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English Grammar Help Thread | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Recht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5800 days ago 241 posts - 270 votes  Speaks: English*, GermanB1 | Message 1 of 12 08 February 2009 at 7:12pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'm always amazed when I read this forum. I will read a lengthy and intricate post,
and my eyes will inadvertently wander over to the margin where I will see that English is not the author's native language. Not only is this impressive, but is very encouraging. Despite this, I'm sure some people have questions about English grammar, expressions, synonyms, colloquialism etc, despite their high level of English fluency. I still learn new English words all the time. I think every English speaker here, especially native, would love to help with any questions a learner (both native or foreign) happens to have. So, if you have any grammar or cultural usage queries, ask away! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| TerryW Senior Member United States Joined 6356 days ago 370 posts - 783 votes Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 12 08 February 2009 at 10:36pm | IP Logged | |||||
Nice that you started this. You probably didn't expect native English speakers to ask questions here, but after my "I have a doubt (vs. question)" post, I was hesitant to tack the following question onto any thread: I often see the terms "Revise" and "Revision" used to mean "Review" (going over something again). But I've never heard them used that way even once by U.S. people, ever. Is this a UK/Australia thing? In the U.S., to revise means to update. Checking the MS WORD thesaurus just now, for REVISE I find: amend, modify, adjust, alter, change, correct, improve, rework. Nothing about "review." I see (non-U.S.) people in this forum using it to mean reviewing something, Assimil calls the review lessons "Revision Lessons," etc. Whussup wit dat? ;-) Edited by TerryW on 08 February 2009 at 10:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Recht Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5800 days ago 241 posts - 270 votes Speaks: English*, GermanB1 | Message 3 of 12 08 February 2009 at 10:50pm | IP Logged | |||||
I think it really turns out to be essentially the same meaning. I use revise to mean to change, correct, rework. I'm not From the UK or AUS, but revision is really simply part of a review, it seems to me. "I'm going to review this essay" and "I'm going to revise this essay" have essentially the same meanings, but one merely indicates that you are going to read it carefully, the other indicates intention to change parts of it. So perhaps since they're so closely related, UKers and Aussies have melded the two meanings, and reviewing something implies revision, and visa versa. I've actually never even noticed this. you've got good eyes then. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6438 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 4 of 12 08 February 2009 at 10:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Yes, it's a regional difference. My friends in the UK "revise" for exams, for instance; that usage of the term quite struck me when I was first exposed to it (I'd say "study"). I'd say this usage is fairly unthinkable in North America, while I'd be hard-pressed to think of an example of someone from the UK saying something else in this context.
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| Chamberlain Triglot Newbie BelarusRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6029 days ago 13 posts - 13 votes Speaks: Belarusian, Russian*, English | Message 5 of 12 09 February 2009 at 6:47am | IP Logged | |||||
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I cannot find an answer with any reasonable explanation to the next question.
Does the following statement sound good: "I closed the door before I had said goodbye"? A local teacher of the English language gave this sentence as an example of Past Perfect usage. We was having a discussion whether the past perfect indicates that the action had been carried out before one that is expressed by means of past simple when he came up with the sentence. Many grammar books state that it always does. The teacher proved the opposite. So if the statement is OK what rules can be applied to it? How to use such constructions? Thanks in advance. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6033 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 6 of 12 09 February 2009 at 10:46am | IP Logged | |||||
My gut feeling is that the "had" is absolutely redundant. But don't trust me, let native speakers confirm this. Past perfect expresses an event in the past occurring *before* another event in the past. In this sentence "say goodbye" actually happens *after* "close the door". It is the more recent event! Therefore, a better formulation would be "I had closed the door when I said goodbye". In any case, this is a very misleading sentence. Usually people say goodbye first and only after that they close the door... Edited by Sennin on 09 February 2009 at 11:08am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tyr Senior Member Sweden Joined 5781 days ago 316 posts - 384 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Swedish | Message 7 of 12 09 February 2009 at 11:50am | IP Logged | |||||
I'm English and I study for exams.... .... .... But of course I never went to class :p
Thats right. "I closed the door before I said goodbye"? says you closed the door then said goodbye. "I closed the door before I had said goodbye"? doesn't say that you actually did say goodbye, you just closed the door before you should have done it. Edited by Tyr on 09 February 2009 at 11:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6033 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds | Message 8 of 12 09 February 2009 at 11:59am | IP Logged | |||||
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Oh, wow... that's interesting ^_^.
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