English Isn't My First Language... Help?

This is the discussion for those of us who don't have English as a first language, and those who do, but might have some troubles sometimes anyway. And let's not forget those who are great at it and want to help those of us who struggle a bit.
It's not a translation thread though. More of a thread where we can, for example, ask if something sounds right or if we can word ourselves in the way we have.

I do love the English language, but it can be quite confusing at times. Which word to put where, which tense to use, and how to put together a good sentence have all had me stumped at times.
Personally I end up winging it a lot of the time, going by what I think sounds all right rather than worry too much about the correctness, though I have been known to nag my English speaking friends when I'm having issues.

It's good to have someone who's opinion you can get when you're stuck, so hopefully this thread can help some of us out when we're having problems.

feel free to give this brit a poke when anyone needs an opinion.

Thank you for opening a new thread for that

Ok ... so I am still having the same problem regarding how to express physically some feeleings, my example was annoyance - twitching eyebrows.

I found a way to figure out more ! Books about how to read people's though their actions/gestures I know it may sound weird, but i d/l a few in english and some of them work by actions & what they mean but some work by theme and it actually helped me ! It's actually a great ressources when you don't know how to transcribe !

@Tsuneko: Nice books! Is it free download?

I have the same problem with Tsuneko. Anyone know where else I could get good reference on expressing action?

It's not a book, but this website helps me at times: Using Body Language

Dam i should visit the group more often, since we cant sub the entire group i dont know if someone posted new threads..
My biggest problem *besides spelling* is "tenses" past-tense i dont get it?.. I was told writing: 'he pushes the door...' <-- is wrong..
But when i write: 'he pushed the door...' <-- ppl say my tense is off
i should just take a writing/grammar english class...its been ...years o_O not saying..
Come on anyone want to do an online course...*i pay*

even though i am American, my biggest problem is grammar, my grammar is horrid.

My biggest problem when writing in English is... something... I can't even explain in English to begin with... DAMMIT xD;; *unnecessary post, goes into hiding*

I'll throw myself out there and say that I will happily beta read for anyone for whom english is not a first language (I do already for some friends). I can't guarantee I will catch every mistake as I am human, but I will offer constructive criticism and advice and happily point out why something does or does not work in english and make suggestions. Its up to you if you take them or not. I am not the kind of nazi who says it has to be my way or the highway. I have a beta reader of my own actually even though english is my first language. Basically because I can never see my own mistakes, mad isn't it? But I know how how valuable it is to have the why pointed out, not just be told this is wrong. So there you are folks, you can always PM me to reach me as I don't dawdle in here that often, but I do check aarin everyday for messages.