*spoiler alert* I watched a film called Caliber the other day. Basically, it’s about two friends who head to Scotland one day for a hunting trip and come to be confronted by a moral dilemma. After they arrive in a forest for hunting, one of them shoots a boy by accident, mistaking him for a deer. When the boy’s father discovers his son’s death and tries to make his revenge, the friend of the one who shot the boy ends up killing the father to protect his friend. They decide to keep the accident a secret and manage to hide both of the bodies, but they agonise over their choice. (I’d rather not talk about the rest of the plot - it could be a spoiler, even though I don’t think knowing the whole plot beforehand would necessarily ruin the watching experience!) The most impressive thing about this film was the feeling of uncomfortableness during the whole film. Here that very feeling and tension is not a negative feature but rather what makes this film truly great. The whole watching experience represents the moral dilemma we all are destined to face up to, however trivial they may be. The actors’ performances are stellar as well and there are poignant moments that can effectively captivate the viewer. I’d hi

Hello! 😊 I’m looking for a language exchange partner to talk with in English. My level is about intermediate and I’d be glad to talk about any subject. I look forward to hearing from you! 😊

Hardly/barely I’ve just come across this sentence in a grammar book: “The heating is hardly/barely adequate.” According to the book, only “barely” is possible in that case, which somehow confuses me - what’s the difference between barely and hardly? And how about “scarcely”? Any help would be appreciated! :)

How do you learn new words?

“I tripped over it just now and hurt myself” “I tripped over it just now and hurt myself” I came across this sentence in a grammar book and don’t quite see why it has to be “tripped“ rather than “have tripped”. Doesn’t the phrase “just now” sound better in the present perfect tense? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Just in case - there was another sentence right before it: “why on earth didn’t you tell me about the loose floorboard?”

Language exchange partner (English/Korean)

Modal verbs (“should have”, “may have”, etc) 1. When you refer to the speaker’s negative certainty about a past action, can “couldn’t have” and “can’t have” be used interchangeably? 2. Is there any significant difference between “might have” “could have” and “would have” when you talk about past possibility that didn’t actually happen? 3. What does “should have” mean exactly in this example?: “I should have thought you knew.” Shouldn’t it be “I should have known (or any verb that shows certainty) you knew”, etc, or does the sentence have a different meaning other than the common usage? Sorry for too many questions - I’d be so grateful if anyone could help me understand modal verbs better!