Sentence: I can't leave your work unpraised, it's really written very well.

[Fedorov]

Hello there! Recently I helped my friend to do his English test and translated following sentences for him from Russian. His teacher says that each of them has a mistake. Is it really so?

1. I can't leave your work unpraised, it's really written very well.
2. My younger sister is already sleeping for 3 hours.
3. It will be 20 years of my scholastic work this summer.
4. She noticed that it becomes late.
5. We would like to know which singers will take part in the competition.

[Kitosdad]

This would be my opinion.

1. I can't leave your work without appraisal. It's very well written.
2. My younger sister has already been asleep for 3 hours.
3. It will be 20 years this summer, that I have been engaged in scholastic work.
4. She noticed that it was late.
5. We would like to know which singers are taking part in the competition.

Bill.
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If you need me, I'm here.

[Fedorov]

Thank you for the detailed answer, Bill. I really appreciate it. I agree that your variants are much better than mine. But I still want to know whether each of my sentences contains a rude mistake.

[Kitosdad]

Not at all my friend. Nothing rude can be construed from what you have written.

Bill.
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If you need me, I'm here.

[Fedorov]

That’s good . But I’d like to ask you more about sentences ## 1, 2 and 4.

First of all, does the word “unpraised” exist? The problem is that Microsoft Word doesn’t recognize it during the spell check and there is no such word in my dictionary. But it seems me that I’ve heard this word for several times.

As for sentence #2, now I’m prone to think of it as a real mistake. But anyway is it ever possible to say: she is sleeping for 3 hours?

And as for sentence #4, Russian original implies that it is getting late right now, while narrator is speaking, but a girl noticed it little bit earlier. So, what tense should I use here?

[Alan]

Hi Federov,

Let me suggest some changes:

1. I can't leave your work unpraised, it's really written very well.
I can't let your work go without praising it. It's really very well written.

2. My younger sister is already sleeping for 3 hours.
My younger sister has already been sleeping for 3 hours.

3. It will be 20 years of my scholastic work this summer.
(By) This summer I will have been working as a scholar for twenty years.

4. She noticed that it becomes late.
She noticed it was becoming/getting late.

5. We would like to know which singers will take part in the competition.
We would like to know which singers will be taking part in the competition.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Not Really

[Kitosdad]

First of all, does the word “unpraised” exist?

I think it does, as people could say " He was uncelebrated-unpraised, not having been given recognition for his good work."

Number 2 would never be said this way in English.

Number 4, would probably be; " She noticed how late it was getting." ( It was getting late.)

Bill.
_________________
If you need me, I'm here.

[Fedorov]

Well, the question seems to be settled . Thank you very much for your help.
Best regards, Fedorov.