Quick help needed, this is important (grammar).

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Ant_222

#316747 Thu, 18 Jan 07 01:17 PM

«Um.....I think the "helper" needs more help than the poster requeting for help. Many simple errors....»

Ok. If I corrected some of the poster's mistakes and introduced several new ones, why not look at my corrections and omit the mistakes! Anyway, I warned Jacek about that...

By the way, could you point the "simpliest" mistake? I am very interested.

«2. It has just been announced that everyone of those who obtained (Past Simple or Present Perfect?) less than 50 percent will have to take another exam. All of those, who will not be able to come to the US in Spring may apply for taking the exam in US embassies.»

"everyone of those" and "all of those". Do you really want to keep them? Maybe replace them by "those who" or something like that?

«Past Simple or Present Perfect?»

To me, both are acceptable but Past Simple is better.

«4. The new synthetic costs three times as much as cotton. But since it's here, no teenage girl will even look at old costumes. Well, the money which they spend isn't theirs, but their parent's.»

Parents'

«5. The fact is that no female journalist from the newspaper, whom had thrown these accusations was present at the dinner, during which the Collonel has been telling or, as he claims, he hasn't been telling those racist jokes.»

"Colonel was...". Surely.

«Anyonymouns: This can't be done your way, because the situation is set at present time. It's like two blokes sitting in a room and talking about another one behind the looking glass, and now they're willing to figure out if he noticed he's being recorded or not.»

Are you speaking to me, to Ant_222? I thought they were analyzing a recording, not listening in real time.

«sounds slightly better than "of convincing", but it does not convince me... Help?»

to prove?

«Oh, and although some parts of these sentences may seem incorrect I have to leave them as they are, because they were set up this way by the author of my exercise book.»

Well, how does one decide which parts can and which cannot be corrected?

P.S.: I recommend that you remove your e-mail from the signature...

Ant_222

Joined on Sun, May 21 2006

Podolsk, Russia

Contributing Member (1,547)

Grammar, Jokes, Past simple, Present perfect, Whom

Yoong Liat

#316758 Thu, 18 Jan 07 01:49 PM

I don't think the person who asks a question is a poster, the word used by Anonymous. I believe 'questioner' is the appropriate word, but are there other words?

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (6,015)

Yoong Liat

Grammar

Ant_222

#316774 Thu, 18 Jan 07 02:21 PM

A poster posts posts
A topic starter starts topics

Ant_222

Grammar

Jacekkr

#316784 Thu, 18 Jan 07 02:36 PM

Ant_222 is right, look what Wordnet says:

poster
a horse kept at an inn or post house for use by mail carriers or for rent to travelers, a sign posted in a public place as an advertisement, someone who pastes up bills or placards on walls or billboards (so we might as well call a bulletin board user a 'poster')

Ant_222: Thank you for your help with grammar, but I still have some doubts.

8. Because of safety regulations we had to send two drivers instead of one. After a few hundred kilometers it turned out, that although they both have been (you said that it should be had been, but IMHO using Present Perfect Continuous is more correct, due to the general usage of this tense - actions or events that began in the past and are lasting til now or have recently ended. Notice that they still work as bus drivers) driving buses for many years, neither was used to driving in such heavy traffic.

10. Before the conference I would never have thought that translating a lecture about the history of fashion can (you said that it ought to be could, but why?) be so difficult. I am afraid that a few listeners could have had doubts about my knowledge of French.

;-)

Jacekkr

Joined on Wed, Jan 17 2007

Stalowa Wola, Poland

New Member (09)

Jacek Krawczyk

Grammar, Present perfect, Tenses

Yoong Liat

#316794 Thu, 18 Jan 07 02:53 PM

Definition of poster: noun - someone who pastes up bills or placards on walls or billboards.

Based on the above definition, a poster is not someone who posts a question for forum members to answer. As I said earlier, I believe 'questioner' is word, but are there other words?

Yoong Liat

Grammar, Nouns

nona the brit

#316817 Thu, 18 Jan 07 03:23 PM

poster is used quite commonly on forums, it just means the person who makes a post. Each individual message is a post (noun). Post is also used as a verb 'post it here'.

OP is the usual term for the person who starts a thread - OP= original poster.

nona the brit

Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004

England

Veteran Member (11,355)

The name says it all.

Grammar, Nouns, Verbs

Ant_222

#316859 Thu, 18 Jan 07 05:17 PM

«...you said that it should be had been, but IMHO using Present Perfect Continuous is more correct, due to the general usage of this tense - actions or events that began in the past and are lasting til now or have recently ended. Notice that they still work as bus drivers»

I wanted to put it as in a narration: by _that_ moment they had been... You refer to some problem the drivers met in the past, all the other verbs of the paragraph are in Past Simple, so I am not sure whether Present Perfect would sound ok in such "environment"...

«Before the conference I would never have thought that translating a lecture about the history of fashion can (you said that it ought to be could, but why?) be so difficult.»

Is short, I prefered "could" due to Sequence of Tenses. However, in this particular case, Present Simple might work also.

P.S.: Now, after your questions and Anonymous' comment, doubts have crept into my mind...

P.P.S: Let's ask a more competent person to help us! Nona, could you please give us a peace of advice as to these two questions of Jacek?

Ant_222

Grammar, Paragraphs, Past simple, Present perfect, Present simple, Tenses, Verbs

nona the brit

#316863 Thu, 18 Jan 07 05:25 PM

Well, without ploughing through all the previous posts and getting confused, my versions of these two are

Because of safety regulations we had to send two drivers instead of one. After a few hundred kilometers it turned out that, although they have both been driving buses for many years, neither of them was used to driving in such heavy traffic.

10. Before the conference, I would never have thought that translating a lecture about the history of fashion would be so difficult. I am afraid that a few listeners might/would have had doubts about my knowledge of French.

The difference between might and would here is how definite the translator feels about the listeners being disappointed, also, 'might' is just a polite way to soften the blow, few people like to admit that they definitely messed up.