As a fluent English speaker in a country where that is decidedly not the norm, I was dreading a boring lesson.

FORBES: Does Higher Education Need To Go Back To The Fifties?

"I'm devastated to tell you the truth, it was the news I was dreading, " said Ponting, who broke the finger attempting a catch during the third Test in Perth.

BBC: Ashes: Aussie captain Ricky Ponting out of Sydney Test

"I was so nervous this week - there was a lot of talk in the English media that they had one big game in them and I was dreading it would be against us, " he said.

BBC: Boks bashing was a shock - Corry

"I was dreading the appeal, " she said.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | My struggle for a school place

It hasn't happened to me yet, but I'm dreading it.

BBC: A term older and wiser?

Most of the time I nervously skittered up the slab, dreading every move and trying not to think of the consequences if I slipped.

WSJ: Amid the Perils of Patagonia

That's something I look forward to instead of dreading maybe four years ago.

CNN: Poulter: Snedeker is the best golfer on the planet right now