Time for more English major torture

Something I do not enjoy about my major is having to study linguistics. I did not sign up for this!!
tenor

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Your English always seems great. What part are you struggling with?
I feel like academic English is maybe irrelevant to real world speaking.

I really enjoyed studying English language, but it is my first language so maybe it is different?

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I’m studying linguistics as part of my major. The question asks: “Between learning a word and learning a sentence, are those two aspects of English probable (the same) or not? Explain in detail using linguistic theory.”

I’m sorry, what?

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Haha. Sounds confusing. Anyway. I enjoy some linguistics but it’s not for everyone. Some of it is boring really.

That doesn’t sound like fun. I’m going to try to take a class at the University this Fall, World Religions. My major is Interdisciplinary Studies where you complete three Minors and get a Bachelor’s of Arts degree. I’m pretty sure I am doing Philosophy and Religious Studies. I’ll probably do Math as the third one as my ACT score in math is a 26.

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I think it’s interesting but it’s really hard to understand. I’ve been wrestling with the same question for 30 minutes.

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Are you in the US and is English your native tongue?

Sounds incredibly theoretical.

I guess the answer is no, because a sentence you can substitute in different words, where as word only means one thing (well, not always but often). But I dunno, thats just my guess. Wouldn’t want to write an essay on it lol

I’m really bad in English. My ACT score in English is 18. An 18 is the bare minimum for normal admission to the University. I’m really worried most about writing papers.

ACT is short for American College Test. It’s used in some places in the US.

I’m not a native English speaker, and I’m not in the US.

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It must be really hard. I grew up with “Cajun” English. Cajuns are of French ancestry. They used to put a Dunce Cap on you and put you in a corner of the room if you used Cajun English in elementary school.

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Between learning a word and learning a sentence, are those two aspects of English probable (the same) or not? Explain…

I’d say different as a word can quite often have more than one meaning…whereas a sentence should be straight forward and less ambiguous.

Also, a word can sound exactly like a completely different word…pain (pane)…plain (plane)…etc.

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Say what LOL? I can see your confusion. The only interpretation I can think of, is that the word changes context when used in a sentence. I’m probably wrong on that

That’s great. English can be confusing especially when you (or I) have cognitive decline and difficulties from schizophrenia and negative symptoms. Maybe you can teach me or reinforce the concept of whom vs who because I keep forgetting it lol!

You must be pretty smart if you can do English. I tried math and it’s a language too. I tried memorizing it all in my working or short term memory and realized I was studying too hard and not too smart lol.

With math, it’s best to do lots of practice and examples not just memorize or find short cuts in the homework or in life.

Linguistics is a cool specialty. I think I like CS or computer science now because my memory is atrocious. I used to hate programming or CS and it can be overwhelming but I like it now I guess.

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