Search results for 'tag:Accents tag:Auxiliaries' matching tags 'Accents' and 'Auxiliaries'

Re: I'm desperate! I need help :(

Tartan — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 04:39:28 GMT

8. Why do you say âShe is a one-eyed teacherâ and not âSheâs an one eyed teacherâ? (Focus on a phonetic explanation) The article an is used before vowel sounds, not vowel letters. The word one is pronounced wun. The w is not a vowel sound even though the o in o-n-e is a vowel. So a must be used before one.

9. Miss Justine Fair listened to the two Chilean students read their passages. One of them had a strong accent. The second student had no accent at all. Who got the best mark? Why? (Focus on a Phonetic explanation) Accent is a form of mispronunciation, of giving vowels and consonants different values from their standards. Mastery of a language requires control over the sounds of the language.

10. One of the teachers said âMy children need much exercise to improve their performance.â The other one said: âMy children need many exercises to improve their performance.â What kind of courses are they in charge of? Teacher One teaches a course with non-countable exercise, that is, exercise that cannot be identified as separate pieces and counted. This is probably physical exertion, as the earlier post suggested. Teacher Two teaches a course with countable exercise. This work can be counted. Perhaps these are separately numbered problems in an exercise book. Maybe this is a teacher of mathematics.

13. What is the difference between these two sentences?

Sheâs worked as a teacher for five yearsâ ...for the past five years up to now

âShe worked as a teacher for five yearsâ ...for five years, sometime in the past (maybe the past five years--we don't know)

14. Can the auxiliary âdoâ and the verb âbeâ ever be combined in a sentence? Don't be surprised.

15. Is it ever possible to say âfruitsâ or âfoodsâ? Yes, if you are talking about different varieties. At the party they served fruits and foods from all over the world. Or: Two foods I really like are pizza and chocolate chip cookies.

Re: I'm desperate! I need help :(

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 01:52:34 GMT

Nestor_fes wrote:

8. Why do you say âShe is a one-eyed teacherâ and not âSheâs an one eyed teacherâ? (Focus on a phonetic explanation). Although 'one' begins with a vowel, it is pronounced with the sound of a consonant - 'w'.

9. Miss Justine Fair listened to the two Chilean students read their passages. One of them had a strong accent. The second student had no accent at all. Who got the best mark? Why? (Focus on a Phonetic explanation). I suppose the student who spoke with the most neutral accent received the best mark, because he or she would be easier to understand.

10. One of the teachers said âMy children need much exercise to improve their performance.â The other one said: âMy children need many exercises to improve their performance.â What kind of courses are they in charge of? I don't know the answer here, sorry! I think that in the first sentence, the word 'much' should be replaced with 'a lot of' or 'plenty of'.

13. What is the difference between these two sentences?

â

Sheâs worked as a teacher for five yearsâ.

âShe worked as a teacher for five yearsâ

The first sentence: She started the action in the past, and is still performing the action

The second sentence: She started the action in the past, and has completed the action.

14. Can the auxiliary âdoâ and the verb âbeâ ever be combined in a sentence?

Perhaps this sentence: 'What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?'

15. Is it ever possible to say âfruitsâ or âfoodsâ? Yes.

Thank youu !

I'm desperate! I need help :(

Nestor_fes — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 01:19:37 GMT

Hello!!

well.. this is my 1st time here, I had no idea that there were forums like this forum!
So I joined and I have some questions.. I need them for my assignment!

8. Why do you say âShe is a one-eyed teacherâ and not âSheâs an one eyed teacherâ? (Focus on a phonetic explanation)

13. What is the difference between these two sentences?

Sheâs worked as a teacher for five yearsâ

âShe worked as a teacher for five yearsâ

14. Can the auxiliary âdoâ and the verb âbeâ ever be combined in a sentence?

15. Is it ever possible to say âfruitsâ or âfoodsâ?

Thank youu !

Why is this?

Believer — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 13:11:43 GMT

I saw this explanation from the Collins/Cobuild dictionary. P/S tell me why the underlined word get only stressed the letters "NA," not the whole word "banana."

Sentence stress is an accent on certain words w/in a sentence. Function words, such as articles, prepositions, conjunctions, and auxiliary verbs are not stressed.

ex) I WANT a baNAna

The CAR is MOVING.

Re: American English subjunctive help

CalifJim — Wed, 25 Aug 2004 05:26:25 GMT

Hi, Miriam!

Thanks so much for your reply. Of course I'm still interested!

1. Sometimes when examples are given, certain forms begin to sound more acceptable. Strangely enough, only your example with "wish" still seems weird to me! The other two don't really sound that formal to me. I can imagine reading them in a newspaper from time to time. I need to revise my opinion slightly.

2. Well, God is a special case! -- as is the Queen, I suppose! But note that a command is still a command, even when we are extra polite and say "please". Please open the door, Oscar. Please save the Queen, God. Please live long, King. OK. Maybe I'm stretching it a bit with these paraphrases, but the form of the mandative subjunctive is the same as the form of the imperative. In fact, all present subjunctive forms are the same as the imperative. I don't find this unusual since subjunctive is so often associated with the idea of one person exerting his will upon another, whether gently or forcefully (urge vs. demand).

3. Whoooooo! I find this one astounding: Incorrect >>

Ramsey, in A Textbook of Modern Spanish (revised by R. K. Spaulding) gives the sequence of tenses you cite as correct, and adds another section just after (in Section 24.16) stating: "A single exception to the principles stated with regard to the past tenses of the subjunctive is that the '-ra' form ... may take the place of the conditional in all types of conditional tenses." He gives the following example, both variants of which he considers correct:

Si V. no hubiera acudido generosamente en mi ayuda, ya habria (or hubiera) muerto de hambre.

Butt and Benjamin, in Grammar of Modern Spanish, write (Section 14.5.2) "The -ra subjunctive may be [used as] a stylistic variant for the conditional ... This is normal in all styles with the auxiliary 'haber : habria sido mejor / hubiera sido mejor' "it would have been better". And again at Section 16.1.1.b: "[The -ra form] regularly replaces the conditional of 'haber'."

Since this isn't a Spanish Forum, I guess I'd better "cool it". Isn't it interesting how native speakers can end up with a totally different impression of their own language compared to those who "studied" it from books as an outsider?

Best regards,
Jim

P.S. I read Spanish quite well and can understand nearly 95% of the television news. I can't say the same for my speaking ability, although I managed a trip through Spain without much trouble. Once I accidentally used flash in a museum where it was forbidden. I understood everything they said to me about how I should be thrown out for such an infraction, etc., etc., but I feigned incomprehension and an even worse American accent than I actually had, and they took pity on me and let me stay! (Be sure to remember that trick when you visit the U.S.)