Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hela]

Dear teachers,

Would you please answer my queries hereafter?

I find the way children spend hours just watching TV quite depressing. It can't be good for their imagination. I'm not very keen on 1. watching myself. I'd rather read a good book. I wish children would switch off the TV and 2. learn to enjoy the pleasures of reading. I have always been very fond of reading - this comes from 3. my mother who was a marvellous storyteller. When it was time for us to go to bed she would 4. say �It's time we had another story.� If she'd 5. said �Get into bed and switch the light 6. off� it would have been very different. 7. As it was, we began to look forward to bedtime because we 8. were expecting 9. yet another unforgettable tale. If only I had had more time to tell my children more stories when they 10. were growing up. 11. But alas, I did not. If they had got into the habit of listening to stories at bedtime, they'd have grown to love literature more. They can't stand reading books now because they'd sooner play 12. some computer games instead.

1. Is �it� necessary after �watching� ?
2. It would be wrong to say �learn enjoying�, wouldn�t it ?
3. Do we need a comma before �who� here or should the relative clause be restrictive ?

4. Is a comma needed after �said� ?
5. same question as above
6. Is a comma needed after �off� too? If yes, should I put it inside or outside the quotation marks?

7. Does �as it was� mean something like �as things were�, or �given the way she behaved with us� ?

8 & 10. How would you justify the use the progressive form here ?
9. Does �yet another tale� mean �one more tale� here? And in such a construction should it always come the past progressive?

11. Can I say that?
12. Is �some� necessary/acceptable here or should it be omitted because we�re not talking about specific computer games?

Thank you very much for your help.
Hela

[mescalero]

Hela:

I'll try to answer your questions with a corrected version of the paragraph.

I find the way children spend hours just watching TV quite depressing. It can't be good for their imagination. I'm not very keen on watching it myself. I'd rather read a good book. I wish children would switch off the TV and learn to enjoy the pleasures of reading. I have always been very fond of reading - this comes from my mother, who was a marvellous storyteller. When it was time for us to go to bed, she would say, �It's time we had another story.� If she'd said, �Get into bed and switch the light off� it would have been very different. As it was, we began to look forward to bedtime because we were expecting yet another unforgettable tale. If only I had had more time to tell my children more stories when they were growing up. But alas, I did not. If they had got into the habit of listening to stories at bedtime, they'd have grown to love literature more. They can't stand reading books now because they'd sooner play some computer games instead.
_________________
- Mike

Open English World
http://www.openenglishworld.com

[hela]

Dear teachers,

I know that if I put a comma before "instead" in the following sentence, it would be a mistake; but would you please tell me why ? Is there a rule about the use of adverbs at the end of a sentence?

They can't stand reading books now because they'd sooner play computer games , instead.

Many thanks,

Hela

[MrPedantic]

Hello Hela

It seems to me that the comma sets "instead" up as a disjunct, whereas in fact we want it to qualify "play games". But as a disjunct, it then seems wrong, because it's difficult to interpret "instead" as an opinion of the speaker.

That said, it may be that "instead" is slightly superfluous:

1. They can't stand reading books because they'd sooner play computer games.

� "sooner" already suggests "in place of".

(Hwever, maybe we could say that "instead" strengthens the sense of "sooner".)

See you later,
MrP

[hela]

Good morning MrP,

Would you please remind me of what are adjuncts and disjuncts?

Have a nice day,
Hela

[MrPedantic]

Hello Hela

"Adjunct" is used in two ways:

1. An element of a clause which isn't part of the core meaning, e.g. "Wednesday" in "I'm going to Manchester on Wednesday"

2. An adverbial of manner, time, or place.

There is sometimes a conflict between these two meanings: for instance, "to Manchester" might be construed as an adjunct in the second sense.

"Disjunct" means an adverbial that comments on its clause, e.g. "perhaps" in

3. Perhaps we should go to Manchester on Tuesday instead.

See you,
MrP

[hela]

Thanks MrP