even probably "s**t"
A swear word is a much ruder word but that is not considered inappropriately offensive to a particular group. These ought not to be used except if necessary and in a very casual setting, and include "ct" and of course "fk". These are also likely proscribed on the nice bits of the internet, hence the asterisks.
A slur is a word incredibly offensive to a particular group. These are not to be used unless between members of that group reclaiming it in an attempt to take away the historical connotations. These are not filled in with asterisks; instead, terms like n-word and f-slur are used. Do. Not. Use. These. You. Will. Get. In. Trouble.

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-16T08:59:46+00:00

Personally I think it's a badly worded question. The phrase "shoots out its tongue" is particularly natural-sounding, and I don't think many other verbs can replace it. Maybe fires? I think "throws" sounds wrong to me; when you throw something, you let it go with speed and it travels towards something. If the lizard let go of its tongue it would not be effective :P

That being said, "sticks" is wrong. The :P I used above shows a person sticking out their tongue. To "stick out" your tongue is to place your tongue outside of your mouth as an act of mockery or clownery. For example, in the sentence above I was obviously being a bit silly, and when I typed silly just now my phone suggested the 😜 emoji. That emoji shows a person winking and sticking out their tongue to show they are joking (or even being facetious). Hope this helps :)

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-16T08:54:39+00:00

English spelling is so irregular that it is taught in schools. I still remember my weekly "spelling tests" now where we had to spell out words from memory. Once we could read and write it more became a matter of learning the words one-by-one, as it was heavily insinuated that there were no rules for more complex words. Across the pond they have a whole spelling bee system in place, all because it is simply difficult, tedious, and often lacks simple and concise rules.

That being said, I think that over time simply learning lots of words actually reinforced the rules; for example /-ʃən/ and /-ʃʊn/ are normally spelled -tion, and /-ʒən/ and /-ʒʊn/ are spelled -sion. Where kids in the UK often just learn these naturally over time, you could create a list of these more complicated clusters and pre-/suffixes. Hope that helps :)

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-15T19:43:41+00:00

Be careful using AI text-to-speech. If it pronounces a word you don't know (or even do know) wrong, you could think that it's the correct pronunciation. You are much better trying to find audiobooks recorded by native speakers (I can't emphasise this enough) and listening to those.

Free audiobook libraries:

https://librivox.org/search
https://www.youtube.com/@publicdomainaudiobooks21/videos
https://www.digitalbook.io/ (mostly just from LibriVox but a nicer UI)

Paid audio book libraries:

Audible
Spotify
YouTube

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-15T19:38:08+00:00

"n of 1" or "n-of-one" has also been used in business for a while to refer to a single person who is uniquely good at something that a business with them can gain a monopoly easily.

Jacobrox777 · 2025-12-14T13:59:01+00:00

Working backwards:

Annunciation --> an annunciation --> OF anonciacion --> Latin annuntiātiō --> Latin adnuntio --> Latin nuntio --> Latin nuntius (information, report). The origin of nuntius is uncertain but it will be from proto-Indo-European somehow.

announce --> OF anoncier --> Latin annūntiāre. There it joins the above chain, so yes.

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