[General] tend to agree with the latter

[Silverobama]

Hi.

I was watching short videos online yesterday. There was one about a Chinese adage which literally means “If a person who doesn’t work hard, study hard when young, life will be more difficult when getting older”. The teacher in the video says “An idle youth, a needy age”.

I heard another version, so I commented on her video. I said “I’ve heard “A young idler, an older beggar”. I’m not sure if it’s natural or used, but I tend to agree with the latter.”

I wonder if the bold sentence is natural to mean “I tend to think that my version is natural and used”.

P.S.: Please let me know if I've made some comma errors.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi.

I was watching short videos online yesterday. There was one about a Chinese adage which literally means “If a person [STRIKE]who[/STRIKE] doesn’t work hard (no comma here) and study hard when they are young, life will be more difficult when [STRIKE]getting[/STRIKE] they get/are older”. The teacher in the video says “An idle youth, a needy age”.

I heard another version, so I commented on her video. I said “I’ve heard “A young idler, an older beggar”. I’m not sure if it’s natural or used, but I tend to agree with the latter.”

I wonder if the bold sentence is natural to mean “I tend to think that my version is natural and used”.

P.S.: Please let me know if I've made some comma errors.

See my changes above. Your bold sentence is grammatically correct but it's a little confusing. "The latter" appears to refer to "an older beggar". "The former" (the opposite) would be "A young idler".
What specifically were you trying to refer to as "the latter"?

 

[Silverobama]

See my changes above. Your bold sentence is grammatically correct but it's a little confusing. "The latter" appears to refer to "an older beggar". "The former" (the opposite) would be "A young idler".
What specifically were you trying to refer to as "the latter"?

Hmmm.

When I said "I tend to agree with the latter", I meant "I tend to agree with the phrase "A young idler, an older beggar" is used. The fomer is "I'm not sure" while the latter is "if it's used or natural"

So, do I just need to be specific to avoid ambiguity:

I've heard "A young idler, an older beggar". I'm not sure if it's natural or used, but I tend to believe that this version is natural and in use.

Is my new sentence natural? "This version" refers to my version.

 

[GoesStation]

I've heard "A young idler, an older beggar". I'm not sure if it's natural or used, but I tend to believe that this version is natural and in use.

Is my new sentence natural? "This version" refers to my version.

Your revised sentence is perfect, but it's not true. The translation is good but it's not in common use.

 

[Silverobama]

An young idler, an old beggar

Hi.

I wonder if “An young idler, an old beggar” is natural in English. It means “If you don’t work hard when you’re young, your life will be much harder when you’re old”.

I’ve read many versions besides mine, here are two of them.

a) An idle youth, a needy age.
b) An idle young, a lousy old.

I wonder if all these are natural or is there a better alternative?

 

[GoesStation]

Re: An young idler, an old beggar

An young is never possible. Initial y is a consonant except in a few foreign words like Ypres. The aphorism isn't natural even with the correct article — it looks more like a list of people you're observing rather than a warning about habits.

Version A is okay if it's clearly an aphorism. B is wrong because young and old are not nouns.

 

[emsr2d2]

I Googled "An young idler, an old/older beggar" and the only hits are translations of the Chinese proverb. There are no hits for it as any kind of English proverb in use.

 

[Silverobama]

Hi GoesStation.

You said in #4 that my translation is good but not in common use. Do you mean this sentence is good but not in common use "A young idler, an old beggar"?

You said in #6 that

The aphorism isn't natural even with the correct article

Do you mean the same version "A young idler, an old beggar" is not natural?

So, in short, do you mean that this proverb is good but not natural and in common use?

 

[GoesStation]

You said in #4 that my translation is good but not in common use. Do you mean this sentence is good but not in common use "A young idler, an old beggar"? Yes, but now that I'm looking at it again, I don't like it. If it was introduced as "a Chinese proverb", many readers would understand it; Chinese proverbs are known to be terse.

You said in #6 that

"The aphorism isn't natural even with the correct article."

Do you mean the same version "A young idler, an old beggar" is not natural?

So, in short, do you mean that this proverb is good but not natural and in common use?

Yes. It's comprehensible in the context of Chinese proverbs but not natural English.

 

[Silverobama]

Yes. It's comprehensible in the context of Chinese proverbs but not natural English.

One last question about this thread. You also said "I tend to believe that this version is natural and in use" is perfect. My question is if it would be better if I put it in this way

I tend to believe that this version is natural and is in use.

(Yes, it's not true. :lol

 

[Tarheel]

Those two statements are two things that are the same thing. Also, "I tend to believe...." is wishy washy. Just state your opinion. Also, if something is natural might be an opinion, but its being in use is not.

 

[emsr2d2]

Also, if something is natural might be an opinion, but [STRIKE]it's[/STRIKE] its being in use is not.

I have highlighted the above error not in an attempt to embarrass Tarheel, but to prove to learners that confusing "it's" and "its" is definitely not limited to non-native speakers.

 

[tedmc]

One last question about this thread. You also said "I tend to believe that this version is natural and in use" is perfect. My question is if it would be better if I put it in this way

I tend to believe that this version is natural and is in use.

(Yes, it's not true. :lol

There is no difference.

 

[Rover_KE]

... "it's" and "its" is definitely not limited to non-native speakers.

I've carelessly made the same mistake recently, too.

 

[Tarheel]

Well, it doesn't help that they do that on Facebook all the time.