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English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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What’s wrong with these sentences.

They were waiting by the fountain.

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2

I don’t see anything wrong with the first.

The second should be ‘fewer’ not ‘less’ because you have a countable number of items.

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Thanks Beesneees. It’s great hearing from you. You are the first one to reply me.

Pl look into these sentences:

  1. Can I have a coffee black, please?
  2. I have been to the movies last night
    Correct:
  3. Can I have a cup of coffee, please?
    or Can I have coffee, please?
    or Can I have black coffee, please? (Since coffee is black, is black required here not?
  4. I was to the movie last night.
    or I was to the movies last night. (plural not sure?)
    Beeesneees Wat do you think?
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4

Can I have a black coffee, please. (adjective before noun)

I went to the movies last night. Only the simple past tense is needed here, as there is no sense of another action afterwards. Compare with, “last night I went to the movies then had a pizza”. Using ‘I was’ is incorrect unless you are saying that this is what you were planning to do, but something happened on the way or something stopped you doing it:
I was going to the movies last night when I met Jack.
I was going to go to the movies last night but I was so tired I fell asleep on the sofa.

Can I have a cup of coffee, please? Can I have a coffee, please? Can I have coffee, please? All these are correct ways of asking for coffee. You need to specify ‘black’ if you want coffee without milk or cream. "Can I have a cup of black coffee, etc.

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Hi Peaceful,

I’d like to add some further comments on your sentence:

The preposition ‘to’ usually suggests movement when you talk about location but the verb ‘to be’ (was) usually describes a fixed location. For that reason you can’t use them together. You could choose a preposition that suggests a fixed location such as ‘at’ and say: I was at the movies last night. Alternatively you could use a verb of motion together with ‘to’ and say: I went/walked/drove to the movies last night.

Alan

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Amazing. Thanks Beesneees and Alan. It’s really worth reading your expertise.

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Amazing. Thanks Beesneees and Alan. It’s really worth reading your expertise.

What’s the difference between lean and thin? (I’d request you some more like that, since I’m preparing for my exam)

  1. Definite relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses:
    1. A boy who I saw in the supermarket is studying in our college.(defining)
    2. Women, who were in the party, were very talkative. (non-defining)

I am not sure about non-defining clauses, when to use commas, as it means an extra information, but I 'm not sure of differentiating between the two.

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Thin, when used of a person or animal means having little, or too little, flesh or fat on their body.
Lean means having no superfluous fat.
It follows that if someone is described as thin, it is often an indication that they have too little fat whereas if someone is described as lean they are often thought of as healthier by comparison. However, this is not always the case in practice. People are often described as being thin when they are lean.
The best first source of information for defining differences and similarities between words is a dictionary. One that is particularly useful for those learning the language is a learners’ dictionary such as OED.

I would urge you to maintain independence in your learning by looking up definitions yourself first. Of course if, having done so, you still have difficulty with the meaning you are welcome to check on this site. Don’t forget that many words can be used synonymously (as ‘thin’ and ‘lean’ often are).

I’m not sure what you mean by your second sentence, but if you mean the women who were in the party were very talkative. (The women were the talkative ones, rather than the men or children) then no non-defining clause is needed.

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Yes, I am using OALD quite often. Thanks for putting reference. I just need your native opinion about lean and thin because I have to write it for my exam.

Second, I get confused with non-relative clauses. You know they have commas at the start and at the end, however, I sometimes put commas and sometimes I make a mistake. Is there a definite rule for knowing Relative clauses and non-relative clauses. How to identify them in a sentence.

Thanks.

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Hi Peaceful.

There are two types of relative clause - the ones that define and the ones that do not define.

Let’s look at your two sentences:

  1. A boy who I saw in the supermarket is studying in our college.(defining)
  2. Women, who were in the party, were very talkative. (non-defining)

In (1) you correctly say that this is a defining clause because it gives particular information about the boy and we know the boy you are talking about. In that type of clause there are no commas.

In (2) you correctly describe this as a non-defining clause because the information it gives about the women is extra information and doesn’t describe them in any precise way. It simply tells you that they were at the party. All we know is that the women were very talkative. That is why we put that clause between commas.

Alan

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  1. A boy who I saw in the supermarket is studying in our college.(defining)
  2. Women, who were in the party, were very talkative. (non-defining)

Hi Alan, what “women” were defined with in #2? Thanks

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Thanks. Alan. E2e4 the example was just put in here for understanding. It’s not defining any particular women.

Please comment on these two sentences.

1.We’ve been looking for you for ages. (Is it correct)
My opinion.
We’ve looked for you for ages. (Please comment)

  1. They were waiting by the waiting.
    My friend thinks.
    They have been waiting by the fountain. (Please Comment)
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Please comment on these two sentences.
Please comment on these two sentences.
1.We’ve been looking for you for ages.(Is it correct)
My opinion.
We’ve looked for you for ages. (Please comment)

  1. They were waiting by the fountain.
    My friend thinks.
    They have been waiting by the fountain. (Please Comment)
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14

In your first sentence I assume the speaker is talking to the other person now and in that case I would use:We’ve been looking. In the second sentence I would say: We looked for you - suggesting we did this in a past time.

In your second pair of sentences I assume they are not related to the previous two sentences and as such they both make sense.

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Hello peaceful it sounds that I am working on the same grammar task, were you doing CELTA when you were given this question?

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