English grammar

Merab Dekano wrote:

Can’t say anything about the English grammar (not my language), but in Spanish many people ask me why we say “se lo compré A a mi amigo” (I bought it from my friend) rather than “se lo compré DE mi amigo”. I don’t know and I don’t bother to know. The important thing is that we say “se lo compré a mi amigo” and not the other way. It’s not about “why”. Rather, it’s more about “how”.

I think foreign language learners need to be more modest. If a native speaker (who is at the same time a linguist and professional translator) tells them it’s that way, well, then it’s that way.

The other day I had to convince an end client of my customer about the appropriateness of using inverted exclamation marks in the Spanish language, and that it had nothing to do with the letter “i”. Again, it’s more about “how” than “why”.

Tom in London wrote:

My English

I learned English as my mother tongue and although we did study it at school, I've never really understood how it is structured. I feel sorry for those who have to learn it because it seems very difficult, and most people who learn it never speak it with a good accent.

Robert Forstag wrote:

"Breakfast is a good way to start the day."

"Good start to the day" does not sound entirely natural to my (American) ears.