Is this good English?

[Alan]

Hi Quoc,

How is it possible to, as you naively ask, to fix the mistakes when what you have written makes no sense, has no logic and is as I have said gibberish?

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Only Three Letters

[Yankee]

.
Well, I think I understand what Quoc is getting at...
.
Quoc, in your example it would be MUCH better and MUCH more understandable to say something like this:

It isn't exactly true that I have "no car" at all. I do own a car. It just isn't working at the moment. So, what I mean is that I have no access to a car that runs.

Trying to use "I don't have no car" to mean "I have a car." is a bad idea because the double negative in this short little sentence would typically NOT be understood as a way to create a positive idea.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Alan]

Hi,

Sure. A complete rewrite, yes but then not to forget that a certain articulate comment about double negatives by our same correspondent has mysteriously been deleted!

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Phrasal Verbs/hold

[Yankee]

.
Hmmm.... I guess I must have missed that.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Conchita]

[Jan]

Hi,
I guess, this could be an example how the literature ,or the poetry are able to mix up words and phrases and confuse us poor "no natives".
( most probably not only "no natives" )


I don't have "no car"

just don't have a working car, but it'll be repaired by next week...

In dialogues,
it does happen quite often , doesn't it ?

Regards
Jan

[Mister Micawber]

.
One of my favorite ENTERTAINERS.
.
_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber

[Yankee]

.
And this is one of my favorite comedy routines. I never get tired of it:

The audio:
http://www.nocryinginbaseball.com/WhosOnFirstAudio.mp3

The tapescript:
http://baseball-almanac.com/humor4.shtml

The English is hilarious --- but it may help to know a couple of the basic rules of baseball before you listen.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Tamara]

"You're no good for me, I don't need nobody" (c)
_________________
It’s impossible to learn swimming without entering the water…

[Alan]

Hi Tamara,

Do you mean you want to know what it means?

[Conchita]

No use/no good

With some (usually uncountable) nouns, 'no' is used instead of 'not a/any':

no time
no doubt
no point
no problem
no idea
no way

There are probably quite a few more.

[Fan of Arabian horses]

Hi Conchita!

Now? my confusion is pretty perfect!

If a noun is uncountable how may I use a definite or undefinite article? no = not a/ not any Or is there any exception from the rule about uncountable nouns?

Michael

[Tamara]

Yes, Alan, - sorry I didn’t ask properly – and thanks a lot for your explanation.

By the way, I’ve found the phrase in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Good_(Start_the_Dance)

[Conchita]

[Jan]

Hi,
My modest proposal would be to start a new thread or to tread on some old thread,where everybody could add for example just uncountable nouns in English.
I was sometimes looking for information but nothing
have been found by Sailor Jan.
It may be powerful treading on the thread with hundreds of words within it.
And later Gentlman Torsten would be enlighted that it is just what he alawys wanted to have had right next to Esl lessons and before Esl articles. on first page.
It would cause million of new clicks on mouses wordwide.
And everybody would have new Mercedes,and Sir Alan would cruise wordwide next time not just along Baltic.
This would create the unforgotten opportunity to meet QQ
in person somewhere in Vietnam.
And they would be best friends

Regards
Yours faithfully Salmon / Salamon Jan