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Difference in text structure

  Tags: Syntax
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
gRodriguez
Triglot
Groupie
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Joined 4029 days ago

44 posts - 56 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishC2, Galician
Studies: Spanish, Japanese

 
 Message 1 of 3
04 October 2015 at 12:13am | IP Logged 
Like the idiot that I am, I have only realized now (one day before my TOEFL exam)that I
should
probably study a bit. I was super confident until a few hours ago when I realized that
unlike every other aspect of the language (reading, listening and speaking), I have no
reason to believe that my writing is good. I mean I know how to write the words, but I
pretty sure I use the same structure when writing text in both Portuguese (my native
language) and English.
So if anyone could point me out what the differences are I would be thankful!

Edited by gRodriguez on 04 October 2015 at 1:10am

1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5010 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 2 of 3
04 October 2015 at 8:19am | IP Logged 
Wow, I wish you good luck with the TOEFL, please share the experience later, I would be really interested in reading about it.

First of all: Don't panic. If you've been reading books, articles and so on in English, if you've listened to interviews, radio shows, tv series, movies, you may have prepared yourself enough. Huge enough amount of input is bound to leave a trace in the way you think in the target language, which is the base for speaking and writing.

Hard to advice one day before your exam but:

1.you might profit from a bit of grammar studying. Sentence constructions, the "if" constructions, conditional clauses and such things can be reviewed in a few hours.

2.Have you read some exam samples? You might want to do that. Especially examples of writen assignments that passed.

And most importantly: don't panic. Good luck!
1 person has voted this message useful



iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5263 days ago

2241 posts - 6731 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 3 of 3
04 October 2015 at 1:51pm | IP Logged 
I haven't noticed any Portuguese interference in your above writing. Since you asked for corrections (in italics):

gRodriguez wrote:
Like the idiot that I am, I have realized only now (one day before my TOEFL exam) that I should probably study a bit. I was super confident until a few hours ago when I realized that unlike every other aspect of the language (reading, listening and speaking), I have no reason to believe that my writing is good. I mean, I know how to write the words, but I am (or I'm) pretty sure I use the same structure when writing text in both Portuguese (my native language) and English. So if anyone could point out to me what the differences are, I would be grateful!


Apart from leaving out am in I pretty sure, my only corrections are stylistic. I'm not very good at explaining my own language to ESL learners. There is nothing wrong with "thankful" in your last sentence. I just think grateful sounds a little better to me. It's not a big deal. Relax, you'll be fine. Boa sorte com a prova!

Edited by iguanamon on 04 October 2015 at 1:52pm



1 person has voted this message useful



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