English language question

both are obviously fine, edy, as is "someone calling themselves shrewd dude honestly does not know etc"

I remember being taught that it is better to start a sentence with a noun than a pronoun and avoid verbs. I was subsequently
taught that was only the case in formal letter writing etc and not in prose.

This is a good thread,i am terrible in sentence structure myself and i may even learn from this.

Totally off point but vaguely related and don't know how it would apply in Germany but a good 'quiz' question to ask;
What is the 13th letter of the alphabet?

Surprisingly the initial utterance is almost always 'emmmmm'.... while the subject is doing numerical gymnastics, you can then heap praise by saying that was quick.

If the devil was stuck in you,the question can be changed to,what is the 14th letter in the alphabet? emmmm... will of course be wrong.

Your target audience should be grandchildren or your own,nieces and nephews etc.

Thanks for reading this.

Edy

Very much doubt that students learning English would be encouraged to start a sentence with “someone “.
It reality it is fine, maybe best not to use in an exam situation or at the Royal Opera House but apart from that will be fine.

Lots of the “rules” have been ignored over the decades. Use to be “wrong” to have split infinitive.
So was supposed to say “To go boldly “ rather that “To boldly go”


Plenty of native English speakers use “less” rather than “fewer”.

Something you should be fine with but many English get wrong is the use of I/me
As English doesn’t really have cases is common to use “You and me” in the nominative or “You and I” in accusative case.

If you just stay in London it shouldn’t matter as English isn’t the native language for the majority. Try phoning a customer support phone line & every chance will be speaking to somebody where English isn’t a first language.

edy
shrewd does have a valid point grammatically

it would be better to start the sentence ( question ) ..

Does someone ….

Otherwise it reads more like an assertion than a question

There are no sentence structure rules in English. The only factors are being understood and avoiding ambiguity.

edy's first sentence is directed at the audience and rhetorical. The second one is probably rhetorical in context, but that structure could be inviting a response.

"Someone calling themselves "Taylor_Swift_Superfan" honestly does not know the complete lyrics to "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)"

Take off the question mark, and the above is a going to be interpreted as a statement by most people.

"Does someone calling themselves "Taylor_Swift_Supferfan" honestly not know the complete lyrics to "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)"

Take off the question mark, and the above is a still going to be interpreted as a question by most people.



Given the widespread movement away from shared axioms of truth/reality over the last 20 years, "Truth/Reality" is now in the eye of the beholder.
I.E. "This is a statement" can and will be interpreted as a question by those who can't cope with the previously shared axiom of it being a statement.

I like his interesting word usement. It sounds very Multikulti.

I think first version is better as it directs the jibe more accurately
and concisely

Is it really the case that "Someone calling themselves "Taylor_Swift_Superfan" honestly does not know the complete lyrics to "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)"?

Strictly speaking, you cannot start a question in English with the word ‘Someone’.

But given that the question you want to ask is a such a complex mix of irony, sass, wit and incredulity, i think that you have found a very eloquent and efficient way to drop that burn

Thank you, everyone. The input from all of you really helped me understand the nuances of the language a bit better yet. It is really appreciated.

I came across something else a moment ago. Someone wrote "Good formatted question". Is that "good" in front of "formatted" correct there? It sounds very off to me. Like it really should not be there and like there should be a "well" in its place instead.

See also

https://community.betfair.com/politics/go/thread/view/94150/31843557/do-the-honest-punters-think-the-left-or-the-right-is-better-informed-about-politics

for how it came up.

Nevermind, I found out that the brutes from across the pond use "good" as an adverb. Crazy stuff.

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/good_3

Who are the brutes across the pond you refer to?

North Americans, as per the linked page.

They apparently use "good" and "bad" as adverbs after all. Brutes is among the nicer descriptions to use for people who do that.

does someone have any clue WTF he is on about ?

duolingo german uses americanisms in the english translations, edy, and some of them sound very odd.

edy your instincts are correct it just doesn’t sound right instinctively

that’s because it isn’t quite right to use good in relation to formatted
well is used mainly in connection with an action .. ie formatted
good is used mainly in relation to a thing eg a good person

whi are you to judge anyone on herewhen youcontinually tell lies ?

‘ anyone have a clue what his is on about ‘

Tiptown paddy hasn’t a clue - again

go and find a forum full of liars
you would be welcome with your silly lies

Thick and vulgar

more lies

more racism

yiu are a disgusting lump of sh1t Lfc

^ lol ,, qed

have a nice day 4rsehole

have a nice day 4rsehole

It’s going fine

Not sure even the brutes use good in that way. ‘Well’ works better for me.

They do tend to use good for things that are just adequate over there, while in UK it means better than adequate. A polite refusal in America might be ‘im good thanks’ instead of ‘im ok, thanks’ and in tennis they mgiht say ‘that ball was good’ when it was merely just ‘in’.
Side note; our rubbish train service tried to americanise their reports by saying they were operating a good service, instead of saying we managed to follow the timetable today.

Of course Americans have been the greatest in their use of the English
language of any certainly in our lifetimes .. so it’s best not to be too
snotty .. given that fact

* snooty

Goodliness is next to godliness.

A bit more respect for American wouldn’t go amiss ,, they’ve produced the goods

...and lfc is next to sh1tiness

so judgemental

racist liar

Oh , still here Irish ,, thought you were leaving
Pity

always time for you dhead,racist liar

You don’t criticise a country that produces Casablanca re their use of the English language
That would be silly

the lying tacist forum judge with his do's and donts

run down to breakfast and try it on matron you dhead

anyway , edys’ instincts were correct
And he’s East German !

The Americans have improved plenty of things weve invented but they cant speak the Kings

Heres looking at you kid?

What you axing bruv?

Duuuuuuuude

I think most brits would say well formatted instead
of good formatted.

More and more americanisms get picked up by folk
and they become more accepted, and understood, but
are not the go to choice of formatting! (for most)

pg that line .. Here’s looking at you kid ‘ is exactly what I mean (and was remembering )

It’s a work of genius to produce just those 5 words

There’s knowledge ..and there is understanding

They’re not the same thing ,, don’t confuse one with the other

De bratwurst is good ja?

Using good as an adverb has been used by lazy Hollywood scrip writers to indicate somebody didn’t go to school.

We end up with quotes such as “I didn’t learn good”

Coming back to the original post, the song title is All too well rather than All too good


It isn’t just our American cousins who make mistakes, plenty of native speakers in U.K. struggle to conjugate the verb “ To be” in the past tense.

"Good formatted question"

Usually, you would start with an article "A well formatted question" but a form of shorthand like that seems normal in these times of emails and social media.

“Well formatted question “

If a form of shorthand - and better English

The reference is to formatted .. not the question
It might be a bad question or silly - and well formatted ( not good formatted )

‘ good formatting’  is fine

Anyone that uses 'super' as in, 'that programme was super good' really would want to have a word with themselves.

Only recently has come into use by people thinking they are 'cool' but the opposite is the case.

Nothing wrong with "very" is there Lapsy? I would agree with you about "super". (Reminds me of CJ's sycophantic assistants at "Sunshine Desserts" "Great" "Super").

That's right lfc. "Good question!" for example as a figure of speech.

"Morgen!" exclaimed edy grumpily as his valet entered the room belatedly, carrying his newly pressed morning attire.

I wouldn't criticise Shrewd dude for a perfectly acceptable comment on a forum such as this we aren't all pedantic, well few of us have the time or the inclination.

lfc197101 Jun 24 09:03Joined: 06 Nov 11 | Topic/replies: 78,767 | Blogger: lfc1971's blog
There’s knowledge ..and there is understanding

They’re not the same thing ,, don’t confuse one with the other

lfc1971
Date Joined: 06 Nov 11
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01 Jun 24 11:13Joined: 06 Nov 11 | Topic/replies: 78,767 | Blogger: lfc1971's blog
‘ good formatting’  is fine


Dont take any notice of Lfc, he is the forums proven liar , full of sh1t

If I write to someone: "Tell me your name!" ....is that a question?

More a demand than a question.

What is your name more of a question.


We have lots of films and TV shows
in which Germans ask people their name!




Wot is your name?

Don't tell him Pike!

https://youtu.be/_YMVPXmaKds

..

Thought so, but someone on here told me "If it requires a reply that seeks information then it's a question." in total disrespect of the sentence structure and punctuation.

My post was:

"Tell me your thoughts about Thought so, but someone on here told me "If it requires a reply that seeks information then it's a question." in total disrespect of the sentence structure and punctuation.

My post was:

"Tell me your thoughts about

!", which surely should not be classified as a question.

Thought so, but someone on here told me "If it requires a reply that seeks information then it's a question." in total disrespect of the sentence structure and punctuation.My post was:"Tell me your thoughts about Thought so, but someone on here told