>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>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" :-)

But how about street talk? Are all people really using the "I'm smoking a cigarette" sentence and do they never say "I smoke a cigarette"? I'm not referring here to formal speech, but to street talk. How about...

"I was smoking a cigarette."
"I smoked a cigarette."

>>
>>>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.