Help with English

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by Saint, Aug 24, 2011.

  1. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    12,738
    Fair point. I defer. Something can be "almost unique".

    There is a legend among philatelists, possibly true,
    that a wealthy collector bought the only other example of a stamp he had in his collection.
    That stamp was almost unique.
    After bidding a ridiculous sum, he then took the stamp he had won at auction, and put a match to it,
    in front of everyone, making his remaining stamp truly unique.
    He probably did this with some mad, triumphant, fixed smile on his face.


    But nothing can be very unique.
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2014
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  3. Captain Kremmen All aboard, me Hearties! Valued Senior Member

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    Yes.
    They mean the same thing.
    I've been undecided on this question, but the only differences are where you put the emphases.
     
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2014
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  5. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    The second form tends to emphasize the word "me." For example, maybe you've already sent it to five other people, and now I'm wondering if you'd be willing to let me have a copy too.
     
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  7. Cyrus the Great Registered Senior Member

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    185
    In the book it said: "The Boa swallows its prey".

    In the book it was said :" The Boa swallows its prey".


    Would you tell me if these are correct? and is there any difference between them?
     
  8. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    The first is correct. "It was said" is a construction that may be appropriate in certain circumstances, but this is not one of them.
     
  9. Cyrus the Great Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    185
    Thanks. But I cannot get what you said
     
  10. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    4,752
    The school has long faced the serious student's disciplinary problems like gangsterism. I am afraid that the new headmaster could not solve this problem because she is a lady with soft attitude. She just received a can of worm from the previous headmaster who retired last month and I believe that the condition of gangsterism in the school will continue indefinitely!

    Please correct my writing.
    Do I use "a can of worm" correctly?
     
  11. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    Just don't do it the second way.
     
  12. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    The school has long faced [the serious student's disciplinary problems] serious student discipline problems like gangsterism. I am afraid that the new [headmaster] headmistress [could] can not solve this problem because she is a lady with a soft attitude. She just [received] inherited a can of [worm] worms from the previous headmaster who retired last month and I believe that the [condition of] (delete these words) gangsterism in the school will continue indefinitely!

    No. When you have a container full of something, it must be either: a countable noun in the plural
    • A can of worms
    • A pack of wolves
    • A box of shoelaces
    • A country of contradictions
    • A forest of maple trees.
    or a mass noun in the singular
    • A package of food
    • A bottle of beer
    • A place of science
    • A region of conflict
    • A legacy of love.
     
  13. Cyrus the Great Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    185
    1. Please give me a two hour leave

    2.Please give me two hours leave

    Providing that those are correct, Could you tell me when/ in which situation you would rather use one over the other?

    Meanwhile, would you tell me if I have well rephrased number 1?

    a two hour(long) leave
     
  14. Cyrus the Great Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    185
    adverbs caused inversion

    Into the room ran the lady.

    First comes love, then comes marriage.

    After A comes B, then comes C, next comes D.

    Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

    Would you please introduce me some authorative resource or site in such a way that I could find better the function of these adverbs?Think

    Thanks in advance
     
  15. Cyrus the Great Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    185
    Metals occupy a rather special position in the study of solids, (while) sharing a variety of striking physical properties that other solids such as sulfur lack.

    One of my friends has told me the following. But, I cannot yet understand it well and I don’t know if it is correct. Would you please explain it more simply?

    You are referring to one single fact about metals (the fact that they have special properties). If you say "while", it looks as if you are referring to two different facts. So you should leave out "while".
     
  16. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    It should be two-hour with a hyphen.

    It should be two hours' with the noun in the possessive case.

    Actually, I would never use the first one. I don't think most Americans would say it that way. Stick with #2, and remember the apostrophe.

    It should have two hyphens: a two-hour-long leave.

    But again, I don't think most people would say that. They'd probably say "a two-hour leave."

    In fact, they'd probably say something much less formal, such as "Can I take two hours off?" Or: "Please let me take two hours off."

    For longer periods, we'd phrase it differently: "May I take three weeks' vacation in October?" But again, we're just as likely to say, "Can I take three weeks off in October?"
     
  17. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    These are all examples of poetic syntax. We don't use this kind of grammar in colloquial or business speech.

    In conversation, or a business memo, we'd say, "Love comes first..." "B comes after A..." and "The rain came down..."

    "After" is a preposition, not an adverb. The object of the preposition is "A."

    People occasionally use constructions like this to stress a point or simply to avoid sounding boring.

    I strongly advise you not to try it. It would be very easy to make a mistake so the listeners wouldn't understand you, or perhaps they'd misinterpret what you were saying. It's not for beginners!
     
  18. Cyrus the Great Registered Senior Member

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    185
    Around my office there was no nearby store where I could buy my requirements in no time soon to do my office work and there was no need to take frequent hourly leaves to use up my off days and no longer had any time for my recreation.

    Would you please tell me if my written sounds polished? if not, could you correct me?

    The tense of the sentences is about past. But, I am wondering whether or not we can write no longer would have instead of no longer had.
     
  19. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    Cyrus, I've told you more than once: PLEASE WRITE SHORTER SENTENCES. You put words in the wrong sequence, you use the wrong words, and you misuse idioms. If you write short sentences, people will be able to figure out what you mean. It will require some effort, but most people will try. But with something this large, they'll simply get lost. They won't be willing to work that hard, so they'll just ignore you.

    You simply do not KNOW ENGLISH WELL ENOUGH to be able to write such a long sentence. The errors reinforce each other, making it almost impossible to figure out what you mean to say. PLEASE, break it up! Even a native speaker would not write a sentence this long! It's too confusing.

    There were no stores near my office

    where I could buy the things I need for my job

    quickly enough to get back to the office and complete my work

    so this required me to take time off during the day

    which resulted in not having any time for recreation.

    Better:
    There were no stores near my office that sell the things I need for my job. So I had to go to stores that were farther away. Because of this I wasn't able to get back to work quickly, so I had to take time off (or "to use my leave"). The result was that I ended up with no time for recreation.​

    if my writing looks polished. Writing does not make any sounds!

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
  20. Cyrus the Great Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    185
    First, thank you so much.

    But, would you tell me readily the reason why don't we use future perfect instead of past tense? because we are talking about a future in the past, aren't we?

    The result was that I ended up with no time for recreation.

    The result would ...
     
  21. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    24,690
    This is a perfect example of what I was talking about. I didn't understand the sentence. I thought you meant that you had already suffered from a lack of recreation.

    This is why you should always write short sentences!
     
  22. Cyrus the Great Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    185
    Yes. I had already suffered from a lack of recreation. Nevertheless, I can not yet get the reason why we mustn't use future perfect.
     
  23. Saint Valued Senior Member

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    4,752
    The results of examination will be released next week/by next week/in next week.
     

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