Difference in meaning

Both sentences are "correct", but the second sentence is much more graceful.

English speakers are lazy. The fewer words you use, the more likely you are to sound like Native Born Speaker.

Hi Noddy

English speakers are lazy. The fewer words you use, the more likely you are to sound like Native Born Speaker.

Native born speaker - Is it the same as native speaker?

Yoong--



Yes.

Should Native-born speaker be hyphenated?

Many thanks.

Yoong--



Only if the hyphen adds clarity. Usually a hyphen would be unnecessary.

Thanks.

There is a very slight difference in the emphasis on the stores that do than the ones that don't.



When used as an adjective as above yes, you are correct. Multi-word adjectives should be hyphenated. But do note that most native speakers don't know to do so. Your ESL teacher is probably less forgiving on this than the natives so do keep it in mind.

When used as in the example given, "this" has a sense of closer proximity. For example, if you were holding a bracelet in your hand, you would say "this bracelet". If you were pointing to one in a showcase, you would probably say "that bracelet"; however if you were distinguishing between several bracelets in the case, you would probably get close to the bracelet you want and say "this bracelet. The difference can be even finer than I have expressed. You might be looking at two pieces of fruit. You might point to one and say "This one looks good, but that one doesn"'t. "This" and "that" are just used to differentiate.

I hope I haven't confused you.

Thanks, but the problem is not 'this' or 'that'.

1] You can buy it at the stores that show this sign.

[2] You can buy it at stores that show this sign.

What is the difference in meaning between the sentences?

The problem is 'stores' and 'the stores'.

Sorry I misread your original question.

"You can buy it at stores that show this sign" is more general and is probably more commonly use.

"You can buy it at the stores that show this sign" would be used to separate some of a group of stores from others such as at a mall.

Thanks.