1694551 Chinese officials say economic growth has dropped to a three-year low because of the world economy. Source_VOA 1060602 If you were a spy trying to pass as a native speaker and said it that way, you'd likely get caught. CK 404134 "Oh? Where's Keiko?" "She said that she has a teacher, parent and child meeting so she'll be late." CM 953908 I've heard it said that it's harder to please a woman than to please a man. I wonder if that's true. CK 320212 NASA says three of 22 space missions that carried generators similar to Galileo's ended in accidents. CM 1093030 Tom said that he thought Mary wouldn't want to visit the place where her father had committed suicide. CK 321348 You say I should know him quite well, but as a matter of fact, I was introduced to him only last week. CM 38395 I get the feeling you still have an axe to grind. If you've got something to say come on out and say it. CM 3342397 When Mary told her parents that she wanted to marry Tom, they said that they wouldn't attend the wedding. Hybrid 1164683 Why did I buy flowers? Is that what you just said? It's really noisy here so I couldn't hear you very well. Chrikaru 1027519 I talked with Tom for over an hour before he said something that made me realize he wasn't a native speaker. CK 286258 I don't think there is any excuse for his behavior. At the same time, we should listen to what he has to say. CM 19390 I'm going to speak to you with utmost candor so I want you to take everything I'm about to say at face value. CM 1141313 The World Health Organization says alcohol abuse is the third leading cause of death and disability in the world. Source_VOA 1475451 Both brothers said that they couldn't support both a wife and an airplane, so they spent their lives as bachelors. CK 1951606 The police can't find a single person who remembers seeing you where you said you were on the night of the murder. CK 2817554 Tom is now working for a secret service agency. However, he can't say which one, because that must remain a secret. patgfisher 53733 Jane is fat, rude, and smokes too much. But Ken thinks she's lovely and charming. That's why they say love is blind. CK 847264 Not long ago we heard a father say in the presence of his large family, "I don't want any of my boys to be lawyers." Source_Benedict_1921 562881 Someone told me that Albert Einstein said, "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen. " CK 954864 Your English is grammatically correct, but sometimes what you say just doesn't sound like what a native speaker would say. CK 680513 The fight for civil rights in the United States started in 1954, when the government said school had to be open to everyone. Source_VOA 684588 "Jingle Bells," a popular song around Christmas time, is not really a Christmas song. The lyrics say nothing about Christmas. CK 1529635 I thought I had paid the monthly fee, but I received a phone call from the school saying that the bill still needs to be paid. erikspen 2158875 I never meant to say that the conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally conservative. Hybrid 284423 He and I have a near-telepathic understanding of each other. No sooner does one of us say something than the other is already responding. CM 46734 The hand of the magician was quicker than our eyes. Before we could say Jack Robinson, the cards he was holding between his fingers disappeared. CM 2278815 The more time you spend speaking a foreign language, the better you get at guessing what non-native speakers are trying to say in your own language. CK 273759 The National Center for Education Information says a predicted teacher shortage won't pan out because teachers who left the profession are returning. CM 2950156 The police commissioner said that he would in no way, shape, or form discuss the details of the matter, as it was the subject of ongoing investigations. patgfisher 954773 You may not learn to speak as well as a native speaker, but you should be able to speak well enough that native speakers will understand what you have to say. CK 62321 I may seem confident, but I get extremely nervous speaking in front of people. My hands tremble, I get all tongue-tied, and sometimes I don't even know what I'm saying myself. CM 1863010 "Top-down economics never works," said Obama. "The country does not succeed when just those at the very top are doing well. We succeed when the middle class gets bigger, when it feels greater security." Source_VOA 953962 If you want to sound like a native speaker, you must be willing to practice saying the same sentence over and over in the same way that banjo players practice the same phrase over and over until they can play it correctly and at the desired tempo. CK 953936 If someone who doesn't know your background says that you sound like a native speaker, it means they probably noticed something about your speaking that made them realize you weren't a native speaker. In other words, you don't really sound like a native speaker. CK