Thinking in English

Well, this is all about the thread title. I've been contemplating starting to make a deliberate effort to think in English, which is my second language as you most likely have concluded from the very first sentence you're reading now:crazy:

Okay, let me elaborate on that. Basically, I created this thread because I want to know your opinions on such an endeavor and, of course, to ask you "English thinking" questions if I run across any trouble (I know I will :spiteful:). But first, let me share my opinion about this stuff.

To start with, I think it's not going to cause any harm to my English abilities. At first, I was afraid that my poor grammar and lack of vocabulary might lead me astray and condemn me to "always-thinking-in Russian-English translation" torture, as the most unbreakable habit is the one you don't realize you have. But I decided that, with some luck, I can avoid this trouble with the help of native English speakers.

Secondly, I thought it can confuse me because I can't reproduce correct English accent either in my mind or when speaking. So I was wondering if such an inconvenience can badly affect my listening comprehension. But after some thinking through, I concluded that this is not likely to happen, which leads us to my third thought.

I guess thinking in English can only boost my English skills, because I believe that repeating a word in lots of different context is closely intertwined with how well you understand the word. It's just like this. The more you use a word the deeper it entrenches itself in your mind. It virtually becomes a part of you, so you don't even need a smallest delay to get the word's meaning, you just understand it the very moment you hear it. That is what builds up fluency in every aspects such as reading, speaking, listening etc.

Well, that's it. Sorry for putting up such a long post. I can't wait to see your opinions about this. Also, I would be most appreciative if someone corrected my poor English (I know that would be a lot of stuff to correct but...:crazy:)

Да что вы! The error rate is very low, or perhaps more a matter of style or taste. eg "Secondly, I thought it can confuse..." Perhaps could/might instead of can.

"...builds up fluency in every aspects..." singular, aspect.

I think it's inevitable that you will see the correct English phrasing (or some phrasing amongst several), without having to recast it from Russian. You'll simply see it in your own mind that you can skip the step, and produce automatically in English, for things you are familiar with.

Уже вы думаете по англиски, уверен.

That's an important idea. I am often involved in language environments and there are linguists among my friends. One of them remembers his days at university when he was studying languages and linguistics, foreigners were among his professors there. So the idea is:
When speaking a foreign lanuage one has to KILL Russian structures in them. So you see Igor. That's basic advice, and that's what professionals say. Just KILL the Russian structures, it's an important step. You may even choose to speak simple English, but just forget about Russian when you do it. It's hard to do without proper training and inner work I suppose, hard to do it on your own. The problem is that Russian structures are so deep in us, they are extremely difficult to destroy. I hope that might help you in your work, good Sir Igor!

Игорь, ты отлично говоришь по-английски. Не бойся об акцентом. Акцент - это ничего, и все, что ты говоришь понятно мне! Серёзно! Надеюсь, что я могу однажды говорить так свободно по-русский, как ты говоришь по-английский. На самом деле, мне это удивительно, как быстро ты улучшаешься. )))

Просто, надо часто и много практиковаться и всё будет в порядке.

Привет Игорь. Сколько лет сколько зим друг :) Мне только нравиться эту фрзу :) Ну я думаю то, что ты указал правда очень важно. Я тоже хочу думать на русском языке, как один русский может думать и говорит но её/его родной. Но я уже не знаю много граматик и слов, поэтому мой русский и моя способность думать на русский очень ограничен (is this the correct word for "limited" if i want to say "my ability to think in russian is very limited"?) Я надеюсь когда я выучу больше, я буду способен думать на русский больше. Удачи... (сколько ощибко в этом параграфе? - just pm me if you can, thanks :) )

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Originally Posted by Deborski

Игорь, ты отлично говоришь по-английски. Не бойся об акцентом. Акцент - это ничего, и все, что ты говоришь понятно мне! Серёзно! Надеюсь, что я могу однажды говорить так свободно по-русский, как ты говоришь по-английский. На самом деле, мне это удивительно, как быстро ты улучшаешься. )))

Просто, надо часто и много практиковаться и всё будет в порядке.

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А вы слышали, как Игорь говорит по-английски?

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Originally Posted by Marcus

А вы слышали, как Игорь говорит по-английски?

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да, она слышала и я тоже.

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Originally Posted by Marcus

А вы слышали, как Игорь говорит по-английски?

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Много раз, даже :)

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Originally Posted by alexsms

...the idea is: When speaking a foreign lanuage one has to KILL Russian structures in them...

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One of those forms is the adverbial principle. It was easy for me to start to think in English with the adverbial forms. So it could be that the English structures we use instead of the adverbial forms of Russian might be a working topic/point of departure.

"For me, pleasantly sounding and interestingly constructed Russian language and thought"

That, I think, could be made into a correct grammatical sentence in Russian.

All those niceties of verbal tenses is kind of a major point in English, that isn't a big point in Russian. So it's probably central to 'English thinking'. And English is an 'analytic language' while Russian is a 'synthetic language' and this really affects the thinking processes.

Hi again. Thanks for your useful replies.

Okay, today was a difficult and exhausting day because I actually did what I talked about, which is trying to think in English, and I have been doing that for the whole day :crazy:. What can I say? Well, it unexpectedly worked out quite well. It felt really strange though, because paying such close attention to what and how I was thinking is definetely a new experience for me.

Words, however, seemed to come up to my mind smoothly and swiftly most of the time. But, of course, I have some questions to ask now, so here we go.

1) Okay, I realized that I was inclined to say "let's do something" to myself and I think this is a problem, because there were no "us" I addressed, there was only me, and that gave me a sense of frustration. I seemed to use the "let's do something" phrase automatically for some reason and, to top it all, it felt almost like a craving. To make it perfectly clear, let me provide which kinds of situations triggered the phrase in my mind.

So it's basically the situation when you suddenly decide that you want to do something. For example:

I was in the kitchen doing some stuff and my eyes ran over the jar filled with filtered water, so I realized that I wanted to drink and I said to myself: "Let's pour a glass of water".

I would just use a future tense in Russian for this - (пойду) налью (стакан) воды. So I would like to ask you to provide a thinking pattern for this example, like what I should normally say instead of "let's do something" in such cases.

2) What do you call the fully developed cottonwood seeds? We use тополиный пух in Russian, google translate interprets that as cottonwood fluff, but I think it's not correct.

3) I was getting out of a "Gazelle" microbus, which we use as an alternative to public transport, from the rear seats today and as you could assume it was quite a task. The height of the roof is lower than the average height of a human, the inside of the car is filled with many seats so the passage from the rear seats to the door is really narrow. So I was going along the passage with my back and knees bent and I had to be squeezing through:spiteful: We usually use на корячках, like in идти на корячках, for this position of a body I've described, so I ask you to tell me how to express the "на корячках" phrase in English.

Well, that's basically it for today. Sorry for making it in a long and messy way. All corrections to my English text is highly appreciated as usual and I'm looking forward to see your replies. Thanks in advance.

P.S. I guess I will be posting questions here quite regularly because I'm bound to have a lot of them if I don't give up my endeavor. So I would like to know whether you want me to provide "how I'd say that in Russian" examples.

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"3) I was getting out of a "Gazelle" microbus, which we use as an alternative to public transport, from the rear seats today and as you could assume it was quite a task. The height of the roof is lower than the average height of a human, the inside of the car is filled with many seats so the passage from the rear seats to the door is really narrow. So I was going along the passage with my back and knees bent and I had to be squeezing through:spiteful: We usually use на корячках, like in идти на корячках, for this position of a body I've described, so I ask you to tell me how to express the "на корячках" phrase in English."

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'I had to stoop quite a bit because of the low roof/ceiling ...' People will say 'scrunch down because of the low ceiling' and other things on that line. 'scrunch down quite a bit' 'stoop because of the lack of head room...' etc. There is also a thing called 'duckwalk', walking while crouching or squatting. This may be what you're after.

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"1) Okay, I realized that I was inclined to say "let's do something" to myself and I think this is a problem, because there were no "us" I addressed, there was only me,..."

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For me, the 'let's...' doesn't seem out the of ordinary.

In a case of restlessness/agitation I will say to myself "I need to do something!" "I've got to do something!" "I need to get moving!" and things along those line. But I'll use a 'let's...' phrase also. "let's get out of here, (go for a walk or whatever) '

If I'm working on something, fixing something, installing something, etc, I'll use a "let's..." kind of phrase, to myself. "Let's see what happens when we do this." "What about when we try this..."

This is like the the royal 'we', first person changed to plural first person. I don't know why this is done, has something to do with me myself and I being present, I suppose. That is, I'm the agent and the observer at the same time. So it's as though there is an 'us' present, figuratively, словно мы/нами.

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2) What do you call the fully developed cottonwood seeds? We use тополиный пух in Russian, google translate interprets that as cottonwood fluff, but I think it's not correct.

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I think people would know what you meant. cottonwood seed fluff cottonwood seed down etc.

This is a typical flow of thought in Russian, try to render it in English. :)
Блин, завтра опять вставать ни свет ни заря... и этих опять забирать из гостиницы, круги по городу мотать... понаехали тут, ну вот нахера мне этот гемор. ...не могли хотябы на неделю попозже приехать, нет ведь, в самый, блин, неподходящий момент. ... это начальник все..., мог бы подсуетиться, потянуть еще немного, итак дел по-горло...бля, еще отчет сдавать... ему то х*ли, в 5 утра не вставать... Суки они все... ладно, х*р с ними, перемаемся как нибудь...

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What do you call the fully developed cottonwood seeds? We use тополиный пух in Russian

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Aha! Where I live -- not far southwest of Washington DC -- we get small amounts of тополиный пух in May. But these trees don't grow in huge numbers here and are less common than, for instance, oaks or maples.

But since the cottonwood isn't widespread here, I didn't know the correct name until I saw your post, and I've always referred to the seeds as "tree fluff"!

Right across the street from me, there is a small section of forest with maybe three or four cottonwoods growing near the parking lot of the Home Depot. So, a few weeks ago, it looked as though it were snowing in the parking lot, because of all the "пух". But I don't recall seeing such "tree fluff" anywhere else in this area.

I suspect that people who live in regions where these trees grow very widely would call it "cottonwood fluff", by the tree's proper name. And in any case, "fluff" will usually work for "пух".

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Originally Posted by Man About Town

This is a typical flow of thought in Russian, try to render it in English. :)
Блин, завтра опять вставать ни свет ни заря ... и этих опять забирать из гостиницы, круги по городу мотать... понаехали тут, ну вот нахера мне этот гемор.

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Here's my try at the first part -- lots of new (for me) slang here!

Dammit, tomorrow I have to get up at oh-dark-thirty again! And collect these guys from the hotel, take 'em waltzing all over the damn city. They come swarming here... what do I need this pain-in-the-ass bullsh*t for?

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Originally Posted by iCake

1) I was in the kitchen doing some stuff and my eyes ran over the jar filled with filtered water, so I realized that I wanted to drink and I said to myself: "Let's pour a glass of water".

2) What do you call the fully developed cottonwood seeds? We use тополиный пух in Russian, google translate interprets that as cottonwood fluff, but I think it's not correct.

3) I was getting out of a "Gazelle" microbus, which we use as an alternative to public transport, from the rear seats today and as you could assume it was quite a task. The height of the roof is lower than the average height of a human, the inside of the car is filled with many seats so the passage from the rear seats to the door is really narrow. So I was going along the passage with my back and knees bent and I had to be squeezing through:spiteful: We usually use на корячках, like in идти на корячках, for this position of a body I've described, so I ask you to tell me how to express the "на корячках" phrase in English.

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First of all, I just want to say that trying to think in English is a good habit to get into. I try to think a lot in German and Russian, but since my speaking has become rusty, it's not working out really great for me right now. Just keep it up and you'll get there. :)

1) This "Let's...." doesn't sound unnatural to me, so I say stick with it.
2) I'm quite allergic to cottonwood fluff, so I'm pretty sure that is what it is called. And I can't escape it!! :D
3) Maybe "stooping and squirming"? Or "I had to ooch myself across the seats just to get out the of the tiny car." (Yes, I know that "ooch" is not exactly a 'real' word in English in this sense, but I'm pretty sure this is how my mom and I would put it.) :)

I think maybe one of the reasons that there aren't many corrections to your English is that you don't make as many mistakes as you think you do. Do not underestimate yourself and your capabilities! :) Кстаси, я слышала, как ты говоришь, а я думаю, что ты прекрасно говоришь по-английски. :D

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Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

Aha! Where I live -- not far southwest of Washington DC -- we get small amounts of тополиный пух in May. But these trees don't grow in huge numbers here and are less common than, for instance, oaks or maples.

But since the cottonwood isn't widespread here, I didn't know the correct name until I saw your post, and I've always referred to the seeds as "tree fluff"!

Right across the street from me, there is a small section of forest with maybe three or four cottonwoods growing near the parking lot of the Home Depot. So, a few weeks ago, it looked as though it were snowing in the parking lot, because of all the "пух". But I don't recall seeing such "tree fluff" anywhere else in this area.

I suspect that people who live in regions where these trees grow very widely would call it "cottonwood fluff", by the tree's proper name. And in any case, "fluff" will usually work for "пух".

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There are several different kinds of cottonwood trees. Per my experience the trees that grow in the US spread far less amount of "fluff" than the trees that grow in Russia
In some Russia regions it's just nightmare

Thanks again for all the help.

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Originally Posted by Seraph

If I'm working on something, fixing something, installing something, etc, I'll use a "let's..." kind of phrase, to myself. "Let's see what happens when we do this." "What about when we try this...
This is like the the royal 'we', first person changed to plural first person...

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I see now that using "let's" kind of phrase is totally okay in that situation, then. But, what if I ignore the royal "we" and say it like that:

Let's see what happens when I do this

Would it still be a normal phrase to say to yourself?

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Originally Posted by Seraph

'I had to stoop quite a bit because of the low roof/ceiling ...' People will say 'scrunch down because of the low ceiling' and other things on that line. 'scrunch down quite a bit' 'stoop because of the lack of head room...' etc. There is also a thing called 'duckwalk', walking while crouching or squatting. This may be what you're after.

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Thanks a lot, I suppose all the suggestions you made are just fine for what I originally wanted to say, especially duckwalk.


Now it's time to ask new questions:crazy:

1) What verb do you use to describe a very loud, unpleasant and quite long laughter? We use ржать for that in Russian. The literal meaning of this Russian verb is to neigh. So you can imagine now, which kind of laughter the verb describes, the one which resembles neighing :smilegrin:

2) We say черты лица in Russian to mean how a particular face looks in general. And by using "how", I say that the phrase doesn't make sense on its own, it has to be accompanied by an adjective. For example:
Приятные черты лица means that all the parts that form a face image (nose, lips, cheekbones, chin etc) generally look nice to you
Квадратные черты лица means that parts of the face looks kind of square to you and so as a whole they paint a picture of a square face.

Oh, I hope that explanation will work :D

3) If you don't live alone this is gonna be something you're well familiar with. If a particular thing is used by more than one occupant then it usually has a proper place to be kept in. If you took the thing from the proper place you have to put it back in there after you had finished using it, so that other inhabitants could find it easily when they need it. We call this kind of place правильное место in Russian. What should I call it in English?

4) I was lying flat on my couch today and I felt that my neck and back went sore. So I moved into position in which I proped my head on the sligtly raised and inclined part of my couch so that to ease off the pressure on both my neck and back. I would use a Russian verb приподняться to express that movement I made. How can I convey that in English?

5) I don't know if you have such a verb as дождаться in English, but I think it's worth asking. Well, apparently, I have to provide the defenition of the verb and I guess the best way to do that is to provide it in the context.

Imagine you're waiting for someone to arrive. So if you "дождался" that someone, that means that you stopped waiting because they had arrived.
Or, you're waiting for something to happen. So if you "дождался" that something that means that you stopped waiting because that had happened.

Thanks in advance

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Originally Posted by iCake

Let's see what happens when I do this

Would it still be a normal phrase to say to yourself?

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Yes, for me, it would be natural.

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1) What verb do you use to describe a very loud, unpleasant and quite long laughter? We use ржать for that in Russian. The literal meaning of this Russian verb is to neigh. So you can imagine now, which kind of laughter the verb describes, the one which resembles neighing :smilegrin:

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Horse laugh, raucous laughter, mocking laughter, guffaw.

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2) We say черты лица in Russian to mean how a particular face looks in general. And by using "how", I say that the phrase doesn't make sense on its own, it has to be accompanied by an adjective. For example:
Приятные черты лица means that all the parts that form a face image (nose, lips, cheekbones, chin etc) generally look nice to you
Квадратные черты лица means that parts of the face looks kind of square to you and so as a whole they paint a picture of a square face.

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finely chiseled features, well proportioned visage etc. I'm not sure of your meaning for Квадратные черты лица, possibly dull facial features/dull featured/ or even plain featured?

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3) If you don't live alone this is gonna be something you're well familiar with. If a particular thing is used by more than one occupant then it usually has a proper place to be kept in. If you took the thing from the proper place you have to put it back in there after you had finished using it, so that other inhabitants could find it easily when they need it. We call this kind of place правильное место in Russian. What should I call it in English?

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the proper place

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4) I was lying flat on my couch today and I felt that my neck and back went sore. So I moved into position in which I proped my head on the sligtly raised and inclined part of my couch so that to ease off the pressure on both my neck and back. I would use a Russian verb приподняться to express that movement I made. How can I convey that in English?

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propped my head up with/on ..., elevated my head (on a pillow or whatever),

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5) I don't know if you have such a verb as дождаться in English, but I think it's worth asking. Well, apparently, I have to provide the defenition of the verb and I guess the best way to do that is to provide it in the context.

Imagine you're waiting for someone to arrive. So if you "дождался" that someone, that means that you stopped waiting because they had arrived.
Or, you're waiting for something to happen. So if you "дождался" that something that means that you stopped waiting because that had happened.

Thanks in advance

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Don't know if there is a perfect English word/phrase for this. Since in your explanation, you indicate a successful outcome, or fulfillment. The English forms don't necessarily indicate fulfillment. This would require some extra qualifier. But the sense you indicate could be something like 'expectancy fulfilled' 'anticipation fulfilled' or something like that. But simpler, less bookish forms could be more normal.

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Originally Posted by Seraph

I'm not sure of your meaning for Квадратные черты лица, possibly dull facial features/dull featured/ or even plain featured?

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Well, I meant it quite literally, square as in shape, that means square chin, square cheekbones etc...

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Originally Posted by Seraph

Don't know if there is a perfect English word for this. Wait covers a lot of possibilities. Was waiting? Anticipated? Was expecting?

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The Russian word дожидаться covers all of those meanings you pointed out. But basically, as I said if you дождался something that means that the something you were expecting, anticipating or waiting for, finally happened, or arrived or whatever. That's just it

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Well, I meant it quite literally, square as in shape, that means square chin, square cheekbones etc...

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If the forehead of a person is the same width as the jaw I believe they would say something like "square jaw" or "square jawline".

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дождался something that means that the something you were expecting, anticipating or waiting for, finally happened, or arrived or whatever. That's just it

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That's a tough one, I think Russian verbs denoting accomplishment like успеть, дождаться, сходить and many others don't have direct equivalents in English, so the translation would be highly context dependent.
Ex.
Я его ждал, но так и не дождался. = I waited for him, but he never came.
Он дождался что его выгнали с работы. = He ended up being sacked.
Не могу дождаться лета. = I can't wait for summer.
Ты у меня дождешься! = You are cruising for a bruising, mate!

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What verb do you use to describe a very loud, unpleasant and quite long laughter? We use ржать for that in Russian.

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In addition to Seraph's suggestions, I would offer "to bray with laughter" or "to have a braying laugh". ("To bray" literally refers to the йа-йа noise of a donkey.)

There's also the word "cackle", which refers to the loud, unpleasant, and feminine laughter characteristic of a "хабалка" sort of woman. So, in general: witches cackle; gossipy teenage girls sometimes cackle; men usually don't "cackle" unless they're голубые и женеподобные. (Literally, "cackle" is the sound of chickens.)

Women cackling in the onomatopoeic song "Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little", from 1962's The Music Man:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbhnRuJBHLs

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Originally Posted by Seraph

I'm not sure of your meaning for Квадратные черты лица, possibly dull facial features/dull featured/ or even plain featured?
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This should explain it perfectly
Attachment 757

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Originally Posted by Doomer

This should explain it perfectly
Attachment 757

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Yes, this is exactly what I meant with квадратные черты лица.


Okay, some new questions.

1) I was wondering what verb do you use to describe the proccess of putting something consisting of very small parts into a container or something? The good substances to illustrate that "consisting of very small parts" are sand, powder, etc. I would use сыпать in Russian for that.

2) I was watching a movie today and saw a ceiling dropping down powder. I was thinking about using to flake off, but I think it's more of an action when something breaks off in flakes. I would use сыпаться in Russian for that.

3) How can I express пить залпом in English? What is пить залпом? It's when you're trying to drink something down without any pauses, like to breathe in or take a short break. It's like when you try to drink something down in one huge sip.
:crazy:

4) What is your phrase for мышечная память? This is a type of a memory when your mustles move in the same way without you realizing that because you have repeated that movement a huge amount of time. The good example of that is all the mouth movements we use to pronounce sounds, you don't have to make a deliberate effort to reproduce all the mouth movements needed to utter a sound, word, sentence etc correctly, in fact you don't even think about those movements, you just do them automatically.

Okay, that's it for today. Thanks in advance for all your great help

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Originally Posted by iCake

Yes, this is exactly what I meant with квадратные черты лица.


Okay, some new questions.

1) I was wondering what verb do you use to describe the proccess of putting something consisting of very small parts into a container or something? The good substances to illustrate that "consisting of very small parts" are sand, powder, etc. I would use сыпать in Russian for that.

2) I was watching a movie today and saw a ceiling dropping down powder. I was thinking about using to flake off, but I think it's more of an action when something breaks off in flakes. I would use сыпаться in Russian for that.

3) How can I express пить залпом in English? What is пить залпом? It's when you're trying to drink something down without any pauses, like to breathe in or take a short break. It's like when you try to drink something down in one huge sip.
:crazy:

4) What is your phrase for мышечная память? This is a type of a memory when your mustles move in the same way without you realizing that because you have repeated that movement a huge amount of time. The good example of that is all the mouth movements we use to pronounce sounds, you don't have to make a deliberate effort to reproduce all the mouth movements needed to utter a sound, word, sentence etc correctly, in fact you don't even think about those movements, you just do them automatically.

Okay, that's it for today. Thanks in advance for all your great help

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квадратные черты лица = square jawed.

(1) In English, same verb is used for сыпать и __лить verbs. to pour liquids, to pour powders, grain, sand, dust etc. For some instances, 'to sprinkle', 'to dust' or 'to powder' something, eg dusting with powdered sugar, a dusting of snow. But these are usually for small amounts, to make a thin covering. So when going in a container, pour the powder in. When the powder is going on in small amounts, as in sugar, talcum powder etc, then use 'to dust', or 'to powder', 'to sprinkle' or even 'to shake some ___ on'. If lots of the solid substance is being put on, then it would be 'poured on' also. Ground pepper would use it's own verb 'to pepper' something, and salt would use it's own verb, 'to salt'. "Shake some salt (pepper, or whatever) on it." Could also use verb derived from implement used. 'He shoveled the cement powder into the cement mixer.' Also, could use "to spoon in" for some types of things.

(2) Disintegrating into powder, coming to bits, ( & shivered to atoms)

(3) gulp it down, chug it down, gulp down without stopping, For food, same idea is 'to wolf it down' There are a few others, scarf it down,...

(4) I have seen 'muscle memory' used, and some people will be fully familiar with this, but not every one, I expect. For a habitual action not requiring any thought by person performing, but could be quite involved, and not easy to explain. Gymnastics, figure skating etc, take time to learn, but once learned, person doesn't need to think about individual actions, it's muscle memory. (it doesn't matter that the muscle has no memory, it's called that anyway.)

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Originally Posted by iCake

2) I was watching a movie today and saw a ceiling dropping down powder. I was thinking about using to flake off, but I think it's more of an action when something breaks off in flakes. I would use сыпаться in Russian for that.

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Originally Posted by Seraph

(2) Disintegrating into powder, coming to bits, ( & shivered to atoms)

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First of all, I learned a new thing from your reply, but I don't really mean that the whole ceiling was dropping down powder. There was just a small spot that was doing that, and the whole thing was happening because someone was jumping up and down onto the floor right above the spot. And the powder was really more like a dust of white substance, which is usually put on ceilings.

I think you could use 'shed' for small amounts of ceiling plaster dust coming down. "The person in the room above was jumping up and down, causing the ceiling plaster in the room below to (fracture/break up/fragment/crack/...) and (shed/give off/emit/...) dust into the room."

"The person in the room above was jumping up and down, causing the ceiling plaster in the room below to shed dust into the room."


(I added a little of qualification to the pour section above also.)

I'm going to ask more of the ''why is that so' questions today.

I have to write down a dialogue from a movie I watched today to lay the foundation for my first two questions.

A critically ill girl sits on a bench in the graveyard. The girl's friend comes up to her and the girl says:
- G: Big ups for finding me
- F: It's a rather morbid choice of resting place
- G: I came here a lot when I was a kid. Sometimes you just need a place to think, you know.
Some unimportant stuff:spiteful:
- F: I'll take you somewhere else, somewhere safe.
- G: Okay, but can we stay here a bit longer? It's nice. Unless, you have somewhere to be
- F: No, I'm good

1) Why the friend says '... of resting place'. Shouldn't it have been '... of a resting place'? I've been noticing that sometimes countable nouns go with no article at all. Is it because they're used in set phrases? Or maybe there is a rule for when you should not place any article before a noun, even though the noun is countable? Please, help me work through this thing. It would be impossible for me to get to the desired level of English thinking untill this stuff is dealt with Right now it plunges me into total confusion. One more thing, the last thing of this kind I can remember right now is "heat of battle" rather than "heat of a battle"

2) The last phrase of the dialogue, which is "No, I'm good", just stuns me. Yeah, I know that it basically means that the friend doesn't have somewhere else to be, but the logic of the phrase is just beyond my comprehension. Please, someone tell me why this phrase was ever even used.

3) I've seen a lot of sentences of this pattern on the internet.

-- how do/would I do that.

I ask that because we don't really ask themselves 'how do I do that' questions. In fact, it would be transformed into an infinitive form as this - how to do that? So, the question itself is this. Do you ask themselves "how do I" questions rather than "how to do" ones. I think it'd be invaluable to know that if I want to achieve what I seek.

Well, I still have some questions but I think it's a rather long post already. Don't want to take too much of your time. I can't wait to see your replies and thank you in advance

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A critically ill girl sits on a bench in the graveyard. The girl's friend comes up to her and the girl says:
- G: Big ups for finding me
- F: It's a rather morbid choice of resting place
- G: I came here a lot when I was a kid. Sometimes you just need a place to think, you know.

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It should be "of a resting place". It just sounds weird otherwise...

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Some unimportant stuff:spiteful:
- F: I'll take you somewhere else, somewhere safe.
- G: Okay, but can we stay here a bit longer? It's nice. Unless, you have somewhere to be
- F: No, I'm good

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"I'm good" is a saying we all use... a lot.
I suppose it would be considered slang, but basically it's saying "I'm satisfied/content" or something to that degree.

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-- how do/would I do that.

I ask that because we don't really ask themselves 'how do I do that' questions. In fact, it would be transformed into an infinitive form as this - how to do that? So, the question itself is this. Do you ask themselves "how do I" questions rather than "how to do" ones. I think it'd be invaluable to know that if I want to achieve what I seek.

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In general we never say "How to do", it's always "How do I" or "how do you" and so on. "How to do" sounds very wrong.

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It should be "of a resting place". It just sounds weird otherwise...

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Not sure if regionalism has anything to do with this. "That's a strange choice of profession!" "What a lovely shade of pink/rose/green etc!" "He's a despicable kind of thief!" For me, no article is necessary for those to sound normal. Likewise "It's a rather morbid choice of resting place."

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"I'm good" is a saying we all use... a lot.

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I never say it. "I'm fine, thanks" is what I use, along with some other phrases. As far as the movie dialog, don't know what I'd say.

I think now that you're hearing two different ideas this would be useful:
2--> Urban Dictionary: I'm Good


As for number 1, there's a discussion here, which seems like this user has/had the same confusion as you do now, so i think it's pretty satisfying:

Singular Countable Noun WITHOUT an article!

And again for number 1, i hope it would be a bit relevant:

Can I omit a/an before a singular countable noun? - WordReference Forums

Hopefully, you're less confused now!

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Originally Posted by Seraph

"That's a strange choice of profession!" "What a lovely shade of pink/rose/green etc!" "He's a despicable kind of thief!" For me, no article is necessary for those to sound normal. Likewise "It's a rather morbid choice of resting place."

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Correct me if I'm wrong but you basically just said that it's safe to omit an article before a counable singular noun if it's preceded by of? And I would be much obliged if you elaborate on these and those things.

Today's questions:

1) What verb do you use to describe a process of making an expansible furniture, um, become something else? For example, I have a couch which is capable of being turned into a bed if you pull out its bottom part to expand it. I was thinking about the verb to fold, but I don't think if it's the right word. Also I would like to know a verb of a conrary meaning, as in to make my couch back into a couch :D I would use вытащить, вытянуть, расправить or even сделать to mean the first part of my question in Russian. Заправить, собрать, or втащить:crazy: for the second part

2) What the difference between these things:
Have you done that yet?
Have you done it already?

As I understand it now the first one is kind of more impatient like you want that to be already done at the time you ask it. The second one is more general. Do I get it right?

3) I was thinking about what verb do you use to mean the proccess of smell's gradual disappearance, usually a bad one. Blown away or something like that? I'd use выветриваться in Russian

That's it for today. As always I can't thank you enough for all of the great help I've already got from you and more than that I'm sure there is more of that to come. Good day!

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Originally Posted by iCake

Correct me if I'm wrong but you basically just said that it's safe to omit an article before a counable singular noun if it's preceded by of? And I would be much obliged if you elaborate on this and that things.

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I don't know what the general rule is, but in those cases, seems ok. There are times when an article is needed, after 'of'.

After thinking a bit about this, it seems that after 'kind' and 'sort', it is optional.
What kind/sort of (plan, car, tree, fish, rock, animal, plant etc) is it?

What kind/sort of a (plan, car, tree, fish, rock, animal, plant etc) is it?

He's a tall sort of a man. She's a nice kind of a teacher. 'A' is optional in those.

There are probably some other such things. "This is a special type of a plant!" optional a.

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Originally Posted by iCake

Today's questions:

1) What verb do you use to describe a process of making an expansible furniture, um, become something else? For example, I have a couch which is capable of being turned into a bed if you pull out its bottom part to expand it. I was thinking about the verb to fold, but I don't think if it's the right word. Also I would like to know a verb of a conrary meaning, as in to make my couch back into a couch :D I would use вытащить, вытянуть, расправить or even сделать to mean the first part of my question in Russian. Заправить, собрать, or втащить:crazy: for the second part

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fold out couch => Fold the couch out into a bed. Fold the bed back (up) into a couch.

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2) What the difference between these things:
Have you done that yet?
Have you done it already?

As I understand it now the first one is kind of more impatient like you want that to be already done at the time you ask it. The second one is more general. Do I get it right?

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I can't really answer this one. For me the tone of voice is more telling about the degree of impatience. I think you just might be right.

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3) I was thinking about what verb do you use to mean the proccess of smell's gradual disappearance, usually a bad one. Blown away or something like that? I'd use выветриваться in Russian

That's it for today. As always I can't thank you enough for all of the great help I've already got from you and more than that I'm sure there is more of that to come. Good day!

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The foul reek/odour/smell faded/dissipated/dispersed/diminished gradually. You don't want bookish things do you? "The malodorous scent evanesced..."

Thanks for detailed answers to my previous question. I have some new ones now:

1) Maybe this thing exists only in Russia, but I think it's worth to ask but first I need to elaborate on the matter a bit. Our public buses have a special number indicating what route they follow. So, I wonder if you have a short phrase for a phrase "bus number 25 (for example)". We would just use an ordinal number such as twenty-fifth to refer to bus number 25 briefly.

2) How do you call this in English? Attachment 759

3) What verb do you use to describe a process of being very close to someone in order to prevent them from falling, hurting etc, especially by catching them, supporting them, holding them etc. I would use придерживать in Russian

That's it for today. Take care!

(1) route number or just 'number' "The number 16 bus" "The route 16 bus" If you said it "bus number 16" people would know what you meant, I think.

(2) (children's) slide

(3) to steady someone, is how I would phrase it. "The guide helped to steady the dizzy tourist."

Okay, today's questions.

1) It's almost the same as this:

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Originally Posted by iCake

3) What verb do you use to describe a process of being very close to someone in order to prevent them from falling, hurting etc, especially by catching them, supporting them, holding them etc. I would use придерживать in Russian

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But the reason is a little different for that. Now it's all about not letting someone move too fast and if they move too fast you will restrain them by slowing them down, but it's not that you push them or drag them, you at least try to do that gently and you certainly don't restrain them from moving wherever they want. Strangely I would use the same Russian word for that, which is придерживать

2) What word do you use to generally describe a process of repairing a house (like renovating it, putting up wallpapers etc). We say ремонт here.

3) This one is not very pleasant but how do you call those things that sometimes clump together in your nose out of nose slime :D We say козявка or казюля here

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Originally Posted by iCake

But the reason is a little different for that. Now it's all about not letting someone move too fast and if they move too fast you will restrain them by slowing them down, but it's not that you push them or drag them, you at least try to do that gently and you certainly don't restrain them from moving wherever they want.

2) What word do you use to generally describe a process of repairing a house (like renovating it, putting up wallpapers etc). We say ремонт here.

3) This one is not very pleasant but how do you call those things that sometimes clump together in your nose out of nose slime :D We say козявка or казюля here

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1) Смотря кого придерживаешь (I mean, it depends on who you're "restraining"). We might use different words if you're talking about a 5-year-old child in a grocery store; or an adult who is just beginning to learn how to ski/ice-skate/scuba-dive (if you're the instructor) or an elderly person who has difficulty walking. With a small child, we might say "to keep on a short leash" (which literally refers to walking a dog!). With an adult, we might say "to escort" or "to assist with walking."

2) If you are making major structural changes (like knocking down an interior wall between two small rooms, to create one large room), we'd say "to remodel" or "to do remodeling." Superficial changes (like putting up wallpaper) would be "to redecorate." As a general term that covers both extremes, "to renovate" and "renovation" will work.

3) The "nose slime" (when it's wet) is colloquially called "snot." When the snot dries or partly dries into clumps, these are called "boogers" in US English, but I believe that "bogey" is the usual term in the UK. (Hence the "bogey-flavoured" jellybeans in Harry Potter.)

P.S. A детская горка is sometimes called "a sliding board", although Seraph's answer "a slide" seems to be the more common usage. And if the slide is spiral-shaped, kids invariably call it a "twisty slide."

P.S. I forgot to add that "booger" is pronounced to rhyme with "sugar," but not with "cougar" (пума).

Also, I wanted to share this slightly disgusting joke from my childhood:

Q. What's the difference between boogers and caviar?
A. Some people have never eaten caviar.

A variant:

Q. What's the difference between boogers and fried liver?
A. No mother has ever said to her children, "STOP eating your liver!"