Suggestions on vocabulary building I decided to rebuild my English vocabulary anew. I wrote some categories, too, in which I'll put the words I learn. Here's the list: Animals Body (Animals) Body (Human) Cities and Buildings Clothing Criminality Culture and Books Drinks, Food and Cooking Economics Family Fruits and Vegetables Geography Hobbies and Fun House Idioms Jobs and Work Means of communication Means of transport Medicine and Health People (Adjectives) Plants and Trees Politics and Government Religion Society Sport Technology Travelling School and University War and Military Subjects Weather Do you think any important category is missing?

A weird dream Last night I had a nightmare. I generally don’t remember dreams at all, since I often forget them a few minutes after I wake up; sometimes I think I should write them down immediately. I was a reporter, and was inside a well-furnished but decadent house, similar to the ones you see in American splatter and horror movies. Just as I sat down on a dusty armchair, sombody brought in what I thought was the corpse of a woman hanging by a cloteshanger, but it wasn’t a normal corpse: her skin was made of glass, through which I could see her internal organs –heart, lungs, liver…- and her nerves. She was still alive. Somehow I sensed she was the result of some creepy secret human experiment and, what’s worse, I could actually feel her pain, even though she was completely quiet. I wanted to interview her, but she started crying and didn’t answer a single question. I don’t remember what happened next: I only have this weird scene imprinted on my memory. It wasn’t a scary dream, after all: just a disturbing one. I truly hope I will never dream of crying glass statues again :D

Allow for something Could someone give an example of a sentence with "allow for", please? Is "Reading a lot allows for a greater vocabulary" correct? Or "Thanks to the staff members who allowed for last night's show?" Thank you :)

"Will you" vs "Can you" A friend of mine told me that saying "Can you help me?" is not correct, because it implies that you're not sure if the person you're talking to is physically able to help you, so you should say "Will you help me?" instead. Is it true? I know that "I can" means "I'm able to", but I always thought "Can you help me?" was the most used form. So what is the main difference between "can" and "will"? Could you give me some examples too? Thanks :) Matteo

Le me introducing myself Hi everyone :D I'm Matteo, 21, from Italy. I finally decided to join the site because I need some help practicing my English: it's been more than two years since I last studied it, and I feel it's become somewhat rusty. Moreover, I plan to take a master in the Uk after I graduate, so I will probably need a lot of exercise. My ideal would be a pen pal (or more than one) with which to corespond, exchanging opinions, news, comments, funny stuff and so on. Of course I can help you improve your Italian, if you need. See you :)