how to describe/what is it called

You may also see "Minimum card spend" etc in the UK. $200 seems like a rather large amount.

0 Replies

Thank you~

If John's roommate's things/luggage, etc. are obstructing the doorway, what should he say to the roommate?:

-Can you find a place to relocate your belongings (to)?
-Can you move over your things a bit so that the doorway is not jammed?

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

Can you find a place to move your belongings to? (Relocate is too formal for a room mate.)

Can you move your things a bit so that the doorway is not blocked? (Not jammed.)

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

Just say "put me on speaker", that's fine. otherwise, anyone one of the suggestions you made is alright

0 Replies

@WBYeats,

You jut say "put me on speaker". Otherwise, anyone of the suggestions you made is alright.

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@contrex,

Thank you~

Can my friend say this in an email to his teacher?:
-Can I make an appointment to see you to discuss the presentation topic?

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

I would say "Could I..." or "May I..." (if writing the request) but maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned.

If he were speaking to his teacher, "Can I..." is quite normal and would be fine.

1 Reply

@McTag,

Thank you.

Situation:
A group of college students are celebrating their graduation at the pool; the host/MC proposes to throw the most popular teacher into the pool. What is the natural English?:

?Throw/dump him into the pool??

2 Replies

@WBYeats,

Throw. But dump is okay too, and has a "jokey" ring to it.

1 Reply

@McTag,

Thank you~

John finds the clothes bursting out whenever he opens his roommate's wardrobe; what is the conversational English of what he should say?:

-You really have many clothes.
-You really have quite a bit of clothes.
-You really have quite some clothes.

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

Quote:

John finds the clothes bursting out whenever he opens his roommate's wardrobe; what is the conversational English of what he should say?:

-You really have many clothes.
-You really have quite a bit of clothes.
-You really have quite some clothes.

There are many things you could say. Use the phrase "a lot".

-You really have a lot of clothes!
or, turning it round, "What a lot of clothes you've got!"

1 Reply

@McTag,

I wonder whether "clothes bursting out" sounds native or not.

3 Replies

@oristarA,

Yes, it's fine.
Things can fall out of a cupboard or a wardrobe, if it's too full.
They can burst out of an over-stuffed suitcase.
But they could be said to burst out of an over-filled wardrobe. If you have trouble closing the doors, then the contents will tend to bulge or "burst out" when you open the door.

1 Reply

@McTag,

John is juggling many things and walks into a lift , and then the person already inside says 'Which floor?', and then John says, 'second floor, please.'
1. Is the conversation natural English?
2. Or if the person doesn't ask John, can John say these?:
-Can you help me punch 'second floor'?
-Can you help me by punching 'second floor'?

BY is difficult here. When you help me do my homework, we almost do it together; When you help me BY doing my homework, you do it alone. Is it right?

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

Quote:

John is juggling many things and walks into a lift , and then the person already inside says 'Which floor?', and then John says, 'second floor, please.'
1. Is the conversation natural English?
2. Or if the person doesn't ask John, can John say these?:
-Can you help me punch 'second floor'?
-Can you help me by punching 'second floor'?

1. Yes.

2. He'd probably just say "Two please" or "Second, please" or Second floor, please" because the other person can see what the problem is.

Quote:

BY is difficult here. When you help me do my homework, we almost do it together; When you help me BY doing my homework, you do it alone. Is it right?

Yes, but you could better end with "... you do it all yourself."

In fact, (second thoughts), "When you help me BY doing my homework" means just that. The other person has done the homework. Better to leave out BY if you are talking about help.
And, "we almost do it together" is an awkward-sounding phrase. Is that what you meant to say?

1 Reply

@McTag,

Thank you~

1. But those 'homework' sentences were meant to show that BY could change the meaning drastically; if my theory of BY is correct (cf those homework sentences), 'could you help me punch second floor' is absurd; the meaning here would be 'can we hit the button together?' ('Can you help me do my homework'='Can we do my homework together') Do you agree?

2. My sentence:

-Students are not allowed to stay on opposite sex floors after 12 midnight. (in a building each floor contains rooms for one sex only; female floors alternate with male ones)

Do you think the sentence is too verbose? Could you help me improve it?

2 Replies

@WBYeats,

Quote:

-Students are not allowed to stay on opposite sex floors after 12 midnight. (in a building each floor contains rooms for one sex only; female floors alternate with male ones)

Do you think the sentence is too verbose? Could you help me improve it?

The sentence is simple, but needs a hyphen:

-Students are not allowed to stay on opposite-sex floors after 12 midnight.

0 Replies

@WBYeats,

Quote:

1. But those 'homework' sentences were meant to show that BY could change the meaning drastically; if my theory of BY is correct (cf those homework sentences), 'could you help me punch second floor' is absurd; the meaning here would be 'can we hit the button together?' ('Can you help me do my homework'='Can we do my homework together') Do you agree?

It is quite okay to write "Can you please help me by punching the button for the second floor" but the suggestions I made above are more likely, more colloquial, simpler.

0 Replies

Thank you.

Are they both correct?:
-He is American-born Portugese/Japanese/Chinese/Vietnamese.
-He is an American-born Portugese/Japanese/Chinese/Vietnamese.

The first doesn't sound right. 'American-born' doesn't look like an adverb.

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

That's probably because it's an adjective.

I'm a Scottish-born Briton.

1 Reply

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