As a native speaker of English, I was confused by the first one, as I have always added an apostrophe. I figured out though, that this is because I speak Australian English. I hope few people are confused by this.
I'm an English teacher in Brazil, and I have to bow to your amazing teaching style. Your videos are excellent and I recommend them to my advanced students.
As mentioned, it is from the very entertaining novel "Catch-22." For anybody who has been in the military, you probably knew people very similar to all the characters in the book and it will be extra enjoyable. It was made into a movie, but the movie mainly captures only the overall darker than the book rather than the dark comedy absurdity nature of it. The movie did, however, have General Dreedle's B-25 Mitchell painted a sort of flesh color, with General's flags attached to the front (like they do on limousines), and with whitewall tires. And that was fun.
18/20. However, some of the questions require common knowledge and you don't have to speak English in order to answer properly. As for the others, proper training for solving grammar tasks is enough. At my school we often practiced this type of tasks, but I wouldn't say I could speak English at a native level.
Yes, it's a good test for pre-Uni native speakers OR for people learning English whose native languages aren't European or have technical vocabulary constructed after Greek and Latin. 7 of the questions were like: femur, irony, -phobic, ceramic, etc. I just needed to speak Spanish 🤭
@@elgrun2913How is Polish constructed after Latin though? If you're thinking of having at least 6 cases and 3 genders....well all Slavic languages have that, yet I don't think it's correct to say Russian was constructed after Latin
Actually not. Let me explain: It may be good for English native speakers OR for L2 English speakers whose native languages aren't European and lack technical vocabulary constructed from grecolatin roots. For those (like me) speaking a romance language, or even German or other germanic languages, knowing what a femur, kiwi, -phobia, ceramic, irony, beige or breaking the ice doesn't need need ANY knowledge of English, it's just things that even illiterate people know, because they are common words in OUR languages. And that's over 1/3 of the test. And, why did the question asking for a simple addition appeared?!?! I was thinking it was some kind of trick
As a native speaker, I also got a perfect score, however; based on my personal experience; I can attest that some native speakers out there would not be able to get more than 10/20, more specifically those who didn't have the opportunity to go to college or come from a very humble background. For instance, the spelling of "you're" and "it's" as "your" and "its", is a common mistake. Also, some people wouldn't know what colors are mauve or cobalt or even the order of adjectives or the plural of phenomenon and crisis.
I'm also a native English speaker. I only answered the first 10 questions. I answered 9 correctly, I got the colour wrong, I said mauve. Many native English speakers would't be able to answer all these questions-
Not bad for about one year of studying (example of "understatement" used to emphasize a point, it should be read as "pretty good". Possibly you're already well aware.). I would guess that you have been working hard at it.
I learnt since I was born (not native though) and I got a mere 13/20. In fact, I know English better than my MOTHER TONGUE. It just shows how much and how good you studied English.
@@mariano.tiberi What a genius im 8/20 if i remember it correctly. For self learning outside school teaching, Just remember meaning without proper learn
Why swear??? Seems to be a very heavy term in this context. You already used the word 'really' for emphasis. So it's kind of double. To swear is used in situations, where your reputation is on the line and that could have serious implications for you. "I did not steal that car, I swear." Swearing is done by a higher power. In a solemn oath. Swearing, that something helps you, just doesn't fit the gravity of the word.
#16 goes either way. If Jenny said (with ironic tone) Paul LOVED the movie - then he didn't. If she said PAUL loved the movie then she didn't. As I'm sure you know, word stress is also important. I've had fun times putting a long sentence on the board and stressing a different word each time - great how that can give a different meaning each time.
@@_smsma_ There's this discrepancy. At the beginning he stated 18/20 for native. At the end it dropped down for 16/20 for adult native. I'm sticking with the 18/20, though. Four mistakes simply seem too many, especially since we foreigners, are capable of reaching that.
I find it interesting that native speakers of a language usually assume that what *they* find hard will be a problem to foreign learners. For instance, I think very few adult speakers of other European languages with lower intermediate English will have any problem getting ‘beige‘, ‘break the ice‘, ‘kiwi‘, ‘femur‘, ‘ceramic‘ and ‘phobia‘ wrong. That makes 6 correct answers without any deep knowledge of English.
Yeah as a slightly colour blind I wasn't sure about beige vs mauve either. But I agree that as a non-native speaker we have an advantage over native speakers on grammar such as "their / there / they're" and "it's vs its". We had to learn it properly because we didn't just learn by assimilation. If that's the right word, LOL.
Actually that was the one I got wrong. Beige is not that pale so I was too confused to answer 😂 Funnily in my native language German it would’ve been the same word.
Native speaker here and got a perfect score. I've always used "were it not for" instead of "but for." I don't know; I find "but for" awkward, particularly when said.
I scored 20/20. While many educated native speakers may not have read the novel Catch-22, they are likely aware of its meaning, as it is a commonly used expression.
"I have never seen" or "I never saw", no criticism, I hear Americans make this error fairly commonly, I hope to help, it's a safe bet that you speak English better than I speak your mother tongue.
Many natives can not answer some of these questions. The only thing this test proves is that you are good with English grammar. I have a very basic level of listening and speaking, and I got an almost perfect score.
20/20. I'm a very proud Dane now. Admittedly I did award myself a point for question 16, even though I didn’t give your correct answer - because “this afternoon Alex wants to buy some shoes” is an equally valid solution. Also, there’s a misspelling in your final question. It’s “arachnophobia”, not “arachna-“.
I'm not sure why, but i really love videos like this. i think it's because i enjoy the "quiz" aspect. I'm a native English speaker and got 18/20. Thank you for doing these!!
good test, but I'd exclude some questions from it. 1) kiwi question. everyone knows kiwi by picture 2) phobia. it is also well-known word. 3) colors. even in native language I don't know these colors. 4) catch-22. this is slang. I believe it is from movie or something.
Brian Wiles I'm Egyptian studying Japanese I already know how to introduce myself I learned hiragana and Katakana and I need to know what apps and text books and podcasts I should use and I use anki for vocab and I'm trying to find to learn grammar and kanji and vocab and pls reply and I like your videos
9:30 question #16 which should be #15 (after 14 comes 15). You could also say "This afternoon Alex wants to buy some shoes." For instance when someone asks you what Alex wants to do this afternoon. Good to know my understanding of English is at native level, not bad for a Dutchie.
The most interesting thing about this video, (and English is my first language by the way), is the order of placing adjectives in sentences from question 10. I had no idea there was a rule to it but it always "feels" right to do it in the way described.
Catch-22’s origin is from a famous book with the same title. There is a fun book by Andy Weir with the title Project Hail Mary, but this book came out fairly recently and is not the origin of the phrase.
Native English speaker here: I took the test as I was curious to see what you regarded as must-know criteria in order to be accurately classified in the aforementioned categories. The only one I didn't get right was the question which in my opinion had more to do with knowing proper body anatomy than it did with actual knowledge of English itself (I had no idea where the hell my own femur bones were located lol!). However, I thought that the other questions, such as sentence rearrangements, determining the proper word order, plurals questions and preposition choices were more of an accurate bellwether to successfully tell people what they need to know about their own distinct levels. P.S: I should add that many native speakers would get many of these wrong due to not knowing the proper rules behind things like contractions (your/you're), plurals such as "phenomena" or "criteria", spelling and even conjugating the more "obscure" irregular verbs out there. But great test overall, hope my feedback helps and doesn't come off as arrogant.
Thanks very much for your feedback! And yes, I think most native speakers would get 1 or 2 of these wrong... I did my best to cover a variety of different topics and means of comprehension, but some of the information is a bit technical (like the question you mentioned).
@@BrianWilesLanguages Thank you for your reply! I think you're an awesome language learner, and you always come up with interesting video ideas! Respect :)
I'm a native English speaker, but language has never been my thing. I struggled with this subject in school and now in my late 50's I still struggle. I got 18 out of 20 though so that's good. I enjoy learning this way. I wish school had been like RUclips
20/20 Wow. I'm Filipino and based on that, I'm like a native English speaker. ;-) Thanks Brian for your series of tests and challenges. I love them all!
3/4 Of people who use English in the world are not natives. Its not necessary to have advanced level of english because key is clear communication. When I started using English in practice I noticed that I was using too many strange words and I realized that I need to stop using them and simplify my way of speaking as much as I can because not everybody will understand fancy words I was using.
As a native speaker, I agree. People generally use the most simple words possible, except for when people are trying to sound smarter than they really are. (Like in a government or court setting)
"Your" is YORE; whereas, "You're" is YOORE. And "thankfully" is an adverb and should not be used in that way, but rather "We are thankful," just like "hopefully," which is properly expressed "I hope." General usage is not an excuse. And, although now in current use, the expression "Catch 22" is more widely expressed as"circularity," "circular reasoning" or, simply, a "dilemma."
"Pull up" can also refer to when someone arrives somewhere in their car, usually in front of a building. Like, "I pulled up to the In-n-Out drive thru window," or the song lyric "Ok I pull up, hop out at the afterparty" (exclusive to capybaras)
Got all 20, but I'm a native English speaker and been around a long time. I'm not sure that identifying a color or a fruit is so much a test of English as it is general knowledge. Anyway, anyone who spends much time in the legal system will hear "but for" a lot. And "pulled through" is a verbal phrase. I know this from another test that had 15 verbal phrases to explain. I got all 15, but what I did NOT know was the term "verbal phrase" existed.
16/20 Forgot about "Phenomena", thought about "In accordance with", didn't really know about "But for" and thought about "rose" instead of "risen". But other than that, I was pretty confident about most of the answers.
@@brentrichards1200 Lawyers are not bound by the English language, but "but for" does not begin a sentence with a conjunction because it is a two-word formation, sometimes hyphenated, and a synonym for "without."
Can you please tell me how usually you'd say this sentence? I'm not a native speaker but I've also been taught not to start with a conjunction word. So I've chosen Because of.
The level of sophistication showcased by my native friends in describing a case when they didn't want me to understand the topic distinguishes me, who speaks English as a second language, from those whose mother tongue is English. But I gladly take my results.
i'm very proud of myself.considering i obtained a score of 18/20. however some questions requires some cultural knowledge.and to sum up our country do not prioritize this outstanding and well known language
There are a couple of alternative answers, e.g natively I know most people I know would say grinded and not ground, and also for the one where Alex buys the shoes, you can use This Afternoon as a subordinate clause at the start like so: "This afternoon, Alex..."
I'm English, I've lived in a number of countries throughout my life and currently live in Thailand. In Germany, Netherlands and Denmark, and I'd say western Europe in general, they speak English because they learn English, are more likely to interact with and are more influenced by the English. In Thailand, and I'm told this is true for other Asian countries, locals speak American English because of American travellers who spend time teaching, films and American English settings in computers/phones. The difference is so obvious I've reached the point, when I meet Thai people who speak "English", of saying "Your English is very good" or "You speak American very well". This isn't limited to Asia, I have a very good German friend, who is a schoolteacher. When I met her about 20 years ago she spoke English with an awful Mancunian accent, she had spent 2 summers during her degree working there. Whilst very different to American, it's like American in some ways, it's English but a variant that requires local knowledge to fully understand. Why do I mention this? We mostly communicated via written letters, and she didn't just speak with a Mancunian accent, she wrote with a Mancunian accent. People invariably write how they speak, if you speak American there's every chance they'll write in American. Whilst the differences for native English speakers does not generally cause us many problems, Americanisms can be confusing, America says "soccer" the rest of the world says "football", aluminum vs aluminium (my computer is telling me aluminium is spelt incorrectly), on a more practical point, Americans use month, day, year format, the world uses day, month, year, smallest to largest. These require non native English speakers to know the differences, when trying to learn a new language being taught Americanisms is not helpful. I'm being pedantic, but your test would be better described as knowledge of American English than English. A couple of examples #3 On account of... vs because of..., #5 But for... vs If not for... If you're teaching, it would be helpful to non native English speakers, to highlight or remind them occasionally that there are differences.
19/20 and I would argue that “Given the traffic” is an acceptable answer as well. Given the traffic, we would have arrived on time. But we chose not to go.
10110101110111111101 → 15/20 - Thanks so much Brian ! But at the start, you said that 18/20 was necessary to the considered Native, but you also said 16/20 at the end at the video !
"Notwithstanding" it has been more than a year that I last brushed up on my english, I found 17 out of 20. And it didnt seem that much of complicated in fact. The best regands from Uzbekistan!
I'm delighted to say that I got 20/20 as a non-native speaker. But tbh, I had no clue what "a catch 22" meant, but I knew the meaning of the other options and they definitely didn't fit the sentence, so I went with the one I wasn't familiar with. Worked like a charm.😂
I enjoy these quizzes and even though I’m a native English speaker I always learn something! I’m definitely going to check out the adjective order chart, to get the correct sequence. As with the majority of native speakers, I instinctively know what sounds correct but don’t always know all the rules or nomenclature and it’s interesting to find these out.
I didn't expect that but I got 14 out of 20! There were some expressions i had never heard before but some other questions were more accessible. Thanks for your test, it has definitely boosted my confidence and my motivation !
New subscriber !! You’re such a wonderful teacher. I’m from 🇲🇽 and English is my favorite language , I can handle a conversation but I need more vocabulary, so I can used synonyms.
I have a frustrating experience. Not knowing where to begin or hitting a plateau can feel demoralizing and make it hard to hit the books and study like you know you should…Having friends from other cultures makes me more creative. In fresh ways about space and how people create their own world and environment. It is best way to connect between creative thinking and cross-cultural relationships.
as a native dutch speaker, i can proudly say that i got 18 out of 20, with the only mistakes that i forgot the plural crisis and past particle of grind
Great questions, testing a big variety of fields. I've got 16/20 and I'm definitely not native, I would still count myself as advance, so the questions were rather easy in my opinion. But it's a good confidence booster. BTW, I feel that the "your" vs "you're" mistake has never ever been made by a non-native, this is an A1 topic.
16/20 I am so devastated bc my grades are slipping I needed this appreciation, I guess listening to my 8th grade English teacher's advice to think sentences of what I see in English instead of my mother tongue was a good idea for English fluency but now I no longer remember some Sinhala words which describe certain things only a native person would know even though I speak Sinhala most of the time.
18/20, because in the second question I didn't know the plural form of the noun Crisis and in the second last my answer was D.I knew what those first 2 nouns meant,though. Ur videos are so awesome and inspiring,thank U very much for them😊😊
Scored 18/20. I'm from India. Well, English isn't a native language, rather of the four-odd languages I know, its the one I am most fluent in. In fact, I'm more fluent in English than my own mother tongue. Made some silly mistakes, but yes, I can confidently converse in English with a native speaker I suppose.
Most literate Indians know written English better 1) than most native anglophones 2) than their own native language. Why so? Especially as of today, most Native anglophones have been subject to vanguard teaching methods where grammar is considered obsolete while India teaches English the same way it used to be taught the day before independence, the Victorian way or not so far. Modern Indian languages, especially Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, etc. are subject to tremendous regional variations and have always been considered as vernacular, or more vernacular than others. Traditionally someone speaking a variety of Hindi or Urdu would access the written culture through Arabic and/or Persian if he were a Muslim, or through Sanskrit and/or old Tamil if he were a Hindu of High caste. Literate Hindi is in great part a recent and quite artificial development while English was for a long time the one language in which the Industrial revolution had taken place : you learn English if you deal with computers for the same reason you learn some Sanskrit when you deal with Jyotisha or Yoga. Hindi words for modern concepts are Sanskrit calques of Latinate terms of the kind you find in English, with the result that to be really proficient in Hindi you have to master 1) inkhorn classical English 2) at least some Sanskrit 3) and also Delhi Hindi which is not at all your own vernacular, that is to say a triple effort with less certainty of being understood than using English terms directly. Hindi has no big prestige outside India, even in India it is not that liked by its own users as there are Indian languages of higher prestige, while there is an anglo-Indian literature of high prestige. No Indian language is capable of being as prestigiously Indian while being used as a modern one like Mandarin is in China or like Modern Standard Arabic is in most Arab countries.
Looking for a confirmation on the 5th question. I was divided between "but for" and "given". Can we assume the scenario in which the speaker looks at the traffic while driving, deems it relatively small and says "Given the traffic, we would have arrived on time"? Or maybe in retrospect - talking about how he should have arrived on time, but something else happened, despite the little traffic?
14/20. I do think you are too kind though, as I in no way shape or form consider my self to be more than advanced on your scale. Was fun! I will make sure to check out more of your content. (My native language is Swedish.)
Hey, I suggest a different approach to your questionnaires. What if you'd put a short version where all questions are posed and answered without any explanation first in the video and then the explanations after that segment ( this with or without the questions anew). Just an idea. Especially when having to sit through a lengthy explanation for the first easy questions is gruesome. Like I said, just an idea.....
Dutchie with 18/20 I missed Crises in question 2. Not sure is I ever have seen this written down before and it's hard to hear the difference. And missed Separate in question 6. I got question 1 right because I remembered, but this is the first time somebody clearly explained why there isn't an apostrophe even though it's possessive.
Regarding question 8: Instead of "He worked there for almost two years", wouldn't "He almost worked there for two years" also be a grammatically correct sentence? (I believe it would, but only if you want to express that he failed to work there for the full 2 years, because e.g. he was fired after 1 year and eleven months).
The placement of the word "almost" is tricky sometimes. "He almost worked there" is a different concept from "He worked there". The "almost" just fits better directly before "two years". Technically, "He almost worked there for two years" is grammatically correct, and the meaning would be understood. I'd give you the point. Just as a side note, the word "nearly" would work as a substitute for "almost".
If you say "he almost worked there for 2 years" it means that he never actually worked there, he was about to go working there for 2 years but decided not to work there at all.
"I achieved an impressive 19/20 on this test and I surprisingly tripping up on the simplest question, number 4. The test is/tad more than intermediate level, in my opinion. I am from India and despite my high score, I acknowledge that speaking like a native remains a challenge for me."
13/20 I honestly thought i would get more right, but this was humbling, Here are my answers: 1❌ 2 only got “sheep” 3✅ 4 with my laptop lighting looked more light pink than beige, i’m only realizing this as I’m commenting from my phone now. 5 doesn’t sound right it’s like the sentence started midway! Idk maybe bc i’m not native 6 got 1,3 7 ✅ 8✅ 9✅ 10✅ I chose “A” because it sounded right not because i knew the adjectives order rule. 11 got 1,2 12 ✅ 13✅ 14 ✅ 15 ✅ 16 ✅ 17 ✅ 18 ✅ 19 ❌ 20 ✅
I got 20 out of 20 correct, but I'm not a native English speaker. I'm from India, and we were royally screwed by the British until 1947. We receive our education in English, and some of us, myself included, think and communicate in English to the point where it sometimes feels like our first language. However, standardised tests like these aren't an accurate measure of one's English proficiency. Even native speakers can get tripped up by these questions since they require quick reaction times, a fully functional brain unaffected by alcohol or drugs, and keen eyesight. It's easy to make mistakes when looking at the screen because it can strain your eyes.
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Thanks for the video ❤
As a native speaker of English, I was confused by the first one, as I have always added an apostrophe. I figured out though, that this is because I speak Australian English. I hope few people are confused by this.
11:03 In Project Runway, the contestants use ceramic for clothing in unconventional challenge.
12:09 Are you sure the correct answer is not 'A Forever-69'?
I'm an English teacher in Brazil, and I have to bow to your amazing teaching style. Your videos are excellent and I recommend them to my advanced students.
15/20. Thank you, I’ve never heard the word “a catch 22” before.
The novel is hilarious! Start reading now
Same here! 😅
Not me either 😅
It's an reference to a book by Joseph Heller by the same name. It's about pilots who go on almost suicidal bomber missions in WW2.
As mentioned, it is from the very entertaining novel "Catch-22." For anybody who has been in the military, you probably knew people very similar to all the characters in the book and it will be extra enjoyable. It was made into a movie, but the movie mainly captures only the overall darker than the book rather than the dark comedy absurdity nature of it. The movie did, however, have General Dreedle's B-25 Mitchell painted a sort of flesh color, with General's flags attached to the front (like they do on limousines), and with whitewall tires. And that was fun.
18/20. However, some of the questions require common knowledge and you don't have to speak English in order to answer properly. As for the others, proper training for solving grammar tasks is enough. At my school we often practiced this type of tasks, but I wouldn't say I could speak English at a native level.
Yes, it's a good test for pre-Uni native speakers OR for people learning English whose native languages aren't European or have technical vocabulary constructed after Greek and Latin.
7 of the questions were like: femur, irony, -phobic, ceramic, etc. I just needed to speak Spanish 🤭
@@estrafalario5612But that too is a gamble. For example, my langueage is constructed after latin but "femur" is called "piszczel"
@@elgrun2913 Do you speak polish? Because in polish we call tibia "piszczel". Femur is "kość udowa" in polish
Exactly! Same score here, far from native level
@@elgrun2913How is Polish constructed after Latin though? If you're thinking of having at least 6 cases and 3 genders....well all Slavic languages have that, yet I don't think it's correct to say Russian was constructed after Latin
I'm a native English speaker. I got a perfect score. This is a great test for those learning English. The explanations of the answers were excellent.
Actually not.
Let me explain:
It may be good for English native speakers OR for L2 English speakers whose native languages aren't European and lack technical vocabulary constructed from grecolatin roots.
For those (like me) speaking a romance language, or even German or other germanic languages, knowing what a femur, kiwi, -phobia, ceramic, irony, beige or breaking the ice doesn't need need ANY knowledge of English, it's just things that even illiterate people know, because they are common words in OUR languages. And that's over 1/3 of the test.
And, why did the question asking for a simple addition appeared?!?! I was thinking it was some kind of trick
This is like taking english on Duolingo as a native english-speaker😂
As a native speaker, I also got a perfect score, however; based on my personal experience; I can attest that some native speakers out there would not be able to get more than 10/20, more specifically those who didn't have the opportunity to go to college or come from a very humble background. For instance, the spelling of "you're" and "it's" as "your" and "its", is a common mistake. Also, some people wouldn't know what colors are mauve or cobalt or even the order of adjectives or the plural of phenomenon and crisis.
I'm also a native English speaker. I only answered the first 10 questions. I answered 9 correctly, I got the colour wrong, I said mauve. Many native English speakers would't be able to answer all these questions-
@@estrafalario5612 um actually, it’s “appear”🤓
14 out of 20. I've been studying English for over a year, day by day and it's flattering to having a result like this.
Not bad for about one year of studying (example of "understatement" used to emphasize a point, it should be read as "pretty good". Possibly you're already well aware.). I would guess that you have been working hard at it.
I learnt since I was born (not native though) and I got a mere 13/20. In fact, I know English better than my MOTHER TONGUE. It just shows how much and how good you studied English.
Actually I really enjoy to spend my time in english contents. News,movies,video games etc. day by day. As the old saying goes;practice makes perfect.
What a genius ... 13/20 here within 3 years
@@mariano.tiberi
What a genius im 8/20 if i remember it correctly. For self learning outside school teaching,
Just remember meaning without proper learn
"Keep making videos like this; it really helps us to understand English better, I swear."
I’m glad to hear that!
Why swear??? Seems to be a very heavy term in this context. You already used the word 'really' for emphasis. So it's kind of double. To swear is used in situations, where your reputation is on the line and that could have serious implications for you. "I did not steal that car, I swear." Swearing is done by a higher power. In a solemn oath. Swearing, that something helps you, just doesn't fit the gravity of the word.
Shut up nerd
@@gardenjoy5223🤓
@@gardenjoy5223jesus bro it ain’t that deep
You are the best teacher in all languages, Mr. Brian. We love you and support you forever ⚜️♥️
That's very kind, thank you!
#16 goes either way. If Jenny said (with ironic tone) Paul LOVED the movie - then he didn't. If she said PAUL loved the movie then she didn't. As I'm sure you know, word stress is also important. I've had fun times putting a long sentence on the board and stressing a different word each time - great how that can give a different meaning each time.
Agreed. And "irony" can go many directions.
You can only be ironic about a specific thing. Irony is NOT a tone. It should have been sarcasm.
Same for me, I imagined that Jenny’s irony was towards Paul’s taste…
Disagree. If Jenny stressed Paul as in "PAUL loved the movie", there would be no irony.
Yes I had the same doubt...if Paul didn't love the movie then jenny was indicating sarcasm from her tone rather than irony
I answered 19/20 but idk.... I feel like they're too easy especially cuz u said 16/20 and up is native level.... I'm definitely not native level 💀
I think he meant 18/20
But that still makes u a native lol
Can you help me please
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Because u don’t practice your language u just study grammar maybe
Maybe you're a grammar geek 😅
@@_smsma_ There's this discrepancy. At the beginning he stated 18/20 for native. At the end it dropped down for 16/20 for adult native. I'm sticking with the 18/20, though. Four mistakes simply seem too many, especially since we foreigners, are capable of reaching that.
I find it interesting that native speakers of a language usually assume that what *they* find hard will be a problem to foreign learners. For instance, I think very few adult speakers of other European languages with lower intermediate English will have any problem getting ‘beige‘, ‘break the ice‘, ‘kiwi‘, ‘femur‘, ‘ceramic‘ and ‘phobia‘ wrong. That makes 6 correct answers without any deep knowledge of English.
Also, ironically I see a lot more native speakers making mistakes regarding your/you're than foreign speakers.
You are absolutely right. I got 15 correct answers but I am definitely not fluent in English.
I'm a native English speaker. I answered; mauve
Yeah as a slightly colour blind I wasn't sure about beige vs mauve either. But I agree that as a non-native speaker we have an advantage over native speakers on grammar such as "their / there / they're" and "it's vs its". We had to learn it properly because we didn't just learn by assimilation. If that's the right word, LOL.
Actually that was the one I got wrong. Beige is not that pale so I was too confused to answer 😂 Funnily in my native language German it would’ve been the same word.
Native speaker here and got a perfect score. I've always used "were it not for" instead of "but for." I don't know; I find "but for" awkward, particularly when said.
I got 19, I never seen the expression a catch-22. Thanks for this video, your approach is straight to the point, unlike most of other teacher.
same here, I got 19 and I missed the expression A CATCH-22
I scored 20/20. While many educated native speakers may not have read the novel Catch-22, they are likely aware of its meaning, as it is a commonly used expression.
"I have never seen" or "I never saw", no criticism, I hear Americans make this error fairly commonly, I hope to help, it's a safe bet that you speak English better than I speak your mother tongue.
Many natives can not answer some of these questions. The only thing this test proves is that you are good with English grammar. I have a very basic level of listening and speaking, and I got an almost perfect score.
You are absolutely rocking your explanation. I love how you explain all the options as well. Many thanks, and keep inspiring all passionate students.
Thanks so much, Terezia!
Well I didn't know that I'm at the Fluent level 😎
Thx teacher Brian👏🏼 a lot love sent from 🇵🇸🇵🇸 to you ♥️
Congrats! And love to 🇵🇸 as well ❤️
❤️🇵🇸🇵🇰
Congratulations from Ireland/Éire 🇮🇪🇵🇸
20/20. I'm a very proud Dane now.
Admittedly I did award myself a point for question 16, even though I didn’t give your correct answer - because “this afternoon Alex wants to buy some shoes” is an equally valid solution.
Also, there’s a misspelling in your final question. It’s “arachnophobia”, not “arachna-“.
00:15 - 18/20 Native.
14:01 - 16/20 Native.
I'm not sure why, but i really love videos like this. i think it's because i enjoy the "quiz" aspect. I'm a native English speaker and got 18/20. Thank you for doing these!!
hope you make more videos like this, i learned more things in less than thirty minutes than in my whole year of high school. brian the best teacher!!
Thanks a lot, and I’m glad it was helpful!
16/20. I spent 8 years in England. I am a Spanish speaker, now approaching 70 yeats old.
10:20 Number 16 - What you're describing is sarcasm, not irony. Irony would be if he DID enjoy it, despite there being reason to think he wouldn't.
good test, but I'd exclude some questions from it. 1) kiwi question. everyone knows kiwi by picture 2) phobia. it is also well-known word. 3) colors. even in native language I don't know these colors. 4) catch-22. this is slang. I believe it is from movie or something.
catch 22 is a standard phrase...
I shared your video with my English literature group chat and they really liked it
Thank you very much, and I’m glad they liked it 👍
4:22 a trick I use for Separate and Definite is that the internal vowels are the same and the external vowels are the same.
I hope you enjoyed the test- how did it go?? As a reminder:
[8/20] - Advanced Level
[12/20] - Fluent Level
[18/20] - Native Level
I answered 16 questions..And believe it or not Brian, I'm an English self taught.. Best regards from Cairo ❤❤
@@randaabdelrahim8184 oh... nice
Fellow Egyptian here
Brian Wiles I'm Egyptian studying Japanese I already know how to introduce myself I learned hiragana and Katakana and I need to know what apps and text books and podcasts I should use and I use anki for vocab and I'm trying to find to learn grammar and kanji and vocab and pls reply and I like your videos
@@Louai9815I’ve actually got a video about learning Japanese coming out in the next few days 👍
@@randaabdelrahim8184Great job!
9:30 question #16 which should be #15 (after 14 comes 15). You could also say "This afternoon Alex wants to buy some shoes." For instance when someone asks you what Alex wants to do this afternoon.
Good to know my understanding of English is at native level, not bad for a Dutchie.
19/20 for a non-native speaker. I didn’t know “catch-22” until today. Learned something new.
Also didn't know the phrase but still go it right, because others didn't fit.
Its origin is from a famous book with the same title.
No 'adult native speaker' would use that expression. He'd simply say "I'm getting f*cked!"
@@le8148 What expression did they use BEFORE 1961?
@@c.a.g.3130 I don’t know. Maybe “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” or “stuck between a rock and a hard place”.
The most interesting thing about this video, (and English is my first language by the way), is the order of placing adjectives in sentences from question 10. I had no idea there was a rule to it but it always "feels" right to do it in the way described.
Improving my listening here with you from Brazil.
Got 10/20, but i am still happy to learn about new terms such as “windfall”, “catch-22”, and “hail mary”
Catch-22’s origin is from a famous book with the same title.
There is a fun book by Andy Weir with the title Project Hail Mary, but this book came out fairly recently and is not the origin of the phrase.
Native English speaker here: I took the test as I was curious to see what you regarded as must-know criteria in order to be accurately classified in the aforementioned categories. The only one I didn't get right was the question which in my opinion had more to do with knowing proper body anatomy than it did with actual knowledge of English itself (I had no idea where the hell my own femur bones were located lol!). However, I thought that the other questions, such as sentence rearrangements, determining the proper word order, plurals questions and preposition choices were more of an accurate bellwether to successfully tell people what they need to know about their own distinct levels.
P.S: I should add that many native speakers would get many of these wrong due to not knowing the proper rules behind things like contractions (your/you're), plurals such as "phenomena" or "criteria", spelling and even conjugating the more "obscure" irregular verbs out there. But great test overall, hope my feedback helps and doesn't come off as arrogant.
Thanks very much for your feedback! And yes, I think most native speakers would get 1 or 2 of these wrong... I did my best to cover a variety of different topics and means of comprehension, but some of the information is a bit technical (like the question you mentioned).
@@BrianWilesLanguages Thank you for your reply! I think you're an awesome language learner, and you always come up with interesting video ideas! Respect :)
I'm pretty sure knowing that the femur is the largest bone is just common sense, are you by any chance American
@@BrianWilesLanguages Isn't femur technically a Latin word? Just trying to keep it honest. Your videos are great.
Most native speakers are stupid. As a native speaker I shake my head at people who consider themselves natives
15/20 non native English speaker. I enjoyed this test thank you. It was quite unique. ❤
A Hail Mary is not just a plan with little chance of success, it's specifically a last ditch effort out of desperation.
I'm a native English speaker, but language has never been my thing. I struggled with this subject in school and now in my late 50's I still struggle. I got 18 out of 20 though so that's good. I enjoy learning this way. I wish school had been like RUclips
7/20 😢 I think it’s pretty good because i am actually learning english at school and i am just B2-C1 level
me too...
20/20 Wow. I'm Filipino and based on that, I'm like a native English speaker. ;-) Thanks Brian for your series of tests and challenges. I love them all!
3/4 Of people who use English in the world are not natives. Its not necessary to have advanced level of english because key is clear communication. When I started using English in practice I noticed that I was using too many strange words and I realized that I need to stop using them and simplify my way of speaking as much as I can because not everybody will understand fancy words I was using.
Wise words, good advice!
Well, doesn’t it depend on the topic of conversation or on a subject that is being discussed?
As a native speaker, I agree. People generally use the most simple words possible, except for when people are trying to sound smarter than they really are. (Like in a government or court setting)
I understand you. But I think it would be better, if you at least had used some commas in your sentences.
@gardenjoy5223 Your use of a comma there isn't used in English actually. That looks more like where you'd place a comma in German.
"Your" is YORE; whereas, "You're" is YOORE. And "thankfully" is an adverb and should not be used in that way, but rather "We are thankful," just like "hopefully," which is properly expressed "I hope." General usage is not an excuse. And, although now in current use, the expression "Catch 22" is more widely expressed as"circularity," "circular reasoning" or, simply, a "dilemma."
"Pull up" can also refer to when someone arrives somewhere in their car, usually in front of a building. Like, "I pulled up to the In-n-Out drive thru window," or the song lyric "Ok I pull up, hop out at the afterparty" (exclusive to capybaras)
So happy, I’m a Brazilian native never studied any formal English class before and just got 17 score !!!
why is nobody talking abt how at 9:10 he went from question 14 to question 16 😭
LMAO OMG
There are 2 question 16s so I guess the first question 16 is actually question 15.
@@charitableirritant7441 ohh makes sense
18/20 thanks for boosting my confidence. I haven't actively done anything for my English for ages...
وحشتنا قوي يا براين فين فيديوهاتك بالعربي
Well,Brian, I scored 16/20 on your HARDEST English test. Thanks. Larry Carroll
Got all 20, but I'm a native English speaker and been around a long time. I'm not sure that identifying a color or a fruit is so much a test of English as it is general knowledge. Anyway, anyone who spends much time in the legal system will hear "but for" a lot. And "pulled through" is a verbal phrase. I know this from another test that had 15 verbal phrases to explain. I got all 15, but what I did NOT know was the term "verbal phrase" existed.
I got 17/20 am not a native speaker and watched the vid at 2x speed
16/20
Forgot about "Phenomena", thought about "In accordance with", didn't really know about "But for" and thought about "rose" instead of "risen".
But other than that, I was pretty confident about most of the answers.
13/20 😃 i did not know I'm that fluent 🤗
Great job!
I've watched many English learning videos, I swear you're the best teacher. Thank you so much for the great videos!!
0:38 I'll just say that even natives use the wrong spelling on this one
Really like the explanations after you give the answers. 17/20 and I am a native speaker
😬
I’m a native speaker and I’ve literally never heard someone say “ but for” before
It's because, as native English speakers, we were taught to never begin a sentence with a conjunction word.
@@brentrichards1200 Lawyers are not bound by the English language, but "but for" does not begin a sentence with a conjunction because it is a two-word formation, sometimes hyphenated, and a synonym for "without."
Can you please tell me how usually you'd say this sentence? I'm not a native speaker but I've also been taught not to start with a conjunction word. So I've chosen Because of.
@@danilchkalin783”because the rain was falling, he went inside”
and what about ---- she lives next door but one? ----- same principle I'd say
I got 13 😂am i really fluent?
The level of sophistication showcased by my native friends in describing a case when they didn't want me to understand the topic distinguishes me, who speaks English as a second language, from those whose mother tongue is English. But I gladly take my results.
13
💪
18/20. Missed numbers 2 and 19. Number 19 is probably my main issue in English, understanding cultural idioms and expressions.
i'm very proud of myself.considering i obtained a score of 18/20. however some questions requires some cultural knowledge.and to sum up our country do not prioritize this outstanding and well known language
1️⃣😊☺️🫵🏼 Thank goodness for this opportunity for us. Loved 🥰 it !! Great stimulation 👍🦅🇺🇸🫵🏼☺️🥰💋🐝👍🫶
Que .3 can have two answers , notwithstanding is also correct as he drinks coffee despite his sensitive stomach
There are a couple of alternative answers, e.g natively I know most people I know would say grinded and not ground, and also for the one where Alex buys the shoes, you can use This Afternoon as a subordinate clause at the start like so: "This afternoon, Alex..."
Thank you very much ❤❤❤
I'm Egyptian..🇪🇬🇪🇬♥️♥️
From Waziristan in a simple city I am very proud of my score that I correct 8 questions
I learn at a simple academy
I'm English, I've lived in a number of countries throughout my life and currently live in Thailand. In Germany, Netherlands and Denmark, and I'd say western Europe in general, they speak English because they learn English, are more likely to interact with and are more influenced by the English. In Thailand, and I'm told this is true for other Asian countries, locals speak American English because of American travellers who spend time teaching, films and American English settings in computers/phones.
The difference is so obvious I've reached the point, when I meet Thai people who speak "English", of saying "Your English is very good" or "You speak American very well". This isn't limited to Asia, I have a very good German friend, who is a schoolteacher. When I met her about 20 years ago she spoke English with an awful Mancunian accent, she had spent 2 summers during her degree working there. Whilst very different to American, it's like American in some ways, it's English but a variant that requires local knowledge to fully understand. Why do I mention this? We mostly communicated via written letters, and she didn't just speak with a Mancunian accent, she wrote with a Mancunian accent. People invariably write how they speak, if you speak American there's every chance they'll write in American.
Whilst the differences for native English speakers does not generally cause us many problems, Americanisms can be confusing, America says "soccer" the rest of the world says "football", aluminum vs aluminium (my computer is telling me aluminium is spelt incorrectly), on a more practical point, Americans use month, day, year format, the world uses day, month, year, smallest to largest. These require non native English speakers to know the differences, when trying to learn a new language being taught Americanisms is not helpful.
I'm being pedantic, but your test would be better described as knowledge of American English than English. A couple of examples #3 On account of... vs because of..., #5 But for... vs If not for... If you're teaching, it would be helpful to non native English speakers, to highlight or remind them occasionally that there are differences.
I'm fluent 🎉🎉 (I'm from Brazil)
16/20. Glad to know I am at an advanced level and not intermediate.
I am 14 out of 20😢
BTW Thank you mr.brian learned some new things today 😊😊😊
شكرا يا برين على الفديو ده ربنا يباركك☦️✝️
15/20 - and I'm 52, Hungarian, and had to study Russian in elementary school... I'm quite sure my son's English is way better than mine.
19/20 and I would argue that “Given the traffic” is an acceptable answer as well. Given the traffic, we would have arrived on time. But we chose not to go.
16/20 thanks mate 🎉
We need more of this vidz once in a while to assess our proficiency level 😊
This dudes videos should.be taught in all.schools.
10110101110111111101 → 15/20 - Thanks so much Brian ! But at the start, you said that 18/20 was necessary to the considered Native, but you also said 16/20 at the end at the video !
"Notwithstanding" it has been more than a year that I last brushed up on my english, I found 17 out of 20. And it didnt seem that much of complicated in fact.
The best regands from Uzbekistan!
thanks alot Brian, you are great. I'm following you from Iraq. Mosul city 🇮🇶🇮🇶
Thank you, Abdullah 🙏
I'm delighted to say that I got 20/20 as a non-native speaker.
But tbh, I had no clue what "a catch 22" meant, but I knew the meaning of the other options and they definitely didn't fit the sentence, so I went with the one I wasn't familiar with. Worked like a charm.😂
You're best teacher of english i ever had ... thank you
شكرا يا براين انا عديت الامتحان بنجاح انا استمتعت جدا بالفيديو شكراااااااا ❤❤
I enjoy these quizzes and even though I’m a native English speaker I always learn something! I’m definitely going to check out the adjective order chart, to get the correct sequence. As with the majority of native speakers, I instinctively know what sounds correct but don’t always know all the rules or nomenclature and it’s interesting to find these out.
I'm a grade 9 students in Vietnam and got 16/20 , but I'm just early B2 level last year.
I didn't expect that but I got 14 out of 20!
There were some expressions i had never heard before but some other questions were more accessible.
Thanks for your test, it has definitely boosted my confidence and my motivation !
New subscriber !! You’re such a wonderful teacher.
I’m from 🇲🇽 and English is my favorite language , I can handle a conversation but I need more vocabulary, so I can used synonyms.
Instead of learning a bunch of synonyms, it's much easier to just substitute other words that mean the same thing.
I have a frustrating experience. Not knowing where to begin or hitting a plateau can feel demoralizing and make it hard to hit the books and study like you know you should…Having friends from other cultures makes me more creative. In fresh ways about space and how people create their own world and environment. It is best way to connect between creative thinking and cross-cultural relationships.
as a native dutch speaker, i can proudly say that i got 18 out of 20, with the only mistakes that i forgot the plural crisis and past particle of grind
Great questions, testing a big variety of fields. I've got 16/20 and I'm definitely not native, I would still count myself as advance, so the questions were rather easy in my opinion. But it's a good confidence booster. BTW, I feel that the "your" vs "you're" mistake has never ever been made by a non-native, this is an A1 topic.
16/20
I am so devastated bc my grades are slipping I needed this appreciation, I guess listening to my 8th grade English teacher's advice to think sentences of what I see in English instead of my mother tongue was a good idea for English fluency but now I no longer remember some Sinhala words which describe certain things only a native person would know even though I speak Sinhala most of the time.
18/20, because in the second question I didn't know the plural form of the noun Crisis and in the second last my answer was D.I knew what those first 2 nouns meant,though. Ur videos are so awesome and inspiring,thank U very much for them😊😊
Scored 18/20. I'm from India. Well, English isn't a native language, rather of the four-odd languages I know, its the one I am most fluent in. In fact, I'm more fluent in English than my own mother tongue. Made some silly mistakes, but yes, I can confidently converse in English with a native speaker I suppose.
Most literate Indians know written English better 1) than most native anglophones 2) than their own native language. Why so? Especially as of today, most Native anglophones have been subject to vanguard teaching methods where grammar is considered obsolete while India teaches English the same way it used to be taught the day before independence, the Victorian way or not so far. Modern Indian languages, especially Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, etc. are subject to tremendous regional variations and have always been considered as vernacular, or more vernacular than others. Traditionally someone speaking a variety of Hindi or Urdu would access the written culture through Arabic and/or Persian if he were a Muslim, or through Sanskrit and/or old Tamil if he were a Hindu of High caste. Literate Hindi is in great part a recent and quite artificial development while English was for a long time the one language in which the Industrial revolution had taken place : you learn English if you deal with computers for the same reason you learn some Sanskrit when you deal with Jyotisha or Yoga. Hindi words for modern concepts are Sanskrit calques of Latinate terms of the kind you find in English, with the result that to be really proficient in Hindi you have to master 1) inkhorn classical English 2) at least some Sanskrit 3) and also Delhi Hindi which is not at all your own vernacular, that is to say a triple effort with less certainty of being understood than using English terms directly. Hindi has no big prestige outside India, even in India it is not that liked by its own users as there are Indian languages of higher prestige, while there is an anglo-Indian literature of high prestige. No Indian language is capable of being as prestigiously Indian while being used as a modern one like Mandarin is in China or like Modern Standard Arabic is in most Arab countries.
16 here. I started the test believing I would get 18 at least. But I'm not sad, it is good to always have something more to learn.
I'm a native spanish speaker and got 15/20. Considering the fact that I've been studying english for 8 years I think it's fine. :)
Looking for a confirmation on the 5th question. I was divided between "but for" and "given". Can we assume the scenario in which the speaker looks at the traffic while driving, deems it relatively small and says "Given the traffic, we would have arrived on time"? Or maybe in retrospect - talking about how he should have arrived on time, but something else happened, despite the little traffic?
14/20. I do think you are too kind though, as I in no way shape or form consider my self to be more than advanced on your scale. Was fun! I will make sure to check out more of your content. (My native language is Swedish.)
Hey, I suggest a different approach to your questionnaires. What if you'd put a short version where all questions are posed and answered without any explanation first in the video and then the explanations after that segment ( this with or without the questions anew). Just an idea. Especially when having to sit through a lengthy explanation for the first easy questions is gruesome. Like I said, just an idea.....
Enjoyed your video, very informative, I got 14 correct answers! Most of your questions are really easy!
Dutchie with 18/20
I missed Crises in question 2. Not sure is I ever have seen this written down before and it's hard to hear the difference.
And missed Separate in question 6.
I got question 1 right because I remembered, but this is the first time somebody clearly explained why there isn't an apostrophe even though it's possessive.
Regarding question 8: Instead of "He worked there for almost two years", wouldn't "He almost worked there for two years" also be a grammatically correct sentence? (I believe it would, but only if you want to express that he failed to work there for the full 2 years, because e.g. he was fired after 1 year and eleven months).
The placement of the word "almost" is tricky sometimes. "He almost worked there" is a different concept from "He worked there". The "almost" just fits better directly before "two years". Technically, "He almost worked there for two years" is grammatically correct, and the meaning would be understood. I'd give you the point. Just as a side note, the word "nearly" would work as a substitute for "almost".
If you say "he almost worked there for 2 years" it means that he never actually worked there, he was about to go working there for 2 years but decided not to work there at all.
‘He almost worked there’ would be a funny retort with the meaning ‘well in the two years he almost made himself useful.’😂
I think it's correct to put "this afternoon" at the beginning of the sentence. 15/20
"I achieved an impressive 19/20 on this test and I surprisingly tripping up on the simplest question, number 4. The test is/tad more than intermediate level, in my opinion. I am from India and despite my high score, I acknowledge that speaking like a native remains a challenge for me."
13/20 I honestly thought i would get more right, but this was humbling, Here are my answers:
1❌ 2 only got “sheep”
3✅
4 with my laptop lighting looked more light pink than beige, i’m only realizing this as I’m commenting from my phone now.
5 doesn’t sound right it’s like the sentence started midway! Idk maybe bc i’m not native
6 got 1,3
7 ✅ 8✅ 9✅ 10✅
I chose “A” because it sounded right not because i knew the adjectives order rule.
11 got 1,2
12 ✅ 13✅
14 ✅ 15 ✅ 16 ✅ 17 ✅ 18 ✅ 19 ❌ 20 ✅
I got 20 out of 20 correct, but I'm not a native English speaker. I'm from India, and we were royally screwed by the British until 1947. We receive our education in English, and some of us, myself included, think and communicate in English to the point where it sometimes feels like our first language. However, standardised tests like these aren't an accurate measure of one's English proficiency. Even native speakers can get tripped up by these questions since they require quick reaction times, a fully functional brain unaffected by alcohol or drugs, and keen eyesight. It's easy to make mistakes when looking at the screen because it can strain your eyes.
This man is amazing honestly
Decided to test my abilities. 15/20. The first questions caught me off guard.