Monday, October 27, 2008

Discussion on English usages and grammar

So please check the below and find out what's wrong (haha.. maybe something I am not aware).  Actually I occasionally made some grammar mistake; so I am not here to criticize someone's English writing.  :)  OK, here is my answer.  Please correct further if there is anything inappropriate. 

1. Peter doesn't like Tempura.  I don't like it also (should be "either" instead of "also")  If the sentence is in a negative tune, you should say "either".
2. I would suggest you to try Pad Thai in this restaurant. (... suggest you "try".  No need to put "to" before try.  Same as let - don't say "let you to try".  This is quite Chinese English.  Or in a more proper form.  You can say "suggest you should try". 
3. Paul can not finish his homework by himself.  (should be "cannot" one word.)
4. Don't shut the window or close the door. (Same as the above point 1, if the sentence is in a negative tune, it should be ".... window nor close the door.".  If you say "or" that means it is in a reverse tune.  So the meaning would be "you don't need to close the door".   However, the use of "or" depends on the verb.  If a sentence like "You can't drink coffee or tea because it upsets your stomach".  Mmmh... now I recalled my computer learning on the Apple II computer (year 1983), in the computer language, even "and" should be used as "nand" for negative tune.  :)
5. Mary is looking forward to see you in the coming weekend.  (.... forward to seeing.. instead of "see".   In some cases "to" is a preposition; so after "to" should be a gerund or noun.  
6. I resent that email to you last Friday.  Please check it again.  ("resent" is another verb actually - means "get angry of" or "feel anger with".  Don't often put "re", "dis", "un", "non" before a verb if you are not sure about the proper usage.  Or if you are in a rush, you can try to write "re-sent".  Actually this is quite Chinese-English.  I would suggest writing it as "I sent that email to you again last Friday.  Please check it.".  

10 comments:

Stella said...

1) "either" instead of
"also".
2) This looks ok.
3) "cannot" instead of "can not".
4) ok although I may know what you wanted to catch.
5) look forward to "seeing" instead of "see". After "look forward to" is always a gerund; same as "committed to doing well" instead of "committed to do well".
This is also SAT question in LA.
6) looks ok
This game is fun and educational. It is good to refresh and reinforce ourselves thru this drill. I need to write a lot everyday so this is really a good tutor class for me.

Anonymous said...

Stella, you are good to find out those mistakes. I think all of them are ok. Maybe I have my HK English. :)

Man

in the sea said...

Good! Stella. I will tell the answer tomorrow.

Stella said...

In fact, HK people have good grammar and writing skill when compared to many native Americans here. Yes, I do mean native Americans but not to include foreign students in US. Most of the foregin students have better English than native American, or the ABCs.

Anonymous said...

Stella, maybe you met some HK people who are good in English. Now many HK people are not good anymore, even Chinese.

Man

in the sea said...

Stella, I think you left HK for a very very long time. Your impression was probably 20 or 25 years ago. With more internet and game influence, the kids are longer that interested in their textbooks. If you talk about some internet language, they may be good at it. I have received a number of job application letters. Some of them are university graduates. They may write something like "I saw your ad. in news paper and want to have this job. I am a u-grad in business study.....", or something like "refer to your ad. find my c.v. for the job" - only one sentence (I can't call it a sentence actually as it's not a proper complete sentence.).

Stella said...

Man and Sea, are you serious on your comments, or you are just joking me?
HK people used to be considered "good" at English writing skill(as compared to those from Taiwan and China).
Maybe not true for the young generation any more?
I remember your comment is the same as my friend's(she is a free lance celebrity reporter in HK). She said the English standard of HK students dropped a lot since the use of Chinese as official language in school(something like that). But she also said their Chinese standard does not seem to be better either. She said this all began at "Tung"'s dynasty, when he proposed Chinese to be the official language in school and the text book shall be taught in Chinese.

Stella said...

Hi Sea,
In order to improve everyone's English and Chinese, I think this game is needed so please continue the workshop professor.

Anonymous said...

Interesting topic. Please tell more.

in the sea said...

Stella, we are not kidding. However, either it's the Chinese school or not, it won't make any difference. Like I told you, there are more entertainment nowadays to distract the kids.

To Anoymous 10:32, thanks. I will try to raise more examples.