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1. Hardly a day passes in our life without reading something orother.
Is something wrong with this sentence? Am I correct to say that Instead of 'our life', 'our lives' should have been used? 'Without our reading something?' seems proper. Is the sentence correct without our?
2. "Interestingly, the first research on eye movements in reading wascarried out in France as long as the late nineteenth century." Is this correct use of as long as? Shouldn't it have been as early as or as far back as ? The quoted passage is from a piece of writing by Joan van Emden. I do not know if the editor has tampered with the essay.

3. "If you have difficulty reading at the same distance as yourfriends, go to an optician and make sure that if you need spectacles, you have them." (Joan van Emden)
What do you think of the sentence? Is this a natural way of writing? 'Reading at the same distance', will this sound natural to a native user? A person wrote a letter to the editor of a daily saying that instead of 'you have them' 'you have them on' should have been used (to mean 'be wearing'). What do you think of this suggestion? This and the above sentence are taken from a piece of writing which is said in the textbook to be of Ms. Joan van Emden, (formerly of Reading University).

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]1. Hardly a day passes in our life without reading something or other. Is something wrong with this ... 'our life', 'our lives' should have been used? 'Without our reading something.' seems proper. Is the sentence correct without our?[/nq]
Days don't read. People do, and yes, it should be "lives".
[nq:1]2. "Interestingly, the first research on eye movements in reading was carried out in France as long as ... a piece of writing by Joan van Emden. I do not know if the editor has tampered with the essay.[/nq]
"... as long ago as the ..." would have done nicely. Maybe the "ago" got lost.
[nq:1]3. "If you have difficulty reading at the same distance as your friends, go to an optician and make sure ... piece of writing which is said in the textbook to be of Ms. Joan van Emden, (formerly of Reading University).[/nq]
I wouldn't have written that sentence as it stands, but part of the problem can be cured by inserting a "do" after "friends". As for the spectacles, again, in my opinion it's a bit clumsy, but it is not incorrect grammatically.
Others may have more to say about this.

Skitt (in SF Bay Area) http://www.geocities.com/opus731/ I speak English well I learn it from a book!
Manuel (Fawlty Towers)

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]1. Hardly a day passes in our life without reading something or other. Is something wrong with this sentence?[/nq]
"Reading" has no subject, unless it's the day that's doing the reading.
[nq:1]Am I correct to say that Instead of 'our life', 'our lives' should have been used?[/nq]
Some people would prefer that. (Some would also say "your life" or "one's life".) But it's common to use a singular noun with a plural promonimal adjective when the intent is to imply that there's one of the noun per person, which is certainly true of lives. For example, "Most of us put our hands up. Some of us only put up our right hand up."
[nq:1]'Without our reading something...' seems proper. Is the sentence correct without our?[/nq]
It's not strictly correct, I'd say, but people do make this sort of elision in speaking.
[nq:1]2. "Interestingly, the first research on eye movements in reading was carried out in France as long as the late nineteenth century." Is this correct use of as long as?[/nq]
No.
[nq:1]Shouldn't it have been as early as or as far back as ? ...[/nq]
"As long ago as" is also possible. Normally I would suspect that someone had a mental lapse and combined this with "as early as", but since the passage was being quoted, it seems more likely that it was miscopied.
[nq:1]3. "If you have difficulty reading at the same distance as your friends, go to an optician and make sure that if you need spectacles, you have them." (Joan van Emden) What do you think of the sentence? Is this a natural way of writing?[/nq]
Well, "spectacles" is a bit unusual. For me the normal word is "glasses" (or "eyeglasses", if you want to make it clear that you don't mean things you drink from). This might vary from one country to another, though.

I also don't usually think of reading as being something you do at a particular distance; but that's because I *do* have the glasses I need.

I don't see anything really wrong with it.
[nq:1]'Reading at the same distance', will this sound natural to a native user?[/nq]
It sounds natural to this native user grammatically, anyway. As I said, it's not a concept I usually think of.
[nq:1]A person wrote a letter to the editor of a daily saying that instead of 'you have them' 'you have them on' should have been used (to mean 'be wearing'). What do you think of this suggestion?[/nq]
It makes no sense. If you need to go to an optician, you need to buy glasses (or contact lenses). So "have" clearly means "possess" here. Why would someone write "a letter to the editor of a daily" about a sentence in a book, anyway?

Mark Brader > A computer(')s view of the world is analogous (to) Toronto > a flashlight in the dark. What they can see, they (Email Removed) > see well. What they can't see, they see not at all.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]1. Hardly a day passes in our life without reading something or other. Is something wrong with this sentence? Am I correct to say that Instead of 'our life', 'our lives' should have been used?[/nq]
Both are correct. Some writers prefer one, some the other.
[nq:1]'Without our reading something.' seems proper. Is the sentence correct without our?[/nq]
Don't see why not. The meaning is clear.
[nq:1]2. "Interestingly, the first research on eye movements in reading was carried out in France as long as ... a piece of writing by Joan van Emden. I do not know if the editor has tampered with the essay.[/nq]
Correct version: "as long ago as"
[nq:1]3. "If you have difficulty reading at the same distance as your friends, go to an optician and make sure ... piece of writing which is said in the textbook to be of Ms. Joan van Emden, (formerly of Reading University).[/nq]
Sentence is fine.
Adrian

Usenet · Answer

.
[nq:2]3. "If you have difficulty reading at the same distance ... mean 'be wearing'). What do you think of this suggestion?[/nq]
[nq:1]It makes no sense. If you need to go to an optician, you need to buy glasses (or contact lenses). ... or sold by a particualr company(from the glossary at the end of an excerpt from Three Men in a Boat)[/nq]
The reason: There is mention of patent liver-pill in the given extract. The editor is a reader at a University.
What do you think of this 'interpretation'
one more exanple
St. Vitus's Dance- a type of rheumatic fever
the person is
P. ..M.A., M.Litt., Ph.D. PGDTE English Language Teaching Teacher Education Materials Production
PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY
I do not find anything unethical in giving out his name. But that may embarass some people.
kris

Usenet · Answer

Note also that the name "van Emden" is her marital surname: I used to work with Joan van Emden, and she's British, and her English was unexceptionable.
Mike.

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