On Mon, 4 Sep 2006 07:00:20 +0200, jr
<jraahauge@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote:
> I am sorry, but it has to be a British Native. I pretty much came up with
> the same changes, but my boys school teacher claims there is nothing wrong
> with the sentences. This is material made by the school with the purpose of
> teaching english to a 6th grade class in Denmark. It is Dictation material,
> so the sentences don't necessarily have be connected even though they are
> written together as I have listed.
I'm British English, living in Britain, will that do? Miss Elaine and
I have often differed about US/UK usage but she's mostly right in this
with Emglish as well as American.
> "Miss Elaine Eos" <Misc@*your-pants*PlayNaked.com> skrev i en meddelelse
> news:Misc-85F493.18521403092006@newsclstr02.news.prodigy.com...
>> In article <44fb1787$0$3481$edfadb0f@dread11.news.tele.dk>,
>> "jr" <jraahauge@NOSPAMyahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> I'm an American-English speaker, but I'm pretty sure these corrections
>> apply across the pond:
>>
>>> The following are sentenses used for dictation. Are they all gramatically
>>> correct and do they sound ok to a native english speaking person?
>>
>> "Sentences."
True.
>>> 1. Go out and see if you can get an egg, some tea and a carrot. We will
>>> see
>>> if they are ten.
>>
>> "Ten" what?
Indeed, that second sentence doesn't make sense. What are the 'they'
referred to?
>>> 4. Now we must go to mother to get some food. We must go for a walk too.
>>
>> "...for a walk, too."
Or "as well" instead of "too'", but the comma should definitely be
there.
>>> 10 At home we only have sun from five to seven. One day I will have a
>>> house
>>> with sun all day.
>>
>> Ok, but more commonly used is: "some day, I will have..."
In the UK "one day" is just as common. I would say "a house which gets
the sun all day" or "a house which has sun all day".
>>> 15. When he went into father's house tonight, he hit his foot on the
>>> door,
>>> which he used to get in.
>>
>> This sentence is awkward.
The word "used" depends on pronunciation. With a voiced 's' (uzed) it
meas "the door which he utilised to get in(to the house)" (compared wit
hthe other door which he didn't use). With a sharp (unvoiced) 's' it
would mean "the door which he utilised in the past to get in".
Eithe way the comma is wrong. Taken literally the comma implies that it
was the act of hitting his foot on the door which enabled him to get in.
>>> 25. That man has a house himself. He is so tall, that he can reach all
>>> the
>>> way to the top of his roof. In five years I am probably just as tall.
>>
>> "In five years, I will probably be..."
Yes, the tense is wrong, "in five years" is future and "I am" is
present. Although in English (and othr Germanic languages, at least) it
is permissible sometimes to use a present tense for a future event
("tomorrow I am going to the shops") it is used in English only
occasionally, and in this case it sounds wrong. If you had "going to
be" after "probably" that would be correct (making it future tense) and
would be common colloquial British English.
>>> 28. There the soft chairs are.
Correct but odd. I would only expect that sentence as an exclamation,
with 'There' emphasised (in speech, probably not in print although it
could be in itlics) and an exclamation mark instead of the full stop at
the end. This might be if the speaker had been looking for the chairs
and had just found them, for instance.
>>> 31......Those houses will take all the sun in my garden.
>>
>> "...Will block all the sun..."
Either, I think, but the latter is more common. However, "will take all
[of] the light" is common in the UK (but not "the sun"). The usage
isn't consistent.
>>> 37.....She looks towards the clock and feels sorrow that I want to leave
>>> again.
"... feels sorry" would be more common, or "feels unhappy". The
word "sorrow" is somewhat archaic or poetic.
>>> 38. Go and see if that was the newspaper, which came right now. It
>>> sounded
>>> as if. While I read it, you can make tea. There is bread right there, and
>>> you can go to the baker's for cake, if you want.
>>
>> "...The newspaper, which came just now. It sounded as if it may have
>> been. While I read it, you can make tea. There is bread right there, and
>> you can go to the baker's for cake, if you like" (or "...if you want
>> to.")
Or "it sounded like it" in colloquial British usage. In British
colloquial use "if you want" is common, although not grammatically
correct.
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I can almost read that! I don't speak Danish, but knowing some German
and Dutch helps...
Chris C
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