Why we should not use the term think?

[Torsten]

Canadian45, I justed wanted to hear your defintion of "business", that's why I asked this question.
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Alan]

Hi,

I am intrigued not so much by your use of the word 'business' as by the reference to its connection with 'approach' in your comment:

[Yankee]

I have to agree. I was also confused by that sentence.

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[canadian45]

What I meant was that perhaps the moderators here are quite sensitive about not alienating their students/customers.
On two other forums that I am familiar with there is a different atmosphere, one in which participants are not shy about pointing out errors in other posters' English. Those two forums are essentially not commercial and the moderators do not participate in the discussions. They are forums for ESL students and independent people trying to help them.
It seems that on this forum, although the moderators are very actively involved in the discussions, they have a very laid-back approach to posters' mistakes.
I say the above fully realizing that one cannot always point out all the mistakes of a poster and that the main goal, at least as far as the poster is concerned, is to answer his or her specific question(s).
However, other students will read the posts and benefit from the answers too. So it would seem that if more mistakes are corrected, there will be more benefit to the readership as a whole.

[Alan]

Hi,

I think I must take issue with the inference, I might almost say slur, contained in your comments. There are two points really. You are hinting at the possibility that because we are 'commercial' as you call it and I'm not sure that this is an accurate description, we are turning a blind eye to mistakes made by contributors for fear of upsetting them. That is, putting it bluntly, absolute rubbish. The other point is that there are a range of forums on this site. Some deal with straightforward corrections of and answers to points raised by contributors, others are concerned with encouraging people to discuss topics without feeling constricted by the fear they might be making mistakes.

I recommend that you have a look through all the forums before making your next comment.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Torsten]

[canadian45]

Hi Alan and Thorsten:

I don't think that I need to say much more about this. I think that you understand what my perception was and I told you why I expressed that feeling. You don't have to agree with me and this is not a dicussion that one side has to win.

Therefore, I think there is nothing to be gained by dragging this discussion on but there is one simple question that I can answer. An independent person is someone like me, for example. I am only here because I am interested in ESL and enjoy trying to help learners. You can say it is a hobby of mine.

[Alan]

Hi,

Clearly you have decided not to explain your 'perception' as you call it. I have no idea what you are talking about and am happy to close this thread but do remember that you were the one who initiated this so called 'discussion'.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story A day in the life of a parliamentary candidate

[canadian45]

Hi Alan

Sorry, I could not let your last comment go without challenge. In my opinion, you choose to 'have no idea' what I am talking about.

Hopefully this will be my last comment and you can have the last word.

ps....And I did not initiate this discussion. The three of you started it by jumping on me for correcting a poster's English.

[Alan]

For the record the thread was started as a result of your initial comment:

Quote:

Grammatically incorrect 'questions' are very commonly constructed by ESL students and the students are often not told that their questions are incorrect. (Even the site administrator here constructs incorrect questions.)

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Relative Pronoun

[Shan]

Hello, as a member of this forum I would like to add some comment. Sorry if this will drag this "discussion" on.

It is good if someone can point out the errors that we make, but perhaps with discretion:
1. Some learners are more sensitve so please choose your expressions well.
2. In some topics that encourage participation, pointing out errors does impede the discussion sometimes.

Finally, Canadian45, you made a statement that this site is commercial and implied that the moderators here are making contributions for some sort of "commercial" purpose. You have been asked to explain a few times and still did not give a direct answer. Could you just please be responsible for what you've said and explain to all of us?

[canadian45]

Alan:

Your last post merits no further comment except to say that I didn't come here to waste my time arguing with people.

Shan:

I will assume that you also 'work here' and again I have nothing more to say about the 'business' thing. Any unclarity about what I said is because people choose to be unclear. If you don't work here, please accept my apology.


There are different kinds of teachers and students. If some students don't like my method of teaching, they are free to ignore all my posts. I suppose most methods have their pros and cons.

[Yankee]

[Alan]

I love the classic line:

[Shan]

Canadian45:

I found this site when I was looking for materials for teaching a private student of mine. I registered because I saw one question that I thought I could answer. I do not work here. Your assumption about me working here seems to be based on the fact that I asked you to explain what you meant by this site being "commercial". Isn't it a bit like..."jumping to the conclusion"?

I had observed the posts and responses before I joined the membership. I believe that everyone in this forum is here to help and participate, just like I am. Now you called this site and the moderators "commercial", that somehow makes me feel insulted. It also makes me feel as if any contribution that I might have here, I did it for a "commercial" purpose. And I don't. So I would really like to know where you're coming from and for you to justify what you said.