Thursday January 26, 2012
Proof is in the pudding
Mind Our English
By Your Questions Answered By Fadzilah Amin
WHICH of these sentences is correct?
1. “All the political activities are already planned” or “All the political activity is already planned”.
2. How and when do we use “proof”, “prove” and “proven”? – CA Ooi
1. We usually use the plural “activities” in a sentence such as yours. Also, in British English and written American English, it is more common to use the present perfect tense with “already”. So, if you are writing the sentence, you should write: “All the political activities have already been planned.”
“Activity” can also be used as an uncountable noun, for example in a sentence like “There is usually a lot of political activity going on before a general election.”
2. “Proof” is usually used as a noun; “prove” is a verb; and “proven” is an adjective, and in US English, it is the past participle form of “prove”. In British English, the past participle of “prove” is usually “proved”.
Regarding how and when to use the above words, you would learn more if you look them up in the following website, which provides excellent definitions and examples of usage:
oald8.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com
Future tense
IS this sentence correct?
“She will think that he will be there.”
What does it mean? – Ahmad
The sentence is correct in some contexts. Another sentence can be placed before it to provide a context. For example:
“When he meets her this afternoon, he’ll tell her that he’s going to the class party next week. She will think that he will be there.”
Here, “will think” refers to this afternoon, and “will be” refers to a later time in the future, i.e. next week.
Compound adjective
ARE these sentences correct?
“We occupied a booth at the two days event.”
“We occupied a booth at the 2-day event.”
“The 2 days’ event was held at ...” – Jamie Yung
Only the second sentence is correct, i.e. “We occupied a booth at the 2-day event.” It would also be better to write the number in words, since two is less than 10. So, it should read:
“We occupied a booth at the two-day event.”
“Two-day” is a compound adjective that should be hyphenated, with the singular form of the noun “day” used. A “two-day event” is similar in form to a “five-star hotel” or a “five-day week”, for example.
Also, although we say “two days’ leave/holiday”, we don’t say “two days’ event”.
Business matters
WHICH word or phrase is correct in the following sentences?
1. Please be informed that we are not agree/agreeable to the condition as stated in/on the abovesaid letter.
2. In view that the/In view of the construction work of the said property is progressing very rapidly ... – MOE Confused
1. The correct expression is “we are not agreeable to the condition ...” and the correct preposition is “in”. Also, the word “abovesaid” is very old-fashioned and seldom used now. It would be better to write “above-mentioned” instead.
Your sentence should then read: “Please be informed that we are not agreeable to the condition as stated in the above-mentioned letter.
2. In your sentence, the correct expression to use is “In view that”, since the expression is followed by a clause. The incomplete sentence should then read: “In view that the construction work of the said property is progressing very rapidly ...”
You can use “in view of” if the expression is followed, not by a clause, but a noun phrase, e.g. “In view of the ongoing construction work on the said property ...”
Confusing sentences
I HAVE problems with the following sentences.
1. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you as one of the PC double-storey terrace house owners at Taman Kiwi.
The developer bought a pocket of land at Tmn Kiwi and the project name is called PC. Is the sentence correct?
2. Nowaday almost whole world people infatuated OR addicted with facebook.
3. Reminded Paul to settle the differential sum.
Have I used the correct simple past tense although the time is not mentioned?
If I change it to Had remind, is this the simple past tense? Had is sudah in Bahasa Malaysia, isn’t it?
4. “Kim Ji-hyeon, although you are not celebrate Christmas, but I still send you a card to wish you Merry Christmas.”
5. “Kim Ji-hyeon, although technical is very advance such as email, MSM etc ... but I still prefer using traditional method to send you a Christmas card to wish you Merry Christmas.”
6. Are/Will you coming tomorrow? – MOE reader
1. Your sentence is correct.
2. “Addicted” is a more suitable word to use here and “to” is used after it. Besides, “Facebook” should begin with a capital letter, since it is a proper noun. The first part of the sentence also needs to have some words changed. A better sentence would read:
“Nowadays, almost everybody in the world is addicted to Facebook.”
3. First of all, let me say that your sentence has no subject. Who “reminded Paul to settle the differential sum”? Let us say “I reminded Paul to settle the differential sum.” That is a sentence using the simple past tense of “remind”, i.e. “reminded”. You don’t always have to mention a time when you use the simple past tense. It depends on the context.
If you have written another sentence before that sentence which mentions the time, you don’t have to mention the time in this sentence. For example, you may have written: “Yesterday, I called Paul, Sheila and Ahmad on the phone. I reminded Paul to settle the differential sum.” The second sentence is correct. However, if your employer were to ask you: “Have you done what I asked you to do?”, you may answer: “Yes, I have reminded Paul to settle the differential sum.”, thus using the present perfect tense “have reminded” to say that you have done what he asked you to do, without mentioning when you did it.
Please don’t try to translate BM to English or vice versa word per word (i.e. literally). Every language has its own structure. There is no such verb as “had remind” in English! When writing in English, please try to think in English, and don’t try to apply the rules of another language to English. “Had reminded” is in fact the past perfect form of the verb “remind”.
4. The sentence should read: “Kim Ji-hyeon, although you do not celebrate Christmas, I will still send you a card to wish you Merry Christmas.”
We use the auxiliary verb “do” not “are” in a negative verb in the simple present tense. We use “are” if the verb is in the present continuous tense, i.e. “although you are not celebrating Christmas.” Also, don’t use “but” or “yet” after using “although”.
5. The sentence should read: “Kim Ji-hyeon, although we have very advanced technology such as that used in email, SMS etc., I still prefer using the traditional method to send you a Christmas card to wish you Merry Christmas.” (My changes are indicated in bold.)
6. You can say EITHER “Are you coming tomorrow?” OR “Will you be coming tomorrow?”
The present continuous tense can be used to talk about the future. If the person answering the question is sure he is coming and has made plans to do so, he will say: “Yes, I am coming.” If he is not sure, he may say: “I’ll try to come.” or “I’ll see if ...”
Source:
RSS
