ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Ant_222 — Sun, 11 May 2008 22:26:57 GMT

At last! What a discussion out of a little question!

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

CalifJim — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:29:45 GMT

Ant_222
The game's setting is far future

Aha! That explains it.

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Ant_222 — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:30:10 GMT

Â«But not another tunnel's end? (Now you have more than one tunnel!) I think you meant to say that he can see only one end of the tunnelÂ»
Yep, I even considered "only one the tunnel's end", but it doesn't sound right as well...

Â«To my ear, ancient and factory don't go together.Â»
The game's setting is far future, and the hero crash-lands on a planet where he finds this ancient weapons (military) factory, ancient gliders and ancient laser guns... And when he finds a helicopter it is as amazing to him as meeting a dinosaur.

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

CalifJim — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:22:57 GMT

Ant_222
Â«I stood at the bottom of the ancient open mine. Possibly, here was where the raw materials had been mined for the military factory which was on the other end of the tunnel. The entrance to the tunnel was in the south.Â»

To my ear, ancient and factory don't go together. ancient suggests the times of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. factory suggests something much more recent. Why ancient, and not just old?

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

CalifJim — Sun, 11 May 2008 16:05:29 GMT

Ant_222
he can see only one tunnel's end.

But not another tunnel's end? (Now you have more than one tunnel!) I think you meant to say that he can see only one end of the tunnel.

In any case, I assume that the end of the tunnel he can see is the "entrance". Got it.

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Ant_222 — Sun, 11 May 2008 10:26:50 GMT

CalifJim
Â I thought tunnels went through something.Â So don't they have two entrances?Â Which one would be the entrance?Â I didn't get that part.

There's a rock ridge wit a tunnel through it. The hero's on one side of of the ridge, and naturally he can see only one tunnel's end. This one I thought would be the entrance.Â

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

CalifJim — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:51:12 GMT

I thought tunnels went through something. So don't they have two entrances? Which one would be the entrance? I didn't get that part.

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Ant_222 — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:30:33 GMT

Thanks for the reply.

So, if I want to mention a direction relative to the hero's current location, only "To the south/north/east" works... Hmmm. The one who was helping me with the translation didn't mind when I proposed to alternate "To" and "In" so as to make the descriptins a little more varied. All navigation is based on the four directions which makes the texts kinda monotous with lots of equally-structured sentences: To the north was that, To the south I saw this, That spread across the west and the road went east...

Â«'Military factory' is an uncommon phrase. It's more common to say what is made there, eg a munitions factory.Â»
Weapons factory should be better then...

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Clive — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:38:59 GMT

Hi,

Â«I stood at the bottom of the ancient open mine. Possibly, here was where the raw materials had been mined for the military factory which was at the other end of the tunnel. The entrance to the tunnel was in the south.Â»

Correct grammar, but wordy.

'in the south' - in the south of what? Where you are standing? Then say 'to the south'.

'Military factory' is an uncommon phrase. It's more common to say what is made there, eg a munitions factory.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Ant_222 — Sat, 10 May 2008 11:48:52 GMT

Any feedback on the last version?

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Ant_222 — Sat, 10 May 2008 08:30:46 GMT

Â«Is the military factory at the other side of the tunnel, or is that where the mining is done?Â»

This mining was done "here" â right where the hero stands: "..._here_ was where the raw materials had been mined for the military factory on the other end of the tunnel" â I have made two changes:

1) Past Perfect ("had been mined") â because the mine (as well as the factory, which is mentioned earlier in the game) had long since been abandoned by the time the hero visited it. I had overlooked it when translating and so did I during the many re-reads...
2) I changed "at the other side" to the less(?) ambigous "on the other end".

Should I add something like "...for the military factory _which was_ on the other end of the tunnel" to make it clearer?

Â«No, it's not clear to me.Â» Hmmm. So, what about extracting this last clause into a seperate sentence so that the final version will be:

Â«I stood at the bottom of the ancient open mine. Possibly, here was where the raw materials had been mined for the military factory which was on the other end of the tunnel. The entrance to the tunnel was in the south.Â»

It has become more wordy and I am not sure I have corrected the drawbacks you indicated. But I have tried.

What do you think?

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Clive — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:04:08 GMT

Hi,

if you say side of the tunnel you are refering to left and right Not necessarily. Only if I am facing 'aong the tunnel, ie towards the exit.

Let's say the tunnel runs from east to west.

'The use of the term 'at the other side of the tunnel' suggests that I am standing in the tunnel near the south side, and the thing we are speaking of is opposite me, at the north side.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Huevos — Fri, 09 May 2008 23:16:27 GMT

Clive
Is the military factory at the other side of the tunnel

There's something wrong here. First if you say side of the tunnel you are refering to left and right. In this case the preposition would be "on". i.e. "on the other side". You would use the preposition "at" for the ends of the tunnel, i.e. "at the end of the tunnel".

Re: At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Clive — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:53:20 GMT

Hi,

before you is another description form a game I am translating. I'd like you to help me choose between "on" and "at". Either seems OK.

Â«I stood at the bottom of the ancient open mine. Possibly, here was where the raw materials were mined for the military factory _at_ the other side of the tunnel, the entrance to which was in the south.Â»

+ Hope it's clear that "which" refers to "tunnel"... No, it's not clear to me.

Is the military factory at the other side of the tunnel, or is that where the mining is done?

Best wishes, Clive

At/on the other side (aka Yet Another Tiny Question)

Ant_222 — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:13:04 GMT

Hello everbody, before you is another description form a game I am translating. I'd like you to help me choose between "on" and "at".

Â«I stood at the bottom of the ancient open mine. Possibly, here was where the raw materials were mined for the military factory _at_ the other side of the tunnel, the entrance to which was in the south.Â»

+ Hope it's clear that "which" refers to "tunnel"...

Anton