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Dmitriid Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Dispute over a sentence

Hi, all

I recently came across a sentence like this:

  I've been working on the project, the stuff was changed for a few times by the time, since summer.


It is quite obvious to me that this sentence is far from correct, so I proposed the following change:

  I've been working on a project, whose staff had already been changed a few times by the time I took over, since summer

I even suggested that a rewrite would be better:

I've been working on a project since summer. Its staff had already been changed a few times by the time I took over.


However, the author of the original sentence claims that his version is a perfectly valid sentence.

Here are my arguments against such a claim:
  • "the stuff was changed…" must be connected by a "whose"
  • "by the time" has no relation to anything in the sentence 
  • "stuff" must be changed to "staff" (this could have been a typo) 
Even though I'm quite sure I'm correct in this dispute, I may still be wrong, as English isn't my first language. What do you think?

Thank you
  

Top answer

English isn't my first language either. It's impossible for an outsider to know whether the article should be a project or the project. My suggestions: Since last summer, I have been working on a project whose staff had [already] been changed a few times by the time I took over.

— Cool Breeze

  • English isn't my first language either.
  • It's impossible for an outsider to know whether the article should be a project or the project.
  • My suggestions: Since last summer, I have been working on a project whose staff had [already] been changed a few times by the time I took over.
  • Since last summer, I have been working on the project, whose staff had [already] been changed a few times by the time I took over.
  • CB
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9 Answers
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English isn't my first language either. It's impossible for an outsider to know whether the article should be a project or the project. My suggestions:

Since last summer, I have been working on a project whose staff had [already] been changed a few times by the time I took over.

Since last summer, I have been working on the project, whose staff had [alread
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Hi dmitriid

I agree with you. The first sentence is awful. I liked your rewritten sentences (i.e. the version with two sentences), and I think CB had good suggestions, too.

Out of curiosity, is it possible that the person who wrote the original sentence was referring to the content/details of the project when he/she wrote "stuff"?
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I see nothing in the original about anyone "taking over" the project.
How did that idea get into the revisions?

Who knows? It could mean:

The scope of the project I've been working on since summer has been changed a few times.

(Following Yankee's suggestion, I got scope from stuff -- scope meaning, roughly, the contents of the project.)
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HI all

Thank you for your suggestions! Sorry for the long time it took me to reply. And sorry for not pointing out where the sentence came from in the first place.

The original sentence was an attempt to translate a Russian sentence whose meaning is as follows:


"????? ? ??????????? ??????, ?? ??????? ?? ???? ????????? ????? ?????? ?????????????" => 

"Th
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CJ and Amy are native speakers. The guy who translated is not ready to translating at a job yet.
I took over a project this summer that already had had six different teams of developers assigned to it.
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Grammar GeekCJ and Amy are native speakers
And Cool Breeze is so darn good, you might say he's even better than a native speaker.
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Without doubt! His English is better than most people I know. But when people get on a high horse and say "What does a native speaker say?" I know they're not going to be happy to be told they are wrong by anyone who isn't a native. (Never mind that the English you hear at a mall is far less standard than CB's!)
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Grammar Geek, thanks for your version. I would have never come up with it myself. Darn Emotion: smile
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YankeeAnd Cool Breeze is so darn good, you might say he's even better than a native speaker.
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