Would you correct my English? (Mar. 28)

Question

Hello. I wrote two dialogues. Will you correct them?

No. 1

F: How about going to work by train? The roads are jammed every morning.

M: Sure, the traffic jams are bad, but I'd rather sit in my car

listening to music than ride a crowded train.

F: That kind of makes sense.

No. 2

M: I can't concentrate on my study because of [ due to ] the noisy

road construnction outside.

F: It sure is. How about closing [ shutting ] the window?

M: I wish I could. But the air conditioner is broken.

Thank you. kenta

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Kenta No. 1

F: How about going to work by train? The roads are jammed every morning.

M: Sure, the traffic jams are bad, but I'd rather sit in my car listening to music than ride a crowded train. "Sure" is the opposite response from what you want here, unless you intend it as pure sarcasm. "Sure" would usually mean you accept the proposal. In your case, I'd substitute, "No thanks," or something like that.
That is, "No thanks!. Going by car is bad [enough], but going by train would be even worse!" (I'm not suggesting you change to my words, except for the "No thanks!" - just trying to show how it works.)

F: That kind of makes sense.

No. 2

M: I can't concentrate on my study because of ~~[ due to ]~~ the noisy

road ~~construnction~~ construction outside. Some would consider "due to" ungrammatical in this particular situation. It's supposed to be a noun + to be. "My lack of concentration is due to the noise."
Also, "concentrate on my study" is a bit uncommon in my experience, although correct. (Maybe it's more common in BrE.) I usually hear "concentrate on my studies / studying."

F: It sure is. How about closing [ shutting ] the window? "It sure is" doesn't work here. This expression is used to confirm your main clause, which is "I can't concentrate." The reply would be, "You sure can't!"
In order to use "It sure is," you'd have to say, "The construction is way too noisy," or something like that. The part about studying would probably have to be in a separtate sentence. "I just can't concentrate on my studying! This construction is too noisy." (reply) "It sure is!"

M: I wish I could. But the air conditioner is broken. Edit. Hmmm, about the "sure," your version would work with the proper voice inflection. I guess I was taking it as if it were followed by a period.
You mean "Sure," in the sense of "What you're saying may be true: traffic is bad. BUT - - - " It might be a little hard to follow. There's some inclinatation to take "sure" as a response to the question instead of to the statement: "How about going to work by train?" (reply) "Sure!"

Clive · Answer

Hi,

No. 1

F: How about going to work by ('on the train' is more idiomatic) train? The roads are jammed every morning.

M: Sure, the traffic jams are bad, but I'd rather sit in my car

listening to music than ride a crowded train.

F: That kind of makes sense.

No. 2

M: I can't concentrate (on studying - but I'd omit this. The other person can see that you are studying) ~~my study~~ because of [ due to ] ~~the noisy~~ road construnction outside. all this noise. (The other person will be aware of the reason for the noise)

F: It sure is noisy. How about closing [ shutting ] the window?

M: I wish I could. But the air conditioner is broken.

Remember that in real conversations, we usually don't state things that are obvious to the other person.

Clive

Kenta · Answer

Thank you for giving me instructive comments.

I was very glad to read them.

Thank you. kenta

Would you correct my English? (Mar. 28)

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