Search results for 'tag:Expressions tag:Affirmative sentences' matching tags 'Expressions' and 'Affirmative sentences'

Re: Any or some

Kooyeen — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 17:24:50 GMT

CalifJim wrote:
For example, all of the following are wrong:

Did everyone understand any questions?
Did you give both of them any help?
Are all of the employees expecting to take any vacation time during the coming week?

Aaaargh! This thread literally made me swear, lol. Darn some and any, they always give me trouble.

I think, the difference between some and any is not "any goes in questions, some in affirmative sentences", although that's exactly what most teachers teach...
I think the difference (in questions) is this:
- Do you have any books? = I want to know if you have at least a book. It is the most general.
- Do you have some books? = I want to know if it is true that you have some books. You are actually asking directly about "some books", that's why it's usually used when you expect a positive answer.

So I don't think adding "always", "everyone", etc. actually changes anything. It's just that using them with "any" might be unusual... I don't feel like thinking of a particular example where they could work together, but I guess some examples exist.

So when you ask "Does she always bring some flowers", the common context is one where you already know she sometimes brings some flowers, or she brought some at least one time. So you are actually asking if that is always true, you are asking about always, not the flowers or how many of them she brings:
- Does she always bring some flowers? = I want to know if it's true that she always brings some. (You are asking about "always")
- Does she always bring any flowers? = literally: I want to know if she always brings at least a flower (which is ok, but has a different meaning than the above version with "some". You are asking about the flowers)

Now, I'm afraid the version with "any" doesn't sound good because "always" is usually used in comparison with other expressions of time, so in the first example it's kind of like the opposite of "sometimes", and you are asking if she always brings flowers, knowing she sometimes does.

That's the way I interpret "some" and "any". And so I was really surprised to read this:

CalifJim wrote:
It seems to me that this observation with regard to always can be extended to include the presence of any universal quantifier whatsoever in the question, so that any use of always, everywhere, every, both, or all would likewise bar the use of any in the same question.

I said that "Does she always bring any flowers?" probably sounds pretty odd because of "always". But let's take "every", as an example. I think I could put "every" in there and make it sound good, with the same meaning of the version with "always":

"Does she bring any flowers every time she get back to LA?"

I think that's the normal way to say the odd "Does she always bring any flowers?"- But be careful with intonation, or you'll end up asking if that happens every time instead of asking about the flowers, and you'd need "some" instead.

What do you guys think of my insane theories?

Re: Do with oneself

pieanne — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:29:58 GMT

The nearest to a positive sentence I can come up with is "I don't know what to do with myself, he doesn't know what to do with himself" etc... but of coures, since they are examples of reported speech, they're not positive/affirmative sentences!

I don't think you'll ever find that expression in an affirmative sentence, since it's used to ask what you are doing, so the (positive) answer will use the verb that describes your occupation.

Do with oneself

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:09:41 GMT

Hello!

Please, can you tell me how can I use the expression above (do with oneself) in an affirmative sentence?

(Ex. in an interrogative sentence: Bob, what are you planning on doing with yourself on your next vacation ?)

Ex. (in an affirmative sentence) - I don't have idea. Please, help me!

And in this expression can we change the verb to do for others verbs, or we have to use this expression - always- with the verb to do?

Thanks,

Lian

Re: Spanish (or German) student Vs Japanese student!

Novalee — Tue, 02 Nov 2004 15:45:04 GMT

Hello meg2589 and all,
I almost exclusively teach Spanish students, with the exception of some American students who are learning Spanish but this is a different story. I can tell you the most common mistakes and difficulties that we, Spanish people, find when studying English.
The first problem that you mention is the 'false cognates' which we call 'false friends': they are similarly written words or expressions that have different meanings in both languages. The funniest example I can give is 'to be constipated', which I'm sure you know the meaning. Well, in Spanish we have 'constipado' which means to have a cold: not at all the same meaning
The overuse of articles is also a problem. But students learn the rules of when to use it and when not.
As for more grammar mistakes:
- 'Auxiliary verbs': there is no such thing in Spanish, so a lot of emphasis must be put on the use of them. A useful and popular exercise is to change an affirmative sentence to negative and interrogative.
-Third person singular s in the Present Simple: Even with 18-year-old students, we still have this problem. They simply skip it and we, teachers, must put a lot of emphasis in this simple aspect of grammar.
-Adjectives: 'they have no plural form'. I repeat this sentence thousands of times and they don't catch it. This doesn't happen in Spanish: adjectives have gender and number, unlike English. The same happens with the order: in Spanish they usually go after the noun, not before it.
-Speaking of order...: Word order in a sentence. In Spanish it's much more free, but in English is more fixed. Another point to be taken into account if they want to be understood. Common mistakes are, for example, Said the teacher that would give we more homework which should be The teacher said that he would give us more homework Do you see what I mean?
Well, the list would go on and on, but I'm giving you some examples. I don't know if you were looking for this. If I'm right, feel free to ask for more, and I'll post more examples of common mistakes Spanish students make.

See you.

"Are you searching to belong, or to be lost?" (prose writing)

rambutan — Wed, 28 Apr 2004 23:16:05 GMT

Are you searching to belong, or to be lost?

Have some of you noticed lately that there has been a popular icon, which is a female youth named Emily. She has straight and long hair. And, she always looks cool, wearing not much facial expression. She's been showing up on T-shirts, notebooks, key chains, and what have you. That's why I start noticing her, hence getting to know her. Talk about 'knowing her,' it's not quite 'knowing' because I have little knowledge of her background. Unlike Snoopy or lots of cartoon figures, she simply exists without even identity. Even so, she still has strong presence, at least for me. I don't know why; maybe it's her singularity that makes me have such a different and deep impression.

Today, I went to an Eslite Bookstore (a chain bookstore in Taiwan) where I passed my time by thumbing through some books at will. I abruptly spotted there were products of Emily at a corner. There happened to be a book that portrayed Emily with pictures in a row and very few words. I finally had some idea about what she's like. There were not many words. The language was, however, striking and thought-provoking. Here, itâs exemplified by a sentence in the book. It reads, "Emily doesn't search to belong; she searches to be lost." Perhaps, some of you tend to think that I've been fooled by a nihilistic sentence. And, some might think of it as merely a commercial feat. Which is to draw attention of consumers by means of distinguishing itself from most of the other products. I can't deny its high possibility. Nonetheless, it makes me brood on something. It is an affirmative sentence, only to pose questions.

Isn't it quite easy to be lost? If so, why does 'TO BE LOST' need searching? For one, I'm often lost in a city, in my life, in my relationship with others. Is the sentence getting at something else? If so, it makes me reminisce about a book, A GESTURE LIFE, which was discussed in Mr. Tien's class, MULTICULTURALISM AND THE NOVEL. In a review of the book, the reviewer comments, "A GESTURE LIFE is about what you lose when you lock up all you have." The sentence about Emily probably reasons in the similar way the reviewer concludes about the book. If one concentrates on finding a sense of belongingness, s/he may be oblivious of what s/he is. Otherwise, s/he may have a clearer view, or rather, a vista of life since s/he stands farther away from the center. (a center of life; a center of a circle; a center of what you think it is) If the above suppositions are not vindicated, I begin to wonder what Emily's world is like. It must be a world of courage because it really takes courage to be lost. Also, it takes courage to be alone; it takes courage to be different; it takes courage to be excluded.

After a short while of self-dialectic, the answer is not important at all. Maybe it has never existed. Isn't Life like this, plenty of 'whys' and 'ifs'? Everyone has the right to pursue his or her own answers. It's most likely that we all spend 99 percent of lifetime searching for the answer. So, enjoy the process of searching, whether the answer is found or not, in the long run.