scratch using = ?

"It would be much better to build a new PC from scratch using up to date components"

Does the phrases in red mean "this is a good time to use the new components"?

No, it does not mean that.

You cannot separate the two words 'from scratch'. Click here and you will see that it is a phrase meaning 'from the very beginning'.

(Bookmark the OneLook website for future reference.)

Sometimes, I meant sometimes I knew the word meaning. But I put them together becoming a sentence. I can't understand what does the sentence mean.
Can you please give me suggestion?

I suggest that you refrain from doing the following, but I am not a teacher.

Polyester said:

I'm just translating the sentence from English to Chinese word by word.

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Would you have been able to understand it more easily if there had been a comma after "scratch"?

Polyester said:

"It would be much better to build a new PC from scratch using up to date components"

Does the phrases in red mean "this is a good time to use the new components"?

Click to expand...

"It would be much better" [A common phrase stating that it would be better to do what the rest of sentence suggests, rather than doing the opposite, or something else].

" to build a new PC from scratch" = [to build a new PC right from the start, rather than adapting an old PC or by using bits that you already have.]

" using up to date components" = [using modern parts] http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/up-to-date

Polyester said:

"It would be much better to build a new PC from scratch using up to date components"

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If 'for you' was added before 'to build', I would think that the participle phrase modified 'you'. However, 'for you' is absent, so what does it modify?

emsr2d2 said:

Would you have been able to understand it more easily if there had been a comma after "scratch"?

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Yes, but ,does it make any sense?

Polyester said:

Yes, but (no comma required here) does it make any sense?

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Do you mean "Does it make any sense with the comma?" or do you mean "Does the original sentence make sense?"

emsr2d2 said:

Do you mean "Does it make any sense with the comma?" or do you mean "Does the original sentence make sense?"

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Both of them.

I want to say, I think it is a correct sentence in my eyes.
But, I posted here. Then, many native speaker said that it doesn't make any sense.

I think it is correct because it is right grammar.
But, the teacher or foreigner are thinking or saying that it is incorrect.
Maybe it's not a standard English or other.

I have got my point to support my view, but it seems never making any sense.

Polyester said:

Then, many native speaker said that it doesn't make any sense.

But, the teacher or foreigner are thinking or saying it is incorrect.

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Who? I can't see one, but I am not a teacher.

I can't see any responses that say it doesn't make any sense.

"It would be much better to build a new PC from scratch using up-to-date components" is a grammatical sentence and I know what it means.

Matthew Wai said:

I suggest that you refrain from doing the following, but I am not a teacher.

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Would you give me advice how to refrain these happened?

Stop translating word-for-word from Chinese into English. That's what Matthew Wai means. It's good advice for anyone learning English. It doesn't result in natural sentences. You need to learn how to construct sentences the way we construct them, not just do it the way they're constructed in Chinese.

Polyester
The sentence is correct and makes sense, just that you have misunderstood its meaning. Do you know that "start from scratch" is an idiom which means to start from the very beginning? It is different from the usual meaning of "scratch".
You have to think in English and not your native language to be able to write good English. To be able to do that, you need to have sufficient exposure to the language i.e. through a lot of reading, listening, etc. Are you taking any course in the language?

emsr2d2 said:

Stop translating word-for-word from Chinese into English. That's what Matthew Wai means.

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I mean 'from English into Chinese' when it comes to English comprehension, but I am not a teacher.

tedmc said:

You have to think in English and not your native language

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Shamefully, I still can't do so although I have been learning English for decades.