Dialogue

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New2grammar

#517844 Fri, 23 May 08 01:35 PM

A: Hey James. How's your vacation?
James: Pretty good. I took my family to the national park and it was the first time we went there. The scenery was
picturesque. If I have a chance, I'd like to visit it again soon.
A: Cool. I went there last year and I caught a 10 pound catfish. My brother and I spent most of our time fishing while my
sister and girlfriend playing at the waterfall.
James: The waterfall was nice but the water was too cold for me. I got out in less than 2 minutes with goosebumps
A: OK. I'll let you get back to work. Talk to you later.

Are there any mistakes?

Thanks in advance!

New2grammar

Joined on Tue, Nov 21 2006

Veteran Member (7,676)

Who wants to go sailing around the world with me?

Yankee

#517853 Fri, 23 May 08 01:57 PM

New2grammar
A: Hey James. ~~How's~~ How was your vacation?
James: Pretty good. I took my family to the national park. ~~and~~ It was the first time we went/had been there. The scenery was
picturesque. If I have a chance, I'd like to visit it again soon.
A: Cool. I went there last year and ( I ) caught a 10 pound catfish. My brother and I spent most of our time fishing while my
sister and girlfriend liked playing at the waterfall.
James: The waterfall was nice but the water was too cold for me. I got out in less than 2 minutes with goosebumps
A: OK. I'll let you get back to work. Talk to you later.

Hi N2G

I'd say the two biggest errors were How's (you definitely need the past tense there), and the omission of something between the words girlfriend and playing.

Yankee

Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006

Connecticut, USA

Senior Member (4,294)

Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

Grammar, Tenses, Past Tenses

New2grammar

#517865 Fri, 23 May 08 02:09 PM

Yes. That's a mistake.

Can I say, "while my sister and girlfriend played at the waterfall"? What's the difference?

New2grammar

Grammar Geek

#517952 Fri, 23 May 08 03:59 PM

That version would be fine too.

As a side note, there are many national parks in the U.S. You would have to specify which one.

Lastly, picturesque is a very fine word, but a bit fancy for a casual conversation. The scenery was spectacular! The scenery was awesome. It's SO picturesque up there - I'm so glad I had my camera. But "the scenery was picuresque" falls a little flat in this kind of conversation.