MyProfe :: View topic

Posted: Fri Jan 05, 2007 12:17 pm

One of my students asked me to correct the following message that she received from a German colleague. Not knowing German, it's impossible for me to know exactly what the German person was trying to say. What do you think?

German colleague wrote:

I'm want to do a final check, but so far I have not heared of any problems.

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 12:12 am

It is very difficult to find out the meaning of the sentence without any context. I guess that your student and her German colleague have just been talking about something one can hear or listen to, for example a (maybe self-made) sound file or a compact disc?

My suggestion: I have not heard any errors yet, but I am going to make a final check (to make sure it is perfect).

Does this help you in any way, Myprofe?

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 7:40 pm

I speak no German, but maybe my foreing English can help; I find clear that the student is trying to say:

I'm trying to make a final check, but up to now I haven't found any problems.

Better, or worst?

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:20 pm

That is a great idea, LaiLai. I have not thought of this possibility at all.

By the way, I do not have the impression that the mistakes in the sentence are typically German. If the writer had translated German to Englisch word by word, I should have caught the exact meaning at once.

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:22 pm

LaiLai wrote:

I speak no German, but maybe my foreing English can help; I find clear that the student is trying to say:

I'm trying to make a final check, but up to now I haven't found any problems.

Better, or worst?

Corrections and suggestions: I speak no German, but maybe my foreign English can help; I find it clear/find clearly that the student is trying to say:

I'm trying to make a final check, but up to now I haven't found any problems.

Better, or worse?

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2007 11:28 pm

Gabi wrote:

That is a great idea, LaiLai. I have not thought of this possibility at all.

By the way, I do not have the impression that the mistakes in the sentence are typically German. If the writer had translated German to Englisch word by word, I should have caught the exact meaning at once.

Corrections and suggestions: That is a great idea, LaiLai. I had not thought of this possibility at all.

By the way, I do not have the impression that the mistakes in the sentence are typically German. If the writer had translated German to English word for word, I should have caught the exact meaning at once.

Comment: The two girls work for the same company. They sell and service copy/printers. I was hoping that there would be some obvious clues with respect to the mistakes but apparently not. Thanks for trying.

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:11 pm

What a pity we were not able to help you with this sentence, Myprofe. Sad

Thank you very much for your correction. If only I had translated my German sentence to English word for word not thinking of "step by step", I would not have used the wrong preposition.

Whistling

Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:15 am

I always say "step by step" Dizzy

Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:59 am

Sorry, did I confuse you, LaiLai? Insecure

As far as I know, "step by step" is correct, but from Myprofe's correction I have just learned that we have to write/say
"word for word".

Okay?

Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:52 pm

One by one, step by step, word by word refers to a sequence, one at a time or one after another. So, if you look at the words one at a time then you could say word by word. You can substitute one by one or translate one by one but I still prefer the expression word for word.

If you look at the action itself; exchange this for that; substitute this for that, we can't use by.

The dictionary definition of verbatim is word for word.

There are more views on this question here: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=344861

Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:57 pm

Thank you very much for your explanation, Myprofe. Graduate

So it is much more difficult than I thought yesterday - both structures do exist! Shock

Well, although I have understood the difference between them now, it will take me quite a while to completely internalize it.

One more question, please:

When I was having a look at the website of the link you gave us, I came across a subject-verb-agreement I do not understand:

Most users ever online was 6,745, 29th November 2006 at 06:46 PM.

On November 29, 2006, at 6:46 in the afternoon, there were 6,745 users online.
6,745 users were online on November 29, 2006 at 6:46 in the afternoon.
These were the most users ever online.

Would you please be so kind as to tell me where I am going wrong here? Insecure

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 8:03 am

The same sentence, with a much lower number, appears at the bottom of the main page of this forum: Most users ever online was 32 on 05 Dec 2006 06:31 pm

The largest number of people to visit the page at one time was 32.

The subject of the sentence is the number or quantity, not the people.

Many people were at the concert.

There were many people at the concert.

There were a large number of people at the concert.

The number of people at this year's concert was greater than last year's concert.

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:43 pm

Thank you very much for explaining, Myprofe. Graduate

It must be the same grammar rule used in the saying "Two under an umbrella makes the third a wet fellow". I see.

Is it correct to transform the original sentence to read:

"The number of the most users ever online was 6,745, 29th November 2006 at 06:46 PM."?