>>>>>>
>>>>>>FY enlightenment:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>" ... I meant something other than what they thought I meant."
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Not being pedantic or critical. I know you want to improve your English. Despite your protestation to the contrary that whole paragraph was practically flawless till the second-to-last (penultimate) sentence. :-)
>>>>>
>>>>>Wow, thanks! However, I dare to protest about 'thought' versus ' think'. I wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>speakers will not ... notice ... I meant something else than they think ...
>>>>>
>>>>>The notion is that, in this case, if 'notice' is present tense. then also 'think' must be present tense.
>>>>>
>>>>>That's the rule in Dutch. Is it different in English?
>>>>
>>>>Ah but you're referring to something that you meant (so they thought).
>>>>
>>>>OK would have been:
>>>>
>>>>"... native speakers will not always notice that I mean something other than they think I mean."
>>>>
>>>>They either think you mean what you mean, or they thought you meant what you meant.
>>>>
>>>>You can't meant what you meant, cos they happened at different times.
>>>
>>>I don't give up yet. Compare these lines:
>>>
>>>"... native speakers will not always notice that I meant something other than they think I meant."
>>>"... native speakers will not always notice that I said something other than they think I said."
>>>"... native speakers will not always notice ."
>>
>>To me that is the right one. When you say "they think" it implies a continuous action ("I think therefore I am" - doesn't mean I am thinking right at this moment, but the rest of the time my mind's blank). So "they think I said" implies a continuation of their "belief", as opposed to what they thought right at that moment.
>>
>>Their noticing will be of something that has passed - what you said. If you said " ...that I say something other than they think I say" implies that this is a slogan, or common utterance of yours (eg an election speech), something you say frequently.
>
>In Dutch 'denken' is used both for continuous thinking and for the thinking at a certain moment. There's no restriction there. Are you implying that this is different in English, even in informal conversations and smalltalk?

Yes, in English we have the "continuos" version of a verb, eg "I am walking", suggesting right at this moment.

"I think of you" would mean "a lot of my time is spent thinking of you"
"I am thinking of you" (used for instance when writing a letter), would mean "As I write this letter my thoughts are of you".

A - "Come inside"

B - "No, I'm smoking" - this would prohibit you from entering because at the moment you have a lit cig in your hand
B - "No, I smoke" - this wouldn't prohibit you. Just cos you smoke (generally) doesn't mean you can't enter, so long as you're not smoking at the time.

BTW you wouldn't say "I don't give up yet" - you'd say "I'm not giving up yet" :-)

>
>>Difficult to explain the nuances between languages. eg in English one would say:
>>"I hope this continues until I am dead" whereas, in French one would say:
>>
>>"I hope this continues until I will be dead"
>>>
>>>The last doesn't sound right to me.