Let's learn together!

[MajidY]

Dear Majid,

Welcome! How are you doing? I hope you are doing well.
I am Behnam from Iran. Your English is excellent. I am not good enough to correct you, but there are some structures which seem unusual to me. I am not sure, maybe your sentences are correct, but my eyes perhaps do not see as well as before.

For example, I prefer to write "very happy for being here to learn English and to establish friendship in order to get familiar...".

"I hope learning from each other and give love together..." sounds a little bit unusual. I am not sure, check the structure.

All the best,
Behnam, 30 March, 2023

Dear Behnam
what are you doing? everything well?
firstly, thank you for your kindly response and correcting my words.
please don't hesitate in this way.
I like your kinda writing. it's clear, simple and pleasant for understanding. I hope to be good in English like you and learn more from you.
as you know learning english needs enough and effective practice. in my opinion, speaking skill is harder than others skills to learn (writing, listening, reading,…). because individual practice it's not enough for learning it. what's your advice and experience for improve in speaking skill?

I have other question related to my words. which one of below sentences is more correct?
speaking skill is harder than others skills to learn.
speaking skill is harder than others skills for learning.
what's the difference in meaning of them?

Sincerely yours,
Majid

[MajidY]

Dear Mohsen,

thank you for sharing this wonderful and true story.
actually, both motivation and belief are the precious properties to achievement.
I believe that most of people take their abilities less than what they are. everyone could go one step more to forward from their current position. although we have to consider that belief ourself is different of dream. truly belief is along with trying and motion to forward that come up planning. so, boarder of them is so thin and sometimes it can cause misunderstanding. besides, we have to accept this fact that motivation and belief aren't only requirements to achievement.

Best Regards,
Majid

[behnam]

Dear Majid,

It was very nice to read your post. Thank you very much for your positive feedback and encouragement. Your writing skill is excellent.

About improving speaking skill, based on my own experience, talking with friends from different nations helps a lot. These days, many people are learning English in all over the words. Speaking with them is really helpful in practicing and then developing speaking skill.

These days I am learning French. When learning English, besides participating in an institute, I used to chat with my friends on the Internet. For example, Skype provides an easy and cheap way to meet people with common goals, to form friendship, and to speak with them. It is really a brilliant way to master speaking skill. I strongly recommend you to try it.

About your question, I think the correct structure is "It is hard/difficult for someone to do something". According to this structure, "for" should be used before people and "to" before verbs!

I hope it helps.

All the best,
Behnam, 10 Avril, 2023

[SitangCampus]

Hi, friends of Iran!

I learned from a number of we-media outlets that recently the allied forces led by Iran and Saudi Arabia attacked Israel, and that for the first time Israel that has looked down upon the whole Arabian muslim world did not show its bravery as ever and tried to settle the conflict in diplomatic manner. I do not know whether this is fake news or not.

Israel is without the support of the US this time and that is why it becomes like a tortoise that retracts its head into the shell after its head was hard hit. LOL.

By the way, today is the traditional festival "Sanyuesan" of the Zhuang ethnic people in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonmous Region, where a lot of celebratory activities are being held including the well known conversational singing between male and female groups. If you see a feature film "Singer Sister Liu San", you will get the idea what it is like, yes, very entertaining.

[MajidY]

Hi, friends of Iran!

I learned from a number of we-media outlets that recently the allied forces led by Iran and Saudi Arabia attacked Israel, and that for the first time Israel that has looked down upon the whole Arabian muslim world did not show its bravery as ever and tried to settle the conflict in diplomatic manner. I do not know whether this is fake news or not.

Israel is without the support of the US this time and that is why it becomes like a tortoise that retracts its head into the shell after its head was hard hit. LOL.

By the way, today is the traditional festival "Sanyuesan" of the Zhuang ethnic people in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonmous Region, where a lot of celebratory activities are being held including the well known conversational singing between male and female groups. If you see a feature film "Singer Sister Liu San", you will get the idea what it is like, yes, very entertaining.

Dear SitangCampus,
I hope you are doing well. I don’t know about you but it seems you are interested in political issues. unfortunately, for years, battle is part of middle east that just leads to destroy. I hope a day coming soon without war and full of peaceful.
In addition, politics is always complicated. but something is clear that Saudi fundamentally has been changing its politics at the middle east. Currently, it sounds that priority is development for them. economic and social development. so, they know properly development will be achieved on the peaceful way with countries of the region (Israel, Iran, and…).
Generally, all three of them (Israel, Iran, Saudi) are ideological countries and the history of humanity has shown that ideological countries don't serve the world and even their own people.
by the way, I hope the future competition in the middle east will be on development not war.

Also, you talked about your local celebration (traditional festival "Sanyuesan"), that's great and thanks for sharing that. obviously, China is an ancient country and I would like to knowing more about your culture.

All the best
Majid

[SitangCampus]

Dear SitangCampus,
I hope you are doing well. I don’t know about you but it seems you are interested in political issues. unfortunately, for years, battle is part of middle east that just leads to destroy. I hope a day coming soon without war and full of peaceful.
In addition, politics is always complicated. but something is clear that Saudi fundamentally has been changing its politics at the middle east. Currently, it sounds that priority is development for them. economic and social development. so, they know properly development will be achieved on the peaceful way with countries of the region (Israel, Iran, and…).
Generally, all three of them (Israel, Iran, Saudi) are ideological countries and the history of humanity has shown that ideological countries don't serve the world and even their own people.
by the way, I hope the future competition in the middle east will be on development not war.

Also, you talked about your local celebration (traditional festival "Sanyuesan"), that's great and thanks for sharing that. obviously, China is an ancient country and I would like to knowing more about your culture.

All the best
Majid

Hi, my friend. Thank you for your reply. Are you new here? Which country are you from?
It is not very correct that I am a fan of politics. I have many other interests too. We in China learn this subject since our childhood and in our everyday life we are all exposed to things in connection with politics. Whether a country thrives or declines, it is the responsibility of all the individual citizens of it.
I definitely agree with you we should focus ourselves on development, not on war, but in this world, when you want to have a peaceful life, some people with evil thoughts always try to make it impossible. That's why we should expose their nasty minds and deeds. For example, both Russians and Ukrainians do not like to have war, but the NATO and the US do not want the war to stop despite the much efforts made by China and other peace-loving persons and organizations.
Returing to the topic of local celebration, yes, there were many interesting things including crowds of people in the streets and scenic spots taking pictures and having fun, singing and dancing and eating foods in great variety.
You are welcome to visit China, it is a beautiful and most important, a safe country, where you don't have to worry about being stolen or robbed.

[catabuyogty]

I learned more English when i was chatting in a paid community website . I had read a lot of English books that's why i have learned using present perfect , past perfect and future perfect tense in my sentences whenever i keep chatting with my friends online.

[Mohsen]

Dear Iranian Friends,
Happy new year to you ,have the most blessing year in 1403.
I wish the world peace , and it is impossible until the terrorist government of Israel would be destroyed.
Pray for innocent people of Guza, where many children and mothers were killed by Israel bombarding, that God save them.
B.Regards

[Josef Essberger]

Dear Iranian Friends,
Happy new year to you, have the most blessing year in 1403.
I wish the world peace, and it is impossible until the terrorist government of Israel would be destroyed.
Pray for innocent people of Guza, where many children and mothers were killed by Israel bombarding, that God save them.
B.Regards

Best wishes to you too, Mohsen, on this longest of all threads on EnglishClub.com
We pray equally for the people of Gaza and all innocent people everywhere.

[Mohsen]

Thank you dear


Today is the first day of Ordibehesht in Iran.
Ordibehesht is the second month in Iranian calender
The nature looks like heaven in Ordibehesht
Ordibehesht means heaven in old Persian language
But in new Persian language Heaven means Behesht

[Mohsen]

A view point

So there's been some talk in the media about Israel maybe making a move against Iran. But lemme break it down for you - Israel is basically America's pet, they do whatever the US tells them to do. And lately, the US has been taking some Ls in terms of their strategic moves, just like in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The US has been letting Israel do all sorts of shady stuff in Gaza, but when it comes to messing with Iran, they're trying to act like they're not on board with it. They're trying to distance themselves from Israel's actions, even though they've been complicit in a lot of it.

Now, if Israel does something stupid and gets hit with a bunch of missiles from Iran, America can't just wash their hands of the situation. They've been trying to prevent Iran from retaliating against Israel for their shady moves in Damascus, but if Israel pushes it too far, they won't be able to protect them.

If Israel pulls another dumb move, here's what Iran's gonna do:

- They're gonna target any base where Israeli operations are going down.
- Iranian forces and their allies are gonna be ready to strike back immediately.
- Instead of just a couple hundred missiles and drones, they're gonna hit back with way more powerful stuff.
- They won't just be hitting military bases this time - they'll be going after economic and infrastructure targets in Israeli cities like Tel Aviv and Haifa.
- Iran's allies in the region will also be getting in on the action, hitting Israeli centers hard.
- American forces in the region might also find themselves in the crosshairs if Israel keeps acting up.
- And if Israel keeps pushing it, shipping routes like the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb might start looking a whole lot riskier for Israeli ships.

So yeah, if Israel wants to play with fire, they better be ready for the consequences 'cause Iran ain't messing around.

[Sebaa]

Hallo Behnam,
it‘s me, Seba from Syria.. a few years ago we were gut Friends.
How are you? I want to Write an Email to you, but i don‘t have your Email Adresse . I have German gelernt, because of that i Write so badly. German is different from english.
Write to me… i wait for you.
Seba

[setayesh]

Helooooo Dear Friends!

How are you? I hope all is really well with you. I'm writing just to tell you that I'm still remember does golden time chatting and discussing with you here and there. And, wish you all the most happy moments in your life!

Best wishes
Seti

[Nanning]

There are many friends from Iran in this thread, so I would like to say something about that country.

Iran has lost its best opportunity to stop the invasion of Israel and shown to the rest of the world its cowardice when its alliance Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah were faced with the severe attacks from Israel. I think most of the politicians of Iran do not read history. They do not even know the simple truth that when the lips are missing the teeth will feel the cold. They do not know that in 1950s when China was in its infant and weakest stage after three years of civil war it bit its teeth to send troops to Korea to fight with the US-led United Nations troops, as the leaders of China knew very well that if they did not try to fight back when being hit, they would receive more punches. Iran lacks a strong man like our Chinese great leader Mao Zedong, or Kim Jung-un of North Korea who was born in 1980s. It is very sad for them. We hope the tragedy will not spread to the other countries in the Middle East, who are now onlookers without any real action, except Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah.

[Brave]

There are many friends from Iran in this thread, so I would like to say something about that country.

Iran has lost its best opportunity to stop the invasion of Israel and shown to the rest of the world its cowardice when its alliance Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah were faced with the severe attacks from Israel. I think most of the politicians of Iran do not read history. They do not even know the simple truth that when the lips are missing the teeth will feel the cold. They do not know that in 1950s when China was in its infant and weakest stage after three years of civil war it bit its teeth to send troops to Korea to fight with the US-led United Nations troops, as the leaders of China knew very well that if they did not try to fight back when being hit, they would receive more punches. Iran lacks a strong man like our Chinese great leader Mao Zedong, or Kim Jung-un of North Korea who was born in 1980s. It is very sad for them. We hope the tragedy will not spread to the other countries in the Middle East, who are now onlookers without any real action, except Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah.

Thought-provoking post, Nanning! HHH

[behnam]

Dear friends,

This is Behnam. I hope you are doing very well. I was inactive for a long time. i am sorry for that.
I had forgotten my password and the registering email was inactive, so it was impossible for me to reset the password.
After exchanging some emails with dear Josef, I could enter here and now I am posting this message.
I thank Josef for his support and help to login in the thread. Without his help it was impossible for me to login.

All the old memories that I have from you in my mind are always marching in front of my eyes. I hope you will visit this place and will see my message and start posting again.

I am available all the time. You can easily find me in WhatsApp and Telegram by adding 009190657702

I am waiting for you.

All the Best,
Behnam, 1 February 2025

[behnam]

Helooooo Dear Friends!

How are you? I hope all is really well with you. I'm writing just to tell you that I'm still remember does golden time chatting and discussing with you here and there. And, wish you all the most happy moments in your life!

Best wishes
Seti

Dear Setayesh,

You cannot imagine how happy and surprised I was when I saw your message here. Thank you very much my dear friend. The happy moments and memories I had with you won't be forgotten at all.

How is life? Anything new in it? Please let me hear more about you.

All the best,
Behnam, 1 February, 2025

[behnam]

Hi.

Dear friends,

Many years ago, as you can notice the date, someone posted this message and some other short posts. I asked that person to introduce her/himself, but s/he didn't. S/he has chosen "Amoure" as her/his name. At that time the world "Amoure" sounds strange to me. As you may know, these days I am practicing French. "Amoure" is the French equivalent for "love"!

Although it is late, d'accord, Je t'aime !

All the best,
Behnam, 1 February, 2025

[behnam]

Hallo Behnam,
it‘s me, Seba from Syria.. a few years ago we were gut Friends.
How are you? I want to Write an Email to you, but i don‘t have your Email Adresse . I have German gelernt, because of that i Write so badly. German is different from english.
Write to me… i wait for you.
Seba

My dear friend Seba,
WOW! Am I asleep?! Am I dreaming or it is happening in reality?

The nightingale has come back to the garden! Isn't it amazing?
How are you doing my dear friend? Your sincere kindness is still in my heart; your sweet honey-coated words are still in my ears. How can I forget you and the happy moments I had with you?

How can I forget the term "Behnam and Seba Asheddao alalkoffar va rohamao beinahom"?

How can I forget "Ashhado anna Behnam is the best lover in the world"?

Good old days.

Thank you very much for putting message here. I wasn't here for a long time. Sorry I am late in replying.

My email is behrampednam(at sign)gmail.com
The previous one behrampednam(at sign)yahoo.com is inactive. Please mail me. I will be happy to hear more from you.

I am practicing French these days. I have forgotten my English skills. I am rebuilding them.

Please be in contact with me!

All the best,
Behnam, 1 February, 2025

[behnam]

Dear friends,

I came to this wonderful site in 2012 and started the thread "Let's Learn Together!". The first excuse for establishing this garden was practicing English through writing. Many people joined me and helped me with decorating this garden by planting different trees and different flowers. Well, as you know, life has a lot of ups and downs. I couldn't water this garden for a long time. A few days ago I came here and knocked the door of garden. Nobody opened the door! I looked at the garden from the side of the fence and saw something amazing. I saw that the pool still has water and the tress are not dried up.
I saw that some friends did not forget the garden in my absence. They went to it and watered the trees. This made me very happy. This is an analogy, and I am sure you get what I am saying.

Since the beginning of the Internet, we have made friends in different spaces or we have so called planted trees of friendship in many social media. For example, in Yahoo Messenger, Facebook, Telegram, WhatsApp, etc. However, none of these virtual platforms have been able to keep the trees of friendship alive.
Butو this site has surprisingly managed to maintain these friendships. We have to thank the owner of this site. Here, I have my sincere thanks to Mr. Josef for continuously providing us this opportunity to make friendship on this site and keep it for a long time. Dear Josef, THANK YOU very much!

All the best,
Behnam, 1 February, 2025

[behnam]

Dear friends,
Three weeks ago I had a serve chest pain. I went to the emergency department of a hospital. The doctor asked me some questions and listened to my answers and explanations. Then, they took an ECG and blood tests. ECG was normal, but the result of blood test showed high heart's enzymes.
In order to check more, they did angiography. They saw that a heart attack had occurred!
You may know that 12 years ago I had an open-heart operation. The doctors said that the arteries of the heart were narrowed. You have to take pills and tolerate. There is no possibility of re-surgery.
I went to a private cardiologist. He said the same thing.
Now, I am resting at home and taking tablets.

I am not writing this to worry you. Rather, if you see that I haven't been here for a long time, know that I have traveled to another world.

Death is right and this life is a stage of life. Know that human life is eternal. Dying is a change in life for humans. To understand death and the changing stages of life, I ask you to pay attention to the transformation of a silkworm into a butterfly and go deep about it. All these different stages take place in the material world. The death of a person from one state and entering another world is much greater than becoming a butterfly. Because it leaves the material state and goes to the spirit world.

I hope you will forgive my mistakes.
I love you all.

All the best,
Behnam, 2 February, 2025

[behnam]

Dear friends,

Today I want to write about an important matter, which of course people who live in traditional societies like Middle Eastern countries will understand. In fact, in countries where the family foundation is still in strong and has not been damaged. In other words, family still has its traditional meaning.
To make it easier to understand, I will use an analogy. You probably know that we have a garden in Marand. Inside the garden is an old cottage. Last summer I wanted to tear down the old wall of the cottage and rebuild it. I removed some bricks from the bottom of the wall with a tool, but the wall was still standing.
By removing several bricks, a hole was created at the bottom of the wall. Finally, by removing a brick, the wall suddenly collapsed! In fact, that brick was not a single brick. Its role was essentially important.
Similarly, in big families, it is sometimes seen that with the death of one person, the whole family collapses and loses its cohesion and integrity. That is, a person is not just an individual but the support and strength of a family. With her/his death, the family falls apart.

Let's appreciate the important people of the family more. They are the support. They are the ones who bring the rest of the family together.

All the best,
Behnam, 3 February, 2025

[behnam]

Dear friends,

When I was a teenager, I really wanted to be a detective. In this regard, I really have the talent. It means that I can put some facts together and discover the main event. In fact, it is like solving a puzzle.
I like police and detective movies very much. For example, I like the Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes series.

I recently watched Hercule Poirot series for the umpteenth time. Agatha Christie's writing is truly a masterpiece. I wish I had a close friend from England and I could ask him some questions. Of course, I don't think dear Josef will find time to answer my questions with his busy schedule.

Some of my questions are:

1- The background of Hercule Poirot series shows the city of London? In this case, London is very beautiful
2- Why are most of the topics of the series about rich families?
3- Why is the main motive of most murders money or material possessions?
In my opinion, studying the motive of murders in a society can reflect the culture of that society.
4- Does Mrs. Christie's writing really show the culture of the people of England at that time, especially the people of London?

All the best,
Behnam, 4 February, 2025

[behnam]

Dear friends,

How are you today? I hope you are doing well.
The weather is very cold in Tehran, but there is no rain, no snow! In the past, winter was associated with snow and coldness. These days, 50% of it remains. Snow is absent, but coldness is present.

I wish you happy moments in life.

All the best,
Behnam, 8 February, 2025

[Josef Essberger]

Dear friends,

When I was a teenager, I really wanted to be a detective. In this regard, I really have the talent. It means that I can put some facts together and discover the main event. In fact, it is like solving a puzzle.
I like police and detective movies very much. For example, I like the Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes series.

I recently watched Hercule Poirot series for the umpteenth time. Agatha Christie's writing is truly a masterpiece. I wish I had a close friend from England and I could ask him some questions. Of course, I don't think dear Josef will find time to answer my questions with his busy schedule.

Some of my questions are:

1- The background of Hercule Poirot series shows the city of London? In this case, London is very beautiful
2- Why are most of the topics of the series about rich families?
3- Why is the main motive of most murders money or material possessions?
In my opinion, studying the motive of murders in a society can reflect the culture of that society.
4- Does Mrs. Christie's writing really show the culture of the people of England at that time, especially the people of London?

All the best,
Behnam, 4 February, 2025

1. Not entirely. Although some stories are set in London, Poirot travels across England and abroad. He solves cases in country estates, small villages and even on the Orient Express!

2. Christie often set her stories among the wealthy because their lifestyles allowed for intricate plots involving inheritances, social tensions, and secrecy, which made for compelling mysteries.

3. Money and material possessions are common motives because they drive human greed, jealousy and betrayal — which are key ingredients for a classic "whodunit".

4. Yes, up to a point. While her portrayal is somewhat stylized for storytelling, Christie captures aspects of British social structure, manners and attitudes of the early to mid-20th century, particularly among the upper and middle classes.



Have you been to London? I was born in London but haven’t lived there for 50 years.

[behnam]

3. Money and material possessions are common motives because they drive human greed, jealousy and betrayal — which are key ingredients for a classic "whodunit".

Have you been to London? I was born in London but haven’t lived there for 50 years.

Dear Josef,

Many thanks for your reply. For me, it's a great honour to have your post in this thread.

The motives behind murders vary widely in different countries and cultures. In some countries, poverty and unemployment are main motives. Drug trafficking in Latin America for example, is one of the reasons for killing people. In some countries, betrayal, out of marriage relationship, and adultery are key factors that cause domestic violence and murders.
In general, if the reasons for murder in any country are studied from the point of view of statistics, various reasons will definitely be seen. But in the Hercule Poirot series, as it is depicted, it is mainly the achievement of money and wealth that motivates murder.
Let us look at the Hercule Poirot series from another angle. Love and romantic relationships are very weak in it. The three main men of the stories, Poirot, Hastings and Jepp, without a wife or a family, play a role in this series. In other words, there is no mention of their families in the series. Mrs. Lemon works like a robot in the office without any natural feelings that a normal woman often has!

On the other hand, most women are like barbies, slim and thin. None of them is pregnant! People eat and drink very little. Very little food on their plates and very small drinking glasses.
In my opinion, this arrangement of scenes shows human life in Poirot's series as unnatural. How do you think?

To answer your question, yes I have been to London once, for a very short time, to attend a university conference.

You were born in London, but you haven't lived there for fifty years? This leads me to ask where do you live? If you don't mind, answer this question. If it is possible, write an explanation about the cause of this incident. Do you miss there?

I am waiting for your reply.

All the best,
Behnam, 9 February, 2025

[behnam]

Dear Josef,

I think, irregular lines make texts look ugly and unusual. How to make the lines the same inside the texts?

All the best,
Behnam, 9 February, 2025

[Vivendi]

Dear Josef,

I think, irregular lines make texts look ugly and unusual. How to make the lines the same inside the texts?

All the best,
Behnam, 9 February, 2025

By irregular you mean unjustified?

[Josef Essberger]

Dear Josef,

I think, irregular lines make texts look ugly and unusual. How to make the lines the same inside the texts?

All the best,
Behnam, 9 February, 2025

Behnam, I think you're talking about "justification" of text. This post, and in fact all posts in this forum I think, is "left-justified". A straight left-hand edge and a ragged right-hand edge. What you are asking for, if I understand right, is "justified" text where both edges are straight.

I'm quoting from this discussion on phpBB Forums at:
https://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=2659885

"There has been a lot of study on readability of online text. Blocks of text will generally be easier to read if aligned left (or right if using an RTL language). There are a few reasons for this, ranging from inconsistent word spacing, to lack of visual cues distinguishing one line from the next, to excessive hyphenation (if hyphenation is enabled, which it really has to be to mitigate problems with word spacing).

Printed books usually use justified text, but they get around the problems by using much more sophisticated typography tricks than browsers are capable of.

So, use it if you really want to, but be aware that other people who have to read it may find it annoying."

I have to say I 100% agree. But readers of RTL (right to left) languages may feel differently.

[behnam]

Dear Josef,

I think, irregular lines make texts look ugly and unusual. How to make the lines the same inside the texts?

All the best,
Behnam, 9 February, 2025

By irregular you mean unjustified?

Dear Vivendi,
Many thanks for your care and reply. Maybe the word "irregular" does not convey what I mean. I apologize for my bad English. Let me explain. Inside the text we write, for example, there are short and long lines in a paragraph. They are not the same length. The lines are not the same length as written in the books.

Maybe, the word "unjustified" is suitable for my intention. Yes, in Microsoft Word, there is a choice "justify" to set the lines. You are right.

All the best,
Behnam, 9 February, 2025