Quote Originally Posted by Hoax View Post
Боб Уайтман, no reason to give a lot of unnecessary information to a person learning foreign language (especially to a beginner), it will confuse that person much.

Hoax, actually I did not know Mr Smith was a beginner

Quote Originally Posted by Hoax View Post
The information must be given in portions. It is imposible to learn everithing and practice at a time.
I totally agree. When it comes to methods of learning, it must be given in portions.
I did not mean to encourage him to learn everything at once.

Quote Originally Posted by Hoax View Post
When you give a lot of information at a time, a learner's first idea "what? so much? it is imposible!", they get depressed and lose courage.
My point was just to illustrate the fact there are many other verbs which are possible. It is more like information exchange.
I do not think it would be fair to tell the learner "There are only two verbs of existence. One is for inanimate objects, the other is for animate". In fact, there is no such a strict grammar rule. So, the learner does not have to believe in something which does not exist. That was my point. If he is a beginner, then we can explain it the following way:

"There are many different verbs of existence with some semantic nuances. You do not need to memorize all of them at once. SOME of the most common verbs of existence are БЫТЬ and НАХОДИТЬСЯ. The latter is PREFERRABLE when applied to people, but it is fine to use it for inanimate objects as well".

That would be fair at least.