Search results for 'tag:TOEFL tag:Conditionals' matching tags 'TOEFL' and 'Conditionals'

Re: could you please check my letter. Thank you very much

Doll — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:11:33 GMT

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your letter dated 20^th April 2007. I am delighted to hear from you.

As you can see what has been stated in my application form ~~in 2003~~, I finished â¦â¦ High School in â¦....., the United States, with the GPA of 4.14 (outstanding) in 2003. From 2004 to 2007, I am have been doing a Bachelor of Science degree at â¦College in â¦â¦â¦â¦ where English is the language of instruction. With my experiences of studying and living in places where English has been the language of communication and instruction, I believe I should be exempted from English Tests like IELTS or TOEFL. I would be grateful if you could reconsider my application one more time.

Enclosed(Enclosed what?) you will find a letter from my school Director ~~which~~ who ( I hope you mean a person) will clearly confirm what has been mentioned above. A copy of my transcript will show my final grades in my BSc Year. I got a GPA of 5.85 (A+) over 6 ~~for~~ in the 1^st semester and 5.75(A+) ~~for~~ in the 2^nd semester. I spoke with our academic Dean, Dr. â¦â¦â¦., and she let me know that if my results from a 6-month- training period (from April to October 2007) is good together with my excellent academic results and I will be awarded for the second time to have the Scholarship for Best â Student â Of â Year at .......in October 2007. I carried off this prize last year in October 2006.

Could you possibly let me know via email if my application is has been accepted? As soon as I can get my unconditional offer letter,then I will ~~then~~ continue to apply for scholarships offered byâ¦â¦.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I am looking forward to hearing good news from you.

Yours faithfully,

could you please check my letter. Thank you very much

Meobeo — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 19:08:59 GMT

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your letter dated 20^th April 2007. I am delighted to hear from you.

As what has been stated in my application form. In 2003, I finished â¦â¦ High School in â¦....., the United States, with the GPA of 4.14 (outstanding). From 2004 to 2007, I am doing a Bachelor of Science degree at â¦College in â¦â¦â¦â¦ where English is the language of instruction. With my experiences of studying and living in places where English has been the language of communication and instruction, I believe I should be exempted from English Tests like IELTS or TOEFL. I would be grateful if you could reconsider my application one more time.

Enclosed you will find a letter from my school Director which will clearly confirm what has been mentioned above. A copy of my transcript will show my final grades in my BSc Year. I got a GPA of 5.85 (A+) over 6 for the 1^st semester and 5.75(A+) for the 2^nd semester. I spoke with our academic Dean, Dr. â¦â¦â¦., and she let me know that, if my result from a 6-month training period (from April to October 2007) is good, together with my excellent academic result, I will be awarded for the second time, the Scholarship for Best â Student â Of â Year at .......in October 2007. I carried off this prize last year in October 2006.

Could you possibly let me know via email if my application is accepted? As soon as I can get my unconditional offer letter, I will then continue to apply for scholarships offered byâ¦â¦.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing good news from you.

Yours faithfully,

Re: tenses

Tanit — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 07:37:29 GMT

Thank you, Tam, for the effort you made to try to let me understand this structure.

However ...

Tam Sadek wrote:

Perhaps this example using the Past Perfect/Past Simple will make it clearer. "We arrived late because our plane had been delayed" versus "We arrived late because our plane was delayed" Now most grammar books usually only accept the first sentence as being 'correct'. However, in speech there is nothing wrong with the second either as it is clear from the context (i.e. we are all standing at the airport, etc) that as we have just arrived, our plane must have been delayed before the 'arriving' part. These don't lend themselves to written English very well as of course without specific context there could be a misunderstanding.

The use of Past Simple instead of Past Perfect is quite common, explained also in many grammar books and usually accepted if the sequence is clear. I don't find anything wrong in it, but I don't think it can be applied to YL's first sentence (conditional sentences have their own rules, don't they?).

Tam Sadek wrote:

That's why although we use mixed conditionals frequently in contextualised speech face-to-face, when people write they'll revert to one of the standard written acceptable conditionals. Remember though that these four written forms do not convey the same connotation. Consider the following: Standard First Conditional: If she comes, I'll leave... Sounds fairly neutral and is not emotional charged. Alternate First Conditional: If she's coming, I'm leaving! Suddenly we have the feeling that the speaker is much more emotional and conveying a sense of annoyance or anger. Remember... It's all about context and that's why they're more frequent when there is context - i.e. a natural conversation rather than a decontextualised grammar activity. Hope that helps...

Does your sentence imply that mixed conditionals are unaccettable in standard written English? I don't think so! Some structures, such as the ones in my previous post:

If I had won the lottery, I would be rich

If I didn't trust her, I wouldn't have told her the whole story (*)

would be considered fine in English written tests (both Cambridge and TOEFL) and in formal academic writing (if we eliminate contractions in the second one).

Can I infer from your post that the original stentence:

If I knew Mary was coming, I would have gone to the the airport to welcome her

is ok for you only in colloquial speech, but ungrammatical and unaccettable in standard written English?

Any replies, comments, suggestions ... would be highly appreciated!

--------------------------------------------------------------------

(*) Here Past Simple deoesn't replace Past Perfect! I told her the whole story because I trusted her and I still trust her.

Re: Past modals

paco2004 — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 22:27:09 GMT

Lcchang wrote:
It seems to me that a present auxiliary "may" is used for the past event. That has confused me for a while.
She may have forgotten our invitation.

Other than being used for degrees of certainty for the events that was happened in the past, can "may" also be used for opinions and advice?

You may have reminded him of the time.

And last, can we consider both situations kind of conditional sentences?

She may have forgotten our invitation. (It was possible for her to leave earlier, but actually she didn't leave earlier.)

You may have reminded him of the time. (In fact I didn't remind him of the time.)

Hello Chang

I think we cannot use "may have done" in the context the speaker knows the said event was counter-factual. "She may have forgotten our invitation" is "I think it is probable that she forgot our invitation". "You may have reminded him of the time" sounds weird at least to me. You can use "Somebody may have reminded someone of a time" in the way like: "Tom Bates, Berkeley's newly elected mayor, may have reminded voters of a time when a more radical brand of politics marked the city". Here the speaker indicates the possibility or the probability the mayor reminded the voters of the old time.

I feel I myself am a bit confused with this kind of stuff. So it would be better for me to organize the knowledge about <modal+have+done>.

1. The construct <modal+have+done> can be used for all modals when the speaker wants to express his/her thought about a past event that the event probably happened. The degree of the probability decreases in the order : (highest) "must" - ("ought to") - "should" - "may" - "could"/"might" (lowest).
(EX) Chang got 640 in TOEFL. He must have worked hard.
(EX) There is such a message from her. She may have started yesterday.
(EX) Our teacher might have taught us the phrase, but I am not sure.

2. Some modals can be used in the construct <modal+have+done> to express the speaker's opinion (or regret) about the past fact that an event did not take place. The modals used for this purpose are "ought to", "should", "could", "might". "May" is rarely used for this purpose (except in conditional sentences).
(EX) He failed in the exam. He should have studied harder.
(EX) She could have behaved better than she did.
(EX) I might have known this would happen.

paco

Re: Could you help me to correct this essay??

notwhy.whynot — Thu, 06 Jan 2005 03:39:12 GMT

By just briefly looking over it and not being much of an editor I found these:

1. "The TOEFL test is a test that measures the ability in English for both nonnative and native speakers who attend the university." -- You don't need "is a test that" because we know it's a test because you just told us. I think that changing the word order would improve clarity. Maybe trying "measures the ability of both non-native and native English speakers." The test is a nation wide test so you might want to change the last part of the sentance just to point out that it is used at your university.

2. "It requires in many colleges and universities as an admission for it." Should be "It is required..." You don't actually need "as an admission for it." Which consequently doesn't make sense. If you want something like it, maybe "for admission" instead.

3. "Moreover, it predicts how well the students do with the university level." change "with" to "on"

4. "In my opinion, TOEFL test is a good gate keeper to the university because it helps to improve the English language and it helps a lot in the profession in the future. " I'm not sure what you mean by 'gate keeper' but maybe that's my problem. What isn't solely just me is what you're trying to convey in the last part of this sentance. "it helps a lot in the profession in the future." Do you mean that it helps non-native speakers be professional? Clarify and work on the wording a bit.

5. The next sentance (first sentance in the second paragraph) is fine. One thing is that you either need to call the test "the TOEFL test" or "TOEFL tests." You can't say "TOEFL test" without an article in front of it (in this case, the).

6. 2nd sentance, same paragraph. Change "in" to "on" and you'll be fine. I would personally re-word the paper, but the meaning is clear and there are no obvious gramatical misstakes (to me).

7. "This might help them to pass the exam with satisfaction marks." You don't really need this sentance at all since you conveyed the message in the last sentance. If you choose to keep it, keep in mind that "satisfaction marks" might be changed to "high scores."

8. "So, their ability in tricky question probably be good for them. " This is plain and simple, a bad translation of your thought. What I think that you mean here is that in an attempt to get a good score on the test they might actually learn something. Try this sentance again. Inadvertently they learn better English by studying for the test.

9. "Moreover, students might catch the words correctly if they are good in listening. And this probably will lead them to be good listener in both in university and in a life." You already used the word "moreover" and while it's not an uncommon word, it's hardly ever used twice in the same essay. You might want to leave it out. As for the rest of the sentance needs a bit of revision. I think you're trying to point out that it also encourages practicing listening skills. Try to revise it by using better language (more consice) and cutting out the "in both in university and in a life." which you don't need. (by the way, that last part was incorrect anyways. You don't need to "ins" (let alone three) nor "a" because we know it's the students life you're talking about. It would be more correct to say "in both the university and life." Still, that is not a very good sentance part.

10. "However, students who not pass the TOEFL test will have another chance for doing exam again after repeating the level again. This way might help students to gain more practice and skills for the course that might help them to do best in the TOEFL. " Take out the However, you don't need it and it's repetative. You need a "do" after who. Students who DO not pass... "for doing exam" is incorrect and unnesessary. What do you mean by "level?" If you mean year in school in the United States that is usually called either "year in school" for college/university level or "grade" for High School. If you mean a class then simply say the TOEFL class or whatever it is called. The next part you don't need "way" in there. Take it out. Also you're using conditional language for the next sentance which you won't want to do. Retaking a year in school or a class (or whatever "level" you mean) will DEFINATELY give them more practice, so you might want to change "might" to a more definate "will." Saying "more practice and skills" is kind of repetative. You might want to either take out the "and skills" part or change it to show that they're praciticing skills. Honing skills is a good phrase you might want to look up/become familiar with. I don't think you mean they are gaining more practice for the course, but because of the course. so watch what you say in the middle there. Finally the end of paragraph two. "Best" needs to be changed to "better" or if you're saying they will do THEIR best then you need to put THEIR in there. It's not completely correct, but better. Also, change "in" at the end of that sentance to "on."

That concludes the first two paragraphs. Consider these suggestions and revise the whole thing and I'll look at the rest if I can.

You're doing very well, just keep it up! I hear English is one of the most difficult to learn because it makes very little sense. My heart goes out to you.