I agree with the usage of すみませんでした that you noted. The action was completed previously and the past tense is noted in the apology part of the sentence. For example: 遅れてすみませんでした。
The being late part already happened (although it’s written in non-past て form) and you want to apologize for that past action.
oh, i get it now. Thanks!
In sentence one the subject is implied as 私は. And the grammar pattern is verb のが adjective.
In sentence two the subject is “speaking Japanese” so は is used correctly. (o^^o)
I’ve been starting to make Anki cards based on example sentences I find in various Japanese resources (Genki, Basic Japanese Grammar, Shonen Jump, etc). I came across the sentence:
あなたの様なテガミバチに成りたい。
「あなたの・よう・な・テガミバチ・に・な・りたい。」
which has a given translation of “I want to become a Letter Bee, like you!” Using Jisho and Google Translate I was able to figure out how it translated, but I got hung up on the 「に」particle. Basic Japanese Grammar has seven different definitions for it, so I’m not sure exactly which one it is. I think it’s probably either “direction” (ni7) or “indirect object” (ni2), but a second (and more informed) opinion would be useful.
Also, am I using too many of the dots in the reading? Should I be writing them in at all?
The verb なる takes に… Parsing which flavor of に it is seems excessive. No one but language teachers would remember such a thing.
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Got it. On the card I put a couple uses of 「に」along with a note saying that it’s needed for「なる」.
Appreciate your help! I read it before but my knowledge of particles was not that good at the time. This time, I understood most of it and now I think I get it 
Sorry for taking some time to answer back.
Oh I see! It works kinda like intransitive verbs, doesn’t it? Makes sense! (: Appreciate the effort you made answering me back! Sorry for taking some time to answer back. Related to Spanish, don’t worry. I’m Portuguese Yo entiendo un poco en espanõl 
Maybe that’s a little high level for me at the moment but I’ll save the link for later! Appreciate it!
Sorry for taking some time to answer back.
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Here’s another example of を好き from the cover of a magazine: もっと、自分を好きになろう。I had a little trouble following the stackexchange discussion, but it seems like an interesting topic. This example makes sort of sense to me if I think about it, but I don’t think that I would think to write something like that.
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I’m not sure if this is grammar, but more of word usage. What’s the difference between 友達 and 友人?
Effectively no difference in meaning. If you look at a monolingual dictionary definition for 友人, you’ll often just see ともだち given.
But I feel like you wouldn’t use it in casual conversation. 友達 is fine for anything you want to express in real life, I’d say.
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oh, okay. Thank you.
Alright, so here’s one I’ve been wondering about for a while.
In anime, I’ve sometimes heard 待って and other times 待ってて, both of which are translated in the subtitles to something like “please wait” or “hold on” depending on the context. But there’s never any indication of what the difference is. I know generally that ～ている and its conjugations can be used for ongoing actions. But it seems like waiting is always and ongoing action. So is there a subtle difference between usage and meaning of 待って and 待ってて?
I asked my girlfriend just now, and she said that if someone says 待って it would just mean “stop what you’re doing and wait” but 待ってて would be “stop where you are (don’t move) and wait”
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!
Please thank your girlfriend for me, that’s quite interesting and it’s pretty amazing that she’s capable of articulating something like that so clearly (that’s an honest compliment - articulating these differences can be really difficult, especially in your native language). 
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That’s certainly subtle, but I guess it makes sense. Thank you and please give my thanks to your girlfriend as well.
何 position in a question
Today I found something mind blowing (and embarassing too).
You say:
何歳ですか。
How old are you?
仕事は何ですか。
What’s your job?
Notice the 何 position. So basically with suffixes like 際/時/年生, you need to use them with 何 while with normal nouns, you use the typical [noun + は + 何].
Is this the rule of how it works? Or am I imagining things? I mean, sometimes I would get my 何 questions corrected without knowing why.
ALSO!
Today I’ve also seen 何の仕事ですか。The native said this is better than the version I wrote above. Do you guys agree?
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歳 is a counter for age, which cannot stand on its own without something in front of it, so you really don’t have a choice of where to put the 何 in a question related to that.
The other ones you mentioned, where 何 is its own word, can go in both positions you mentioned.
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Yeah, thanks for the confirmation Always grateful that you take the time to answer back.
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More usage of 〜を好き
This is from song lyrics
ウルフルズ バンザイ 〜好きでよかった〜：
イェーイ 君を好きでよかった
このまま ずっと ずっと 死ぬまでハッピー
。。。
Can 聞く sometimes be intransitive? I keep seeing things like
私の事が聞けないの？
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