ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Sentence questions Thank you

Demetrius — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 19:52:33 GMT

WANG CHUN wrote:

1. Ancient and modern human beings use their great intelligence to invent machines that help people lead a comfortable and convenient life.

My problem with this sentence is that it is not possible for ancient human beings to do anything any more, so using the present tense just doesn't sound right. Other than that, there is nothing wrong with the grammar. It could be fixed by changing to the present perfect "have used", but not without changing the meaning.

WANG CHUN wrote:

2. What is a colossal distinction between humankind and machines is that former is learning animal and latter is like a robot.

"One colossal distinction between humans and machines is that the former are learning animals and the latter are like robots."

1) You cannot use "What is" here.

2) "Humankind" is a singular collection. A collection cannot be "an animal" or "animals".

3) You must use the definite article with "former" and "latter".

4) As "humankind" has changed to "humans", the number of "is" and "animal" changes to plural. By the way, it would have to have been "a learning animal", not "learning animal".

5) "machines" is plural, so "is" should be "are", and "robot" should be "robots".

WANG CHUN wrote:

3.It is James Watt who had the intelligence to invent the use of steam for power and improve a steam engine that began the Industrial Revolution in which people saw these machines as a tool that enabled them to improve all aspect of lives.

"It was James Watt who had the intelligence to invent steam power and improve the steam engine, which began the Industrial Revolution in which people saw these machines as tools that enabled them to improve all aspects of their lives."

1) It must be "It was James Watt" to agree with "who had".

2) "to invent the use of steam for power" sounds unnatural and clumsy. It is better to simply write "to invent steam power".

3) It should be "the steam engine".

4) It should be ",which began" not "that began", because we are not trying to restrict steam engines to specify the one that began the Industrial Revolution.

5) "a tool" must agree in number with "machines".

6) "aspect" must be plural to agree with "all".

7) You need a possessive pronoun "their" to refer back to the "people" whose "aspects of life" were changed.

WANG CHUN wrote:

4.All technological innovations can be described as an implement of human intelligence, helping people to live a comfortable life.

"All technological innovations can be described as implementations of human intelligence, helping people to live a comfortable life."

1) "an implement" must agree in number with "innovations".

2) "Implements" is the wrong word. I'm not happy with "implementations" either really, but it is the closest in sense.

Re: Sentence questions Thank you

Clive — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 19:26:43 GMT

Hi,

I've tried to keep your words as much as possible.

Clive

1. Ancient and modern human beings have used their great intelligence to invent machines to help people lead more comfortable and convenient lives.

2. A colossal distinction between humankind and machines is that the former are learning animal and the latter are like a robots.

3.It was James Watt who had the intelligence to invent the use of steam for power, and to improve a steam engine that began the Industrial Revolution, in which people saw these machines as tools that enabled them to improve all aspects of their lives.

4.All technological innovations can be described as implementations of human intelligence that help people to live comfortable lives. (including the nuclear bomb?)

Sentence questions Thank you

WANG CHUN — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 18:06:26 GMT

I am not sure whether these sentences make sense in term of grammar and semantics.

Can you give me a hand with checking them
Thank you for your help.

1. Ancient and modern human beings use their great intelligence to invent machines that help people lead a comfortable and convenient life.

2. What is a colossal distinction between humankind and machines is that former is learning animal and latter is like a robot.

3.It is James Watt who had the intelligence to invent the use of steam for power and improve a steam engine that began the Industrial Revolution in which people saw these machines as a tool that enabled them to improve all aspect of lives.

4.All technological innovations can be described as an implement of human intelligence, helping people to live a comfortable life.