An online discussion forum

An online discussion forum

Learn how to write posts on an online forum.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and tips and do the exercises.

Preparation

Reading text

Katie20

Can you believe it? Someone in another group asked me to write some pages of their website in English and French. But they can't pay because 'I'm starting this business with no money.' He said he's a professional photographer and he can do some photos for me instead. Am I wrong to be angry?

Asher87

Nope! I’d be angry too

JayCee99

I can't help but here's the link to a friend's website. He is a French–English writer and translator www.franco-anglo-translations.com/About

Carla62

Er … asking people to work for free … not cool!

Asher87

^^^ This!

JayCee99

Oops! I thought you were looking for someone. Sorry for the misunderstanding smiley

Carla62

I can't pay my rent with photographs, sorry

Katie20

Exactly!

Mylo45

True, but professional photos cost a lot of money, especially if you're getting married. Sorry I don't speak French or I would do it cheeky

Katie20

Here's a link to his photography if anyone wants the job www.billsphoto.com/portfolio As you can see the website needs some work … wink

Carla62

@Mylo45 Maybe, but people always ask writers to work for free #PayMe

Katie20

Yep, if I need photos OK but I prefer to get paid with money

Tips

1. Writing in online forums is more like speaking.

2. You don’t have to put full stops (.) at the end of sentences.

3. Use ^^^ to show you’re talking about the post above yours.

4. Use @ and a person’s name to show clearly who you’re replying to.

5. You can use emojis.  cool

6. Stay calm and be polite. Some people get angry in online discussions but try to avoid that.

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Discussion

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Topics

Average: 5 (6 votes)

Submitted by ecoclicky on Wed, 15/06/2022 - 06:34

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What's the difference between biodegradable or bio-based?

Hello ecoclicky,

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the term 'bio-based', but it sounds to me as if it emphasises the source of the materials it's made from, whereas 'biodegradable' seems to speak more about what the item will become in the future.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Fzt_abidin on Mon, 13/06/2022 - 17:13

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When ı think about a discussion forum ı never wrote a forum ı don't know why however maybe ı like to speak that's why ı didn't write at online forum. But if the assumed the WhatsApp groups is a discussion forum then ı am frequently writing message

Submitted by Nguyen Nhu Nguyen on Thu, 24/03/2022 - 11:50

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I dont join the discussion in the social media, because I think It's unnecessary, and waste of time. Because on the social media have a lot of bad content, dirty content, and not really useful. If I am interest in any subject I often find out forums or groups that talk about it. The subjects that interested me often help my life or jobs . Recenty, I'm interest in the graphic design, I want to learn about it, and can find small income from it beside daily main job.
Does anyone here know the graphic design?

Do you join in many discussion forums? Why or why not?
I prefer to stay far away from discussion forums especially in social media, because if they not agree with you they write forward you bad things.

Submitted by rishab on Thu, 03/02/2022 - 10:25

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Great! thanks for sharing.

Submitted by chandanak82 on Tue, 25/01/2022 - 15:08

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Hello,

Can someone clarify which is correct with a logical explanation.

This is wrt to Bar Graph Description (IELTS Exam)

1) The number of students who like or likes to ......
2) The highest number of students who like or likes to ....
3) An equal number of students who like or likes to ...
4) A number of students who like to ...

Thanks.

Hello chandanak82,

In all four of these sentences, the antecedent of the relative pronoun is a group of students. Although each group is grammatically singular, the idea in each case is of more than one person, so the plural form of the verb ('like') is the correct form here.

There are some cases where one can choose between using a singular of plural verb (e.g. in British English, we often say 'The team are training hard', but in American English 'The team is training hard' is more common), but when speaking about 'a/the number of ...' it's plural.

By the way, our Describing a bar chart Writing skills page (https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/skills/writing/intermediate-b1/…) might be of interest to you. There are other pages about speaking about charts in our Writing skills section as well.

All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by georgephuoc on Fri, 03/12/2021 - 03:53

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this is my first one

Submitted by Suraj paliwal on Tue, 02/11/2021 - 18:24

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No, I have not join in any online forum because we have not much time to think about other people. Instead I like to go to temple for feed the hunger people. And do financial help to poor people.