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.
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.
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.
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
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.
English is my second language. We learned the order of adjectives in the our English class in middle school. It was quite hard to remember the order back then. The feeling of the correct order didn’t quite developed in me until I lived in an English speaking country for a few years.
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-
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.
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
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-“.
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.
@@_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.
20/20 I'm a non-native speaker working as a staff writer for an English-language magazine in Taipei for over 25 years. That said, I still learned something from the test. I'll recommend this to anyone who wants to improve English. This is the first time I saw you.
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.
#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.
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.
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.
"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)
9:03 sparked a question in my head- "The police told him to pull over the car" and "The police told him to pull the car over", what is the difference between the two and which one of them is correct, iff, only one of them is correct?
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 said “but for” immediately before the option was given. So I guess it depends where you are from, and possibly your age. I’m also a native English speaker.
just curious where in the US are you from? i grew up in different places around the US so it’s interesting to me learning different little ways that may have affected my speech
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!!
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).
@@BrianWilesQuizzes Thank you for your reply! I think you're an awesome language learner, and you always come up with interesting video ideas! Respect :)
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?
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.
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)
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!
What surprised me the most was the big, round, blue table! I've never heard of this rule ... but the other options sounded off somehow. Thank you for the fun video! 18/20 non-native speaker.
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.
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.
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.
@@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.
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 find your comment super interesting. I'm German, learned British English (as it was called) in school, tried to keep and improve my English by watching movies and tv shows in the original (mostly American) and spending way too much time on social media (a mix of both) and then spent 15 years at an English-speaking research institute in Germany where most speakers were either from Asia or someplace Europe not the UK or Ireland. The plus side? I know a lot of obscure phrases. The down side? I have no clue anymore what is American and what is 'British' English. Lol.
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 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.
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.....
3:40 i don't understand question 5, why would given not work here? Given the traffic, we would have arrived on time could be used no? In a context where we didn't take the road but had we taken it it would have been fine because the traffic wasn't as big as we initially thought am i wrong for thinking this?
This is grammatically correct, but it’s unnatural because it suggests that traffic (as opposed to the lack of traffic) is the reason “we would have arrived on time”.
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.
"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!
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.
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.
brother, at 8:26 should it not have been "opinions" instead of "opinion" or am I misunderstanding something? Because that would imply his friend only has one opinion on whichever matter the speaker consults him on, which seems a little awkward albeit not incorrect. But that is precisely why I'm asking, because I am not entirely sure whether it is incorrect or just awkward?
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 UA-cam
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😊😊
16/20. I consider myself far from native, but I can cope with many people and in different situations. I know that only by reading / watching English material or living there would help me, but the gap is huge, as it might imply cultural facts or local jokes or expressions…
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.
For question five it’s important to specify ”slow traffic” because traffic only means moving vehicles on a road or highway. Not specifying that it was slow leaves the question ambiguous. Take a scenario where people decide not to go somewhere because they think the traffic will make it take far too long and they later learn that the traffic was not slow so they could say “Given the traffic, we would’ve arrived on time.” While that scenario is niche It does represent an ambiguous question which is obviously a flaw. In my opinion “but for” is more niche in the first place.
I really enjoy the videos which I watch purely for interest. The questions are quite varied and broad in determining the level of the person, especially with the vocabulary. A good example being the one with 'ceramic' as the answer, considering a low level speaker would easily identify that, being so similar to their own L1.
I have a question.. i have to answer within those 5 seconds that u give? Because some like the questions of re-ordering the words would be imposible for me in that time...
I'm more of a colloquial learner so I generally ignore spelling rules since for advanced level words i can still spell them comprehensibly even if i misspell a letter here and there.. generally immersion really perfects your english for any practical purpouses even if you ain't perfect in theory..
16/20 - and I barely failed all questions when one needs to form the correct forms for 3 words at the same time - only one was always wrong. OTOH I didn't know half of the phrasal verbs. I have been learning English for 20 years, last test I had almost 10 years ago resulted in C1+
i dont understand question 11, where it says rise -> risen. i dont know the technical terms, but to me "risen" only sounds proper AFTER "has/had/have". the others (bred, ground) dont *require* it but it could be there. i guessed the answer to be "arose", like " i arose from bed". i wouldnt say "i risen from bed" without the extra has/had/have. does this make sense
Thank you, Brian. The test is good, though i found not all questions equally difficult. The really difficult questions are 2,3,4,6,7,11,13,14. (8 in total). I would suggest if you can answer correctly 7-8 of these you are difinitely a fluent speaker. 4-6: is advanced level. 1-3: it's not more then pre-advance/upper intermediate (which i did and how i feel myself). This is why my 14/20 is misleading a little bit.
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.
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.
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 !
I answered 18 of them, I knew the word beige color, however, I didn't know the meaning of the other colors so I didn't consider this question as a true answer for myself. I love English and the more I learn the more I love it.
I got 18/20 - but why is only one word order correct with the word order questions? I can see why you chose the ‘default’ option, but for example starting with ‘This afternoon’ is grammatically still correct right (it just puts emphasis on that part)?
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.)
I got these all right! English is my second language but I have lived for many years in the US. Funny thing - two American born friends did not do well in this test. How can I be "native" level and they aren't?
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 !
That number 5 rubs me the wrong way, even though it's correct, technically. It's more common to hear something like, "Because of traffic, we arrived late." Good one!
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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'?
" Irony is mostly used in US and English culture" 😵💫😵💫😵💫 🤣🤣
Irony is a FRENCH word.
( Does 1066 ring you a bell ??)
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.
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.
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!
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.
English is my second language. We learned the order of adjectives in the our English class in middle school. It was quite hard to remember the order back then. The feeling of the correct order didn’t quite developed in me until I lived in an English speaking country for a few years.
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”🤓
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.
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
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-“.
You would need a comma after the word afternoon for this to work.
@ Thanks, I know. The puzzle only contained words though, not punctuation.
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.
My thought exactly.
Yeah, and he's an English teacher and should have known the difference.
00:15 - 18/20 Native.
14:01 - 16/20 Native.
14:50
"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
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
www.gofundme.com/f/m82uu-help-me-and-my-family-to-evacuate-from-gaza?modal=share&source=fundraiser+sidebar
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.
20/20 I'm a non-native speaker working as a staff writer for an English-language magazine in Taipei for over 25 years. That said, I still learned something from the test. I'll recommend this to anyone who wants to improve English. This is the first time I saw you.
You are the best teacher in all languages, Mr. Brian. We love you and support you forever ⚜️♥️
That's very kind, thank you!
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!
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.
#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
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.
Oh, wow! I hope I can remember this neat little trick because I always, always get those wrong. Mostly be second guessing myself.
A Hail Mary is not just a plan with little chance of success, it's specifically a last ditch effort out of desperation.
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!
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 🇮🇪🇵🇸
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.
وحشتنا قوي يا براين فين فيديوهاتك بالعربي
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 👍
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.
it would require a comma (at least formally speaking), but you aren't completely wrong
"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)
9:03 sparked a question in my head- "The police told him to pull over the car" and "The police told him to pull the car over", what is the difference between the two and which one of them is correct, iff, only one of them is correct?
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 said “but for” immediately before the option was given. So I guess it depends where you are from, and possibly your age. I’m also a native English speaker.
me too!! i thought the same think and felt like that one was weird sounding
just curious where in the US are you from? i grew up in different places around the US so it’s interesting to me learning different little ways that may have affected my speech
@@lovrboi I was born in New Jersey but I spent most of my childhood in New York.
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!!
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).
@@BrianWilesQuizzes 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
@@BrianWilesQuizzes 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
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?
Improving my listening here with you from Brazil.
16/20. I spent 8 years in England. I am a Spanish speaker, now approaching 70 yeats old.
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”.
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...
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.
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!
What surprised me the most was the big, round, blue table! I've never heard of this rule ... but the other options sounded off somehow. Thank you for the fun video! 18/20 non-native speaker.
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
I've watched many English learning videos, I swear you're the best teacher. Thank you so much for the great videos!!
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.
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...even 'beige'...have excellent color perception, too ! FUN 'test'.
0:38 I'll just say that even natives use the wrong spelling on this one
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.
13/20 😃 i did not know I'm that fluent 🤗
Great job!
13/20 Indian striving hard for fluency
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.
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'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 find your comment super interesting. I'm German, learned British English (as it was called) in school, tried to keep and improve my English by watching movies and tv shows in the original (mostly American) and spending way too much time on social media (a mix of both) and then spent 15 years at an English-speaking research institute in Germany where most speakers were either from Asia or someplace Europe not the UK or Ireland. The plus side? I know a lot of obscure phrases. The down side? I have no clue anymore what is American and what is 'British' English. Lol.
I got 13 😂am i really fluent?
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..."
13
💪
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.
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.....
18/20 thanks for boosting my confidence. I haven't actively done anything for my English for ages...
3:40 i don't understand question 5, why would given not work here?
Given the traffic, we would have arrived on time could be used no? In a context where we didn't take the road but had we taken it it would have been fine because the traffic wasn't as big as we initially thought
am i wrong for thinking this?
This is grammatically correct, but it’s unnatural because it suggests that traffic (as opposed to the lack of traffic) is the reason “we would have arrived on time”.
So happy, I’m a Brazilian native never studied any formal English class before and just got 17 score !!!
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.
"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!
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.
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.’😂
Well,Brian, I scored 16/20 on your HARDEST English test. Thanks. Larry Carroll
brother, at 8:26 should it not have been "opinions" instead of "opinion" or am I misunderstanding something? Because that would imply his friend only has one opinion on whichever matter the speaker consults him on, which seems a little awkward albeit not incorrect. But that is precisely why I'm asking, because I am not entirely sure whether it is incorrect or just awkward?
I am 14 out of 20😢
BTW Thank you mr.brian learned some new things today 😊😊😊
شكرا يا برين على الفديو ده ربنا يباركك☦️✝️
Thank you. 18/20, could have been 19/20 but I goofed up the easiest question ever.
I went with my gut here and there, and my gut was right.
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 UA-cam
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😊😊
Really like the explanations after you give the answers. 17/20 and I am a native speaker
😬
15/20 non native English speaker. I enjoyed this test thank you. It was quite unique. ❤
8:45 god thank the femur braker, if not for it then I wouldn't have gotten this one.
16/20. I consider myself far from native, but I can cope with many people and in different situations. I know that only by reading / watching English material or living there would help me, but the gap is huge, as it might imply cultural facts or local jokes or expressions…
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.
For question five it’s important to specify ”slow traffic” because traffic only means moving vehicles on a road or highway. Not specifying that it was slow leaves the question ambiguous. Take a scenario where people decide not to go somewhere because they think the traffic will make it take far too long and they later learn that the traffic was not slow so they could say “Given the traffic, we would’ve arrived on time.” While that scenario is niche It does represent an ambiguous question which is obviously a flaw. In my opinion “but for” is more niche in the first place.
thanks alot Brian, you are great. I'm following you from Iraq. Mosul city 🇮🇶🇮🇶
Thank you, Abdullah 🙏
1:34 I did but I say sheeps in real life because it's funny!
I really enjoy the videos which I watch purely for interest. The questions are quite varied and broad in determining the level of the person, especially with the vocabulary. A good example being the one with 'ceramic' as the answer, considering a low level speaker would easily identify that, being so similar to their own L1.
My bad - just realised you're taking the total correct out of 20 - not ranked by difficulty. Oops
I have a question.. i have to answer within those 5 seconds that u give? Because some like the questions of re-ordering the words would be imposible for me in that time...
I'm more of a colloquial learner so I generally ignore spelling rules since for advanced level words i can still spell them comprehensibly even if i misspell a letter here and there.. generally immersion really perfects your english for any practical purpouses even if you ain't perfect in theory..
16/20 - and I barely failed all questions when one needs to form the correct forms for 3 words at the same time - only one was always wrong.
OTOH I didn't know half of the phrasal verbs.
I have been learning English for 20 years, last test I had almost 10 years ago resulted in C1+
18/20. Missed numbers 2 and 19. Number 19 is probably my main issue in English, understanding cultural idioms and expressions.
i dont understand question 11, where it says rise -> risen. i dont know the technical terms, but to me "risen" only sounds proper AFTER "has/had/have". the others (bred, ground) dont *require* it but it could be there. i guessed the answer to be "arose", like " i arose from bed". i wouldnt say "i risen from bed" without the extra has/had/have. does this make sense
Thank you, Brian. The test is good, though i found not all questions equally difficult.
The really difficult questions are 2,3,4,6,7,11,13,14. (8 in total).
I would suggest if you can answer correctly 7-8 of these you are difinitely a fluent speaker.
4-6: is advanced level.
1-3: it's not more then pre-advance/upper intermediate (which i did and how i feel myself).
This is why my 14/20 is misleading a little bit.
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.
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.
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 !
I answered 18 of them, I knew the word beige color, however, I didn't know the meaning of the other colors so I didn't consider this question as a true answer for myself.
I love English and the more I learn the more I love it.
You're best teacher of english i ever had ... thank you
I got 18/20 - but why is only one word order correct with the word order questions? I can see why you chose the ‘default’ option, but for example starting with ‘This afternoon’ is grammatically still correct right (it just puts emphasis on that part)?
Fantastic! well done, your videos are just very useful.. thank you
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.)
I like your way of teaching 🤝🏻👏🏻😇...
Which is cool and understandable ❤...
Excellent 😊...
I got these all right! English is my second language but I have lived for many years in the US. Funny thing - two American born friends did not do well in this test. How can I be "native" level and they aren't?
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 !
That number 5 rubs me the wrong way, even though it's correct, technically. It's more common to hear something like, "Because of traffic, we arrived late." Good one!
Thank you very much ❤❤❤
I'm Egyptian..🇪🇬🇪🇬♥️♥️
I could answer all questions, except for number 19, bit I agree with a comment, they were all extremely easy. Greetings from Slovenia
شكرا يا براين انا عديت الامتحان بنجاح انا استمتعت جدا بالفيديو شكراااااااا ❤❤