Parents now spend twice as much time with their children as 50 years ago

Re:Parents now spend twice as much time with their children ... by skinner_ on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @09:49PM (#15813075)

Now that's the real difference between a native and a non-native speaker: As a non-native speaker, I'd probably put about the right amount of articles in there, but I can't even imagine why dropping them sounds 'cutesy'. Probably most of my sentences randomly project 'cutesy' or 'geeky' or 'obnoxious'. And it happens on a subconscious level even if you know that I'm not a native speaker.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Parents now spend twice as much time with their children ... by taejo on Thursday November 30, 2017 @08:16AM (#15815436)

Referring to "a baby" as "baby" is cutesy because it kind of treats "baby" as a name, or perhaps because it immitates the way young children talk. In normal circumstances dropping articles just makes you sound foreign.

[ Parent | on HN ]