Native speaker please help correct

Question

Could you please help me correct these sentences? Which are correct and what's the difference if both are correct? If there is a mistake, could you please correct it?

1 I want nothing to do with you./I want to have nothing to do with you.

2 There are more X people who have that than y people.
X people have that more than y people.

3 The salesperson spent 30 minutes with us and we bought nothing.

4 How should I apply lip gloss? Apply lip gloss with whatever you feel most comfortable. Either use x or y.

5 When I was a kid, I was all about the shoes. I always wanted brand shoes and not the store brand.

Thank you

Rover_KE · Accepted Answer

1 I want nothing to do with you./I want to have nothing to do with you. They are both correct and there's no difference.

2 There are more X people who have that than y people.
X people have that more than y people. I don't understand this.

3 The salesperson spent 30 minutes with us but we didn't buy anything.

4 How should I apply lip gloss? Apply lip gloss with whatever you feel most comfortable. Either use x or y. These are correct.

5 When I was a kid, I was all about ~~the~~ shoes. I always wanted designer shoes and not the store brands.

Rover

KrisBlueNZ · Answer

1 A. "I want nothing to do with you." This shortened version is okay. B. "I want to have nothing to do with you." Acceptable. I prefer "I DON'T want to (or I'M NOT GOING TO) have ANYTHING [MORE] to do with you." over both of those. All have the same meaning.

2 A. "There are more X people who have that than y people." B. "X people have that more than y people."
I will use an example for clarity.

A. "There are more young people who have computers than old people" It doesn't say what it is probably intended to mean. You need to add "who have them" at the end. Also you can change both instances of WHO HAVE to WITH.

B. "Young people have computers more than old people." Should add DO at the end.
Other similar sentences:

C. "More young people than old people have computers."
D. "More young people have computers than old people."
E. "Computer ownership is higher among young people than old people."
F. "Young people are more likely to own computers than old people [are]."
G. "Young people are more likely than old people to own computers."
Which sentence is best depends on exactly what you're trying to say. Some of those sentences have two possible intended meanings (maybe more):
H. "The [total] number of young people with computers is greater than the [total] number of old people with computers." If this is the intended meaning, I would spell it out, as in this sentence.

J. "Ownership of computers is more common (or HIGHER) among young people than [among] old people." If this is the intended meaning, I prefer sentence E or G.

3 "The salesperson spent 30 minutes with us and we bought nothing." Good.
Edit in response to Rover_KE's suggestion. The choice between AND and BUT depends on what attitude you're trying to convey. In the general sense, BUT WE DIDN'T BUY ANYTHING is more normal. Your original wording implies, to me, that you are insulting the salesman: he had half an hour to convince you to buy something, but instead you bought NOTHING. The difference is subtle, and BUT WE DIDN'T BUY ANYTHING is the normal way of putting it.

4 "How should I apply lip gloss? Apply lip gloss with whatever you feel most comfortable."
The question is okay but if you're specifically asking about what you should apply lip gloss WITH, you should ask "What should I apply lip gloss with?" or "With what should I apply lip gloss?" if you want to avoid ending the sentence with a preposition.

The answer is not grammatical; it needs WITH at the end. It would be better to change it to "Apply lip gloss with whatever FEELS (or IS) most comfortable." or "Apply lip gloss with ANYTHING THAT feels comfortable."

5 "When I was a kid, I was all about the shoes. I always wanted brand shoes and not the store brand."
"all about" used in this way is a casual Americanism and probably not appropriate in written work. I would change that sentence to "When I was a kid, my choice of shoes was very important to me." or similar.

"brand shoes" should be "name brand shoes" or maybe "branded shoes".
"not THE store brand" is appropriate if you only went to one store. If you went to different stores, and avoided the store brands at each store, you should say "not A store brand."

Native speaker please help correct

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