Idiomatic English 3 - Lesson 16
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Lesson 16 - Exercise 10
Note: Please tell me if anything sounds odd.
1- Could you please help me give out these papers?
2- I don't trust that man, do you?
3- Is ten percent enough of a tip?/ Is it enough to tip ten percent?
4- You shouldn't resign before the end of the month.
5- She doesn't trust me. I wonder why.
6- Why are you putting honey on your cereal?
7- What are you going to have/eat on/with your waffles?
8- Please pay the cashier.
9- Why wouldn't he resign?
10- Count these tickets before giving them out.
Thanks for reading!
Note: Please tell me if anything sounds odd.
1- Could you please help me give out these papers?
2- I don't trust that man, do you?
3- Is ten percent enough of a tip?/ Is it enough to tip ten percent?
4- You shouldn't resign before the end of the month.
5- She doesn't trust me. I wonder why.
6- Why are you putting honey on your cereal?
7- What are you going to have/eat on/with your waffles?
8- Please pay the cashier.
9- Why wouldn't he resign?
10- Count these tickets before giving them out.
Thanks for reading!
Note: Please tell me if anything sounds odd.
Most of the errors here are not simply things sounding odd; they are grammatical errors.
1- Could you please help me to give out these papers?
The plural form of "this" is "these".
3- Is ten percent enough of a tip? [Alternative: Is it enough to tip ten percent?]
4- You shouldn't resign before the month ends. [More natural: You shouldn't resign before the end of the month.]
5- She doesn't trust me. I wonder why.
A period or a semicolon are better here than a comma, since the two sentences are grammatically independent.
6- What are you putting honey on your cereal for? [More natural: Why are you putting honey on your cereal?]
7- What are you going to eat with/on your waffles?
Use "on" if you mean something like syrup or ice cream, "with" if you mean an entirely separate dish.
8- Please pay to the cashier.
10- Count these tickets before giving them out.
"Could you please help me handing out these papers?"
ALTERNATIVES: (1) "Could you give me a hand in distributing these papers?"
(2) "Would you kindly help me distribute these papers?"
7- What are you going to eat on/with your waffles?
The meaning of your original version has possibly changed with this correction.
"What are you going to eat your waffles with?" could be asking about what utensils you are using.
1.) "(I am going to eat my waffles with) A fork and a knife." is a possible answer.
2.) "(I am going to eat my waffles with) Maple syrup and butter." is another.
"What are you going to eat with your waffles?" specifically asks about food.
1.) "(I am going to eat) A fork and a knife (with my waffles)." is no longer a possible answer.
2.) "(I am going to eat) Maple syrup and butter (with my waffles)." still is a possible answer.
In the first question's answer, "a fork and a knife" is part of a larger adverbial clause "WITH a fork and a knife" (at least, I think it is an adverbial clause). In the second question's answer, "a fork and a knife" is a direct object and would only be correct if you intend to actually eat the utensils, as if you were in a circus act or something. Most people wouldn't do that, so the second form of the question is asking specifically about food, while the first is more ambiguous.
I hope that this helps! Let me know if I confused you or you need any more elaboration. ^^
By the way, I was asking about food in this sentence, so I think tony's correction is okay.
Thanks again for your detail explanation!
7- What are you going to have eat on/with your waffles?
ChaseOfHearts already made some comments on this sentence. One thing I would add:
"have" is a more polite word than "eat". In casual speech either verb can be used, but
when speaking politely "have" (being somewhat indirect) is a better verb than "eat".
Consider these two examples: (A) What did you eat for dinner? (B) What did you have for
dinner? NOTE: Both are grammatically correct, but (B) is more polite than (A).
En español, es el verbo "haber" utilizado de esta manera?
10- Count these tickets before giving them out.
The grammar is fine, but this is a *command* - not a request. If a boss is speaking to a subordinate, it might be fine. However, it is often best to soften this expression with the word "please". That word can appear at the *head* of the sentence - or at the *tail* of the sentence.
-¿Qué vas a comer con tus waffles?
-(En un restaurante)¿Qué vas a pedir/ordenar/tomar/comer?
What are you going to have?
1- Could you please help me to give out these papers?
The word 'to' seems unnecessary here - even though it's probably grammatically correct, I wouldn't say it speaking English. I'd be more likely to say 'Could you help me do this? Could you help me hand these out?'
http://speakspeak.com/resources/english-grammar-rules/verb-structures/verb-bare-infinitive
There is also a very good page with lists of verbs which are followed by infinitives, bare infinitives and/or gerunds, but I am having trouble finding it again. If you do a web search for the phrase "bare infinitive", you will find many pages which discuss this issue.
http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-lesson-gerund-infinitive.php
http://webdelprofesor.ula.ve/humanidades/azapata/materias/english_4/verbs_followed_by_gerunds_and_infinitives.pdf