Whose house

Question

Hello,Is my sentence proper?The man says, hardwood floor makes lots of noise. He points out that he had a neighbour whose house was covered/had  a hardwood floor and it mad lots of noise so that other neighbours were angry. Or Can I say ''whose floor was mad of hardwood and .....Thank you for your reply.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

The man says, hardwood floor makes lots of noise.

The man says, "Hardwood floors make lots of noise." (or)

The man said that hardwood floors make lots of noise.

He pointed out that he had (had had) a neighbour whose house had a hardwood floor and it had made so much noise that the other neighbours got angry.

PS: Personally, I find this story rather unbelievable.

Quaerereverum · Answer

Thank you AlpheccaStars for reply.

It was ETS questions for TOEFL IBT,.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Hardwood floors don't make noise. People do. So to say:

hardwood floor makes lots of noise.

is semantically illogical. It's makes more sense to say: hardwood floor is prone / susceptible to noise.

He points out that he had a neighbour whose house was covered/had a hardwood floor and it made lots of noise so that other neighbours were angry.

He points out that he had a neighbor with a noisy hardwood floor which made other neighbors very unhappy.

Avangi · Answer

dimsumexpressHardwood floors don't make noise. People do.

dimsumexpressis semantically illogical.

This "semantic" argument seems a bit manque. Isn't it a collaborative effort? Do the cymbals make the noise or does the cymbalist?

Do the wind chimes make the noise, or does the wind?

The grass rustled as the wind passed through. Let's give credit where credit is due!

<< He points out that he had a neighbor with a noisy hardwood floor. >> This is perfectly acceptable to me, but it requires a certain amount of semantic latitude.

I heard a noisy woodpecker. Even the woodpecker is silent without his tree.

Avangi · Answer

quaerereverum He points out that he had a neighbour whose house was covered/had a hardwood floor

quaerereverumOr Can I say ''whose floor was made of hardwood and .....

Concerning these specific issues, "whose house was covered with/by a hardwood floor" would not be idiomatic.

". . . . a neighbour whose floor was made of hardwood" is better style than --
". . . . a neighbour whose house had a hardwood floor," but both are correct.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

AvangiThis "semantic" argument seems a bit manque. Isn't it a collaborative effort? Do the cymbals make the noise or does the cymbalist?

AvangiLet's give credit where credit is due!

I have not meant to discredit anyone and used no words to do so. The revision(s) I made merely pointed out what appeared to me as odd.

Yes, it is. However, it requires a supportive context or agent if you will: the hardwood floor makes a lot of noise[when people were walking across]it], just as the the same as your example "The grass rustled as the wind passed through."

AvangiI heard a noisy woodpecker. Even the woodpecker is silent without his tree.

I am sure you still remember the Woody the woodpecker's cartoon and its laughs.

Avangi my Pal, has it occurred to you that a woodpecker is not an inanimate object? If you have to make an interlectually challenging argument in logic, I think you need to find another examples. Even you pointed out "Isn't it a collaborative effort?".

Avangi<< He points out that he had a neighbor with a noisy hardwood floor.>> This is perfectly acceptable to me, but it requires a certain amount of semantic latitude.

But I think with the above sentence, didn't it imply he had heard the noisy floor enough so many times in the past that he has to make a mention of it? If this is missing something. I am open to your suggestions.

Cheers!

Avangi · Answer

dimsumexpressI have not meant to discredit anyone and used no words to do so.

Heaven forbid!

That was tongue in cheek. It's idiomatic to give credit to both the instrument and the instrumentalist.
Oh the drums go bang and the cymbals clang and the horns they blaze away.
What's wrong with a noisy floor?? Could we view it as "personification"?

I take your point about Woody Woodpecker! Sheer poetry!

Best regards, - A.

Edit. Okay, I'll grant you that compared to "The floor was very noisy," "The floor made a lot of noise" sounds odd.

When we say, "The room is very noisy," we can mean two different things:
There is a lot of noise currently in the room; or
we can be commenting on the acoustics of the room.

We don't necessarily mean that the room is making noise.

On the one hand you say, "He had heard the noisy floor." On the other you say, "Floors don't make noise."

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Perhaps one of us is tuned to the the wrong channel. We apparently are not seeing the same thing.

AvangiThat was tongue in cheek.

I can't help it if you see it that way. This was the sentence I made reference to: He points out that he had a neighbour whose house was covered/had a hardwood floor and it made lots of noise so that other neighbours were angry.
If you found its sound natural and idiomatic, then I am wrong and an apology is in order.

A hardwood floor is inherently nosier than a carpeted floor and you will know it when this is true in the apartment unit above where you live when people activity is carried on. But the floor will not make a sound when no one walks on it, like when people are sleeping during the night hours. That's how common sense will interpret it. Do you agree that the other points you made required an agent to make sound? Poetry or not, Woody is always my favorite over the

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Oh, this just came to me. I am sure you have walked on hardwood floors with loose planks that squeaked before. Would you say that can be described as "noisy floor"? But the squeaking is caused by people walking on it.

We have plenty of house hold items that we often found ourselves describing as "noisy"; some are caused while other by inherent natural.
An old noisy bathroom exhaust fan/ noisy air conditioner / noisy plumbing.

AvangiWhen we say, "The room is very noisy," we can mean two different things:There is a lot of noise currently in the room; orwe can be commenting on the acoustics of the room.

A noisy room can also suggest outside interference, as the location of the room is near the source of external noise, like the passing cars on the freeway.

Avangi · Answer

dimsumexpressIf you found its sound natural and idiomatic, then I am wrong and an apology is in order.

I thought it was a terrible sentence!

My only objection was to this:

<<

dimsumexpress:

Hardwood floors don't make noise. People do. >>

<< . . . . is semantically illogical.>>

There are plenty of illogical usages which are idiomatic. I think they're called "idioms." We have to learn what they mean.

- A.

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