In Japanese, when writing an address, we start from the "big" (e.g., 東京) and go to the "small" (○○荘×××号室), finally ending up with the person's name. In English, it is the opposite, starting with the name and ending up with "Tokyo".

Either of these ways seems rather logical: big > medium > small (the Japanese way), or small > medium > big (the English way). What would not be logical is medium > small > big.

But, when writing English, this is what people Japanese people do with dates (e.g., "12/23/05" for 「05年12月23日」). As far as I know (and I have checked very many date stamps from many countries in my passports), the only people in the world who do this are Americans and Japanese.

Therefore, it is a good idea to be aware of this, and to make the safe choice of writing dates in full: "23rd. December, 2005", or December 23rd, 2005. You can abbreviate the months (e.g., "Dec."). In this case, remember that the short months are written out in full, and "September" is abbreviated "Sept.". At least, this is traditionally the case. But since we live in the age of computers, you are very likely to see things like "Mar" and "Sep".

No one knows the answer to this question. Some people manage to communicate quite well with, say, 200 words; and other people can say almost nothing although they have learnt (?) 2,000 words in 10 years of study. So, perhaps the answer to the question is: It depends on your personality and ingenuity.

But the point is that mastering a language is not about learning words. It is about learning how to say different things. The key therefore is in using words to say (and write, and understand) different things.

I see learners, on the train, or wherever, learning "difficult" words (words about politics or economics, long words, rare words, etc.) who, I am quite sure, cannot communicate at the most simple level of English. Learn words so that you can use them to say different things about the world that you live in.

If you are learning words that are above your level of communication, you are almost certainly wasting your time. Do not fall into the common trap of thinking "If I continue to learn more and more words, and more difficult words, I will eventually be able to master English." There will never come a magic moment at which you have learnt "enough words". Instead, practise how to say different things. As you do this, you will find that you come to learn the "difficult" words naturally.

For me, this expression means "I have the same number of CDs as you have, or more CDs than you have".

If I wanted to say that I had exactly the same number as you, I would say, "I have the same number of CDs as you".

If I wanted to limit myself to the second possibility (i.e., my having more CDs than you), I would say: "I have more CDs than you".

If I am speaking only vaguely and generally, I am likely to say "I have roughly/about as many CDs as you". This means I might slightly fewer, slightly more, or the same number.

If I say, "My eyesight is as good as Peter's", this means that can see as well as Peter for most daily activities. I can say this even if I know that Peter"s eyesight is 1.1 and mine is 1.0. However, if we are talking about the possibility of Peter and me passing an eye examination to become pilots, I will then say, "My eyesight is not as good as Peter's". Our eyesight has not changed. It is the situation that has changed. Therefore my language has changed.

So, we can say that many of these kinds of expressions are only accurate within the degree of accuracy that is reasonable for the particular situation, and the degree of information the speaker has.

The fact that these kinds of expressions form a large part of English education in Japan shows the extent to which the "puzzle nature" of English is more important than the "communicative nature". In other words, it gives us a hint as to why the results of English education are not as good as they could be.

In ordinary conversation, it would be very strange to say: "I will meet you at 8 a.m." In almost all cases, the normal English is, "I will meet you at eight in the morning (four in the afternoon/seven in the evening/nine at night)". However, "in the morning/in the evening, etc" are not usually necessary, since we know what time of the day we are going to meet someone. Therefore, simply say, "I will meet you at eight."

If you are working in the travel business, or planning a schedule, or something like that, it would then be all right to use "a.m." and "p.m.".

Another thing to remember about time is that "midnight" means "twelve o'clock at night" (i.e., 24:00).

Here are some ways about talking about doing things while it is dark:

The movie started at midnight. (= at 24:00)
I worked until late at night. (XX= until 23:00. or 24:00)
I was awake in the middle of the night. (XX= from 23:00 to 02:00)
I got up in the early morning. (XX= 03:00 to 05:00)
[Notes] XX means "approximately equal to" .

"In the early morning", as in the sentence above is different from "early in the morning", as in this sentence:

I got up early in the morning. (XX = 06:00 to 07:00)

"In the early morning" is used for "a time that is so early people usually do not get up at that time". "Early in the morning" is used for "a time that is early but many people do get up at that time".