Question as a part of sentence

Question

I want to know how can I express that I think something but it's only a guess and I'm not sure whether I have the right meaning. How should be the question 'what do you want' inserted into a sentence? 'If I understand what do you want...' or 'If I understand what you want' or something else?

If you find some mistakes in this post, please let me know about them. I'm a student and I want to learn good (therefore easy understandable) English.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I want to know how can I express that I think something but it's only a guess and I'm not ... post, please let me know about them. I'm a student and I want to learn good (therefore easy understandable) English.[/nq]
I have only noticed one grammar error in your message. The correct form is: "How should the question ... be inserted ...?" I'm also not certain that you have used the word "meaning" correctly.

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I want to know how can I express that I think something but it'sonly a guess and I'm not sure ... in this post, please let me know aboutthem. I'm a student and I want to learn good (therefore easyunderstandable) English.[/nq]
Also: easily understandable (not easy understandable)

redpenner

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Usenet · Answer

How about:

a) If I understand you correctly (right, properly),.. b) If I am not mistaking you,.. c) If my understanding (of someth.) is correct,..

(beware...I'm not a native speaker

)

Greets, Dejan

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]How about: a) If I understand you correctly (right, properly),.. b) If I am not mistaking you,.. c) If my ... isn't usually used in the continuous (or progressive) forms. More correct would probably be "If I am not mistaken ..."[/nq]
Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I want to know how can I express that I ... or 'If I understand what you want' or something else?[/nq]
[nq:1]The second one is thed correct form - it's known as an indirect question.[/nq]
[nq:2]If you find some mistakes in this post, please let ... and I want to learn good (therefore easy understandable) English.[/nq]
[nq:1]I have only noticed one grammar error in your message. The correct form is: "How should the question ... be inserted ...?" I'm also not certain that you have used the word "meaning" correctly. Regards, Einde O'Callaghan[/nq]
'If I understand you correctly' in my last sentence. But in Slovak (my native) language it will be expressed in past tense. But using 'if I understood you' means some conditional (hmm... here I lack proper words, because expressions in Slovak and English are the same, but with different meaning), and it's certainly not what I want, because my understanding was already done and 'if I understood you' means (as far as I know) that I'm only going to try to understand. Should I use 'if I have understood you...'? What is more common in English?

And thank you, guys. I doubt whether it is of some use to post messages into these newsgroups (strenghten by 3 hours delay promised from google), but it seems that it has

What quotation marks should I use? Now I'm using apostrophe ', because it is eastier for me to type than "...

And about the word 'meaning' : I wanted to express something like meaning, sense, relevance, reason, aim... Maybe I should learn to use dictionary. But it's really not simple, I have the Slovak word in my head, and some synonyms to it, and in dictionary they have forty translations and I don't know which one I should use.

I have just noticed that I'm using word 'should' in every third sentence... are there some good synomyms? Maybe have to, ought to or may (in some cases)?

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2] The second one is thed correct form - it's ... you have used the word "meaning" correctly. Regards, Einde O'Callaghan[/nq]
[nq:1]So, if I understand you correctly, 'If I understand what you are doing...' is also correct.[/nq]
Yes
[nq:1] 'If I understand you correctly' in my last sentence. But in Slovak (my native) language it will be expressed ... only going to try to understand. Should I use 'if I have understood you...'? What is more common in English?[/nq]
"If I understand you correctly ..." emphaisises that I understand you here and now.

"If I understood you correctly ..." could refer to a condition or it might refer to past time:

Conditional (present reference): "If I understood you correctly, I might no make so many mistakes."

Past: "If I understood you yesterday, I should still understand you today."

Although the latter could also be understood as a condition.

In the sentence "If I have understood you correctly, we will arrive at 5 o'clock", you have told me in the recent past, perhaps a few moments ago.
[nq:1] some sentences and we explained whether they are appropriate and what they actually mean. I have just noticed that I'm using word 'should' in every third sentence... are there some good synomyms? Maybe have to, ought to or may (in some cases)?[/nq]
"Ought to" is a direct synonym of "should"; "have to" and "may" are not synonyms of "should" in most cases. I always think "ought to" spounds a bit more formal. Your repeated use of "should" didn't disturb me at all - we don't really think of the repetition of auxiliary verbs (including modal auxiliaries like "should") as a form of repetition to be avoided at all costs - the meaning is the important thing.

Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

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