ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: comparision

Marius Hancu — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 10:59:08 GMT

>"Their products sell very well"?

People are buying their products a lot. Get a proper dictionary and check the intransitive form of "sell." The sentence is correct.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sell

Re: comparision

Chibi — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 09:11:55 GMT

Excuse me, I still wonder if we can really say 2/3 of ...In my opinion, it couldn't be expressed like that.

I remember reading a sentence like: He is twice as tall as me/I am.

So can we apply the same structure in this situation - I mean, can we say: ..., though the quality of their products is about 2/3 as good as that of ours?

Moreover, what does "sell" mean here when we say: "Their products sell very well"? Does it mean "make people want to buy sth"?

Can you please help me to clarify it?

Thank you!

Re: comparision

Tuongvan — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:34:17 GMT

Thank you ever so much Grammar Geek

Re: comparision

Grammar Geek — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:23:40 GMT

Okay, setting aside whether you can really say it's 2/3...

THEIR PRODUCTS is the subject, so to later use "THEIR QUALITY" doesn't really work.

..., thought the quality of their products is about 2/3 of that of ours.

Re: comparision

Tuongvan — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:12:46 GMT

Thank you Marius and Grammar Geek,

Now I know that I must say:

Their products sell very well thanks to their low prices , though their quality is only about two-thirds of that of ours.

and I mustn't say:"Their products sell very well thanks to their low prices, though their quality is only about two-thirds of (without THAT) ours."

Best wishes

Re: comparision

Grammar Geek — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:59:18 GMT

I completely agree with Marius. Unless you have objective measures of quality, I don't know how you can say it's two-thirds.

Re: comparision

Marius Hancu — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:56:39 GMT

Their products sell very well thanks to their low prices, [COMMA] though their quality is only about two-thirds of that of ours.

Still, I don't think you can say their quality is only about two-thirds of ours.

You should mention there the specific parameters which quantify the quality. Not easy in a compact fashion.

Re: comparision

Chibi — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:46:34 GMT

Sorry, there is a mistake in my sentence: 'about two-thirds as good as that of ours', not 'about two-thirds as much as that of ours'

Re: comparision

Chibi — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:22:39 GMT

I think it would be better to say: "Their products are very well-sold just for the low prices. In fact, the quality of their products is about two-thirds as much as that of ours"

comparision

Tuongvan — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 00:10:41 GMT

Hi teachers ,

Is it ok if I say like this ?:

Their products sell very well thanks to their low prices though the quality of their products is only about two-thirds of that of ours .

Thank you in advance