How would a teacher say

Question

How would a teacher say:Your American Express card doesn't have a predetermined credit limit. We base your credit limit on your past credit history. Your credit limit depends on your credit history.

KrisBlueNZ · Accepted Answer

That's very good.

You could replace predetermined with fixed.
You could remove the third sentence, since it duplicates (says the same thing as) the second sentence.

Anonymous · Answer

Are both sentence 2 and 3 correct. I could choose the one I want?
Which is better?

I was trying to write a sentence with base as a verb. Is this correct? Is it correct having 'the fact' 2 times?
I based the fact that the team had no chance of winning the game on the fact that there was only 5 minutes left in the game and not enough time to make a comeback.

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

1. Your American Express card doesn't have a predetermined credit limit.
2. We base your credit limit on your past credit history.
3, Your credit limit depends on your credit history.

Sentences 1 and 2 both have important information. Sentence 1 says that the limit is not predetermined, and sentence 2 explains how the limit is calculated. Sentence 3 is unnecessary.

Yes, sentence 2 uses base as a verb, and it is correct.

"I based ~~the fact~~ my opinion that the team had no chance of winning the game on the fact that there was only 5 minutes left in the game and not enough time to make a comeback."

It's not a fact that the team had no chance of winning the game; that's an opinion or a judgement. It's a fact that there was only five minutes remaining in the game. Your use of based as a verb is good.

Anonymous · Answer

Hi KrisBlueNZ,

I have been trying to make the sentence clear as possible, I've corrected and recorrected them over and over. Now I can't seem to get them better. Can you help me on them? It is not homework. It is curiosity. Some I hear on tv from sports.

1 Is this a correct question in terms of being natural?
Is this a correct question in terms of naturality?

2 Do you ask the question like this about a hard drive? Is this how you answer?
How many gigabyte is the computer's hard drive? The hard drive is 256 gigabytes.
How big is the hard drive? The hard drive is 256 gigabytes big.

3 He is getting booed every time he touches the ball.
He is getting booed every time he is touching the ball.
He gets booed every time he touches the ball.
He gets booed every time he is touching the ball.

4 This sentence would normally be said after the game has been lost.
How did they manage to lose against such a bad team.

If the game is ongoing and the team is losing by 20 points how would you say the sentence then.

How are you managing to be losing against such a bad team?
How are you managing to lose against such a bad team?
How do you manage to be losing against such a bad team?

5 It is amazing how records don't matter./don't mean anything. A bad team can beat a good team. It depends on the night.

6 If animals have a superior instinct to feel danger coming, then I have nothing to worry about, because my dog is slumped on the couch, unconcerned about the end of the world tomorrow. Animals seem to have a instinct that danger is at their door. We had several cats exhibit signs of restlessness as they grew closer to death.

7 What's better, that I go shopping tonight or tomorrow morning in terms of crowd control in terms of not having to wait in line long?

8 I sleep with a mouthpiece to keep me from grinding my teeth. If I don't wear it for a few days, it feels tight when I wear as if my teeth have slightly moved and no longer fit in the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is a tight fit. I wear it regardless and the next morning it's like my teeth are back to the exact same shape as the mouthpiece.

9 You have one wish what will that be?
I wish for him to come back to life.
I wish that he would come back to life.
I hope he will come back to life.
I hope for him to come back to life.

Thank you for the time and effort and Happy Holidays.

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

Hi Anonymous

I'm not exactly sure what some of your questions are. I'll do my best.

> I have been trying to make the sentence clear as possible, I've corrected and
> recorrected them over and over. Now I can't seem to get them any better. Can you
> help me on with them? It is not homework. It is curiosity. Some I hear on tv TV from
> sports programs.

You should not use a comma between possible and I've; you should use a period or a semicolon. This is because the two sentences ("I have been ... possible" and "I've corrected ...") either stand independently on their own, or are two different ways of saying almost the same thing. A semicolon would be best. As it stands, it's a run-on sentence. People often use commas like that, but it IS wrong.

Other corrections as marked.

> 1 Is this a correct question in terms of being natural?
> Is this a correct question in terms of naturality?

Correct and natural are not the same thing. A question could be correct without being natural. Since you're only interested in whether the question is natural, you should remove correct. Also, natural refers to whether the question sounds natural, when spoken out loud or imagined.

"Does this question sound natural?" or "Is this question written in a natural way?"

> 2 Do Would you ask ~~the~~ a question like this about a hard drive? Is this how you would answer?
> How many ~~gigabyte~~ gigabytes is the computer's hard drive?
That's acceptable, or you could ask "How many gigabytes does the computer's hard drive hold?" or "How big is the computer's hard drive?"
> The hard drive is holds 256 gigabytes.
> How big is the hard drive?
> The hard drive is 256 gigabytes ~~big~~ in size. (or in capacity.)

Big isn't used in that way. It's a bit of a special case. You can say "I am 175 cm tall" because tall, wide and deep are associated with distance (centimetres, inches, feet, metres, miles etc) but not "My swimming pool is 50,000 gallons big". Big and small do not have quantities of distance, area or volume; they are just used for comparison.

> 3 He is getting booed every time he touches the ball. -- acceptable.
> He is getting booed every time he is touching the ball. -- unusual use of tense. Probably acceptable but I wouldn't say it; mainly because it's unnecessarily complex.
> He gets booed every time he touches the ball. -- good.
> He gets booed every time he is touching the ball. -- bad.

"he is touching the ball" would mainly be used when he is actually touching the ball at this moment. You can use it in the sense of "Every time he is touching the ball, is happening". I'm at the limit of my understanding of grammar here. You need to ask an expert about this.

> 4 This sentence would normally be said after the game has been lost.
> How did they manage to lose against such a bad team.

Very good. The phrase "manage to lose" implies that they must have tried really hard to lose.

> If the game is ongoing and the team is losing by 20 points how would you say the sentence then.

> How are you managing to be losing against such a bad team? -- good but unnecessarily wordy.
> How are you managing to lose against such a bad team? -- good.
> How do you manage to be losing against such a bad team? -- sounds like slightly mixed tense?

That's a very good question.
Again I'm at the limit of my understanding of grammar here. You need to ask an expert.

> 5 It is amazing how records don't matter./don't mean anything. -- fine.
> A bad team can (I suggest adding sometimes) beat a good team. It depends on the night. -- good.

> 6 If animals have a superior instinct to feel danger coming, then I have nothing to worry
> about, because my dog is slumped on the couch, unconcerned about the (I suggest
> inserting coming or upcoming or imminent here) end of the world tomorrow. Animals
> seem to have a an instinct that danger is at their door. We had several cats exhibit
> signs of restlessness as they grew closer to death.

That's mostly good, but I think you're not using instinct correctly. An instinct is generally a pre-programmed behaviour; for example the fight-or-flight instinct. I'm not sure you can describe the "instinctive ability to feel danger coming" as an instinct.

> 7 What's better, that I go shopping tonight or tomorrow morning in terms of crowd control
> in terms of not having to wait in line long?

I suggest starting with "Is it better [for me] to go shopping tonight or tomorrow morning ...". It avoids that I go which is unnecessarily complicated.
Crowd control is something that is done by event organisers; the term doesn't really relate to you as an individual shopper. You could perhaps use crowd size or crowding or just crowds.
"Will the shops be less busy (or less crowded) tonight or tomorrow?"

> 8 I sleep with a mouthpiece to keep me from grinding my teeth. If I don't wear it for
> a few days, it feels tight ~~when I wear as if~~ when I wear it, as if my teeth have
> ~~slightly moved~~ (not wrong, but moved slightly is more natural) and no longer fit in
> the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is a tight fit. I wear it regardless, (comma here)
> and the next morning it's ~~like~~ (as if is probably better) my teeth are back to the
> exact same shape as the mouthpiece.

Good.

> 9 You have one ~~wish what~~ wish; what or wish. What will ~~that~~ it be? -- or "What is it?"
> I wish for him to come back to life. -- good.
> I wish that he would come back to life. -- acceptable.
> I hope he will come back to life. -- ok, but this is a wish.
> I hope for him to come back to life. -- ditto

Anonymous · Answer

Hi,
Thank you first of all for the help, it was very helpful.

6 If animals have a superior instinct to feel danger coming, then I have nothing to worry
> about, because my dog is slumped on the couch, unconcerned about the (I suggest
> inserting coming or upcoming or imminent here) end of the world tomorrow. Animals
> seem to have a an instinct that danger is at their door. We had several cats exhibit
> signs of restlessness as they grew closer to death.

That's mostly good, but I think you're not using instinct correctly. An instinct is generally a pre-programmed behaviour; for example the fight-or-flight instinct. I'm not sure you can describe the "instinctive ability to feel danger coming" as an instinct.

How would you write #6 if you don't say instincts?

8 I sleep with a mouthpiece to keep me from grinding my teeth. If I don't wear it for
> a few days, it feels tight ~~when I wear as if~~ when I wear it, as if my teeth have
> ~~slightly moved~~ (not wrong, but moved slightly is more natural) and no longer fit in
> the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece is a tight fit. I wear it regardless, (comma here)
> and the next morning it's ~~like~~ (as if is probably better) my teeth are back to the
> exact same shape as the mouthpiece.

Does 'it feels tight convey what I'm trying to say? Do you say that 'teeth fit in a mouthpiece'? Does 'a tight fit' mean the same? Is this a natural sentence: My teeth are back to the exact same shape as the mouthpiece.

I'm having a bit of a hard time with rather. Can you please help?
What would make these better?

I'd would rather have worked this week than next week.

I'd rather he came back when he has/had enough time than stayed for just 5 minutes.

I would rather have been pregnant than not.

How you would say it entirely different? had or has ?

If I ___ to choose, I'd rather you didn't smoke.

If I ___ to choose, I'd rather you hadn't smoked.

Can you tell if this is natural? I don't know where to start correcting.

A) When I lived in USA, I would watch TV shows on television. Now that I am back in my country, I have to watch them on my computer. I would like to watch them on television as if I was in USA.

B) She was married to someone who isn't of the same religion as you.
She was married to someone who doesn't have the same religion as you.

C) With a studio apartment, he had no other room to go when he got into a fight with his girlfriend. He bought the studio next door broke the separation wall so that they could have different rooms to stay in whenever they fought.

D) My wife and I have the same ideas /views /opinion in terms of / in regard to our future son's upbringing and education. We are both strict and want the best education for him. Parents with different views their children's upbringing and education would have trouble not being okay with the way they both want to raise their child. We were both brought up the same and are [of] the same social class. Our families are both of /from middle class.

E) I don't know if you watch any youtube videos, but if you try placing your mouse on the bar that allows you to go to anywhere in the video, you'll see a thumbnail. That is what I'm trying to explain. How would you?

This video streaming system allows you to see where any scene is by placing the mouse over the line (tool data bar) that loads the movie and a small thumbnail with the scene the mouse is on will pop up as you drag the mouse across the bar you will see the different scenes coming up as a little thumbnail.

Happy New Year, and sorry for the bother. I will stop talking about your time.
Thank you

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

Re 6, I would say "If animals have a superior ability to feel danger coming, ...", or if you want to use instinct, you could say "If animals have an instinctive ability to feel danger coming, ...".

Re 8, yes, I think "feels tight" conveys the right idea. A "tight fit" can imply an uncomfortably tight fit, at least for a mouthpiece. A "snug fit" would imply tight but not uncomfortable, and a "good fit" or a "proper fit" implies correct and not uncomfortable. "teeth fit in a mouthpiece" is OK but I would just say "teeth fit a mouthpiece" (no "in). "My teeth are back to the exact same shape as the mouthpiece" is OK. It might be better to say "My teeth have returned to the exact shape of the mouthpiece".

"I'd would rather have worked this week than next week" is OK.

With "I'd rather he came back when he has/had enough time than stayed for just 5 minutes" I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Perhaps you could say "I'd rather he came back when he had had enough time ..." to match the tense. Otherwise it seems fine. "I would rather have been pregnant than not" sounds OK.

"If I had to choose, I'd rather you didn't smoke."
"If I had had to choose, I'd rather you hadn't smoked." (Or "If I'd had to ...")

Re watching TV shows, I've answered that in another thread.

"She was married to someone who wasn't the same religion as you." (This matches the tense, but isn't is OK too, assuming that person is still alive.)

"She was married to someone who doesn't have the same religion as you." - OK, assuming that person is still alive. Otherwise you would have to use didn't instead of doesn't.

"With a studio apartment, he had no other room to go to (or into) when he got into a fight with his girlfriend. He bought the studio next door and broke the separation wall so that they could have different rooms to stay in whenever they fought." Good, with those two additions.

"My wife and I have the same ideas / views / opinion I would use opinions, but ideas and views are OK too in terms of / in regard to I would just use about, but in regard to or with regard to are OK too our future son's upbringing and education. We are both strict and want the best education for him I would repeat we both: "We are both strict and we both want the best ...". Parents with different views should be views on or opinions on or opinions about their children's upbringing and education would have trouble not being okay with the way they both want to raise their child I suggest would disagree about how the child should be raised. We were both brought up the same too vague; I suggest raised with similar values or raised in similar environments and are [of] the yes, are of the or belong to the same social class. Our families are both of/from middle class. I would combine that last sentence with the previous one: "... and our families are both middle-class." or "... and are from middle-class families".

Yes, I watch a lot of YouTube videos. I would say something like "If you hover the mouse over the progress/seek bar, a thumbnail appears, and follows the mouse, showing the video's content at the time pointed to by the mouse."

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for you time and effort and opinion and correction. Happy New year to you and your family.

May you please help me understand it better?

What about OF?
"She was married to someone who wasn't OF the same religion as you." (This matches the tense, but isn't is OK too, assuming that person is still alive.)

Wall separation: Is it a word?
"With a studio apartment, he had no other room to go to (or into) when he got into a fight with his girlfriend. He bought the studio next door and broke the separation wall so that they could have different rooms to stay in whenever they fought." Good, with those two additions.

The hardest thing for me is rather and subjuctive with rather and prefer. Can you explain in the following examples please for me?

I don't know what is correct.
A"If I had to choose, I'd rather you don't smoke.
B"If I had to choose, I'd rather you not smoke.

A If the bus came/had come/was coming in 10 minutes, I would/would have run to get my phone at home.

What is the different between

AIf you are going to bring it up every two minutes, I'd prefer you didn't pay for me.
BIf you are going to bring it up every two minutes, I'd prefer you don't pay for me.

AIf you are going to bring it up every two minutes, I'd rather you don't didn't pay.

AIf you are going to bring it up every two minutes, I'd rather you not pay. (is this structure only possible with prefer?)

Whats correct?
I'd prefer you go home if you really want to know.
I'd prefer you go home if you really want to know.

I'd prefer you not to see a doctor today.
I'd prefer you not see a doctor today.

I don't know if it is correct.

She would rather buy a dog than go on vacation, when we already have a dog.
I'd rather be in the car if it crashes than her.
I'd rather be in the car if it crashes than have her be in it if it does.

This is killing me.
A condition sentence has 2 clauses, and if clause and a would clause.

Which is the the if clause in the following?

[Especially] if he was going do something that dangerous, I would be tempted to tell his parents if I was him.

Which is the condition sentence?

Especially if he was going do something that dangerous, I would be tempted to tell his parents.

or

I would be tempted to tell his parents if I was him.

How should one write the following?

I like putting the groceries in the fridge neatly in order of expiry with the products expiring first at the front.

I think 1 and 3 are correct. 2 isn't symmetrical. Symmetry : The longer.... the brighter, unsymmetrical: Get brighter... the longer. Is this correct?

Low energy light bulbs get brighter as you go.
Low energy light bulbs get bright the longer you leave them on.
The longer you leave on the a low energy light bulb, the brighter it gets.

In between sizes and between sizes, purshased, common or popular

I am between a size M and X. The most purchased/popular/common size is M or X.
He is shorter than me but more built more tone than me.
Is there a size between the 2. This box of chocolate are too small. That one is too big. Do you have a size in between/between the 2?

verb shampooing
How would you express: This barber does the best shampooing. This barber did the best shampooing of all the barbers I've been to.
Before the barber cuts one's hair, he shampoos it. I'm trying to say that that was the best.

Again Happy New Year. Thank you in advance

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

"... someone who isn't the same religion ..."
"... someone who isn't of the same religion ..."
"... someone who doesn't have the same religion ..."
"... someone who doesn't follow the same religion ..."
These all mean pretty much the same thing.

"Wall separation" isn't an idiom. "Wall of separation" is an idiomatic phrase, but it doesn't refer to a physical wall separating two rooms. See http://google.com/?q=meaning+of+wall+of+separation

"He bought the studio next door and broke the ~~separation~~ separating wall so [that] they could have different rooms ..."
I would say separating wall. The wall separates the two rooms; its action or function or purpose is to separate the two rooms, so it is a separating wall. Here, separating is a present participle, or you could also call it an adjective, since it describes the wall (by identifying its function or purpose).

A. "If I had to choose, I'd rather you don't smoke." - Wrong - tense mismatch, I think. With "If I had to choose", I would use "I'd rather [that] you didn't smoke."

B. "If I had to choose, I'd rather you not smoke." - OK, I think.

C. "If the bus ~~came / had come /~~ was coming in 10 ten minutes, I would ~~/ would have~~ run to get my phone at from home."

I'm assuming that you're talking about making a decision whether to run back home to get your phone or not, based on how soon the bus was due. You're talking about the future; something that is going to happen or due to happen at some future time, i.e. ten minutes from now, looking into the future. So you can't say "If the bus came in ten minutes" or "If the bus had come in ten minutes" because you would be mixing tenses. So I will assume "If the bus was coming in ten minutes [from now], ...". It would be clearer to say "If the bus was due [to arrive] [here] [in] ten minutes [from now], I would ..."

"If the bus was due [here] in ten minutes, I would run home to get my phone."

D. "If you are going to bring it up every two minutes, I'd prefer you didn't pay for me." - OK.

E. "If you are going to bring it up every two minutes, I'd prefer you don't pay for me." - Mixed tenses I think; the problem is clear if you expand I'd and don't: "I would prefer you do not" sounds wrong to me; it should be "I would prefer you did not" as in sentence D.

F. "If you are going to bring it up every two minutes, I'd rather you ~~don't~~ didn't pay." - Same as sentence E. Should end with "... pay for me" for clarity.

G. "If you are going to bring it up every two minutes, I'd rather you not pay." - OK, I think. Should end with "... pay for me" for clarity.

Prefer and rather are both fine in these examples. I would use rather myself. To me, "I would rather [that] ..." is more natural and casual than "I would prefer [that] ...".

~~Whats~~ What's correct?
(What's is a contraction of what is; you need an apostrophe to indicate the letters that have been omitted.)

H. "I'd prefer you go home if you really want to know."
J. "I'd prefer you go home if you really want to know."
Those sentences are the same. They're OK I think. I would add a comma after home. I would say "I'd rather [that] you went home, if you really want to know". You could exchange the parts before and after the comma.

K. "I'd prefer you not to see a doctor today."
L. "I'd prefer you not see a doctor today."
I think both are OK. I am not confident answering this one. I would say "I'd rather you didn't see a doctor today" or "I'd prefer that you didn't see a doctor today".

M. "I don't know if it is correct."
Are you asking for my opinion on that sentence? It's OK. It's more explicit to say "I don't know whether it is correct or not."

N. "She would rather buy a dog than go on a vacation, ~~when~~ although or even though we already have a dog.!"
Or "She would rather buy a second or another dog than go on a vacation!"

P. "I'd rather be in the car if it crashes than her." - Sounds pretty clumsy to me
Q. "I'd rather be in the car if it crashes than have her be in it if it does." - Ditto.

"If the car crashes, I'd rather it was me inside it than her" is a reasonable attempt. Or "If someone crashes the car and is killed, I'd rather it was me than her" is my best attempt, I think. The idea is a bit complicated and expressing it always going to sound a bit clumsy.

R. "[Especially] if he was going do something that dangerous, [then] I would be tempted to tell ~~his~~ my parents if I was him."

In my interpretation, "If he was going to do something that dangerous" is the IF-clause, and the WOULD-clause includes a subordinate IF-clause within it. If you were him, then his parents would be your parents; that's why I changed "tell his parents" to "tell my parents".

S. "I like or prefer ~~putting~~ to put ~~the~~ my groceries in the fridge neatly, (comma here) in order of expiry, (comma here) with the products expiring first or oldest products at the front."

T. "Low energy light bulbs get brighter as you go." - Wrong; as you go is not appropriate here.
U. "Low energy light bulbs get ~~bright~~ brighter the longer you leave them on." - Good
V. "The longer you leave on ~~the~~ a low energy light bulb on or running [for], the brighter it gets." - Acceptable.

Sentence V uses the idiomatic form "The longer ... the brighter ..." and is good, but in this case, it looks a bit clumsy because there are so many significant words between "the longer ..." and "the brighter". That form works best when the whole sentence is brief; for example "The harder you work, the richer you get".

Sentence U operates the same way, but isn't expressed "the longer ... the brighter ..."; it's arranged differently: "... get brighter the longer ...". This is also idiomatic, and more appropriate in this case, because it puts longer and brighter close together, while still including the necessary words low, energy, light, bulb, for, and on or running.

V. "I am between a size M and a size X." Or "I am between sizes M and X."

W. "The most often purchased or popular or common ~~size is M or X~~ sizes are M and X". I would use popular.

X. "He is shorter than me but more ~~built more tone~~ muscular than me." The final than me is superfluous.

Y. "Is there a size [in] between the or these 2 two ?" - A question should end with a question mark. Numbers below 11 are often spelled out; I would definitely spell out two in this case.

Z. "This box of ~~chocolate~~ chocolates ~~are~~ is too small. That one is too big. Do you have a size in between or between the 2 two?" Re in between vs. between, either is acceptable in this sentence. Which one I would choose depends on the details of the other words in the sentence in a way that's hard to explain and not very important. I would say "Do you have a size in between them?"

Bzzt! When you reach sentence Z, it's game over. That's my rule; I just made it up ;-)

If this post has blank lines where there shouldn't be any, or blank lines missing, it's because of the EnglishForward forum software. I try to adjust the post so it displays how I want it, but sometimes the forum just won't let me make it right.

I'm working near or at the limit of my grammar knowledge, especially with sentences A, B, G, K and L. My answers may not be exactly right.

Anonymous · Answer

Sorry for the whole alphabet and thank you for the help.
If you have a second to answer

You said this for is idiomatic, is this how you would put it?
The heavier the items in the trolley the slower it goes because of the pressure on the wheels.

verb shampooing
How would you express: This barber does the best shampooing. This barber did the best shampooing of all the barbers I've been to.
Before the barber cuts one's hair, he shampoos it. I'm trying to say that that was the best.

Can you incapacitate someone at a certain percent/percentage?

The gangster hit me so hard and incapacitated me at 70%.
After sustaining an injury to his knee while working on a machine, the client was initially incapacitated at 70%. (how do you give percentages?)

Is recline correct? What is opposite to recline?

Do you want me to recline the gurney or have the back upright? [Decline Incline the gurney in upright position?]

Thank you for helping me.

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