Immigration paperwork taught me nominalisation before I knew the word for it. On every form: 'the application' (not 'I applied'). 'The investigation is ongoing' (not 'they are investigating'). 'Upon the arrival of' (not 'when someone…
The most dramatic sentence I ever said in English came without planning. I was explaining my career to someone at a conference in Réunion: 'Never have I worked somewhere where I felt truly seen as…
My first year of French in Paris, I didn't know the word for 'dishwasher'. So I said: 'la machine qui lave les assiettes' — the machine that washes the plates inside your kitchen. My colleague…
On a long flight from Paris to Réunion, I sat with nothing but my thoughts. 'Could I have done anything differently?' 'Should I have stayed in Sydney?' 'Would things have been different if I had…
In my IELTS Speaking exam, the examiner asked: 'What would you change about where you live?' I had the answer — I needed two seconds to organise it. I said: 'That's a good question —…
At the Star Casino, I read sales reports every Monday morning. Volume, trends, percentage change. I was reading data in hospitality English years before I ever sat an exam. I said things like 'Sales rose…
I took IELTS in 2026. The writing section did not test my vocabulary — it tested whether I could think in paragraphs under pressure. Once I drew a simple box on my paper with four…
My first job application in France said: 'I am an excellent communicator.' The interviewer looked up and asked: 'Excellent by whose standard?' That was the day I understood that in professional and academic English, confidence…
In English, you do not 'make' homework — you 'do' it. You do not 'do' a mistake — you 'make' one. These are collocations: word partnerships that native speakers use automatically, without thinking. I learned…
I failed my first formal English essay assignment in Australia. The ideas were there — solid, clear. But every paragraph started with 'Also' or 'And'. My tutor wrote just two words in the margin: 'Show…
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Sourov Deb EI · SIRET 106 764 061 00011 · Saint-Pierre, La Réunion