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Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions



 
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There | Are these sentences natural? Jan 13
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Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions #1 (permalink) Thu Jan 12, 2012 20:32 pm   Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions
 

Sometimes I feel that I have NO English at all; some of my friends ask me some questions which I think that I know, but when I first start answering, I find that I ,simply, have no answer, although I 've passed many grammar courses with A's. Anyway, this is one of them:

How to put the following question into passive

The question is
How do you do?

.............................................................
Another problem
Just tell me that I'm right when saying that the following sentence is wrong:
"He is not accustomed to getting up early"
Is it okay for -ing to be after "to"?
..............................................................

Another ambiguity is in the following sentence:
"He need never feel lonely"
Where is need's (s)?

Thanks in advance
Globetrotter
I'm new here and I like it ;-)


Joined: 14 Sep 2010
Posts: 29

Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions #2 (permalink) Thu Jan 12, 2012 21:22 pm   Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions
 

"How do you do?" is a set expression -- a type of greeting. I do not see any meaningful way to put it in the passive, nor any reason to want to.

"He is not accustomed to getting up early" is correct. "getting up early" is a noun phrase. Grammatically the sentence is like "He is not accustomed to the climate", for example.

In "He need never feel lonely", the verb "need" is behaving as an auxiliary verb, so it does not inflect. It's a similar idea to "He must never feel lonely", for example, where "must" does not become "musts". However, unlike "must", the verb "need" has a more common main-verb use in which it does inflect (e.g. "He needs money").
Dozy
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 17 Jun 2011
Posts: 3315
Location: UK

In this story you'll learn everything about the passive voiceEnglish grammar exercises — improve your English knowledge and vocabulary skillsAre you a native speaker of English? Then you should read this!Have you read a good anecdote today? Subscribe to free email English course
Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions #3 (permalink) Fri Jan 13, 2012 13:32 pm   Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions
 

Actually, "thanks" is unable to express my gratitude. Anyway, I'm sorry to ask but I would like to know your job, teacher, prof, and in what major? And are you a native speaker? British or American?
Finally, what is the best grammar course you suggest for a non-native to study -or to buy- ?
Globetrotter
I'm new here and I like it ;-)


Joined: 14 Sep 2010
Posts: 29

Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions #4 (permalink) Fri Jan 13, 2012 15:23 pm   Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions
 

I'm a native BrE speaker. I'm not actually a teacher, just someone with an interest in language. I do not feel qualified to advise you on grammar courses; perhaps someone else here might be able to make some suggestions?
Dozy
I'm a Communicator ;-)


Joined: 17 Jun 2011
Posts: 3315
Location: UK

Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions #5 (permalink) Fri Jan 13, 2012 21:25 pm   Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions
 

Dozy wrote:
In "He need never feel lonely", the verb "need" is behaving as an auxiliary verb, so it does not inflect. It's a similar idea to "He must never feel lonely", for example, where "must" does not become "musts". However, unlike "must", the verb "need" has a more common main-verb use in which it does inflect (e.g. "He needs money").


There are some important things we should know about "need" as an auxiliary verb (AV). As such, the AV "need":

- is not subject to the inflection (I need, you need, he/she/it need etc.).
- is employed rather rarely (in a way it sounds more formal) and almost exclusively in questions and negatives.
- undergoes inversion when put into a question and its negative is formed by placing "not" after it.
- cannot be followed by a noun, only by a verb (so, when you come upon a sentence like "I need a new car", it is obvious that "need" here is not an AV).
Jaro7788
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Joined: 24 Jun 2011
Posts: 116
Location: Poland

Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions #6 (permalink) Fri Jan 13, 2012 22:12 pm   Please, tell me that I have English! Small questions
 

Re-reading my quote, I notice also that I should have mentioned that it is a modal auxiliary verb, rather than just an auxiliary verb. Obviously some auxiliary verbs, such as "do" and "have", do inflect.
Dozy
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Joined: 17 Jun 2011
Posts: 3315
Location: UK

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