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In a Junk Shop.
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Hi everybody! Please, correct my translation of the text from "Read and Speak English". The subject of the lesson is the modal verbs of possibility, certainty, doubt and surprise.
In a Junk Shop. [btw, should I always write nouns in titles in capital letters?]
Justin and Lenny are successful businessmen. They travel along the small towns and villages and buy an antique furniture and pictures from old people or in junk shops. Then they sell them in their shop in a fashionable district of London.
Once in one of the junk shops Lenny found an interesting landscape. He got very excited.
"It must be very valuable. I looked at a signature, it might be Constable."
"Constable! It can't be him! All pictures like this are in art galleries and they are worth a fortune."
"But somebody found a picture like this two years ago. It may be another one," -- objected Lenny.
"Then let's try our old trick. I will offer the shopkeeper 50 pounds for this old chair, which, probably, costs only five, she'll be happy and won't pay any attention to this picture."
"Don't tell her that you want a picture, say that you like a frame very much."
Mrs Griffith was stricken by a price, which a young man wanted to pay for an old chair, which had been standing in a shop window for ages [eternity?]. "They must be insane". When they were leaving, Justin asked about a picture, trying not to show his interest.
"Oh, this is a remarkable picture of the beginning of ХV century," -- said the shopkeeper.
"It can't be. I've seen many pictures like this. It must be ХХ century. It's hard to sell them nowadays, but I could use a frame."
"Ok how much will you give for it?"
"What about 20 pounds?"
"Oh no, dear. It must be much more expensive. It is from the house on a hill."
"Let me have another look at it. Yeah the frame is definitely splendid. I'll give you 100 pounds for it."
Mrs Griffith obviously didn't want to part with her favorite picture and hardly agreed for 150 pounds.
Lucky Lenny ran towards his car while Mrs Griffith shouted to her husband, who was upstairs, to bring another Constable if the oil paint had dried.
In a Junk Shop. [btw, should I always write nouns in titles in capital letters?]
Justin and Lenny are successful businessmen. They travel along the small towns and villages and buy an antique furniture and pictures from old people or in junk shops. Then they sell them in their shop in a fashionable district of London.
Once in one of the junk shops Lenny found an interesting landscape. He got very excited.
"It must be very valuable. I looked at a signature, it might be Constable."
"Constable! It can't be him! All pictures like this are in art galleries and they are worth a fortune."
"But somebody found a picture like this two years ago. It may be another one," -- objected Lenny.
"Then let's try our old trick. I will offer the shopkeeper 50 pounds for this old chair, which, probably, costs only five, she'll be happy and won't pay any attention to this picture."
"Don't tell her that you want a picture, say that you like a frame very much."
Mrs Griffith was stricken by a price, which a young man wanted to pay for an old chair, which had been standing in a shop window for ages [eternity?]. "They must be insane". When they were leaving, Justin asked about a picture, trying not to show his interest.
"Oh, this is a remarkable picture of the beginning of ХV century," -- said the shopkeeper.
"It can't be. I've seen many pictures like this. It must be ХХ century. It's hard to sell them nowadays, but I could use a frame."
"Ok how much will you give for it?"
"What about 20 pounds?"
"Oh no, dear. It must be much more expensive. It is from the house on a hill."
"Let me have another look at it. Yeah the frame is definitely splendid. I'll give you 100 pounds for it."
Mrs Griffith obviously didn't want to part with her favorite picture and hardly agreed for 150 pounds.
Lucky Lenny ran towards his car while Mrs Griffith shouted to her husband, who was upstairs, to bring another Constable if the oil paint had dried.
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They travel along the small towns and villages and buy an antique furniture and pictures from old people or in junk shops.
Once, in one of the junk shops, Lenny found an interesting landscape.
I looked at the signature, it might be Constable."
"Don't tell her that you want the picture, say that you like the frame very much."
Mrs Griffith was astonished by the price that the young man wanted to pay for the old chair, which had been standing in the shop window for ages [eternity?]. ("for ages," "for eternity" - both work)
When they were leaving, Justin asked about the picture, trying not to show his interest.
Yeah, the frame is definitely splendid.
Mrs Griffith obviously didn't want to part with her favorite picture and reluctantly agreed for 150 pounds.
Lucky Lenny ran towards his car while Mrs Griffith shouted to her husband, who was upstairs, to bring down another Constable once the oil paint had dried.
as I see, my articles is a mess))
[btw, should I always write nouns in titles in capital letters?] yes, very good.
They travel along the through small towns.... also I disagree with the previous correction: "in junk shops" isn't necessarily wrong. In fact, I think it's better in written style. It makes it sound like you buying the antiques "from junk shops". You can't really buy antiques "from junk shops" because the junk shop is just a building - it's people that sell you antiques "in junk shops." However, "from old people or junk shops" is definitely more common in colloquial speech.
Mrs Griffith was stricken by a price, which a young man wanted to pay for an old chair, which had been standing in a shop window for ages [eternity?]. if you use "eternity", you really should say "an eternity", or "all of eternity", since you don't mean it literally. It's already stylish, if you say "eternity", просто так, it's garish.
"Oh, this is a remarkable picture from the beginning of the 20th century," -- said the shopkeeper. Latin numerals are very academic, and totally unnecessary.
It must be 20th century.
It must be I'm sure it's much more expensive. You used the correct modal verb, but it sounds unnatural with the "more expensive." Better is "It must be worth much more than that."