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Feathers Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

How to learn the natural way of English expression (conception)...?

0 I saw this in an ad for some English educational material:01blockquote
00In the following four sentences, there is one sentence which is clearly wrong. Other three are not that wrong, but they look fairly unnatural to native speakers. Most probably, you won`t be understood. 12br
12br
10 1. My eyesight is poor. 12br
102. Today`s English homework is difficult.12br
103. If I fail in the exam this year, I will challenge next year.12br
104. It can be said that the performance of this product of our company is better than any similar products of our competitors.12br
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00All four sentences make sense, grammatically correct, even if clumsy. I cannot understand what`s wrong with them. I will appreciate any input, any comment. Thanks a lot, in advance. 02br
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Top answer

01 --ok, not clumsy02br 02br 002 -- ok, not clumsy02br 02br 003 -- challenge seems to be out of place02br 02br 004 -- ok, not clumsy0-

— Inchoateknowledge

  • 01 --ok, not clumsy02br 02br 002 -- ok, not clumsy02br 02br 003 -- challenge seems to be out of place02br 02br 004 -- ok, not clumsy0-
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5 Answers
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01 --ok, not clumsy02br
02br
002 -- ok, not clumsy02br
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003 -- challenge seems to be out of place02br
02br
004 -- ok, not clumsy0-
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0I find 4 awkward.02br
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00More natural: It can be said that the performance of our company's product is better than any of our competitors' similar products.0-
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0 Hi IK, GG, very nice to see you both again,02br
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00I thought at first: although they look ok, they might not be easily understood in a vivid daily conversation, they looked to me literal, too verbatim translations from Japanese. After posting, I asked my American friend and got similar answer: they are not so unnatural!02br
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00I was about to buy
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0Those three look perfectly ok to me too, apart from number 4 being rather long-winded. They would all be understood and sound natural.02br
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00By the way, I don't like either of these sentences at all: Other three are not that wrong, but they look fairly unnatural to native speakers. Most probably, you won`t be understood. 02br
02br
00So it would defi
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0 Hi Nona, how nice to see you again, 02br
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00I am liable to use long-winded, awkward expressions, I`m afraid. And I find they are often not easily understood, even though they are taken from English textbooks/dictionaries. It`s one of the toughest language barriers to me. (Is there some cure for this..?)0-
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