Azhong's Writing Practice.

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azhong
Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby azhong » 2021-06-05, 1:48

Linguaphile wrote:
azhong wrote:All the three together ...

Could you please explain more about this error? How about these sentences?
For the first case, when there are three and only three kids:
(a1)The three (kids) are mine.
(a2)The three are mine.
(a3)All three are mine.
(a4)All of the three are mine.
(a5)The three are all mine.


Also, for a second case when there are more than three kids, four for example, will the appropriacy have any change?
(b1)The three (kids) are mine, (but this one isn’t).
(b2)The three are mine.
(b3)All three are mine.
(b4)All of the three are mine.
(b5)The three are all mine.


Is it a rule that “all” and “the/this/that/these/those” should never be used together?
(c)*All those clothes are dirty.

Also, it it grammatical to say "they three" or "them three" instead of "all three"?
(d1)They three are all mine.
(c.f. “All three are mine.”)
(d2)He is the best driver among them three.
(c.f. He is the best driver among all three of them.)


Linguaphile wrote:
azhong wrote:...function as a prelude of music [better: like a musical prelude ] for me.

I don’t realize of the difference between “as” and “like” here. Is it that “to function like” means “to have a similar function” while “to function as” means “having exactly a same function”, thus “function as” not appropriate here since it is a film but not a piece of music? What’s the main difference between “as” and “like” when putting them into selection in a sentence?

Thank you in advance for your explanation.

Linguaphile
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Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-06-06, 0:35

azhong wrote:
Linguaphile wrote:
azhong wrote:All the three together ...

Could you please explain more about this error? How about these sentences?
For the first case, when there are three and only three kids:
(a1)The three (kids) are mine.
(a2)The three are mine.
(a3)All three are mine.
(a4)All of the three are mine.
(a5)The three are all mine.

It's just that we don't say "all the three". (Or, at least, I don't.) I would say "all three" or "all of the three" or just "the three" but not "all the three". So any of your sentences (a1-a5) are fine.

azhong wrote:Also, for a second case when there are more than three kids, four for example, will the appropriacy have any change?
(b1)The three (kids) are mine, (but this one isn’t).
(b2)The three are mine.
(b3)All three are mine.
(b4)All of the three are mine.
(b5)The three are all mine.

It depends on the context, but any of those are possible, as long as the listener knows which three you are referring to. In other words, if "the three" being referred to has been specified already, then you can say any of these.
(b1) The three (kids) [over there] are mine, (but this one isn't).
(b2) The three [that we were just talking about] are mine.
(b3) All three [that we were just talking about] are mine.
and so on.
If there are four kids and you haven't already indicated which three you are talking about, though, any of these sentences would probably be confusing in the context of four kids.

azhong wrote:Is it a rule that “all” and “the/this/that/these/those” should never be used together?
(c)*All those clothes are dirty.

No. You can say "all those clothes are dirty" or "all the clothes are dirty". It's fine. The problem is when you insert a number: *All the three clothes are dirty. (or *All the three shirts are dirty, or whatever.) With the number you would either say "All three are dirty" or "All of the three shirts are dirty" etc. (I've changed "clothes" to "shirts" here because it's not common to use a number with the word "clothes"; it's not a good example to use to explain about using numbers.)
azhong wrote:Also, it it grammatical to say "they three" or "them three" instead of "all three"?
(d1)They three are all mine.
(c.f. “All three are mine.”)
(d2)He is the best driver among them three.
(c.f. He is the best driver among all three of them.)

Some people say "them three" in spoken English, but it's not considered correct in written language and not universal in speech. The same may be true of "they three," but in my personal experience it isn't as common. In fact even if it is the subject, sometimes people say "them" rather than "they" when it is followed by a number: "Them three are all mine". "Them three are going to the store." and so on.
But again it's not technically correct. In written or in formal spoken English it is should be "Those three".

azhong wrote:.
Linguaphile wrote:
azhong wrote:...function as a prelude of music [better: like a musical prelude ] for me.

I don’t realize of the difference between “as” and “like” here. Is it that “to function like” means “to have a similar function” while “to function as” means “having exactly a same function”, thus “function as” not appropriate here since it is a film but not a piece of music? What’s the main difference between “as” and “like” when putting them into selection in a sentence?

Using to function as means it really is its literal function, while "to function like" is just introducing a simile or comparison. So there is not really a general difference between "like" and "as", but in this case, by using "as", it becomes unclear whether you are saying "it functions as [= it performs the function of] a musical prelude" using the phrasal verb "to function as" versus "it functions [= it acts] as [= like] a musical prelude" using the verb "to function" along with a simile. So there isn't normally much difference between the use of "like" and "as" in similes, but the fact that "to function as" is a phrasal verb complicates this particular situation. It's just hard to tell if you are using the word "as" as part of the verb or as part of a simile.

azhong

Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby azhong » 2021-06-06, 9:52

(My practice: the dialogue continues.)

”A view slowly emerged taking place of the earlier frame of them both sleeping: a densely cloudy morning sky with sparse chirps of birds. The As the shot went downward slowly, showing it showed a scenic road and its pretty scene: Two endless rows of thick green trees bordered the road, and under the trees were stripes of well-maintained lawn and well-maintained lawn under the trees. Then appeared Ahead on the road was the back view of a milk-white RV driving along ahead. The traffic was easy; the pavement was wet.”

”Why do you think the director has arranged their camping van white?”

“No idea…Not until you are asking now does had the question come to my mind…Any thought of you?”

”None, either. The question came to my mind also just now when you mentioned the color. Go on please.”

The coming pictures became The following pictures jumped to the view in the moving vehicle where they both were and, after showing the two men, the . The plot formally started from then on as they set off the two kicked off a time-killing talk. The lines here were written very skillfully. Their topic had a warmhearted start initiated by the driver The driving one initiated the talk and showed his concern to his partner, yet his warmth was at once beaten to the ground by the partner’s bitter response. He gave it a second try but, depressingly, the same interactive mode repeated. Having probably sensed his depression, his partner retrieved his fighting attitudes and conveyed his niceness in his way by inviting him to sing together, where the footage ended. Through their talk, it was hinted they were not newly acquainted and, more importantly, nowhere near disliked each other, although they talked sarcastically to each other.”

azhong

Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby azhong » 2021-06-09, 2:26

(My practice: I've rewritten the previous passage. In addition to some corrections, I've intentionally tried to use shorter sentences.)

”Taking place of the frame of them sleeping, a view emerged slowly: a densely cloudy morning sky with sparse chirps of birds. As the shot went downward, it showed a scenic road bordered by endless rows of thick green trees and stripes of grass under the trees. Ahead on the road, there was the back view of a milk-white RV driving along. The traffic was easy; the pavement was wet.”

”Why do you think the director has arranged their camping van white?”

“No idea…Not until you are asking now had the question come to my mind…Any thought of you?”

”None, either. The question occurred also just now when you mentioned the color. Go on please.”

”The following pictures jumped to the sight in the moving vehicle. The two men was inside. As they kicked off a time-killing talk, the plot formally started. The lines here were written very skillfully. The driving one initiated the talk and showed his concern to his partner, but his warmth was soon beaten to the ground by the partner’s bitter response. Later, he gave it a second try; depressingly, the same interactive mode was repeated. Having probably sensed the driving one’s moods finally, the partner conveyed his friendliness obscurely by withdrawing his bad attitudes and inviting the driving one to sing together. And the dialogue of the footage ended here. Through their talk, it was hinted they were not newly acquainted. More importantly, it’s not at all that they disregard each other although they talked sarcastically.”

Linguaphile
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Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-06-09, 3:39

azhong wrote:endless rows of thick green trees and stripes of grass under the trees.

This isn't incorrect, but with grass we often say strips of grass rather than "stripes".

azhong wrote:”Why do you think the director has arranged their camping van white?”

"Arranged" sounds odd here. Maybe "Why do you think the director has made their camping van white?" or "Why do you think the director has chosen to make their camping van white?"

azhong wrote:“No idea…Not until you are asking now had the question come to my mind…Any thought of you?”

(1) more common: "Not until hearing your question had I thought of it" (or: "I hadn't thought of it until hearing your question")
(2) "What do you think" or "What are your thoughts?" or even "Do you have any thoughts?" rather than "Any thought of you?"

azhong wrote:”None, either. The question occurred also just now when you mentioned the color. Go on please.”

"The question occurred to me just now when you mentioned the color."

azhong wrote:”The following pictures jumped to the sight in the moving vehicle.

This sounds awkward, as do the versions of it in your earlier post. Perhaps "The scene jumped to the following pictures in the moving vehicle."

azhong wrote:The two men was inside.

"The two men were inside."

azhong wrote:As they kicked off a time-killing talk, the plot formally started.

It's not incorrect, but it is an unnatural way to say this. I would say "As they engaged in idle talk, the plot formally started."

azhong wrote:the partner conveyed his friendliness obscurely by withdrawing his bad attitudes and inviting the driving one to sing together.

The word "obscurely" sounds out of place here, and I'm not sure why you have included it. Do you mean to say "in an unusual way"? Or "subtly" ("in a barely-noticeable way")?

azhong

Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby azhong » 2021-06-09, 4:39

Linguaphile wrote:
azhong wrote:the partner conveyed his friendliness obscurely by withdrawing his bad attitudes and inviting the driving one to sing together.
The word "obscurely" sounds out of place here, and I'm not sure why you have included it. Do you mean to say "in an unusual way"? Or "subtly" ("in a barely-noticeable way")?

He didn’t apologize clearly by saying something like “I’m sorry for my attitudes” or “forgive me please and let’s make up”. He just said “let’s sing together” so that he can still keep up his appearances. It’s just like one person, after having making some errors, doesn’t apologize to the other person but just, later, passing a cup of tea, saying a “hi”, or doing something else that he can still keep his self-esteem and proclaim that he didn’t ever apologize. Which words can I use then?

Thank you.

Linguaphile
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Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-06-09, 6:44

azhong wrote:
Linguaphile wrote:
azhong wrote:the partner conveyed his friendliness obscurely by withdrawing his bad attitudes and inviting the driving one to sing together.
The word "obscurely" sounds out of place here, and I'm not sure why you have included it. Do you mean to say "in an unusual way"? Or "subtly" ("in a barely-noticeable way")?

He didn’t apologize clearly by saying something like “I’m sorry for my attitudes” or “forgive me please and let’s make up”. He just said “let’s sing together” so that he can still keep up his appearances. It’s just like one person, after having making some errors, doesn’t apologize to the other person but just, later, passing a cup of tea, saying a “hi”, or doing something else that he can still keep his self-esteem and proclaim that he didn’t ever apologize. Which words can I use then?

Thank you.

I would just leave out the word "obscurely" and not replace it with anything.
"The partner conveyed his friendliness by withdrawing his bad attitudes....." The meaning is clear without needing to add anything else to explain it. But i you really do want to add a word there, I'd choose "subtly".

azhong

Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby azhong » 2021-07-05, 3:51

(My writing practice, with a question.)

Q: Is the usage of the relative clause natural for a native reader?
I have lately watched on the internet a TV series, which can you guess if I tell you the abbreviation of its program name is THTH?
(I have lately watched on the internet a TV series. Can you guess which it is if I tell you the abbreviation of the program name is THTH?)

I have obviously been joining a contemporary habit that people are spending their leisure time more on watching flashing, color images in a rectangular frame than reading through inky letters motionlessly printed on turning pages of rectangular paper.

The mentioned abbreviation is charming to me for its ingenuity, the double alliteration. One of the worldly known alliteration terms in English is B&B, of course not meaning Breast and Banana. And I am wondering what you will comment if I, only for having personal, intellectual fun, expand THTH into another full text: Too Horny To Heal.

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Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-07-05, 21:42

azhong wrote:I have lately watched on the internet a TV series, which can you guess if I tell you the abbreviation of its program name is THTH?


azhong wrote:I have lately watched on the internet a TV series:

(1) change the word order: I have watched a TV series on the internet lately
(2) are you still watching the TV series, or have you finished all of it? If you are still watching it, I would say "I have been watching a TV series on the internet lately". If you have finished it, I would say "I have watched a TV series on the internet recently." It's a small difference and I'm not sure that all speakers would say it the same as I would, but for me, "lately" implies that it's still going on and for that I would use "I have been watching" and not "I have watched".

azhong wrote:which can you guess:

You can use this as a statement, but not as a question. For example:
I have been watching a TV series on the internet lately, which you can guess if I tell you the abbreviation of its program name.
But this is not a question. This is telling someone that you know they can guess it.

To ask a question, the way you have written it sounds as though "which" is a question word, so it requires the answer to be a choice between options ("which one?") while the inverted word order ("can you guess") and the content of the question in general require a yes/no answer. So, this combination doesn't work. It can't be both a "choice between options" and a "yes/no question" at the same time.

So I would break it up into two sentences as you did here (one for the statement, another for the question):
azhong wrote:I have lately watched on the internet a TV series. Can you guess which it is if I tell you the abbreviation of the program name is THTH?

with the changes in word order described above and the same suggestion about "lately" and "have been watching"
I have been watching a TV series on the internet lately. Can you guess which it is if I tell you that the abbreviation of the program name is THTH?

azhong

Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby azhong » 2021-07-06, 3:17

After reading your reply, looking words up in the dictionary and reflecting more, I think what I need is a simple past tense with recently, since I saw no usage of lately in a simple past tense sentence among the examples. Is it natural then?
I watched a TV series on the internet (just) recently. Can you guess…

Linguaphile wrote:(1) change the word order: I have lately been watching a TV series on the internet lately.

A further question from your reply, please, about the position of lately. Is it possible to tell me a sentence-making principle by explaining what makes your position more natural?
What I have known so far is that both positions are grammatical. My high school education told me to put adverbs at the end of the sentence, but I found J. K. Rowing put them between an auxiliary verb and an main verb very often.

Thank you.

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Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-07-06, 3:52

azhong wrote:
I watched a TV series on the internet (just) recently.

Yes, it's good!

Linguaphile wrote:(1) change the word order: I have lately been watching a TV series on the internet lately.

A further question from your reply, please, about the position of lately. Is it possible to tell me a sentence-making principle by explaining what makes your position more natural?
What I have known so far is that both positions are grammatical. My high school education told me to put adverbs at the end of the sentence, but I found J. K. Rowing put them between an auxiliary verb and an main verb very often.

The most unnatural part about your sentence was "I have lately watched on the internet a TV series" and the use of "lately". So with those changes made, regarding the placement of "recently" any of these are fine:

I recently watched a TV series on the internet.
I watched a TV series on the internet recently.

I have recently watched a TV series on the internet.
I recently have watched a TV series on the internet.
I have watched a TV series on the internet recently.

azhong

Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby azhong » 2021-07-14, 3:20

A question please. In the American novel The Town published in 1950, I saw for several times the usage of an extra "a" before a Ving, as sampled below. What is that "a" for, please? Thank you in advance for your explanation.

She lay in bed with her new man a sleeping beside her like he did now.

Just the same, as she lay there still as a mouse, she could feel the change in her, something she had never known before, a running along her blood and stirring in all her veins.

When she came back in, the fire looked like it was out, but she knew there would be coals a glowing and winking down under the ash and that the water in the big kettle would still be good and warm.

Were those tits a telling her now that they didn’t have to stand up and feed greedy mouths any more?

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Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby linguoboy » 2021-07-14, 3:56

See definition 5 under Etymology 2.

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/a-
"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

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Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-07-14, 4:12

azhong wrote:A question please. In the American novel The Town published in 1950, I saw for several times the usage of an extra "a" before a Ving, as sampled below. What is that "a" for, please? Thank you in advance for your explanation.

She lay in bed with her new man a sleeping beside her like he did now.

Just the same, as she lay there still as a mouse, she could feel the change in her, something she had never known before, a running along her blood and stirring in all her veins.

When she came back in, the fire looked like it was out, but she knew there would be coals a glowing and winking down under the ash and that the water in the big kettle would still be good and warm.

Were those tits a telling her now that they didn’t have to stand up and feed greedy mouths any more?


This is really an interesting question because I'm surprised at how many examples of its usage I can think of, and yet it's still unusual enough that I can think of very specific examples - specific songs, specific television shows, specific people I know.
It is used in somewhat archaic English and in some dialects (Appalachia comes to mind). Depending on the speaker, sometimes it is used as an intensifier, other times it indicates that it's in the middle of an ongoing action. In other words the action itself remains the same with or without the a-prefix, but it adds a bit of intensity to it; the person is really focused on that action, or doing it continuously over an extended period of time, for example.
It is readily understood even by English speakers who don't use it in their own speech because it is used in some older songs and stories that are well known, such as a nursery rhyme from the 18th century ("A-hunting we will go, a-hunting we will go...."), Christmas carols ("Six geese a-laying, seven swans a-swimming, eight maids a-milking"; "Here we come a-wassailing, among the leaves so green"), a song from 1964 by Bob Dylan ("The times, they are a-changing") and so on.
There are dialects of English whose speakers would say "He's a-fixing to leave home" (meaning "he's about to leave home" or "he's getting reading to leave home"). If I remember correctly I think the television series Gunsmoke also used this type of construction a lot (television series from the 1950s-60s, set in the late 19th century), usually as "a-fixin'", so there's another example where English speakers who don't use this construction themselves might be exposed to it.
So in other words it's not part of my own dialect and that's probably true of many other English speakers, but it's still used in some dialects, and most native English speakers have encountered it from time to time in old songs, books, television, etc.
Usually I've seen it written with a hyphen ("a-sleeping", "a-running along," "a-glowing", "a-telling her").

azhong

Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby azhong » 2021-07-14, 10:00

Thank you so much, Linguaphile; in your reply you have introduced to me quite a few resources of American culture that I don't know yet, and I've watched all them through on YouTube except for the TV series "Gunsmoke". Thank you.

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Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-07-14, 14:56

azhong wrote:Thank you so much, Linguaphile; in your reply you have introduced to me quite a few resources of American culture that I don't know yet, and I've watched all them through on YouTube except for the TV series "Gunsmoke". Thank you.

That's great! (And you're welcome.)
By the way, the folk songs and Christmas carols are originally from England. They are definitely part of "American culture", but not exclusively American.
I'll give you one more example of American culture. See how well you can understand Festus's English.
I chose this clip from Gunsmoke because it uses the a-prefixed construction you were asking about, it is on Youtube as a short clip and I could find the text of it online (here) so I can provide you with the text without having to type it all out myself. So that's why I chose this clip. In it, Festus has recently recovered from a not-very-injured knee and is exaggerating how bad it was by limping when he could probably walk normally if he wanted to. He is complaining that Doc Adams charged him money for his work as a doctor instead of doing it for free as a friend. Festus uses a dialect that is supposed to reflect his lack of education and rural late-19th-century speech (and on the television series this has a humorous effect).
The title of the Youtube clip has one of the lines written out the way it sounds ("..jes’ like you’s a fixin’da reetire tomorra!") while the script has it written in more standard spelling ("Just like you was a-fixin' to retire tomorrow").

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX3ywZwBeyk

Doc Adams: ... join one of them traveling acting companies. Look at you.
Festus: What?
Doc Adams: The way you're walking.
Festus: What's the matter with the way I'm walking?
Doc Adams: Well, you're walking like a peg-legged sailor pacing the deck of a four-masted schooner rounding the Horn in the Cape.
Festus: Why, you old scudder. You just got done taking that splint off my leg that I've had there for four weeks. What do you expect me to do? A clog dance?
Doc Adams: I told you three weeks ago you didn't even need the splint.
Festus: Well, I had to stove-up a pretty near busted leg.
Doc Adams: Wrenched knee. Reset a wrenched knee.
Festus: Well, you charged me for a stove-up pretty near busted leg.
Doc Adams: Charged you?
Festus: Just like you was a-fixin' to retire tomorrow.
Doc Adams: Charged you?
Festus: And you call yourself a friend. If you ain't a-raggin' a body, you're a-gouging him like he was one of them rich ray jobs.
Doc Adams: A rich what? What was that? A rich what?
Festus: And the thing that frets me is you ain't gonna be able to spend all your money. If you try taking it with you, your buryin' box is gonna be...
Doc Adams: Just hush up.
Festus: .... so blamed heavy, I'll get a sprained backbone.
Doc Adams: Just hush.
Festus: But you go on reading them little old books so that you can flick, flick some of that herb medicine on sick folks
and then start gouging them again. You done got enough money to burn a wet elephant with.
Doc Adams: I'm gonna tell you something...
Festus: Oh, howdy, Arlie Joe.
Arlie Joe: Hi, Festus, Dr. Adams.
Doc Adams: Arlie Joe.
Festus: How's everything out at the farm?
Arlie Joe: Oh, fine, Festus. Oh, by the way, that tonic you gave Mrs. Frye is working out just fine. She's perking around
spryer than springtime.
Doc Adams: Well, good. I'm glad to hear that.
Festus: You working hard, are you?
Arlie Joe: Yeah, but I'm enjoying it.
Festus: I always say, when a fella can get enjoyment out of the work he's doing, it's the most envious-some thing there is.
Doc Adams: Yeah, well, how d'you know about that?
Festus: Of course, there's things that's more important in life than money is. Of course, there's some old quack-quacks that wouldn't know that.
Arlie Joe: Well, I'd better head on out of here before this gets any farther.
Arlie Joe: Oh, howdy, Marshal.
Matt: Arlie Joe.
Doc Adams: What was that about the quack-quack again?
Festus: Do you want it writ down?
Doc Adams: You can't write.
Festus: Smart aleck. Matthew, what would you say about a old skinflint that'd charge a fella three prices for doctoring him and then turn right around and say there wasn't nothin' wrong with him in the first place? What would you say about that?
Matt: Well, I tell you what I'd say. I'd say that the best thing for me to do is keep my mouth shut.
Doc Adams: I wish... I wish you could write. That's what I wish.
Festus: I'll tell you this. There ought to be a law against...
Doc Adams: And you'd write what you set down. I'd sue you...
Festus: A old money-grabbing skinflint...
Doc Adams: That'd be the day!

azhong

Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby azhong » 2021-07-18, 3:05

Edit: see the post on Aug. 12 on the next page.

(My writing practice. I have to admit I didn't carefully check all unconfident usages in the dictionary this time. Therefore, it's might be impolite to expect your any corrections.)

I've been lately reading The Town written by Conrad Richter, an American novelist; I have almost finished poring over the first two chapters.

The book was published in 1950 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in the next year. It talked about the history of an American white family settling themselves amid the western wilderness which they had to tame, and living in tense balance with the indigenous as neighbors, while small events occured in their family now and then. A very rough introduction, indeed, bfor Iam basing it on my vague memory of reading the book in its Chinese translation long ago.

Last week, being successfully finding its original English text on the internet, I curiously sampled some chapters seeing what its style would taste like.

Regarding the first two chapters, one feature in Richter's writing, so obvious thus surely to be noticed, is that he used quite many inverse sentences. It might be one of the factors that have made his narrations poetic.

In the novel, there are also not as many action descriptions and vivid dialogues as the Harry Potter series do. Instead, more inner, sensitive thoughts, monologues and sighs are dished up.

For those who have used to the tempo of contemporary film and TV works, the Marvel series for example, the novel 70 years ago might have possibly turned a bit dull -- by the way but sincerely, isn't the tempo of the Marvel films uncomfortably too fast?
Last edited by azhong on 2021-08-12, 12:23, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby Linguaphile » 2021-07-19, 14:27

azhong wrote:It talked about the history of an American white family settling themselves amid the western wilderness which they had to tame, and living in tense balance with the indigenous as neighbors, while small events occured in their family now and then.

...a white American family
...with the indigenous people as neighbors

azhong wrote:indeed, bfor Iam basing it on my vague memory

:hmm:

azhong wrote:Last week, being successfully finding its original English text on the internet, I curiously sampled some chapters seeing what its style would taste like.

...having successfully found its original English text on the internet
or
...[after] finding its original English text on the internet

azhong wrote:he used quite many inverse sentences.

...quite a lot of inverse sentences
or
...many inverse sentences

azhong wrote:In the novel, there are also not as many action descriptions and vivid dialogues as the Harry Potter series do.

...as the Harry Potter series has.

azhong wrote:For those who have used to the tempo of contemporary film and TV works, the Marvel series for example, the novel 70 years ago might have possibly turned a bit dull

For those who have become used to the tempo of contemporary film...
...the novel from 70 years ago

azhong

Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby azhong » 2021-07-19, 23:09

Thank you, Linguaphile, and
Linguaphile wrote:
azhong wrote:indeed, bfor Iam basing it on my vague memory

:hmm:

...indeed, for I am basing it...

A question: I have problems memorizing it should be a white American family and a male adult but not *an American white family and *an adult male. Any possible logic explanations to help my memory, please?

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Re: Azhong's Writing Practice.

Postby Dormouse559 » 2021-07-20, 3:07

azhong wrote:A question: I have problems memorizing it should be a white American family and a male adult but not *an American white family and *an adult male. Any possible logic explanations to help my memory, please?

English has a relatively set adjective order, and there are multiple webpages about it; here’s one: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/gra ... ives-order.

With “white American family,” the word “white” is in the “color” category, and “American” is in the “origin” category. Color comes before origin, so that gets you the right order.

“Male adult” and “adult male” are a different issue. Both are correct; you’re just changing which word is the adjective and which is the noun. I should add that both feel somewhat clinical or technical. “Adult male” is super common in police contexts.
N'hésite pas à corriger mes erreurs.


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