Normas básicas / Basic rules
1- nada de pedir que se te hagan/corrijan redacciones o se ocultará. // No essays. We are not here to do your homework
2- postead sobre el tema antes de preguntar alguna duda o se ocultará. // You must write about the topic. If you want to ask something you must contribute to the thread
3- nada de preguntar sobre resources o se ocultará //Do not ask for resources
You are clearly making too much literal translation from spanish to english <- I'm unsure about this phrase myself, any help making it better?, or am I second guessing myself?
Hello folks.
I have been preparing for the Cambridge exams (first B1, then B2) but, since I am doing it by myself, sometimes I am stuck without knowing what to study or to continue with. I want to do a planning but, honestly, I don't know what include in it. Any sugestion? Is there an exacted list about what is required for B1?
Thanks,
why don't you try a search engine and look up that shit for yourself niggah?
https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/exams-and-tests/preliminary/preparation/
there you go niggah, b1 seems kind of for pussies tho
#212 Your level of English seems to be on point already, I doubt you would even need to study for a B2.
B1 is not even worth mentioning, it's incredibly easy, anyone with high school level could get it.
#213cabron:there you go niggah, b1 seems kind of for pussies tho
I'll try B2 then, ma man.
#214 Thanks! Sadly, I don't think so. I still have a lot of mistakes. Sometimes, I don't know what grammar tense use (for example). I could take a look about the B2 exam and do it directly.
#215 I have used them as reference, but, you know, sometimes I have been on internet looking for additional information and I have seen other topics (supposedly) what are not included in those books.
13 días después
Hello guys, I have been studying the differences between almost, nearly and hardly and I have one question. I know that in negative sentences "almost" is usually used with no, nobody, nothing and never or you can also use "hardly" with any, anyone, anybody, anything, ever.
1.- Would it be possible to use almost followed by any, anyone, anybody or anything if I put the verb in negative? For example:
A. There wasn´t almost anyone at the party.
B. There isn´t almost any car on the road.
2.- On the other hand, is it possible to use "nearly" followed by always, everything, everywhere, everybody, any, anybody, anything, anyone? For example:
A. Nearly everybody reads sport magazines.
B. I was nearly always with you
C. Nearly anybody can learn english
3.- Finally I´m not sure if I can use Almost in these sentences:
A. We have hardly finished building our home = We haven´t almost finished building our home.
B. I can hardly wait = I can almost not wait or I can´t almost wait
C. We hardly knew them = We almost didn´t know them
D. I hardly slept at all last night = I almost didn´t sleep last night
E. He hardly arrived on time = He almost didn't arrive on time
Thanks to everyone.
#217 Iba a responderte en inglés, pero como es una pregunta de gramática más que por practicar inglés, te respondo en español, porque si me cuesta explicar gramática en español, ya no te digo en inglés:
1
En los ejemplos de tu primera preguntas estás cayendo en una doble negación, algo que creo que no correcto en inglés. Almost es un adverbio que ya tiene un significado negativo ('casi' en español), así que en este sentido se utilizan por norma general en frases en positivo. Y como has dicho se puede utilizar antes de 'no one', 'nobody', 'no', 'never' o 'nothing', por lo tanto, ese "anyone" y ese "any", ya te están diciendo que algo no encaja.
There wasn´t almost anyone at the party
There was almost no one at the party
There isn´t almost any car on the road
There are almost no cars on the road *
There is almost no car traffic on the road
- car es contable, y en tendría que ser la frase con "are" y "any cars". En cualquier caso, la frase - There aren't almost any cars on the road - equivaldría por la doble negación a - There are cars in the road -, así que no tiene sentido.
Hardly, scarcely y barely, al igual que almost, son palabras negativas y no se deben de usar con "not" ni con otras palabras negativas.
I can’t hardly believe it
I can hardly believe it
There wasn´t almost anyone at the party
There was hardly anyone at the party
There isn´t almost any car on the road
There are hardly any cars on the road
Aunque almost y nearly se puedan utilizar en negativo, es mucho más común construir una frase en positivo utilizando only just y hardly ever:
We almost/nearly didn’t get there in time
We only just got there in time
I almost don't sleep
I hardly ever sleep
2
Creo que en estos casos almost y nearly son intercambiables completamente, y me parecen las 3 gramaticalmente correctas. En los casos A y C al principio de la frase son pronombres que actuan como determinantes cuantificadores. En B, nearly always es un adverbio bastante común.
A: Nearly everybody reads sport magazines
B: I was nearly always with you
C: Nearly anybody can learn english
3
A.
We have hardly* finished building our home
- barely y scarcely también valdrían
We haven´t almost finished building our home.
We have almost not* finished building our home 
De esta que te pongo no estoy del todo seguro recomendarte que la uses. Aquí "not" no modifica a "almost", por lo que gramaticalmente es correcta, aunque dudo muchísimo que a alguien le suene natural y que a ningún nativo se le ocurra utilizar esta construcción en un pasado perfecto.
B.
I can hardly wait
I can almost not wait (igual, suena raro pero es correcto)
I can´t almost wait
C.
We hardly knew them
We almost didn´t know them
D.
I hardly slept at all last night
I almost didn´t sleep last night
E.
He hardly arrived on time
He almost didn't arrive on time
#218 Gracias por tomarte la molestia en responderme.
El tema de la doble negación me ha quedado claro, pero en cuanto al punto dos pensaba que nearly se diferenciaba básicamente de almost en que nearly no se puede utilizar en frases negativas y tampoco para expresar similitudes o parecidos.
Finalmente la frase en presente perfecto lo decía porque he visto escrito en un libro de lectura la siguiente frase: I haven't almost ruined the life..." y me ha dado por buscar y he visto otros lados donde lo utilizan así también así como con el pasado perfecto: "I hadn't almost sat down on top of her" por ejemplo.
Un saludo.
6 meses después
Hi!
I would like to reak a book in English. Do you recommend any especially?
I´ve read Harry Potter in Spanish, so I´ll try to avoid any of these books.
#221 It depends on your level, of course. I guess you're not too confident on your English, because otherwise you would be asking in a regular thread and not specifically in the English one. I don't have any specific recommendations, but I'd say that you should avoid anything set in medieval times or similar, be it fantasy or not. Mostly because you'll find a lot of words related to clothing, buildings and such that you may or may not know in Spanish, but you most certanly don't know in English. Limiting yourself to enviroments that you're already familiar with will surely make it easier for you to understand what you're reading without the need to search for the meaning of a word every couple of minutes.
18 días después
#221 I've read a ton of shitty fantasy / sci-fi books in english. When I'm choosing a book, I think to myself, "Would I read this piece of shit in Spanish?" and "Was it written in English in the first place?". If the answer is no for the first question and yes for the second it is usually a good choice for me. A lot of these books are plain as fuck and very easy to follow.
Eg.: Gotrex and Felix, The Expanse, Horus Heressy, and so on.
Lately I took it up a notch and I just read unpublished works in Spanish I find interesting.
