Mac's Learning English

[Mac]

Wow.:dance: What a cute smiley this is "<(" )>".
I have never seen the smiley like a bird before.

as far as I know... = わたしがしっているかぎり・・・・ :note:
"As far as I know He is a nice man."
exception = れいがい :note:

I wasn't in my mind into Japanese.
わたしは　わたしの（または　じぶんの）あたまに　
にほんごが　はいっていかなかった。:?

"mind" is a difficult word for me....

I was preinvolved with other things and people in different languages. =
私は以前、他の事や　人々を一緒に　違う言語の中で　 巻き込んでしまった。
わたしは　いぜん、　ほかのことや　ひとびとをいっし ょに　ちがうげんごのなかで
まきこんでしまった。

I just can't flip-flop very easily from one language to another.
わたしは　ただ　ひとつのげんごから　ほかのげんごへ 　
とてもかんたんに　きゅうへん（「急」激に「変」化 > すぐにほんやくできない？ ）
することができない。

:?

hehe everyone. I know those contractions. (^^;
Now I think I need to learn those sentences.

------------------------------------------------------------
If ... past form, 〜 would + normal form. もし・・・ならば、〜なのに。
If ... had + perfect past tense form、〜would have + perfect past tense form.　もし・・・だったら、〜だったのに。
If ... should + normal form、〜 would + normal form. もし万が一・・・ならば、〜する

It would be better, if you would have written like this.
It would be better, if you could have written like this.
------------------------------------------------------------

and some sentences of possibility like...
be going to, will, would, could, can...... (^^;

I said I would send the picture.
My friend said "It would be nice".

I thought "it would be nice" was the contraction sentence of
"It would be nice, if you could have sent that."

I think I understand the meaning of "would" in those cases.

I'm going to open the party tomorrow. possibility is high? or low.....
I will open the party tomorrow. possibility is low? or high.... I've heard like that before....

It can be. それはありえる。:?
It can't be happening. そんなことがおこるわけない。 :?

[TKNY]

Wow.:dance: What a cute smiley this is "<(" )>".
I have never seen the smiley like a bird before.

as far as I know... = わたしがしっているかぎり・・・・ :note:
"As far as I know He is a nice man."
exception = れいがい :note:

I wasn't in my mind into Japanese.
わたしは　わたしの（または　じぶんの）あたまに　
にほんごが　はいっていかなかった。:?

"mind" is a difficult word for me....

I was preinvolved with other things and people in different languages. =
私は以前、他の事や　人々を一緒に　違う言語の中で　 巻き込んでしまった。
わたしは　いぜん、　ほかのことや　ひとびとをいっし ょに　ちがうげんごのなかで
まきこんでしまった。

I just can't flip-flop very easily from one language to another.
わたしは　ただ　ひとつのげんごから　ほかのげんごへ 　
とてもかんたんに　きゅうへん（「急」激に「変」化 > すぐにほんやくできない？ ）
することができない。

:?

hehe everyone. I know those contractions. (^^;
Now I think I need to learn those sentences.

------------------------------------------------------------
If ... past form, 〜 would + normal form. もし・・・ならば、〜なのに。
If ... had + perfect past tense form、〜would have + perfect past tense form.　もし・・・だったら、〜だったのに。
If ... should + normal form、〜 would + normal form. もし万が一・・・ならば、〜する

It would be better, if you would have written like this.
It would be better, if you could have written like this.
------------------------------------------------------------

and some sentences of possibility like...
be going to, will, would, could, can...... (^^;

I said I would send the picture.
My friend said "It would be nice".

I thought "it would be nice" was the contraction sentence of
"It would be nice, if you could have sent that."

I think I understand the meaning of "would" in those cases.

I'm going to open the party tomorrow. possibility is high? or low.....
I will open the party tomorrow. possibility is low? or high.... I've heard like that before....

It can be. それはありえる。:?
It can't be happening. そんなことがおこるわけない。 :?
great job mac, you english is better than my japanese

[Mac]

What have you been up to this week?

I really can't translate the sentence. :?
Would someone please traslate this sentence?

[TKNY]

What have you been up to this week?

I really can't translate the sentence. :?
Would someone please traslate this sentence?
its an english idiom, it doesnt make any sense, but it basically means what have you been doing this week.

[TwistedMac]

its an english idiom, it doesnt make any sense, but it basically means what have you been doing this week.

*agrees*
it also works if you want to ask someone what they are doing by making it "What are you up to?"

[Mac]

Oh, Thank you for your help, TKNY and TwistedMac. :)

That is an idiom. wow idiom.... I'll remember this word. This word may be useful.

So, I awoke just now and I looked my dictionary....
The sentence contained in my dictionary.

What have you been up to this week? = What have you been doing this week?
今週は何をやっているんだい？ :) uhhh. This sentence must be useful.
What had you been up to this week? = What had you been doing this week?
今週は何をやっていたんだい？ :?

[Elizabeth]

Oh, Thank you for your help, TKNY and TwistedMac. :)

That is an idiom. wow idiom.... I'll remember this word. This word may be useful.

So, I awoke just now and I looked my dictionary....
The sentence contained in my dictionary.

What have you been up to this week? = What have you been doing this week?
今週は何をやっているんだい？ :) uhhh. This sentence must be useful.
What had you been up to this week? = What had you been doing this week?
今週は何をやっていたんだい？ :?
Except it is what have you been doing this week ? In the present perfect.... :cool:

And don't forget "in" in looked (in) my dictionary....The sentence that was in my dictionary is..... :wave:

[MikeH85]

What had you been up to this week? = What had you been doing this week?

The sentence "What have you been doing this week?" is already refering to the past (the last week), so there is not need to change "have" to "had".
For that reason "What had you been up to this week?" is barely ever used and sounds unnatural... just use "What have you been up to this week?" instead and you will be fine!

[Elizabeth]

If this is all still confusing, Mac, you can always say "What are you up to this week?" "What were you up to last week?" or "What's up?"....just don't actually look up
as you're saying it. :D

[Mac]

Thank you for you help, Mike and Elizabeth. :)

Hmm. "The sentence was looked in my dictionary. " is the correct sentence?
or "The sentence in looked my dictionary."?
or "The sentence was contained in my dictionary."?

I can agree the first sentence....But the second sentence......Hmmm....

The sentence "What have you been doing this week?" is already refering to the past (the last week), so there is not need to change "have" to "had".

「あなたは今週何をしていたの？」はすでに過去に属し ている。そして"have"から"had"へ変更する必要はない。

For that reason "What had you been up to this week?" is barely ever used and sounds unnatural... just use "What have you been up to this week?" instead and you will be fine!

その理由として、「あなたは今週何をしてしまっていた の？」は今までにほとんど使われていなく、響きが不自 然である。とにかく、「あなたは今週何をしていたの？ 」を代わりに使いなさい。それであなたは立派になるで しょう。

Yay! I could translate the sentences!
I don't know that is correct or incorrect though.:beer:

By the way, Is the pronunciation of "barely"ベアリー？:?

[Elizabeth]

Thank you for you help, Mike and Elizabeth. :)

Hmm. "The sentence was looked in my dictionary. " is the correct sentence?
or "The sentence in looked my dictionary."?
or "The sentence was contained in my dictionary."?

I can agree the first sentence....But the second sentence......Hmmm....
I looked in my dictionary and found the sentence.....
OR I looked in my dictionary and the sentence there was.....
OR if you want to use contains, My dictionary contains the sentence....
OR The sentence in my dictionary is.....

Enough for now ? :giggle:



The sentence "What have you been doing this week?" is already refering to the past (the last week), so there is not need to change "have" to "had".

「あなたは今週何をしていたの？」はすでに過去に属し ている。そして"have"から"had"へ変更する必要はない。Except isn't をしていた what had you been doing ?
"Have you been doing" refers to the week until this point, up to and including the present. "Had been doing" is a bit tricky, but always used in reference to another action. What had he been doing when she arrived ? and it sounds slightly suspicious. Like he was doing something he shouldn't have been....

Now try translating that :p


For that reason "What had you been up to this week?" is barely ever used and sounds unnatural... just use "What have you been up to this week?" instead and you will be fine!

その理由として、「あなたは今週何をしてしまっていた の？」は今までにほとんど使われていなく、響きが不自 然である。とにかく、「あなたは今週何をしていたの？ 」を代わりに使いなさい。それであなたは立派になるで しょう。

Yay! I could translate the sentences!
I don't know that is correct or incorrect though.:beer:
It's a little incorrect, but anyway forget about "What had you been up to this week." It is ungrammatical and never used.

[Mac]

Thank you for you help, Elizabeth. :)

(1)I looked in my dictionary and there was the sentence.
(2)I looked in my dictionary and the sentence there was.
(3)The sentence in my dictionary was.
(4)The sentence was in my dictionary.
私の辞書の中にその文があった。

hmmm The second and the third sentences are difficult for me.
But I'll remember. Enough for now? 今ので or もう十分？

Except isn't をしていた what had you been doing ?
"Have you been doing" refers to the week until this point, up to and including the present. "Had been doing" is a bit tricky, but always used in reference to another action. What had he been doing when she arrived ? and it sounds slightly suspicious. Like he was doing something he shouldn't have been....

"Have you been doing"はup toと現在を含めるこのポイントまで、その週に属してい る。:?
"Had been doing"はちょっとややっこしいが、もう一つの行動　に関して (in reference to)いつも使われる。
彼女が到着した時、彼は何をやっていたんだい？それは 少し疑わしく聞こえる。
彼がするべきではなかった何かをしていたかのように。

OK. I won't use the sentence. (^^;

Anyway....What have you been doing this week?
and What have you bee up to this week? =
今週は何をしているんだい？ My dictionary says like that.

[Elizabeth]

Ｋｏｎｎｉｃｈｉｈａ　Ｍａｃ！

Thank you for you help, Elizabeth. :)

The sentence in my dictionary is.....

(1)I looked in my dictionary and there was the sentence.
(2)I looked in my dictionary and the sentence there was.
(3)The sentence in my dictionary was.
(4)The sentence was in my dictionary.
私の辞書の中にその文があった。
I'm not sure what you're trying to say exactly, but all the Japanese here is saying is "that sentence was in my dictionary....." :note: The second and third are more like 辞書のなかに（あった）文は。。。。


hmmm The second and the third sentence is difficult for me.
But I'll remember. Enough for now? 今ので or もう十分？
今日は結構です？That is enough for today?　Tomorrow I will try to check on your Japanese :p

[TwistedMac]

hehe... you can do it gangster style by using
"yo, wzup?" ;)

j/k.. :-)

[Mac]

I've heard the sentence like "This is some kind of....."
What does it mean? Does the sentence exist?
これはいくらか〜のようだ。:?

This movie may be some kind of a good movie.
これはちょっと（いくらか）いい映画かもしれない。

[TwistedMac]

"this is some kind of..." is used when you're not certain what exact thing you're refering to..

like if someone has a horrible disease, but you have no idea WHAT disease he or she has you'd say "this is some kind of a horrible disease"

[Mac]

Thank you for teaching me, TwistedMac. :hey:
To learn English, I try to translate your sentences. :happy:

"this is some kind of..." is used when you're not certain what exact thing you're refering to..

"This is some kind of..."はあなたが問い合わせている正確なものがなんなのか(w hat exact thing you're referring to)確かでない時に使われます。

like if someone has a horrible disease, but you have no idea WHAT disease he or she has you'd say "this is some kind of a horrible disease"

もし誰かが酷い病気をにかかっていて、あなたが彼の病 気が何なのか想像できなく、あなたが「これはいくらか 酷い病気のようだ」と言うように。

[Mac]

Do you know if there are anymore episdos of ABC?

I can't translate this sentence. :(
Would someone please translate this sentence?

[Mac]

I got fed up with eating rices. 米は食べるのはもうたくさんだわ！
I'm fed up with eating rices. 米を食べるのに飽き飽きしている。

If I can just hang in there for a couple of more weeks then I'll be ok.
もし私が２、３週間以上がんばれば、それから私は大丈 夫でしょう。

How are my sentences? Are my sentences incorrect?

[Elizabeth]

I got fed up with eating rice. 米は食べるのはもうたくさんだわ！
I'm fed up with eating rice. 米を食べるのに飽き飽きしている。

英語ではその二つの文の意味をはっきり区別するのは難 しいです。
日本語でも意味はほぼ同じですか？ 二つ目の文はちょっと言い訳そうだけど。

[Mac]

Hmm. I get confused what I said. (^^;; Sorry...
I've forgotten where I looked up them.

I get tired of eating rices. 私は米を食べるのに飽きた。
I'm fed up with eating rices.飽き飽きしている(I don't wanna do anymore.:()

Ahhh So difficult. (^^; hehehe.

I just remember this sentence. :-(
I get tired of eating rices.

[Elizabeth]

Hmm. I get confused what I said. (^^;; Sorry...
I've forgotten where I looked up them.

I get tired of eating rices. 私は米を食べるのに飽きた。
I'm fed up with eating rices.飽き飽きしている(I don't wanna do anymore.:()

Ahhh So difficult. (^^; hehehe.

I just remember this sentence. :-(
I get tired of eating rices.
Just rice, though, not rices, no matter how many of them you have to eat :D

[Mac]

OK. :D I'll remember that. Thank you, Elizabeth.

[Elizabeth]

物の言い方にルールはない方が多いと思いますね。 大変ですががんばってください。

[DaMo]

I found some good static and interactive English exercises. :cool:


In particular, there is a great interactive exercise resource for vocabulary ... : http://www.smic.be/smic5022/exercisesvocabulary.htm

... and some interactive exercises for grammar: http://www.smic.be/smic5022/exercisesgrammar.htm



The full list of interactive exercises are at http://www.smic.be/smic5022/Onlineexercises.htm

And there are some non-interactive exercises and instructions at http://www.smic.be/smic5022/teacherhandouts.htm

All these resources are located at http://www.smic.be/smic5022/Nieuwmain.htm

[Mac]

Thank you for your information, DoMo.
I'm going to learn English by using those homepages from today. :cool:

[akihabara]

I got fed up with eating rice. 米は食べるのはもうたくさんだわ！
I'm fed up with eating rice. 米を食べるのに飽き飽きしている。

英語ではその二つの文の意味をはっきり区別するのは難 しいです。
日本語でも意味はほぼ同じですか？ 二つ目の文はちょっと言い訳そうだけど。

昨日のＮＨＫラジオの英会話番組で たまたま、"be + (過去分詞)" と "get + (過去分詞)" の違いについて説明していました。それによると、"be + (過去分詞)" は単に事実を伝えるのに対して、"get + (過去分詞)" はインフォーマルで、何かに「やられる」という感じがあるとのことです。
In the yesterday lesson of NHK radio english program, there happened to be a explanation of the differece between "be + (past participle)" and "get + (past participle)". According to that, "get+" is rather informal and has a feeling of unexpectedly being forced by something, whereas "be+" conveys facts simply.
これは英語の "米の場合" にも当てはまるのでしょうか？
Does this go for the "rice case" in English ?

日本語では確かに意味としては同じですが、やはり
　　もうたくさんだわ！　＝＞　感情をぶつけている。(vent her feelings)
　　飽き飽きしている。　＝＞　事実を述べている。 (state the facts)
の違いがあります。

[Elizabeth]

昨日のＮＨＫラジオの英会話番組で たまたま、"be + (過去分詞)" と "get + (過去分詞)" の違いについて説明していました。それによると、"be + (過去分詞)" は単に事実を伝えるのに対して、"get + (過去分詞)" はインフォーマルで、何かに「やられる」という感じがあるとのこと です。
In the yesterday lesson of NHK radio english program, there happened to be a explanation of the differece between "be + (past participle)" and "get + (past participle)". According to that, "get+" is rather informal and has a feeling of unexpectedly being forced by something, whereas "be+" conveys facts simply.
これは英語の "米の場合" にも当てはまるのでしょうか？
Does this go for the "rice case" in English ?

Was this American English they were talking about ? :D Got + (past participle) is more informal, but not necessarily about anything unexpected or that conveys a sense of being forced. Do you happen to remember a particular example they used, Akihabara? Almost the opposite in fact. It is used more than anything as an excuse or reason for something that developed gradually over time. (Because) I got (or became) so sick of eating rice during the war I eventually stopped. Or, I got (became) so tired of eating rice that I divorced my wife. Something of that order. :-)

[akihabara]

Er, yes American English it is. I translated "やられる" into "being forced", but it may be wrong, I don't know. :okashii:
Could you read the pages of the textbook here please? Thank you, in advance. :wave:
http://www.geocities.jp/imagesensor/

One of the examples is,
"You'll get stuck in a rut and burn out."

[Elizabeth]

Er, yes American English it is. I translated "やられる" into "being forced", but it may be wrong, I don't know. :okashii:

I'm not exactly sure either but isn't the rareru conjugation normally the passive form ?

[Elizabeth]

Could you read the pages of the textbook here please? Thank you, in advance. :wave:
http://www.geocities.jp/imagesensor/

One of the examples is,
"You'll get stuck in a rut and burn out."
I'll read them and get back on this shortly. :-)

[PaulTB]

Well やられる could be used for

"I got done by the police" 警察にやられた

but I'm not sure that was the usage being got at. ;-)

I'm not exactly sure either but isn't the rareru conjugation normally the passive form ?
suffering passive. It often implies some degree of not-being-able-to-avoid [action].

[Elizabeth]

Well やられる could be used for

"I got done by the police" 警察にやられた

but I'm not sure that was the usage being got at. ;-)


suffering passive. It often implies some degree of not-being-able-to-avoid [action].
Looking just at the workform example of 'Our office got renovated' v. 'Our office was renovated' both can certainly be unavoidable and uncontrollable depending on the situation, although I don't agree that 'got' in this case necessarily has the nuance of something sudden or drastic. Perhaps やさせる would be a closer translation of forced against your will by outside control as it's usually used in English. :?

例えば、「オフィスが改装されました」と言いたい場合 、使いやすくなる上、計画を立ててやることですから、 Our office was renovated.とするのが普通でしょう。これに対して、Ou r office got renovated.は、何か「（いきなり）やられてしまった」 というニュアンスがあり、ちょっと言えない感じがあり ます。

[akihabara]

Thank you for your comments and rapid reply. Sorry, I've been got stuck in off-line chores.
It would appear that it depends on the context and I had better not to believe everything I read in textbooks especially in a matter of fine nuance. As to these sense of English, I wish I could have native friends near myself.
But the problem is that it took me over an hour to write this. :blush:
Perhaps やさせる would be a closer translation of forced against your will by outside control as it's usually used in English.
I think you mean させられる.
I was fired by the company.
私は会社を辞めさせられた。
emphasises that I was forced to leave. ( So I have a grudge against it. I will kill them sometime soon. [just a joke])
私は会社を首になった。
Although the company made me leave there, I don't think I want to kill them.
There are a lot of decent companies in the world.
じゃ、またね！

[Elizabeth]

I think you mean させられる.
I was fired by the company.
私は会社を辞めさせられた。
emphasises that I was forced to leave. ( So I have a grudge against it. I will kill them sometime soon. [just a joke])
私は会社を首になった。
Although the company made me leave there, I don't think I want to kill them.
There are a lot of decent companies in the world.
じゃ、またね！
In the case of rareru it depends on the verb. Our office got renovated doesn't imply we were forced to have it done or that it was anything unpleasant. Especially because it is so informal you can even use it in a slightly upbeat tone, like you are bragging about your office (as opposed to the others) already having been done.

And there's no やさせる ？ Make (force) someone into doing something? Anyway, as far as I'm aware the causative させる　（させられる） form always implies forcing/being forced or allowing/being allowed.