Would you please teach me these?
1.When we went to Thailand, we ordered thali. It [consists/consisted] of several small dishes served with special sauces and puri, a kind of bread. It was delicious.
-> Would eather ‘consists’ or ‘consisted’ be ok?
2.I wasn’t sure [who/whom] I wanted to be.
-> Are both ‘who’ and ‘whom’ right?
Thank you very much.
Canadian45, thanks a lot!
Two things, Canadian.
One:
When we went to Thailand, we ordered thali. It [consists/consisted] of several small dishes served with special sauces and puri, a kind of bread. It was delicious.
Would either ‘consists’ or ‘consisted’ be ok?[color=blue] yes
While I fully agree with you on the possibilities of present/past tense, I think the past form looks more suitable in the given context. (Narration being mostly in the past tense)
Two:
I often tend to feel this way:Also, native speakers, who don’t care about the strict rules of grammar, will instinctively say ‘who’. (But I cannot categorically say so because there are many who care)
Nevertheless, here ‘who’ is more appropriate and acceptable.
As a native English speaker, I would simply like to add that on this occasion I wholeheartedly agree with Anglophile.
***** NOT A TEACHER *****
Hello, Nekozuki:
I have good news and bad news for you!
First, the bad news: the correct use of “who” and “whom” is very difficult for most people.
Second, the good news: in your sentence, almost everyone would say “who.”
a. They would be absolutely correct.
b. They would not, however, know the reason!
Since you want to know the reason, maybe I can offer some helpful ideas:
To parse a sentence, make sure it is in regular order.
So we have “I wasn’t sure I wanted to be ____.” (Remember: this order is only for analysis. Don’t speak like this.)
Now let’s concentrate on the “I wanted to be ___.”
Now it gets difficult.
a. I am sure that you remember that the rules tell us that after a linking verb (such as “to be”) one needs to use the nominative case. That is, we should say, “My friend is a pilot. I would like to be he.” (99% of native speakers in 2014 ignore this rule and use “him.”)
b. Thus, in your sentence, we should definitely say “I wanted to be who.” (“Whom” is wrong because it is like “him.”)
Well, I hope that my bad explanation helps you a little bit. If you are still confused, let us know. Maybe other members can do a better job in explaining it.
James
P.S. English is VERY difficult. Some native speakers joke that if they had not been born speaking it, they would never have been able to learn it!
For example, if you understood my words above, I have to tell you that the linking verb rule does NOT apply in a sentence such as “I do not want the waitress to be her.” (In this case, “she” is wrong. If you want to know why, please start a new thread, and someone will explain.)
Please, James, do not frighten the non native users, many of whom are really interested, for English is interesting to them with all the exceptions, inconsistencies, anomalies, paradoxes, and so on and so forth. I keep telling my friends that English is the easiest foreign language that a discerning student can learn.
Perhaps, the sentence means: I do not want her to be the waitress. (If I am not correct, I shall open the thread. Just say ‘Yes’ or No’.)
Thanks, James, for the role you are playing. Now, here is good news. You know for the first time I have been complimented. I need to wait and see how ‘whole’ the heart really is and how long it will remain so. Anyhow, I cannot but be grateful.
Thank you, Anglophile, for your comments.
[1] I respect your opinion.
[2] I do not have the confidence to answer you.
[3] You truly deserved her compliment.
James
P.S. I am now on pins and needles. I am about to press the “send message” button. When I sent my first post in this thread, the system repeated it five (!) times, and I had to work hard to delete those duplicates. Here I go …
UPDATE: I was “lucky” this time. The system repeated my message “only” two times. I managed to delete them through various strategies. (The system will not allow me to delete them easily. I won’t bother you with the details. Suffice it to say that the system does not like me.)
It should not frighten a learner to know it’s difficult. Learning any language is difficult and requires a lot of practice.
There’s no reason to pretend otherwise. If you tell someone it’s easy, but they don’t find it so simple, it is then that they become downhearted.
Tell a learner that you appreciate that what you are asking them to do is difficult, but not impossible, and they usually rise to the challenge.
That is what the sentence means. It indicates that the speaker does not want to be served by the person she is referring to.
You aren’t alone, James. The system doesn’t like anyone at the moment!
All I can recommend is that you ensure you only click send once, and don’t repeat it even if it doesn’t look as if it’s been sent. Sometimes you need to close the thread and reopen it several times before it becomes apparent that the message has appeared. However, that only works sometimes. Other times, there’s absolutely nothing that seems to work to stop the message repeating.
Thank you, Beeesneees.
That makes me feel better.
Anglophile, thank you for concern!
I can know that you are trying to make non native speakers feel comfortable about English, but I’m ok^^
Also, I already know well that English is difficult. I think,on the contrast, if it was not hard, non native speakers wouldn’t have too much interest in English^^
Even though I am very poor at English, I like English!
Thanks again!
Beeesneees, as always thank you!
James!
I do understand your words above!
You read my mind! You wrote what I exactly wanted to ask,which I couldn’t because of my poor English. Oh, you were very helpful!
How could you be so specific?
You spent your valuable time writing those details for me!
I was so impressed!
Thank you so much,James!!
I thank YOU, Nekozuki, for your very kind words.
We members are always willing to help one another, especially courteous members such as you.
Have a nice day!
James
Yes, I would also thank you, Nekozuki. Let’s learn together.