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To begin and to start



 
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ESL Forums | English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
Sentence: I shouldn't cease to ask / asking questions. | how much or how often or how larg
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To begin and to start #1 (permalink) Thu Dec 11, 2003 10:32 am   To begin and to start
 

Hello, everybody. I am a Russian. I have been learning English for several months. I saw this interesting site and decided to take a part in this forum. I have a question. Sometimes I say:
I began to learn English
Sometimes I say:
I started to learn English
I don't see the difference between these expressions

Perhaps, I must say:

I began learning English
or
I starded learning English
Help me, please
Thank you for your time.
Kat
Kat
I'm new here and I like it ;-)


Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Posts: 20

Begin or Start #2 (permalink) Thu Dec 11, 2003 22:36 pm   Begin or Start
 

Hi Kat,

Thanks for your interesting question. In all honesty there is not a lot of difference between these two words. One clear difference is that 'start' is used with machines/motors and those kinds of things so that we have the expression 'to start the car' and also intransitively 'the engine started'. But perhaps I could offer some suggestions about whether to use 'start' or 'begin' in the sort of context you have mentioned. Clearly they both give the idea of happening for the first time. You could make a very general comment that 'start' has the sense of happening literally for the first time ever and 'begin' means happening for the first time within a continuum or a series. So we could say that a child STARTS to speak at a certain age and prior to that has just used single disconnected words but you would say that a lesson/class BEGINS at a certain time . In the first use (START) this is the very beginning and in the second (BEGIN) it is a beginning which is going to happen every day at that time within a series or what you would expect.

To bring these meanings back to your original question I would say: I STARTED to learn/learning English when I was at school but I BEGAN to do/doing the tests this morning (and in this sense it suggests that you were doing the tests before and now you are beginning again this morning)

I hope this helps,

Best wishes

Alan
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Here is how you can learn English the fun way! Click to subscribe to free email English courseEnglish grammar exercises — improve your English knowledge and vocabulary skillsLearn to use the present simple with the help of this short storyAre you a native speaker of English? Then you should read this!
Begin or Start #3 (permalink) Fri Dec 12, 2003 6:59 am   Begin or Start
 

Hello Alan, thank you very much for your very interesting explanation and for your fast answer. I must admit :Sometimes to learn English without teacher's explanation is a really difficult task.
Thank you for your time.
Kat : Shocked
Kat
I'm new here and I like it ;-)


Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Posts: 20

Start or Begin? #4 (permalink) Wed Mar 17, 2004 7:56 am   Start or Begin?
 

I've read your explanation, it was certainly very interesting though I am not clear on the sentences as follows.

1)let's start studying as to begin to learn.

or
2) let's begin to study as to start learning.

Well, what I understan from sentence 1 , is that "we have been taking a couse but we ourselves have not studied yet (I mean, the homework)."
However, in sentence 2, the way, I understand it, is that we have not necessarily been taking any course, but that we are planning on doing.
My point is,
Is there any difference between the sentences above as far as meaning is concerned? if so, what is it?

Thank you very much.
Upright
New Member


Joined: 17 Mar 2004
Posts: 2

Let's start the course #5 (permalink) Wed Mar 17, 2004 9:02 am   Let's start the course
 

Dear Upright,

Many thanks for your question. Could you please tell us where you found the two sentences you are refering to? They seem somewhat clumsy. Why not simply say 'let's start our course'? I mean, when you use 'let us' you are addressing a number of people who are very likely to know what you are refering to, that is, whether they should start a course or simply begin to learn something. What do you think?
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To begin and to start #6 (permalink) Sat May 08, 2004 15:03 pm   To begin and to start
 

Kat wrote:
Hello, everybody. I am a Russian. I have been learning English for several months. I saw this interesting site and decided to take a part in this forum. I have a question. Sometimes I say:
I began to learn English
Sometimes I say:
I started to learn English
I don't see the difference between these expressions

Perhaps, I must say:

I began learning English
or
I starded learning English
Help me, please
Thank you for your time.
Kat


Hi Kat,

You might want to take a look at Alan's latest article:

http://www.english-test.net/articles/24/index.html
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary
Torsten
Learning Coach
Torsten Daerr

Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Posts: 10059
Location: EU

To begin and to start #7 (permalink) Sat May 08, 2004 17:04 pm   To begin and to start
 

Hi Torsten and Alan! Thank you very much!
But I don't see the a new article in the "newsletters" It seems sadly.
What are your thoughts?
Kat Crying or Very sad
Kat
I'm new here and I like it ;-)


Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Posts: 20

Begin/start #8 (permalink) Sat May 08, 2004 17:59 pm   Begin/start
 

Hi,

You'll find it in the articles begin/start.
http://www.english-test.net/articles/24/index.html

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story The Name of the Game
Alan
Co-founder
Alan Townend

Joined: 27 Sep 2003
Posts: 9205
Location: UK

Begin/start #9 (permalink) Sun May 09, 2004 19:48 pm   Begin/start
 

Alan wrote:
Hi,

You'll find it in the articles begin/start.
http://www.english-test.net/articles/24/index.html

Alan

Hi Alan! Thank you! But I told about the new article in the newsletter!
Kat Crying or Very sad
Kat
I'm new here and I like it ;-)


Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Posts: 20

Current newsletter #10 (permalink) Wed May 12, 2004 17:30 pm   Current newsletter
 

Hi Kat,

You can read the current newsletter here:
www.english-test.net/newsletter/
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary
Torsten
Learning Coach
Torsten Daerr

Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Posts: 10059
Location: EU

Current newsletter #11 (permalink) Thu May 13, 2004 21:02 pm   Current newsletter
 

Torsten wrote:
Hi Kat,

You can read the current newsletter here:
www.english-test.net/newsletter/

Hi Torsten! Thank you! I will read this artickle as soon as I have the opportunity( time)
Kat Laughing
Kat
I'm new here and I like it ;-)


Joined: 10 Dec 2003
Posts: 20

Allo d'une amateure de plein-air #12 (permalink) Wed Mar 25, 2009 16:16 pm   Allo d'une amateure de plein-air
 

Allo! Je suis nouvelle ici, car je vois que vous etes des amoureux de de plages et de gastronomie, Je viens de me permettre le magazine de Decouvertes Touristiques de Steve Mclean mais je me demandais si vous ne connaissiez pas l'adresse de son site internet car il semble y avoir un concours seulement sur le internet??

Merci beaucoup ! Smile
Guest






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