Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hela]

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me which are the correct forms here?

1) position of adverbs:
a) He PROBABLY wouldN'T have met him.
b) He would PROBABLY NOT have met him.
c) He would PROBABLY have NOT met him.
d) He would PROBABLY have NEVER met him.

2) negative past form of "I used do it"
a) I used not to do it
b) I did not use to do it

3) singular or plural:
a) the datE of birth and death is registered / inscribed (?)
b) the datES of birth and death are registered

4) tense:
Tom was scared that (?) / feared that his body would be insinerated once he WAS dead.

5) vocabulary:
To act out (= perform ?) a play
Othello was first ACTED OUT at the theatre in...

A thousand thanks,
Hela

[CP]

1. (a) He PROBABLY wouldN'T have met him. Fine.
(b) He would PROBABLY NOT have met him. Probably OK in conversation.
(c) He would PROBABLY have NOT met him. Probably OK in conversation, especially if trying to contradict someone who said he probably would have met him.
(d) He would PROBABLY have NEVER met him. Better would be "would probably never have met him."

2. (a) I used not to do it. Not so good. Better: I used to not do it.
(b) I did not use to do it. No. Better to say: I never used to do it.

3. Plural is better. There are two dates.

4) Tom was scared that (?) / feared that his body would be insinerated once he WAS dead. OK to say: Tom feared that / was afraid that / was scared that his body would be incinerated once he was dead / once he had died / after he died. Spelling: incinerated.

5) vocabulary:
To act out (= perform ?) a play
Othello was first ACTED OUT at the theatre in...

A thousand thanks,
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb