Are words correctly used?

Hi fellow members

I would be grateful if a member respond to my query.

Drop the word "ever" in each sentence--it isn't needed and it jars on the ear of the native speaker. In the second sentence, i would substitute "has" for "had."

In fact, both sentences are clumsy, and i'd personally not have written them as they are.

Oh, and in sentence one, "propagation" is a noun in a situation in which you want the verb "propagate."

Many thanks, Setanta.

Could you please reword the sentences for me so that they are correctly phrased? Many thanks.

Well, i hesitate to say "correctly phrased," because it can also be seen as a matter of personal style. However, this is how i would write them (trying to preserve as much as possible, the sense of what you are saying):

Sentence 1:

"Other than Nichiren Daishonin, was anyone ever born who first propagated Nam-myoho-renge-kyo?"

(That sentence has a logical flaw--only one person could ever have been the first to propagate a belief or a practice. If the purpose were to point out that Nichiren Daishonin and only Nichiren Daishonin propagated Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, then i would write: "Can anyone deny that Nichiren Daishonin was the first to propagate Nam-myoho-renge-kyo?")

Sentence 2:

"Other than Nichiren Daishonin, has anyone ever encountered the same persecutions, as were predicted in the Lotus Sutra?"

(There is nothing really wrong with using "besides" to introduce your subject [i.e., Nichiren Daishonin]. However, i would use "other than" at the beginning of the sentence, but i would use "besides" at the end or near the end of a sentence. So: "Has anyone ever encountered the same persecutions, as were predicted in the Lotus Sutra, besides Nichiren Daishonin?" Once again, this is a matter of personal style.)

Hi Setanta
I appreciate very much your help in revising the sentences. Your points have been noted and I agree with them.

Thank you, Boss . . . do you study English, or do you study and teach English?

Hi Setanta

I study and teach my children English. Being a non-native, I put in lots of effort every day with the hope that I can write reasonably well and hence can help my children improve their English.

As you'll notice, I ask questions every day or almost every day to learn so that I can teach my kids.

As you should realize by now, I cannot express myself clearly sometimes, and hence help from natives likes you enables me to make progress a little every day. I'm going at the pace of a tortoise.

You do very well, Boss. When you express your thoughts in plain, simple language, as you have done here, your delivery in English is nearly faultless. That is the way of great literature, too, Tanguatlay--the greatest literary styles incorporate a good deal of plain, simple language.

I wish you well, and my experience is that your English improves apace.

Many thanks, Setanta, for the encouragement and the kind words.

Indeed, my English has improved but at a snail's space, not apace as you said. However, thanks for telling me that the greatest literary styles incorporate a good deal of plain, simple language. The only example of a book I've read whose author wrote in very simple English is 'The Old Man and the Sea'.

I would like to let you know that I appreciate your help and the other native speakers'.

Best wishes

Ms Tan