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I am a non-native speaker (NNS) and got 15.700. I think this test is not very telling for NNSs as it doesn't consider specialist vocabulary which many of us ha

I am a non-native speaker (NNS) and got 15.700. I think this test is not very telling for NNSs as it doesn't consider specialist vocabulary which many of us have a lot of of, because of how we /really/ learned the language. When I left school my English was very average. When I started communicating with email with people from all over the world, but mostly the US, it improved a lot in 1-2 years. When I first went to a congress in the US in my med 20's I was blown away by my aptitude to communicate in that language. But these were all people from my field. What I'm saying is that the distribution of words pertaining certain subjects in my vocabulary is severely skewed by the field I work in -- visual effects (and IT). I believe this goes for many NNSs.

pbhjpbhj 15y ago
>the distribution of words pertaining certain subjects in my vocabulary is severely skewed You clearly have a very good vocabulary IMO. However, if I may, I think it should be "pertaining to certain subjects". It can be used without the "to" but sounds a bit conceited to this native speakers ear. For example see http://www.thefreelibrary.com/_/search/Search.aspx?By=0&SearchBy=4&Word=pertaining http://www.thefreelibrary.com/_/search/Search.aspx?By=0&.... All the literature examples written out use "pertaining to" in some form: "pertaining thereto", "pertaining only to", "to them pertaining", et cetera.