Are these sentences natural? Jan 20

Question

Hi,Are the following sentences natural to a native ear?1. If didn’t have the god given talent in Soccer, he would not have been fit for a construction job. 2. We will go the accounting route. ( I said casually to a colleague. There were two ways of doing a thing) 3. The difference in the per meter prices of these materials is attributable to labor cost, manufacturing country and import cost.Thanks,MG.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

1. If he didn’t have a ***-given talent for soccer, he would not have been fit for a construction job.
2. We will go the accounting route.
3. The difference in the per-meter prices of these materials is attributable to labor cost, country of origin and import cost.

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

If didn’t have the *** given talent in Soccer, he would not have been fit for a construction job.

If HE didn't have A ... talent FOR (add HE after IF; change THE to A; change IN to FOR)
***-given (*** is usually spelt with capital G; the expression should be hyphenated (this is arguable))
soccer (no capital S)
The sentence doesn't make sense to me - soccer doesn't have much to do with construction, but that's not a grammar issue.

We will go the accounting route. ( I said casually to a colleague. There were two ways of doing a thing)

If you mean that you said "We will go the accounting route" then you should have double-quotes around it.
In that case I'd write:
"We will go the accounting route," I said casually to a colleague. (There were two ways of doing a thing.)
Traditionally there's a comma at the end of speech if the sentence continues, and it's inside the double-quotes, for no real logical reason.
The parenthetical sentence should have a full stop (period), which should be inside the parentheses, since it's a complete sentence that is parenthesised.
The sentence "There were two ways of doing a thing" is badly expressed; I'd suggest "There are two ways of doing everything" if you intend it as a general statement.

The difference in the per meter prices of these materials is attributable to labor cost, manufacturing country and import cost.

... is attributable to DIFFERENCES IN labor cost, COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE and import cost.
It's not clear to me how the country of manufacture specifically is responsible for differences in material cost; the other two factors (labor cost and import cost) make more sense to me.

Are these sentences natural? Jan 20

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions