I just realized how bad my English is still.

[khanhhung2512]

I just realized how bad my English still is.

Hello, everyone.
What's your opinion about my title sentence? I mean the structure, grammar, word choices, etc. of the sentence, not its literal meaning. Does it sound good? What can I do to make that sentence sound better?
Thanks a lot.

 

[emsr2d2]

Most BrE speakers will say "I have just realised how bad my English still is".

 

[khanhhung2512]

I'm also inclined to 'still is' in this case, but Longman says "still comes after the verb be unless be is used in negative" http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/still_1
Thus I wrote it as "is still"

 

[emsr2d2]

Longman is right grammatically. However, very few BrE speakers speak perfect grammatical English. You will hear "... my English still is" more often than you will hear "... my English is still". It's partly the word order to blame. Most of us would say "My English is still bad", not "My English is bad still" but the construction you used will lead frequently to ... how bad my English still is".

 

[Polyester]

Hey guys!
You opened too many posts here. You have got too many question and want to request the answer.
I give you advice.Try to in sum of the question in a post that you want to know the answer.
For example, like this post.

Many thanks!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
I'm a beginner in English. I'm poor at English.

 

[khanhhung2512]

Hey guys!
You opened too many posts here. You have got too many question and want to request the answer.
I give you advice.Try to in sum of the question in a post that you want to know the answer.
For example, like this post.
Many thanks!

I can do that, but it's not advisable in this forum.
Imagine each question might require at least 2 to 3, sometimes even more than 10, comments. Summing up the questions only makes the topic become a mess.

 

[Raymott]

In this case, as in many recently, Longman's is only partly right. It gives rules that work most of the time. I don't know what it is about Longman's - perhaps they try too hard to make rules, but don't think of the exceptions. One exception appears to be when 'to be' is the last word of the sentence. Another is when 'to be' is stressed:
Person A: "He used to be the smartest person in the class."
Person B: "He still is the smartest person in the class."
At least this is standard in AusE.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hey guys!
You opened too many posts here. You have got too many question and want to request the answer.
I give you advice.Try to in sum of the question in a post that you want to know the answer.
For example, like this post.

Many thanks!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________
I'm a beginner in English. I'm poor at English.

If you are trying to encourage the OP to put several questions in one post, please don't do that. We make it very clear that users should post one question per post. Having said that, we also encourage people not to post question after question after question. If the questions of one OP fill up the entire first page of the "Ask A Teacher" forum, that's too many posts.

I have realised that your signature line is not a proper signature line. You have simply added a line manually and typed some words underneath it. As I said before, please go to "Edit Profile" and then create a signature. If you can't do that, then please just stop typing the line about being a beginner.

 

[Polyester]

If you are trying to encourage the OP to put several questions in one post, please don't do that. We make it very clear that users should post one question per post. Having said that, we also encourage people not to post question after question after question. If the questions of one OP fill up the entire first page of the "Ask A Teacher" forum, that's too many posts.

I have realised that your signature line is not a proper signature line. You have simply added a line manually and typed some words underneath it. As I said before, please go to "Edit Profile" and then create a signature. If you can't do that, then please just stop typing the line about being a beginner.

OK!
I don't use it.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Can 'is still' be replaced with 'remains' in this context?

Not a teacher.

 

[Raymott]

Yes, you could use 'remains'.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yes, but it sounds very formal.

 

[khanhhung2512]

Yes, you could use 'remains'.

Does that mean I can say "I've just realized how bad my English remains," instead of "... how bad my English still is?"
And "My English remains bad," sounds correct but a bit formal?

 

[Rover_KE]

It sounds very formal. I wouldn't use it.

 

[Tarheel]

Does that mean I can say "I've just realized how bad my English remains," instead of "... how bad my English still is?"
And "My English remains bad," sounds correct but a bit formal?

Once you have found something that works you should stick with it. "My English remains bad" is not something I can imagine anybody saying. "I just realized how bad my English still is" is perfectly good and perfectly understandable. (Keep in mind that there are differences between BrE and AmE.)

 

[Matthew Wai]

"My English remains bad" is not something I can imagine anybody saying.

If someone said 'My English remains bad', s/he would probably not be a native speaker. If the speaker is not a native, will it be possible that s/he would say something understandable but unimaginable to you?

Not a teacher.

 

[khanhhung2512]

Actually, when I first heard the sentence: "I've just realized how bad my English remains," I had a feeling that 'bad' was being used informally as an adverb meaning 'badly', or 'to a great or serious degree'. Does any native speaker here feel the same?

 

[Matthew Wai]

'bad' was being used informally as an adverb meaning 'badly'

I deem 'bad' an adjective here, am I wrong?

 

[khanhhung2512]

I deem 'bad' an adjective here, am I wrong?

Using 'bad' as an adverb is very popular in movies.
http://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/bad
NOT A TEACHER

 

[Matthew Wai]

But it should be used as an adjective here, according to http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/remain Definition#1

Not a teacher.