LifeDeath wrote:Yes, that's what I was thinking about, too. But what if we consider the sentence differently? Where "give up" (or its equivalent) doesn't describe my intention, but my action towards "whatever is not finished". Can this sentence be structured like that?
More examples to show what I mean:
"I never leave whatever is not finished yet".
"I never quit whatever is not finished yet".
"I never stop working on whatever is not finished yet".
I think the last one is the most demonstrative. I was struggling to find a proper phrasal verb for it.
Those are all fine at getting the point across, but you'd generally find something more formal (and much briefer) like "demonstrates persistence".
LifeDeath wrote:"- Hello! Just Come on in! Sit down, please.
- Hi!
- Umm, what's your name?
- My name is Jack.
- So Jack, why did you come here?
- I just came here because I want to work in your company.
- Alright, how old are you?
- I’m thirty.
- Okay, do you have a degree?
- Yes, sureof course, I graduated from Novosibirsk State Technical University. I'm a radio engineer.
- Sounds good to me. Where did you work before?
- I didn't work. You know, this is the first time I'm actually trying to apply for a job.
- Ohh you must be kidding me! Did you read our vacancythe job description?
- Yeah, I think I did.
- Well if you did, you should have seen that we are looking for applicants who have at least three years' work experience.
- Really? Well, maybe I just didn't notice. So what do we do then?
- Just write down your number here, I'll call you back later on.
- Do I have a chances?
- I don't know, I'll just jot down what you tell me, and then I'll decide. Can you tell me more about your education?
- I studied radio engineering, I majored in radiophysics. I’ve always been good at math and physics.
- Anything else?
- Yes, I speak Russian as well, it's my native language by the way.
- I'm going to disappoint you by saying that it's pretty useless here. What else?
- I'm responsible. I work hard.
- So does everyone who's being interviewed here.
- Alright, you're just being a nitpicker. I don't want to hold this conversation anymore, I'm leaving. Go and find yourself another candidate to make fun of!
- [Door closed] Ohh, he reacted so vividly, I like it. I should seriously consider calling him back later."
We usually present dialogues in pairs in front of the group. That's why it may seem a little dumb, not to be too boring.
The last sentence is where I used "reacted so vividly". Is it appropriate there?
Seems a bit off. "Vivid" is most often used to describe a visual impression. Like a description will be "vivid" if it creates a powerful image. I'd prefer a term like "lively", and a different construction, i.e. "What a lively reaction!"
LifeDeath wrote:I am also not sure about tenses. I think I'm getting better at it since we have many times talked about them here many times, but sometimes I just can't definitely change one of them. I just have logical explanations for both usages.
You're overusing "just" in this post. It's most often used in English as a way of softening a statement, e.g. "I was just asking. No reason to get so mad!" If you have some other purpose, there's probably a better alternative.
LifeDeath wrote:"Where did you work before?", shouldn't it be "Where have you worked before?"? The action is completely in the past, we consider it as just a fact, and that's the reason to use the simple past. On the other hand, there's bearing on the present moment - it's important right now, whether I worked then or not. And that's the reason to use the perfect. Here I have such a dilemma. What would you use? (I just used the simple past because it sounds better to me in that context)
I would use perfect because this is a general question. As you say, the most important thing is whether you've worked before or not. The details are less important. It would be more common to use the simple past when referring to specifics, e.g.:
"Are you currently employed?"
"No, I quit my job to go back to school full-time."
"Where did you work before?"
Here the interviewer is specifically asking about the job the applicant quit in order to go back to school. He could also have said, "Where were you working before?"
But there's also a dialectal difference here. American English speakers often use the simple past where speakers of other varieties would prefer the perfect. To them, "Where did you work before?" would sound fine as an open-ended question about all previous workplaces. So if you're getting a lot of your exposure to English from colloquial American sources that could explain why both versions sound acceptable to you.
A BE speaker would also probably prefer "Why have you come here?" to "Why did you come here?" After all, the person is still there. And also "this is the first time I've actually tried to apply for a job". There are some cases where the progressive would sound natural (e.g. "Which job are you applying for?" when there is more than one on offer), but here the perfect sounds better.
"Richmond is a real scholar; Owen just learns languages because he can't bear not to know what other people are saying."--Margaret Lattimore on her two sons