purchasing

Status
Not open for further replies.

Raymott

VIP Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2008
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
So is it correct or no ?
When a teacher here says, "It makes almost as little sense as everything that has gone before", you can take that to mean that it is not correct.
(... since you asked about the chicken.)
Speaking of chicken,
"I am eating chicken" is not the only intelligent reply to "I am drinking chicken". For example, you could have been using "chicken" to mean 'beer', in which case, 'drinking' is correct. Once you compound the error with half a dozen similar errors in a sentence, it becomes exponentially difficult to infer a correct understanding. Two errors, four times as hard. Four errors, 16 times as hard, etc.
 

Barb_D

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Member Type
Other
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Actually, I would be more likely to think "I was giving the chicken some water/something to drink." But then, my friend raises chickens.
 

Skrej

VIP Member
Joined
May 11, 2015
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
You could even have meant something like 'drinking chicken broth/soup'. As Raymott said, it's not so simple a guessing game when the sentences are so full of errors.

We're not trying to insult you or mock your errors, but we do want to point out that it's not as easy for us to guess your intended meaning as you might think. We can't read your mind, only what you've written.

Several of your comments have come across as particularly insulting towards people trying to help you, but I've chosen to attribute that to language limitations as well, rather then presume you are writing deliberate insults.

We are trying to help, but unfortunately your command of written English makes it difficult. Again, that comment isn't meant as an insult, just a blunt statement of fact.

Let's give this one last try. Instead of re-writing the sentence you want, perhaps if you wrote a brief description of the situation you're trying to express. Write several short simple sentences, as many as necessary to outline the situation. Once we fully understand what it is you're trying to express, we can make better guesses and suggestions.

For example:
There are a group of doctors.
The doctors want to buy computers.
They can't buy computers because of X.

I'm afraid that all I can determine so far is that your situation involves doctors and computers.
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
This thread is hard work!

I understand (that for some reason) the doctors are asking something as simple as: "Is it possible for us to buy a computer from you?"
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top