What does the phrase "be careful what you wish for, it might just come true" mean?
They are talking about irony in life.For example, I wished for a puppy badly a month ago. I went to the pet store. Unknown to me, an adoption service was waving the adoption fee for that one day. I was so happy to have him. My pup has hard to treat separation anxiety. If I leave him alone for even 20 minutes (he cries and howls if he his kennel or confined to a room and had great chewy toys): he will chew and destroy many items as many times as I leave.Note: The dog will stay in his forever home, I will train him by leaving for a couple minutes at a time and coming back.
What are some of those old timey phrases the old folks used to say ?
1. "Who do you think you are, Clark Gable"? Clark Gable was a huge actor in the 30s and 40s--"The King" they called him. So, the reference here is that you ask this question to somebody who wants something really special. 2. "Your mother wears Army boots". Something you say to someone when you really can't think of something else to say! 3. "That's the bee's knees!" (Do bees actually have knees? I don't know...) You say this when hear or see something really cool and you like it. 4. "That's swell!" That's really good! 5. "There's more than one way to skin a cat." I can think of other ways to solve this problem. 6. "What do want, eggs in your beer"? Some people used to put eggs in their beer, and this was a special way (and expensive!) to serve the beer. You got asked this question if you wanted something and the person wasn't prepared to give you what you wanted. Have fun with these!
Which is the correct phrase: I wanted to run something past you. OR I wanted to run something passed you.?
My convention here will be: past = p-word = passed, ie, "p-word" refers to either of these. Both are considered to be correct. I buy this as long as "run something p-word you" is considered an idiom: usage that does not follow the usually definitions or grammar of the words used. To pass someone means to go by; to go past someone means the same. However, neither of these has any implication of stopping or pausing at what/whom ever was passed; you go by and continue on your way. However, "run something p-word you" means you want them to consider an idea; you want the idea to stop with them (at least for a time) for consideration and discussion with you. Therefore, the p-word phrase is idiomatic. Having said that, I believe that "past" is the better usage since I see it as 'less' idiomatic than "passed." The p-word is used as an adverb in these sentences; it modifies how the "run" is performed. Dictionary.com gives definitions for "passed" as an adjective, as a verb, as a noun, as verb phrases, and as idioms. I believe the absence of an adverb definition is significant. "Past," on the other hand, has definitions as an adjective, as a noun, as an ADVERB, and as a preposition. Thus, in these sentences, "passed" as an adverb truly is idiomatic whereas "past" is properly used as an adverb. Finally and not least, in my opinion, in favor of using "past," is the pronunciation given by dictionary.com for "passed" which is: "past." Why write a 6 letter word when a 4 letter word will do as well or better and you are verbalizing both as that 4 letter word? :)
Why does the book of mormon repeat the phrase "it came to pass" over 3,000 times?
Religious belief holds up remarkably well to factual refutation.
When I try to speak English, words don't come out right. How can I speak fluent English?
Most likely you are afraid of making a mistake.I suffered the same in learning Spanish, and I see it as one of the greatest obstacles for my English students. One of my students recently told me he was in a store and wanted to ask in English, "What is the price of this item?" He planned it out perfectly in his mind, walked up to the attendent, and said "wutprsths?" When the attendent (obviously) did not understand, so my student just said "price," and got the answer he needed.Often we may say "I don't mind making mistakes, I know no one is going to throw tomatoes at me" but deep inside we feel that it is something terrible to speak poorly, and so are terrified of saying something wrong. As a result we overthink what we are trying to say, analyzing the grammar and syntax instead of just pouring forth concepts. This makes speaking very awkward. This can even happen when you are alone, speaking to yourself, because you constantly doubt if what you said is correct (I speak from experience)!Polygot Sid Efromovich points out that we are trained from youth to shun the feeling of having done something wrong, but in learning languages we must seek it, because that means we are crossing into new territory and learning. (See the video below, 29:00)When you are writing you can take time to think about how words should be organized - you cannot while speaking. So you just have to go for it. Spit the words out, and if they are wrong, that's OK. One successful English learner told me that making mistakes was the best learning tool, because he was so embarrased he remembered the correction!From my own experience and research and watching others, I believe the only solution to your problem is to listen to and speak a lot of English. It has to be a natural process that you don't think about, which will only come with lots of practice - as with any skill, from baseball to piano playing to speaking.