Ordering food

Question

I'll have the burger.  OrI'd like the burger. OrI want the burger.  All are in use?

Dimsumexpress · Accepted Answer

They are all used.

I would say if you are referencing to a menu, "the" is fine but without the presence of a menu, I think "a burger" works better than "the burger".

Scenario: I was meeting a few friends at a coffee shop before going to a movie but I was late and the last one to arrive. Everyone already ordered.

Waitress: Are you ready to order?

Friends: We are running late, you'd better order.

Me (without seeing the menu): I think I'll have a Swiss cheese burgur with all the trims.

* If I had looked at the menu then ordered, then "the" is the correct article.

That's my opinion.

Yankee · Answer

pleasehelpAll are in use?

Hi PH

Didn't you tell us that you're a native speaker of English? Any native speaker ought to know the answer to that question. I'd say even many low-level ESL students would know the answer.

Sorry, but I just cannot fathom a native speaker of English ever finding it necessary to ask such a question.

What do you think the answer is?

Pleasehelp · Answer

I know all of them are undoubtedly in use but sometimes I tend to overanalyze and question what I'm about to say because in my subconscious the language we're using is not something I learned or was taught but a recollection of inherentedly recorded sounds that I've been trained to utilize due to my surroundings. Does that make sense?

I've grown up to be very meticulous about everything and I'm sure by the nature of most of my questions it is apparently so and even now as I'm writing, I have no idea how I'm putting these words together and whether or not it's grammactically accurate. I've never written an essay in my life and was never taught English grammar ever. It's very very frustrating because I question almost everything I say or write....

I have a lot of trouble with punctuation thanks to the lack of composition. Reading contemporary books and such is only further pickling this ordeal because I understand what I'm reading but I'm not learning from the complexity of the author's advanced grammatic skill or style of language.

Do I make any sense at all?

BTW do you guys always double check your writing or just skim through it after...?

Pleasehelp · Answer

Am I screwed or what....? This is very irritating for me and honestly I'm not the brightest person so it really takes a toll on my self esteem whenever I have to question my own ability to converse with another person....I mean who does that...?

But really, stay in school and education is really the key to a whole other spectrum whether it's with life or relationships. And interpersonal communication is also a good way of fine tuning articulation. Seriously...unless you're Johnny Depp, Charlize Theron, double MJs or you get my drift....

It's unfathomable to me too...and I hate it, but you guys are great!

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Hi Pleasehelp,

For what it is worth, this is my 2 cents.

I think your problems are pretty unique in terms of your English grammar. I'd venture to say that most natives with your "grammar deficiency" probably won't bother too much to rehabilitate it. The fact that you do is a positive attribute to your character which I commend. I think most volunteers can't help but to ask this question: Is he for real?

Observing your last two posts, if you told people you have problem with grammar, they would probably take it as a joke because you sounded completely natural and native. I think it's doubly hard for you to admit your langauge shortcoming and to ask the simplest of questions because you are a native.

Hey, don't get yourself too down! As long as you are benefiting from the forum, that's all that counts!

Clive · Answer

Hi,

With regard to the original query, I'm amazed that no-one has mentioned that such statements are almost always accompanied by the word 'please'.

At least, it forms part of Pleasehelp's name.

Best wishes, Clive

Ordering food

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