A native speaker of English needed

[Phoxtane]

I'd use "Over the last four days we went to Birmingham" but that's just me.

[Darth Dino]

Hi

while this here is no official forum of the Oxford Dictionary Grammar Club :) i may ask the teacher something different.

Do your students know you are asking for correct grammar in a Lego forum? If i would be your student and find it out, i would laugthing my #%$£ off :D I really do not want to harm you - just make you think about it. Teenagers can be cruel - ask my wife, also a teacher.

But anyway, better to encourage USING english (everyday, written or spoken, amybe here ;) ) than teatching them to speak/write pefectly like a native speaker.

Dino

[legotrainfan]

Hi

while this here is no official forum of the Oxford Dictionary Grammar Club :) i may ask the teacher something different.

Do your students know you are asking for correct grammar in a Lego forum? If i would be your student and find it out, i would laugthing my #%$£ off :D I really do not want to harm you - just make you think about it. Teenagers can be cruel - ask my wife, also a teacher.

But anyway, better to encourage USING english (everyday, written or spoken, amybe here ;) ) than teatching them to speak/write pefectly like a native speaker.

Dino

I am well aware of what you have mentioned here. I think I have been careful enough though. My students don't know that I am interested in LEGO and they don't know my username. And if they ever decided to google their own sentences, it wouldn't help them either. I change several words of each sentence. Just the grammar at issue is not changed.

By the way, I have tried other forums focussing on the English language only, but here people are friendlier, nicer, curious and patient, and they sometimes even make an effort to explain certain details and variations including, for example, nuances of different meaning without having been asked to. And they respond very quickly.

PS: Thanks to those who answered my question!

[Darth Dino]

Hi

thank you for answering MY questions :)

Indeed this is a great forum for Lego - BUT being able to have a topic like this shows how good it really is.

P.S. Do not check my grammer - if there is any :)

Dino

[legotrainfan]

After the singer's amazing appearance, some fans tried to get onto the stage.

=> I'd say performance, or are these two words interchangeable?

[Mr Man]

After the singer's amazing appearance, some fans tried to get onto the stage.

=> I'd say performance, or are these two words interchangeable?

Use Performance. Appearance could imply a performance, however they could also just have turned up for a appearance.

[legotrainfan]

The surnames of some of the at least 7 suspects who were near the building when the attack on Mr. Gentle happened were...

= Because of the last word, which is underlined, I'm asking myself whether you should say had been and had happenend or not.

Mr. Obnoxious, aged 25, was arrested. He was the murderer. He attempted to give an official a bribe but then he decided to strangle him.

=> Past tense for the bold words or past perfect? (had attempted/had decided) I would say past perfect for the first part (had attempted).

After all his illegal actions, Mr. Fraud was arrested. There was enough evidence to impose a prison sentence on him. The police officers managed to solve that crime successfully.

=> I'd say had managed.

The investigators could reconstruct the chain of events. It had happened the following way: The woman left her house at about 9 am. Then she got into her car and drove off...

=> Would you use the past tense after the colon or the past perfect? I'd leave it the way it is. And do you think had happened is correct? I have doubts.

Edited November 5, 2012 by legotrainfan