Search results for 'tag:Verbs tag:Articles' matching tags 'Verbs' and 'Articles'

Re: proofreading of funny article

Skrej — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:39:08 GMT

changeling
Hi everybody!

I was translating a kind funny recipe. Could you, please, check the following passages? Does it sound good? Do I need any improvement?

You will need eggs to make this apple pie. If you've run out of them, get dressed and rush out to the store. And get iodine, cleansers, soap, bandage and sticking plaster, too. On your way back, grab some flour, apples and sugar. So, you come back home and go to your kitchen right away. While unloading your purchases you will surely drop a few of eggs on the floor. Donât worry about that, just beat remaining 5 (put the number first - 5 remaining eggs) eggs into a bowl. C l (This is a typo, I think - delete it) Clean the kitchen floor, or else it will be slippery. Now follow directions carefully. Take your mixer and start beating eggs. Your mixer wonât work? Just try to switch it on. It did no difference? (use made, instead of did - It made no difference?) You probably have to place the blades. (Say 'insert' instead of 'place', or say "put the blades in" instead of place the blades. Also, you might want to say 'beaters' instead of blades) So now you can beat the eggs. When you finish splashing beaten eggs all over the place you will want to have a shower. Wash yourself very well and get the yolk out of your nose. And finally, wash your clothes.

You have three (Earlier you said 5 eggs in the bowl, now 3 - is this intentional? Does this mean the person splashed out 2 eggs?) beaten yolks in the bowl and that's enough to make our apple pie. Now find old newspapers and magazines and paste (I'd use 'cover' instead of paste) the entire kitchen with them. Cover your furniture with some waste blanket (Subject/verb agreement error here - either say 'some waste blankets' or 'a waste blanket) if you don't plan to buy new furniture. Take (Missing a definite article 'the' here) flour package and put about a cup of flour into the bowl. Gather the flour you spilt on a table (forget about the flour scattered on the floor) and put it back to the package. Make sure youâve pasted (Again, I'd use 'covered' instead of pasted) all the walls and the ceiling in the kitchen properly. Now blend the eggs with the flour.

You need a bath again. Wash all that beaten mixture (Simpler just to use the word 'batter' here instead of 'beaten mixture) off. Take a sharp knife. Well, that's where you need iodine, bandage (either 'a bandage' or 'bandages) and sticking plaster. Peel five apples. Apply iodine to your cuts and bandage your fingers. Stick (Use 'apply' here instead of 'stick' ) the plaster. Now, cut (Again, you're missing the definite article 'the' here) apples. Keep in mind, though, we need two apples for our pie, so feel free to eat the rest of them while cooking. (Consider rewording this sentence slightly. It's gramatically ok, but a bit confusing. I'd say use either one of these two options: (1) Keep in mind, though, we need two apples for our pie, so don't eat all of them. or (2) Keep in mind, we only need 2 apples for our pie, so feel free to eat the rest of them while cooking.) Pick up all apple pieces you dropped on the floor and wash them in running water. Add apples and sugar to the dough. Beat the ingredients. Clean up all those nasty spots on the fridge and windows, or else they will dry up which will make cleaning much harder.

Pour what's left in the bowl in a frying pan (A frying pan is for frying, but you're putting the pan in the oven to bake. I think you mean baking pan.) Forgot to coat your frying pan (baking pan?) with oil? That's ok, just pour the mixture back in the bowl. Now wash the frying pan, (baking pan?) towel it dry and coat with vegetable oil. Wash your hands and again pour the dough in the frying pan. (baking pan?) Place in the oven. If your pie still looks pretty much the same after an hour of baking, check if you turned the heat on. So now the heat is on and you can take a rest. As you wake up suddenly, open all windows, doors and your oven. Bring (Use 'give' or 'make' instead of 'bring'.) your apologies to your neighbors and convince them that there was no fire. Now that you've recovered from all that shock, call your darling and say you gonna make something special for the dinner. Make (Use 'go to' or 'head to/for' instead of 'make') for the store again and buy a cake and a bottle of wine, or even something stiffer. Unpack the cake and put it on the frying pan (Again, use 'baking pan' but you'll need to use the preposition 'in' instead of 'on. - Unpack the cake and put in the baking pan). Greet your darling!

Hi Changeling,

You did a pretty good job with your funny recipe, but I commented on a few minor errors. Feel free to ask for further clarification if my comments don't make sense.

Hope this helps!

Re: Use of 'either'

Tanit — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:55:19 GMT

Anonymous
The remaining seven SMEs were unable to participate either due to their head office being located elsewhere, had not commenced their operation or refused to take part.

Hi,
I am terribly sorry, but this sentence makes no sense at all to me!
It looks as if it were an excerpt of an academic work (essay, paper, article) describing the results of some sort of research. Is it?

Are you saying that those SMEs did not take part in something for one or more of the following reasons: (1) location of their head offices, (2) business not started yet, or (3) refusal to participate?
If that's the case, I wouldn't say "were unable to participate", because this does not apply to somebody who "refused to take part" in whatever it may be. If I refuse to do something, I don't want to do it, despite being able to!

As for your question, I wouldn't use "either" and I would also rephrase the part after "due to" ("due to their head office being located elsewhere, had not commenced their operation or refused to take part"), which doesn't sound good to me. I think you've got some problems with verb forms.

Warning: This is just my opinion and I'm not a native, so please wait for some more reliable answers. I really don't want to mislead you.

Re: Versatile participles?

Marius Hancu — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:11:09 GMT

Present participle: don't remember seeing them as adjectives after verbs. The past participle may be more accepted in this respect.

Re: indefinite article before a gerund

Cool Breeze — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:49:43 GMT

I am not sure if the following answers your question but I'll say it anyway. Some grammarians don't distinguish between verbal nouns (= complete nouns formed from verbs with the ing ending) and gerunds (= words that are neither verbs nor nouns but resemble both to some extent). Some apply the term "gerund" to both of them. Perhaps your confusion arises from that?

A verbal noun really is a noun in that it can assume all the characteristics any countable noun has. This means that it can have an article, an adjectival attribute (or more than just one) and it can occur in the plural:

The correct speaking of English is easy.

His old writings don't interest me.

Perhaps some of the "gerunds" that bother you or arouse your interest belong to this category? Mixing in your post certainly does.

Some verbal nouns have become part and parcel of the language and are included in dictionaries, like "beginning" for example. In some cases you have a choice: a happy end/ending.

Gerunds can't be preceded by an article or an adjectival attribute because they are not full-fledged nouns. They bear some resemblance to verbs: they can take an object:

Speaking English correctly is easy.

Re: SUPERATIVE?

Avangi — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:37:24 GMT

Anonymous
Thank you Why one has an article and one doesn't?

The most erroneous concepts

These/They are most/very erroneous concepts.

Is the word 'most' here is not a superlative? When is it an adjective and when is it a superlative?

He is the most handsome man I have ever met.

First, let me call your attention to CB's correction. "Very" is an adverb, not an adjective, and it probably always was. "Most" is an adjective when it modifies a noun (Most people can swim.), but in the two quite different usages we've been talking about here, it's an adverb.

1. This is a most beautiful rose. ("most beautiful" = "very beautiful", singular rose, indefinite article)
     These are most beautiful roses. ("most beautiful" = "very beautiful,"  plural roses, no article)
     These are some most beautiful roses. ("most beautiful" = "very beautiful," plural roses, optional indefinite article)

2. This is the most beautiful rose in the garden. ("most beautiful" = superlative, singular rose,  definite article)
     These are two of the most beautiful roses in the garden. ("most beautiful" = superlative, plural roses, definite article)

Please note that your examples, This is a most erroneous concept, and These are most erroneous concepts are of the first type, and are not superlatives. You could say, These are some most erroneous concepts. The "some" is optional.

Best wishes, - A.

Re: use of "in particular"

Avangi — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 20:06:38 GMT

I'd recommend repeating the "of" - and in particular, of children in the City..... Even better, in my opinion, would be to repeat "the safety of" - (and in particular, the safety of children in the city...)

To my ear, you could avoid repeating it by switching to the adverb - the safety of citizens, particularly the children in the City....

I like "children" with the article, but think "citizens" is fine without it.

Best wishes, - A.

Typing away, part II

Ant_222 — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:47:27 GMT

Hello all

I am feeling I have to go back to this "to do smth. away" phrases and ask one more question. TheÂ verb "To type" is transitive, but I couldn't find a lot of transitive uses of "to type away". Is it non-transitive? Should use "at" to connect a complement: "I am typing away at my new article"? What about "cooking away"?

Re: Words list like (Information)

Cool Breeze — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:45:46 GMT

I think you mean certain words that are often, or always, used in the plural in some other languages but are never (or extremely rarely) used in the plural in English. There's a list of the most common ones in every Finnish grammar book of English, and these come to mind at once: advice, baggage, luggage, furniture, information, money, news, knowledge. Knowledge is exceptional in that it can take an article even though it never occurs in the plural: He has a good knowledge of history. All qualifiers and finite verbs must be in the singular with the previous words:

This luggage/baggage is mine.

That information was very interesting.

Re: Grammar rules - check for correctness - a kind teacher please :)

Angle1 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:47:46 GMT

Well OK? I will write it down and send it soon

Could you please help me with some verbs ?
There are some verbs, which have the same preposition and particle. I have no problem to find a phrasal meaning, but I cannot find verbs which combine these two possibilities.

I need some examples for these verbs : drive, read, fall, care, stand - I wrote down a nice list of phrasal verbs - but .... I canÂ´t find prepositional using. Could you please give me some examples?

for example:

stand for - prepositional : true NewtonÂ´s laws on mechanics stood for over two hundred years
phrasal : to defend Stand for yourself and what you believe in.

something like this: http://www.eflnet.com/pverbs/phrasalverbs.php

but I am looking for examples and I cannot find any ..

could you please give me some expamples fromt the verbs mentioned above?

THX for help

Re: "Everything have to go!" ...or... "Everything has to go!"

Clive — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:58:35 GMT

Hi,

Dailymail wrote... "Kerry Katona stuffs her face with a burger and Coke"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1023053/Kerry-Katona-stuffs-face-burger-Coke--resorts-sucking-belly.html

The Register wrote... "MetaRAM double stuffs servers with memory"

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/25/weber_metaram/

The ABC wrote... "Stereotype stuffs up women's driving"

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2008/03/24/2197632.htm

Now I'm sure the meaning of "stuffs" is different here, but... a wrong word??? As pointed out earlier, 'stiffs' is a valid form of the verb 'stuff'. The above examples involve verbs.

On to the next subject.

The Florida Institute of Technology wrote this...

"When you have a will, doesn't everything have to go through the courts in a public way?" 'Have' here is the bare infinitive verb form.

Everything does have to go through the courts. (correct, with singular form of the auxiliary verb 'do')
Everything do have to go through the courts. (incorrect, with plural form of the auxiliary verb 'do')

http://www.fit.edu/support/planned.html

And the government of Australia wrote this...

"Accordingly, so long as a defect can be remedied by amendment, the informations are not âvoidâ in the sense that..." 'Informations' here seems like a technical, legal word, almost a form of legal jargon. Use it if you're a lawyer, particularly in Australia.

http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/Supreme_Court/ll_sc.nsf/pages/SCO_howie020807

Best wishes, Clive