Sentences

Question

Hello!Should the following expressions be possible ?

1?I think it is a good way of learning English by watching English movies.

2?I think it a good way of learning English to watch English movies.

Thanks.

Rover_KE · Accepted Answer

Those sentences are not idiomatic.

This is better:

'I think watching English movies is a good way to learn English.'

Rover

Ivanhr · Answer

The "it (is)" part is redundant (and probably ungrammatical).

I think a good way of learning English is by watching English movies.

I would prefer the infinitive though

I think a good way to learn English is by watching English movies.

Yiduo · Answer

Thank you for your help!

Then how about "I think it is a good way of learning English to watch English movies"? It is also not idiomatic,isn't it? Beacause the front part of the sentence seems too long or complex,people will feel quite uneasy. Is that right ? Could you give me a hand again?

Anonymous · Answer

Neither are correct i'm afraid. You can either say :

1. I think a good way to learn english is to watch english movies.

2. To learn english, a good way is to watch english movies.

izzyx

Clive · Answer

Hi,

The word 'English' requires a capital letter.

Omitting it makes your writing incorrect.

Clive

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Rover_KEThose sentences are not idiomatic.

This is better:

'I think watching English movies is a good way to learn English.'

Rover

I agree completely. This sounds much more natural and idiomatic. Speaking from personal experience, this " reverse conceptual" effect (as I would call it) is derived from a language and grammatical difference between the natives who speak English naturally vs those of foriegn origins whose English expressions often require going through a translation process in their head. It is from this translation process that learners inevitably began to develope awkward and uncomfortable English patterns. Using the same sentence pattern, if I say "It is a good way to maintain good health by eating vegetables and fish", I think people in general would pick up the intended meaning. However, the meaning will sound much more pronounced and fluent if the sentene is: "Eating fish and vegetables is a good way to maintian good health". That's my opinion.

Yiduo · Answer

I think your analysis is quite reasonable. It helps a lot. Thanks.

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