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stevenukd
Joined: 13 Nov 2005
Posts: 324
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 Posted: Sun Nov 19, 2006 9:19 pm Post subject: WON'T BE SORRY |
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Dear Teachers,
1. I�ll take care of the gas if you get the coffees.
- Why do we add �s� to �coffee� here? I remember �coffee� is uncountable noun, right? and "take care of" here means "pay for", right?
2. Come on lady! Don�t be too picky! You �ll never find such a good guy like him nowadays, I�m sure you won�t be sorry.
- Is this natural?
Thanks a lot to Teachers,
Stevenukd |
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Lorikeet
Joined: 08 Oct 2005
Posts: 1877
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 1:36 am Post subject: Re: WON'T BE SORRY |
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| stevenukd wrote: |
Dear Teachers,
1. I�ll take care of the gas if you get the coffees.
- Why do we add �s� to �coffee� here? I remember �coffee� is uncountable noun, right? and "take care of" here means "pay for", right?
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You are right about "take care of." You are also right about "coffee." It is non-count, and I would prefer "...if you get the coffee." However, in recent times, a lot of people have made non-count nouns for beverages into count nouns, so you will hear: "I'd like a coffee" instead of "I'd like some coffee," or "We'll have two coffees," instead of "We'll have two cups of coffee."
| Quote: |
2. Come on lady! Don�t be too picky! You �ll never find such a good guy like him nowadays, I�m sure you won�t be sorry.
- Is this natural?
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Pretty much. I personally don't like to use "lady" as it is impolite in my speech. Also, I would probably use either, "You'll never find such a good guy nowadays." or "You'll never find a good guy like him nowadays." Maybe someone else has an idea. For some reason those two sentences don't seem perfect, but it's getting late and maybe I'm not thinking straight. |
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bud
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 2111
Location: New Jersey, US
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| Posted: Mon Nov 20, 2006 6:23 am Post subject: |
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Yes, I agree. And to me, "lady" seems odd because that is what you might call (impolitely or annoyed) a stranger. This is something you'd be saying to someone you know well.
Ex.: "Lady, will you move you car out of the way?" |
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