Please explain why this sounds "off"
View Full Version : Please explain why this sounds "off"
Liquinn3
November 08, 2013, 01:43 PM
A friend of mine e-mailed me and I feel it sounds off in two places and could possibly be wrong. I could correct him... but as a native it's difficult for me to explain why.
yes james . thanks for the meeting . the next week we can do again, have you got a nice weekend
Thanks.
Premium
November 08, 2013, 02:57 PM
Shouldn't it be something like "We can do it again next week, have a nice weekend."?
Liquinn3
November 08, 2013, 03:02 PM
Shouldn't it be something like "We can do it again next week, have a nice weekend."?
You're correct. I was wondering what type of error he made. Wrong tense? Wrong words? Etc. :)
Gracias.
Rusty
November 08, 2013, 03:38 PM
Native speakers that know grammar can explain what's wrong in grammatical terms, but unless the other person understands grammatical terms, it won't do any good.
Most people just say what should have been said and don't / can't explain the grammar behind it.
More than one type of error was made, by the way. There are mistakes in punctuation and capitalization. He threw in an unnecessary article and is missing a direct object pronoun in the third sentence. In the fourth sentence, instead of asking a question, he should have given a command.
vBulletin®, Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.