ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: tank top

New2grammar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:42:04 GMT

Thanks, RayH! I get it now. I thought a tube top revealed the tummy, thus the shape of a tube. http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/PMO2058.jpg

Grammar Geek
you politely ignore it as though nothing had happened

I got it now. The reason you used "had happened" was that "as though" makes the following clause hyphothetical. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks, GG.

Re: tank top

Grammar Geek — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:35:41 GMT

An oxymoron contracticts itself. A tank top has sleeves. A sleeveless tank top is an oxymoron. As Ray was kind enough to research for us, your'e desribing a tube top.

Which of the tenses would you have changed to present perfect? How would you have witten the sentence?

Re: tank top

RayH — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:32:02 GMT

New2grammar
strapless tank top

It is with great trepidation that I venture into this discussion and I do so only in the interest of complete accuracy. After much research and the viewing of many pictures (hey, someone has to do it ) I have determined that a "strapless tank top" is in fact a "tube top" and that all tank tops do in fact have, pretty much by definition, shoulder straps.

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=%22tube+top%22&btnG=Search+Images

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=%22tank+top%22&btnG=Search+Images

Re: tank top

New2grammar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:26:35 GMT

Grammar Geek
A strapless tank top is an oxymoron

Why would you say that, GG? I'm not particular familiar with the term, oxymoron. I know themeaning of moron pretty well.

Also, I'm a bit surprised by your choice of tenses.

Grammar Geek
you politely ignore it as though nothing had happened

Present tense combined with past perfect. Shouldn't it be present perfect?

Re: tank top

optilang — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:23:27 GMT

New2grammar
I actually got what you meant. I was wondering if a native speaker would sometimes accidentally skip a line and then immediately correct it. I guess not though I do, even in my mother tongue. However, I have ways to correct it naturally. I wonder how a native would correct the original.

New2grammar
A girl wearing a strapless tank top comes up and asks for permission to play with your active and cute dog. Your dog first sniffs her and then starts to climb on her front to lick her face.
(Opps... you realize you've missed something and you want to clarify. How would you do it?

I would say something like:

"A girl wearing a strapless tank top comes up and asks for permission to play with your active and cute dog. Your dog first sniffs her and then starts to climb on her front to lick her face. Well, actually she is kneeling down/on her knees playing with the dog which is jumping up trying to lick her face. Anyway, the dog's paw gets .."

Having said that, there are probably numerous ways to recover, the above is just one suggestion.

Re: tank top

Grammar Geek — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:19:14 GMT

A strapless tank top is an oxymoron. You mean a tube top. At least, you do in the US.

(The answer to the question is, you politely ignore it as though nothing had happened.)

Re: tank top

New2grammar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:17:08 GMT

I actually got what you meant. I was wondering if a native speaker would sometimes accidentally skip a line and then immediately correct it. I guess not though I do, even in my mother tongue. However, I have ways to correct it naturally. I wonder how a native would correct the original.

New2grammar
A girl wearing a strapless tank top comes up and asks for permission to play with your active and cute dog. Your dog first sniffs her and then starts to climb on her front to lick her face.

(Opps... you realize you've missed something and you want to clarify. How would you do it?

Re: tank top

optilang — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:01:00 GMT

New2grammar
optilang
In fact, I had an image in my mind that the dog was climbing up he to reach her face.
I knew I made that mistake.In an attempt to clarify I added that line but it made it worse. I wonder when you realize you were unclear in a conversation (you can't go back and rewrite), how do you correct yourself? Could you take my situation as an example?
Thanks.

I would say something like:

I'm sorry, I'm not making myself clear, let me recap/go back a second. What I mean is, after she asked if it was OK to stroke/play with my dog, she knelt down to stoke him, and then he started jumping up trying to lick her face. That's when the paw ..

Re: tank top

New2grammar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:03:19 GMT

optilang
In fact, I had an image in my mind that the dog was climbing up he to reach her face.

I knew I made that mistake.In an attempt to clarify I added that line but it made it worse. I wonder when you realize you were unclear in a conversation (you can't go back and rewrite), how do you correct yourself? Could you take my situation as an example?
Thanks.

Re: tank top

optilang — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:55:36 GMT

Hi

You didn't make it clear that she was on her knees from the moment the dog started licking her. In fact, I had an image in my mind that the dog was climbing up he to reach her face.

My suggestion:

A girl wearing a strapless tank top comes up and asks for permission to play with your active and cute dog. You gladly agree, so she kneels down to start stroking it. Your dog first sniffs her and then starts jumping up to ~~climb on her front to~~ lick her face. ~~She is now on her knees~~. All of a sudden, your dog's paw accidentally pulls her top down, revealing her breasts.

Re: tank top

New2grammar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:47:10 GMT

optilang
She is now on her knees. I find this a bit sudden when reading it. We had the dog climbing on her and now she is down on her knees, with no explanation of when, how or why she got there. Did the dog push her over?

I agree with you. I just wanted to make sure the reader knows her position. She is on her knees when my dog climbs on her. Can I just remove the entire sentence? Will the context still be clear? If not, how to add this sentence smoothly?
Thanks.

Re: tank top

optilang — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:17:56 GMT

A girl wearing a strapless tank top comes up and asks for permission to play with your active and cute dog. Your dog first sniffs her and then starts to climb on her front to lick her face.

She is now on her knees. I find this a bit sudden when reading it. We had the dog climbing on her and now she is down on her knees, with no explanation of when, how or why she got there. Did the dog push her over?

All of a sudden, your dog's paw accidentally pulls her top down, revealing her breasts. She quickly reacts by pulling it back up and hopes no one has seen them. Of course, you saw them. Should you apologize or (should you) just keep quiet and act like nothing (has) happened?

tank top

New2grammar — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:23:41 GMT

A girl wearing a strapless tank top comes up and asks for permission to play with your active and cute dog. Your dog first sniffs her and then starts to climb on her front to lick her face. She is now on her knees. All of a sudden, your dog's paw accidentally pulls her top down, revealing her breasts. She quickly reacts by pulling it back up and hopes noone sees them. Of course, you saw them. Should you apologize or should you just keep quiet and act like nothing has happened?

Are there any mistakes?
Thanks.