Listening English
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Recently when I feel like doing nothing, I listen to English conversations and watch American drama for improving my listening skill.
Listening English is much more difficult for me than reading and writing it.
Even though I had felt the need to learn listening and speaking English, I had ignored it for years, because it’s hard for me to feel improvement of them.
However, I realized a couple of things.
One of the reasons why I gave up learning listening before is that I learned from educational materials that I’m not interested at all.
Who tries to listen hard to the things that don’t attract her at all?
Curiosity is the key here.
So, even though I don’t understand everything what they say in drama (My understanding of them is probably between 50% and 60%), anyway I listen to them.
I got depressed, when I found that I heard by mistake that “You would not attend.” to “You and I attend.”
Completely opposite meaning!
Listening English is much more difficult for me than reading and writing it.
Even though I had felt the need to learn listening and speaking English, I had ignored it for years, because it’s hard for me to feel improvement of them.
However, I realized a couple of things.
One of the reasons why I gave up learning listening before is that I learned from educational materials that I’m not interested at all.
Who tries to listen hard to the things that don’t attract her at all?
Curiosity is the key here.
So, even though I don’t understand everything what they say in drama (My understanding of them is probably between 50% and 60%), anyway I listen to them.
I got depressed, when I found that I heard by mistake that “You would not attend.” to “You and I attend.”
Completely opposite meaning!
Listening to English
Recently when I feel like doing nothing, I listen to English conversations and watch American drama in order to improving my listening skill.
Listening to English is much more difficult for me than reading and writing it.
One of the reasons why I gave up learning listening before is that I learned from educational materials that I’m not interested in at all.
Who tries to listen hard to the things that don’t attract them at all?
So, even though I don’t understand everything what they say in drama (My understanding of them is probably between 50% and 60%), anyway I listen to them.
I got depressed, when I found that I heard by mistake that “You would not attend” instead of “You and I attend.”
I like listening to any kinds of music.
Sad songs attract me mostly.
“The Rose” by Bette Midler and “Have you ever seen the rain?” by CCR are good educational songs that I don’t get fed up with listening many times so far.
I’d appreciate it if you would recommend some songs for me.
Listening to English
Recently, when I feel like doing nothing, I listen to English conversations and watch American drama for improving my listening skills.
Listening to English is much more difficult to me than reading and writing it.
Even though I had felt the need to learn listening and speaking English, I had ignored it for years because its hard for me to make improvement.
Who tries hard to listen to the things that don’t attract them at all?
So, even though I don’t understand everything what they say in dramas (My understanding of them is probably between 50% and 60%), I still listen to them.
I got depressed when I found that I heard that “You would not attend.” was “You and I attend.”
Recently when I feel like doing nothing, I listen to English conversations and watch American drama to improve my listening skill.
Listening to English is much more difficult for me than reading and writing it.
Even though I had felt the need to learn to listen to and speak English, I had ignored it for years, because it’s hard for me to see any improvement in those areas.
One of the reasons why I gave up learning to listen before is that I was learning from educational materials that I’m not interested in at all.
Who tries hard to listen to things that don’t attract them at all? (See note below.)
So, even though I don’t understand all of what they say in the drama (my understanding of them is probably between 50% and 60%), I listen to them anyway.
I got depressed, when I found that I mistakenly heard “You would not attend.” as “You and I attend.”
That's completely the opposite meaning!
Some languages have neuter singular pronouns that you can use for a person, but English doesn't. (The word "it" is only used for inanimate objects and for lower animals that nobody cares much about, like insects. Even calling a dog or a cat "it" can get you dirty looks from the owner.) In formal contexts you can use "him" when the gender is indeterminate or unknown, but in informal English we would usually say "them" in this kind of situation, even if it's only one person.
I had to stop and think about what the plural of "drama" would be, and I eventually concluded that the way you have it is probably correct: it's a mass noun, and there is no plural; the word "drama" as it stands refers to any amount of drama: whether you're talking about one play (or show) or a hundred plays (or shows), it's still all drama.
If drama were a count noun, the plural would probably be "dramata" (because the singular form is "drama" rather than "dramat", i.e., it follows the Greek rules, not the native English rules; therefore the plural form if there were one would probably follow the Greek rules too), but I don't think I've EVER seen the form "dramata" in print. The only other possible plural would be "dramas" (ignoring the etymology, like "campuses" and "walruses"), but "dramas" sounds wrong to me.
So, I had to think it through, but I believe you were correct to write "drama" even if you are talking about multiple plays or shows.
I’m sorry to be late for my appreciation.
By the way, I’m still confused about the plural of “drama”, some people corrected it as “dramas”.
My conclusion is that drama is a mass noun and as such does not have a plural form. Here is some supporting evidence for this assertion:
1. We say "so much drama" or "a lot of drama", but if we use "many" we change "drama" into an adjective and give it a noun to modify, e.g., "many dramatic comments".
2. I don't think I've ever seen the word in print with the indefinite article ("a drama"). That sounds very wrong.
3. Wiktionary says that it is "usually uncountable", which is basically the same thing as saying it's a mass noun. I would say that it is *always* uncountable (a mass noun) in modern English.
However, I should probably also note that the word "drama" *originally* (when it was first imported from Greek to English during the Renaissance period) was a count noun, meaning a play. That meaning is still listed in a lot of dictionaries (in fact, it's usually listed first), but the most recent citation I can find for that sense of the word is from the mid nineteenth century. I have definitely never seen it used that way in anything contemporary. In modern usage, in my experience, "drama" is a mass noun.
This usage is unfamiliar to me, probably mostly because I'm 25 years younger, and in my lifetime genre categories have been rather more finely divided than "comedy" versus "drama".
From now on, I’ll use “drama” when I’m talking about the art form in general and use “dramas” when I’m talking about specific programs.