[LukkiAnn]

Hello All!

I don't know where to start, so let's start from this moment. I have been living in the United States in the beautiful state of Maryland since last December. My English teacher always encouraged me to write here. However, I don't like writing in English, and I always avoid speaking about science, politics and economics. What can I say about books, movies and music? I like them.)))
1 missing prepositions (cannot find)

The reality of my life forces me to write a lot in my new language, so I need to practice. Thus, I remembered about this forum. Maybe my blog encourages you to write in English asking questions and writing comments. I will be happy.))


So, we live in a small town in Maryland Ellicott city. This city has a big history and it is a very old for the USA. It was established in 1778 by two brothers with the surname of Ellicott, so now you know what Ellicott means.
1 missing preposition (cannot find). You might want to use last name instead of surname, just like most people around you probably do (gotcha)




There are plenty of antique boutiques and small restaurants with delicious cuisine.




I am learning in a usual community college for a legal assistant certificate. It's really hard to learn here. Many things, which we have by default in Russia, I need to do myself. For example, I establish (the?) (nice but not obligatory; see below) course schedules and choose subjects that I prefer to learn in this semester. In addition, I can choose a professor and between on-line or in-campus attendance. Maybe you know that study books are so expensive here. Yes, it is a the truth. In this semester I’ve paid about $200 for two books. Of course, you can resell them, but believe me they don’t give you more than 30% from the original price.
usual refers to everyday activities mostly; that's why at your favorite coffee shop the server might say, "The usual?" meaning your usual order. Here you might want to use regular.

My family and I like traveling and we travel a lot. We were on a canyon tour this summer.




Traveling in the USA is so enjoyable. Roads’ smooth surface, polite people, predictable situations allow you to love the process of traveling at all itself. National parks, recreation parks, state parks offer you a chance to explore nature near your home.

I assume that the main question that you would like to ask me is “What about your English?” Well, my English is not perfect. I understand 99% of my professors, 50% news, 70% every day conversation partners. My major problem is that I don’t speak. Of course I can support a conversation, but my goal is to speak academic English without mistakes as Alan Shore in Boston Legal.)))

This post has been edited by Autevielle: 05 October 2011 - 02:10 PM

[LukkiAnn]

Yes, it does hardly believe that I am attempting regular college classes with native speakers. Oh, I've got a B grade in writing composition class. I tried to pretend a poor lamb saying a professor that I have a dysgraphia disease. missing words! Her replay was "Do you have a paper from a doctor?" Definitely, I did not have one.
1 misused article

My great discovery was that native speakers DO make mistakes!!!! Every English class I have discussions about words meanings or parts of speech. The last example the word "encounter", which dictionary.com and I were sure, is a noun and a verb. My professor insisted that it is only verb meaning. No comments.
1 missing article, 1 missing verb

Quote

usual refers to everyday activities mostly; that's why at your favorite coffee shop the server might say, "The usual?" meaning your usual order.

My usual a cup of coffee is a headache for Starbucks. I prefer double espresso with 3 tablespoons of steamhot milk. How does it say in English??? I returned hundred cups of coffee with "a little bit milk" (as usual a cup was full of milk) until one barista asked me "How much inches of hot milk do you want?" It was a brilliant question that gives me the knowledge that my 3 spoons are .5 inch. Until now I still return sometimes a cup of incorrect coffee, but now I am certainly sure that cause is not my crazy order or broken English.)))))
3 missing articles, 1 missing preposition
Also, did you mean tablespoons or teaspoons? 3 tablespoons sounds like way too much milk for a double shot

[Autevielle]

Any native speakers of any language make mistakes: you must have come across this phenomenon in your native language as well Sometimes it's just an honest mistake or a case of confusion, but on occasion there might be an ideology behind it. Just like in Russian, you come across people who believe that a word should be used this way and never that way in spite of all evidence to the contrary. In the case of 'encounter', an obvious example would be Encounters of the Third Kind, where it's obviously a noun. That puts you in the same camp with Steven Spielberg, who probably knows what he was talking about.

LukkiAnn, on 04 October 2011 - 05:33 PM, said:

until one barista asked me "How much inches of hot milk do you want?" It was a brilliant question that gives me the knowledge that my 3 spoons are .5 inch. [s]

That really is a brilliant question! Your barista has his/her priorities straight

[LukkiAnn]

I am sorry for my silent; now I have a very hard time - midterm exams. It is so a rash period, and I am starting to feel upset and tired. Do anybody has a suggestion for me how to survive in this time?))))
1 misused article

Quote

Also, did you mean tablespoons or teaspoons? 3 tablespoonssounds like way too much milk for a double shot

Yes, I realize it is a tricky thing, but I like a coffee with 3 teaspoons of hot milk.))) Poor baristas))))



We fill autumn. It is time of silence and color. <-- 1 missing article Our conditioning is working rarely now, so we can hear more sounds from outside. Sometime a fox rustles dry leaves, but more often it is a squirrel is trying to find or hiding something for winter. This weekend we found an interesting corn maze and tried to solve all its tasks. It was exciting experience especially, when you do it during a night. <-- 1 missing article, 1 misused article Today we pick up the best pumpkin for our home.




Some pumpkin was really very spooky.)))




This photo do not have very good acutance, but it considers fall's spectrum of colors.

(The word "acutance" is a very rare technical term, you can read a dozen books on photography without encountering it once. The word that you should actually use is "sharpness". But the problem with the image below is not that it isn't sharp, but that it is out of focus. Sharpness and focus are different things - but we are not going into that here.)




With warm and love,
LukkiAnn

[Autevielle]

These are lovely! The spooky one is spooky though The whole thing looks like Hagrid's pumpkin patch! I'm gonna be looking for the perfect pumpkin tomorrow and carving it up into a jack o'lantern. Exams suck! Hot chocolate? Squirrel-watching? TOS and TNG reruns? I'm on a TNG kick right now (I've gone through the 2 and a half seasons of TOS and I'm not quite up for the movies yet, it always ends up being a marathon!). Oh yeah - The Big Bang Theory, have you got started on that yet or not?