I've had a look through your 21 writeups. I had no trouble understanding any of them (which is more than can be said when I look back over my own!).

You have asked very interesting questions which in turn provoked replies that I found enjoyable and very useful. Thank you for that. You even managed to spark a quite undignified spat between a couple of monastary heavyweights. That, xiaoyafeng, I would regard as a result! :-)

Even when BerntB had a slight problem with your English he gave you the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure all monks will.

It's clear from your questions that you put in a lot of work: reading the docs, trying out code. As you have noticed, if you do that many monks will be only too willing to lend a hand.

On a stylistic note I would say that your code is not garbage and your questions are neither foolish, childish nor stupid. Don't apologise or put yourself down.

As you've asked, I'm sure you'll get lots of help with your grammar. I only hope you don't end up regretting it! :-)

Welcome aboard, xiaoyafeng! I look forward to your questions!

Update:

<cough>
Fixed eight errors in the grammar/spelling/puctuation. Many thanks to jdporter for pointing them out.

s/write ups/writeups/;
s/Thankyou/Thank you/;
s/english/English/;
s/Its/It's/;
s/work. Reading/work: reading/;
s/noticed/noticed,/;
s/regreting/regretting/;
s/aboard/aboard,/;
:-) (smiley also from jdporter).

There must be some sort of lesson here but I can't quite figure out what it is. :-)

I am a perl newbie. I have been here almost all day since I registered because of amazingly quick answers and thousands of friendly monks. But my poor English is indeed a barrier to communication!

So respected monks, could you point out any of my grammar mistakes when you answer my perl questions please? I want to post and reply as fluently and clearly as possible!

:-)

I would suggest that the best way to do this is to go and set up a signature that says something like "I am trying to improve my English skills, if you see a mistake please feel free to reply or /msg me a correction"

Over time I bet such a signature will garner you more feedback than this posting.

demerphq++, and good point. I find xiaoyafeng's scholarly attitude to be especially refreshing and very reflective of the type of community that exists here at PM. May your days here be filled with enlightening discussion!

I¹ am new², but have quickly become addicted to perlmonks because of the amazingly quick answers and numerous³ friendly monks. However, my poor English is indeed a barrier to communication. So, could you please point out grammar mistakes in my posts? I want to make myself understood clearly.⁴

1. Being new to Perl is not relevant.
2. "Newbie" is a bit of slang that I'd rather do without.
3. Claiming a specific number like "thousands" without empirical evidence is unwise.
4. You cannot reply without posting. ASAP is a cliche and an unnecessary acronym.

   non-Perl: Andy Ford

andyford++

Well its true xiaoyafeng did ask!

Could you please tell us what any of your carefully enumerated points have to do with grammar? :-)

Forward to grammar wars!

update: fixed a typo already :-(

Well its true

Well, it's true

You're right I kinda veered off topic a bit. Just having fun while perlmonks is quiet for the holidays.

non-Perl: Andy Ford

I'm not a grammar god, and even less an expert on English style. I also speak and write the Northeastern US version of American English, which is not quite like the versions of English spoken and written in other parts of the US, let alone Canada, the UK, Ireland, and the other countries which were once part of the British Empire.

Your words are in italics; my suggestions are in bold type.

I would rewrite this to:

"I" is used as the subject of a sentence, not "me". A sentence needs a verb, which is why "I am", vs "Me". In English, periods are normally followed by one or two blank spaces, unless they end a paragraph.

Since I have registered, I have stayed here almost all day, because of the amazingly quick answers and many friendly monks.

I feel that my poor English is a barrier to communication.

The two grammar errors were the lack of a verb ("is") and the use of "barrier to communicate" (communicate is a verb) versus "barrier to communication" (communication is a noun). I also had four style issues: it's usually not considered good practice (in US English) to start a sentence with "and", "or", or "but," the word "indeed" was superfluous, and I don't like exclamation marks. The fourth style issue is that your sentence seems to be making a conclusion about what other Monks feel; this is why the "I feel" was added; it makes it clear that the sentence is a statement of your feelings.

I also feel that your English is not as much of a barrier to communication as you seem to think; it may be more of a problem for those Monks for whom English is not their first language, but the sense of your questions does come through.

I'm guessing, from your name that your first language is one of the languages Westerners lump into "Chinese." There are numerous sites on English grammar and usage, e.g., Guide to Grammar and Writing at the State of Connecticut's Capital Community College, or Lynch, Guide to Grammar and Style at Rutgers University.