@bsloan7 Thanks! Though I wanted to ask, which sentence sounds (the most) natural to you? Every time I ask this, I feel very unsure if my question is natural.

1. Which syllable of this word do you stress?
2. Which syllable in this word do you stress?
3. Which syllable do you stress in this word?

bsloan7

2 Dec 2022

English (US)

@studiousboy All of those are natural!

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branduhn

2 Dec 2022

Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 Wow, that’s great. I often worry about if my sentence sounds natural. By the way, does this sound natural? 😂 I feel like there’s something wrong with this sentence but I can’t say exactly what it is.

“Every time I ask others this, I feel very unsure if my question is natural.”

bsloan7

2 Dec 2022

English (US)

@studiousboy Your instincts are correct. It’s a little unnatural. These would be better:

Every time I ask other people this question, I’m not sure if it’s natural.

Every time I ask other people this question, I’m unsure about how natural it sounds.

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branduhn

2 Dec 2022

Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 Thanks for the correction! Can I say this also?

“Every time I ask other people this question, I’m unsure if it’s natural.”

@studiousboy Yes, that’s okay as well 👍🏾

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branduhn

2 Dec 2022

Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 What about this example sentence? Can I place “exactly” at the end?

I feel like there’s something wrong with this sentence, but I can’t figure out (exactly) what it is.

bsloan7

2 Dec 2022

English (US)

@studiousboy Yes 👍🏾

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branduhn

2 Dec 2022

Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 So in all those sentences we just talked about, only “exactly” works. “Just”, “right” and “precisely” don’t work at all, right?

bsloan7

2 Dec 2022

English (US)

@studiousboy I guess “precisely” and “just” would be grammatically correct, but they don’t sound as natural as “exactly” to me, especially not “just”. “Right” doesn’t work at all though.

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branduhn

2 Dec 2022

Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 So “exactly” sounds the most natural in those example sentences. Do you think there are any other words that can be used to replace “exactly” and sound equally natural? If your answer is no, please also let me know. 😂

bsloan7

2 Dec 2022

English (US)

@studiousboy No, I really think “exactly” is the best word in this situation.

Highly-rated answerer

branduhn

2 Dec 2022

Simplified Chinese (China)

@bsloan7 Ok. Then I’ll stick to “exactly” when I form sentences like that. Thank you so much!

bsloan7

2 Dec 2022

English (US)

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I’ve heard that “what do you do” is far more common than “what’s your job”. Is that true?

I’ve heard that “what do you do” is far more common than “what’s your job”. Is that true? See a translation

Yes, “what’s your job” sounds like something a non native speaker would say. Native speakers usually say:What do you do (for a living)?Where do you work?What line of work are you in?

Yes, “what’s your job” sounds like something a non native speaker would say. Native speakers usually say:What do you do (for a living)?Where do you work?What line of work are you in?

@studiousboy You’ll probably hear it without “for a living” a little more often, but both are common.

2. [yu-fuh-MIS-tik]

@studiousboy All of those are natural!

@studiousboy Your instincts are correct. It’s a little unnatural. These would be better:Every time I ask other people this question, I’m not sure if it’s natural.Every time I ask other people this question, I’m unsure about how natural it sounds.

@studiousboy Yes, that’s okay as well 👍🏾

@studiousboy Yes 👍🏾

@studiousboy I guess “precisely” and “just” would be grammatically correct, but they don’t sound as natural as “exactly” to me, especially not “just”. “Right” doesn’t work at all though.

@studiousboy No, I really think “exactly” is the best word in this situation.

I’ve heard that “what do you do” is far more common than “what’s your job”. Is that true?

Yes, “what’s your job” sounds like something a non native speaker would say. Native speakers usually say:

What do you do (for a living)?

Where do you work?

What line of work are you in?

Yes, “what’s your job” sounds like something a non native speaker would say. Native speakers usually say:

What do you do (for a living)?

Where do you work?

What line of work are you in?

@studiousboy Your instincts are correct. It’s a little unnatural. These would be better:

Every time I ask other people this question, I’m not sure if it’s natural.

Every time I ask other people this question, I’m unsure about how natural it sounds.