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Hela Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Articles

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me which of the following sentences are wrong ?

1) The / That book contained very little useful information.
2) People think I live in luxury but I don’t think a BMW is a luxury.
3) Call a porter, it’s too much luggage for you to carry.

4) a) The news that the local newspaper contains is shocking.
b) This news that a local newspaper contains is shocking.
c) This piece of news that a / the (?) local newspaper contains is shocking.

5) She bought a Picasso the last week of her stay in London.
6) The equipment in this laboratory is rather old.
7) Cocker Spaniel / A Cocker Spaniel (?) is one of the most popular pet dogs.
8) English is an appealing language but I don’t feel the same about the English.
9) There is a wonderful scenery in the eastern part of Turkey.

Thank you very much for your help.
Kind regards,
Hela
  

Top answer

Only 7-9 need work and I have repaired them: 7) Cocker Spaniels are one of the most popular pet dogs. 8) English is an appealing language but I don’t feel the same about Spanish. 9) There is wonderful scenery in the eastern part of Turkey.

  • Only 7-9 need work and I have repaired them: 7) Cocker Spaniels are one of the most popular pet dogs.
  • 8) English is an appealing language but I don’t feel the same about Spanish.
  • 9) There is wonderful scenery in the eastern part of Turkey.
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66 Answers
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Only 7-9 need work and I have repaired them:

7) Cocker Spaniels are one of the most popular pet dogs.
8) English is an appealing language but I don’t feel the same about Spanish.
9) There is wonderful scenery in the eastern part of Turkey.
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Hello Hela

Very good! Just a couple of comments:

5) She bought a Picasso the last week of her stay in London.] I would insert 'during' before 'the last week'; other people would be happy with it as it is, though.

7) The cocker spaniel is one of the most popular pet dogs.

8) English is an appealing language but I don’t feel the same about the English. ] This
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Dear Me Pedantic,

Thank you for your answers on the articles. Just one point do we need to capitalize "Cocker Spaniel" or not?

As far as the Babelfish exercise you sent me it needs a lot of concentration and for the time being I have a lot of work to do. So I may answer it at a later date if you don't mind. But please do send me more passages with blanks to fill in. I like thi
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Hello Hela

In BrE now, it's more usual to use lower-case for the vernacular names of plants and animals, unless part of the name is a proper name:

1. lesser celandine (flower)
2. greater spotted woodpecker (bird)
3. icterine warbler (bird)
4. African elephant (note capital A)
5. olive willow (tree)
6. golden collie
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Good morning,

Nothing of significance to add. Webster's treats dog breeds as common nouns, and in general AmE, animals and plants are treated generically. We have garter snakes (of which there are dozens of species, known only to herpetologists) and robins and wrens and raccoons and black bears.

I would guess, however, that dog breeders and other specialists may capitalize.
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Specialists may do the same here, now you mention it, Mister M. Newspapers often get into a terrible muddle, with lower-case this, and upper-case That.

Very few LSWs in these parts too, though well wooded; but GSWs are quite common. I don't know whether you've heard about the decline in what were once the commonest suburban birds over here: house sparrows, starlings, song thrushes. You
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Dear Mr Micawber,

Earlier on you wrote :"7) Cocker Spaniels are one of the most popular pet dogs."

Can we use a plural noun then add "are ONE of"?

To Mr Micawber and Mr Pedantic,

Regarding your comments about the different species of animals and particularly birds, at this time of the day or should I say "night" since it's 1:30 amI fi
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Hela,

Emotion: whisper "when my brainisworking properly"
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Good morning CalifJim,

When I wrote the sentence I was "effectivement" thinking about the tense in the subordinate clause and I used it on purpose to see if it worked. What I told myself was that the subordinate clause there was not an adverbial clause of time but rather a relative clause, i.e.,
"I'll try again AT WHICH TIME ?" "when my brain will be working properly."

Co
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"when" + "will" is extremely rare in English, except in questions, direct or indirect. (When will you be ready? I don't know when I will be ready.)

"I'll try again when my brain is working properly" is the more idiomatic choice.

Your logic is impeccable regarding the relative clause idea. Nevertheless, the native ear is not going to pick up the subtlety and will simp

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