[General] When I was young, my dad often put me to nature.

[Silverobama]

I want to express the idea that when I was a kid, my father always brought me to get close to nature. For example, to the parks, countryside, etc., to get closer to the nature. Is it natural to say the following?

When I was young, my dad often put me to nature.

 

[Rover_KE]

No.

 

[tedmc]

How about exposed me to nature?

 

[teechar]

I want to express the idea that when I was a kid, my father always brought me [STRIKE]to get[/STRIKE] close to nature--for example, to the parks, countryside, etc.[STRIKE], to get closer to the nature.[/STRIKE] Is it natural to say the following?
When I was young, my dad often put me to nature.

As Rover has pointed out, that is not natural. You can check whether simple phrases such as "put me to nature" are potentially natural by googling them. This particular one gets zero hits!

 

[emsr2d2]

I want to express the idea that when I was a kid, my father [STRIKE]always[/STRIKE] frequently [STRIKE]brought[/STRIKE] took me to places where I could get close to nature. For example, he took me to [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] parks, the countryside, etc. [STRIKE], to get closer to the nature.[/STRIKE] Is it natural to say the following?

When I was young, my dad often put me to nature. :cross:

Please note my corrections above.

No, your sentence doesn't work. We don't "put someone to nature".

When I was a kid, my dad frequently took me out into nature.
When I was a kid, my dad made sure I experienced nature.
When I was a kid, my dad made sure I regularly got close to nature.

 

[teechar]

How about exposed me to nature?

No.

 

[Silverobama]

As Rover has pointed out, that is not natural. You can check whether simple phrases such as "put me to nature" are potentially natural by googling them. This particular one gets zero hits!

Teechar, I can use Google now and yes, I can check if some phrases are natural. However, Google doesn't tell me the natural expression though.

 

[teechar]

When I was a kid, my dad made sure I regularly got close to nature.

I like this one, and it uses the words from the OP. :up:

 

[teechar]

However, Google doesn't tell me the natural expression though.

But if a string of words gets zero (or very few) hits on Google, what are the chances of it being natural?

 

[Silverobama]

But if a string of words gets zero (or very few) hits on Google, what are the chances of it being natural?

Good question. Say I can use Google to check those words and phrases online and the results are zero, I then know they're not natural. But I'm here to learn idiomatic expressions. Do you mean that I need to change my question to "The sentnece isn't natural, please write me a natural one?" I think that's rude and also not correct. I sometimes might use the natural expressions though.

 

[teechar]

Good question. Say I can use Google to check those words and phrases online and the results are zero, I then know they're not natural.

Right.

But I'm here to learn idiomatic expressions.

Then you need to read a lot.

Do you mean that I need to change my question to "The sentnece isn't natural, please write me a natural one?" I think that's rude and also not correct. I sometimes might use the natural expressions though.

I have no idea what that means, and I don't think it's relevant/important.

 

[Tdol]

However, Google doesn't tell me the natural expression though.

It's imperfect, but you can read the numbers- something that has seven thousand hits is probably less natural than something with seven million.

 

[emsr2d2]

Do you mean that I need to change my question to "The sentence isn't natural. Please rewrite [STRIKE]me[/STRIKE] it for me in a natural [STRIKE]one[/STRIKE] way"?

I sometimes might use the natural expressions though.

Note my corrections above. I have no idea what the final sentence means.

The answer to your question is no, we don't want you do that. If you give us a sentence then say "The sentence isn't natural", we're just going to ask you why you're wasting our time with a sentence that (somehow) you already know isn't natural! My best suggestion to help you get what you want is to give us sentence you have written yourself (along with the context, of course) and then write something like "I wrote this sentence/these sentences myself. Would a native speaker use it/them?"

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Good question. Say I [STRIKE]can[/STRIKE] use Google to check those words and phrases online and the results are zero. I then know they're not natural. But I'm here to learn idiomatic expressions.

Do you mean that I need to change my post to "The sentence isn't natural. Please write me a natural one"?

I think that's rude and also not correct.

It's not rude or incorrect. It is wordy, though. You could phrase it more simply: "Is this sentence natural?"

If it's not, we'll help you with it. (As always!)

I sometimes might use the natural expressions, though.

Yes, you might get lucky sometimes. As you know, if it's natural we won't suggest changes.

Googling a phrase to see if it's natural is a good suggestion.

 

[Glizdka]

Not a teacher
------

Checking how many hits googling a phrase gets is good for getting the idea of whether a phrase is correct/natural. If there are few to no hits, it's probably not something you might want to use. Remember, however, that it doesn't work the other way around. If a phrase gets lots of hits, it may be because it's a common learner's mistake, especially now that we have lots of forums for learning English, such as this very forum we're talking on.



A few tips:

Remember to add quotation marks on either side of the phrase you want to check. This makes sure Google will search for the exact phrase. Otherwise, it will also show hits for fragments of the phrase, the same words in a different order, or even words the search engine deems "similar".

:cross: [STRIKE]Put me to nature[/STRIKE]
:tick: "Put me to nature"

Be careful with pronouns. Even though a phrase with one pronoun might not show up, it might show up with other pronouns. You can also use someone instead.

"Put me to nature"
"Put him to nature"
"Put someone to nature"

You can also use an asterisk as a wild card. Google will try to find anything that would go there.

"Put * to nature"

Asterisks are also useful when you aren't sure about the verb, preposition, or any element of a phrase.

"* me to nature"
"Put me * nature"

However, don't google just asterisks on their own; that'd be ridiculous.:-D

:cross: [STRIKE]"* * * *"[/STRIKE]

Good luck and have fun learning with Google.