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fw
Joined: 12 Oct 2005
Posts: 361
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 Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:07 pm Post subject: translation from Japanese (2) |
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Hello everyone.
The sentence below is a translation that I made from a sentence in Japanese. For the blank, I think #1 is grammatically correct, but is #2 also natural English?
It would be wrong to judge immediately that young people today ( ) less intellectual curiosity because they read fewer books.
1. had
2. have
If you find any error in my English, please let me know.
Best regards,
fw |
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ab
Joined: 16 Oct 2005
Posts: 81
Location: Sydney, Australia
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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"have" is present tense
"had" is past tense
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fw
Joined: 12 Oct 2005
Posts: 361
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| Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:11 pm Post subject: Re: translation from Japanese (2) |
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Thank you for your reply, ab.
Do I understand you mean #2, not #1, is grammatically correct?
fw |
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Lucas Scott
Joined: 15 Dec 2005
Posts: 50
Location: Suzhou, China
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 12:31 am Post subject: |
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I think "have" here is much better. Beacuse if you say "people today had less..." , it sounds kind of weird.
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Airth
Joined: 22 Dec 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 2:26 am Post subject: |
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I think you want to use had because the sentence contains would, don't you? But when we use It would be wrong to judge/say/think it follows a different rule and so you should use have.
In other words, it is not the same as the would & if structure.
That isn't to say that you can't use had. For example:
It would be wrong to judge immediately that young people in the past had more intellectual curiosity just because they read more books. |
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fw
Joined: 12 Oct 2005
Posts: 361
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 5:48 am Post subject: |
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Thank you for your replies, Lucas Scott and Airth.
| Airth wrote: |
| I think you want to use had because the sentence contains would, don't you? |
Yes, you are right, Airth.
How about this then?
Is #1 more natural for the blank in the sentence below this time?
It would be wrong if you judged immediately that young people today ( ) less intellectual curiosity because they read fewer books.
1. had
2. have
fw |
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Airth
Joined: 22 Dec 2005
Posts: 9
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 8:24 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
It would be wrong if you judged immediately that young people today ( ) less intellectual curiosity because they read fewer books.
1. had
2. have |
While I prefer your original sentence, in this case I would go with had without hesitation. Incidently, I would rather say jump to the conclusion in place of judge immediately. |
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fw
Joined: 12 Oct 2005
Posts: 361
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| Posted: Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:50 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, Airth.
Your comment really helps.
fw |
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