Could you correct these sentences?

[learning54]

Hi teachers,
Could you correct these sentences?
a) He starts work at ten o'clock.
b) I always get up at seven for working.
c) He starts the first.
d) Zapatero used to be the President of Spain.
e) This problem lasts a lot of time. (The verb 'lasts' must remind)
f) He wants to be rich, but he never gets rich.

Thanks in advance.

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Hello, Learning:

May I just most respectfully and gently tell you that here in the United States, Sr. Zapatero would not be referred to

as the "president." I believe that the accepted translation of "presidente" should be "prime minister" or "premier."

As you know the head of state of Spain is His Majesty, the King; "el presidente" is the head of government. I have noticed

that some Americans do not understand this, so when they read about "el presidente," they refer to the "president" of

Spain in direct word-for-word translation. That is very misleading to American readers.


HAVE A NICE DAY!

 

[learning54]

May I just most respectfully and gently tell you that here in the United States, Sr. Zapatero would not be referred to as the "president." I believe that the accepted translation of "presidente" should be "prime minister" or "premier."

Hi TheParser,
Thank you so much for your help and advice. You're absolutely right; I also do that all the time.

What about the other sentences? Are they correct?

Enjoy life.
L

 

[Barb_D]

Hi teachers,
Could you correct these sentences?
a) He starts work at ten o'clock. -- Okay
b) I always get up at seven for working. -- No. I always get up at seven to go to work.
c) He starts the first. -- Do you mean he starts a new job on the first of the month? If so, okay.
d) Zapatero used to be the President of Spain. -- I defer to Parser. I"m not very worldly.
e) This problem lasts a lot of time. (The verb 'lasts' must remind) -- I'm not sure about this. Describe the situation you want to write about.
f) He wants to be rich, but he never gets rich. -- This sounds like you're describing a characters in a book, where we use the present tense. Is that the case?

Thanks in advance.

I would need to understand more about what you mean for e and f to tell you if they were right.

 

[TheParser]

Thank you for your kind note.

What a coincidence! (Or was it?) Fifteen minutes ago I read this in a leading American business magazine:

"Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy insists his country [Spain] doesn't need a ...."

*****

I have not commented on your sentences because I want you to have the best possible advice. So I am leaving

your sentences to the experts.


HAVE A NICE DAY!

 

[learning54]

e) This problem lasts a lot of time. (The verb 'lasts' must remind) -- I'm not sure about this. Describe the situation you want to write about.
f) He wants to be rich, but he never gets rich. -- This sounds like you're describing a characters in a book, where we use the present tense. Is that the case?

Hi,
Thank you for your help. The thing is that the students have to write a sentence including the words 'last' and 'gets'. The sentences have to be in the Simple Present.
As for 'e', I presume that what the students wants to write is that the problem has lasted for a long time. I guess.
L.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi teachers,
Could you correct these sentences?
a) He starts work at ten o'clock. :tick:
b) I always get up at seven for working.
I always get up for work at seven.
c) He starts the first.
He starts first. (This is my best guess at this one. Without any context, it's difficult to know what was meant.)
d) Zapatero used to be the President of Spain.
Zapatero used to be the Prime Minister of Spain.
e) This problem lasts a lot of time. (The verb 'lasts' must [STRIKE]remind[/STRIKE] remain)
This problem lasts a long time. (This is unusual in the present tense. I think a different subject matter than "problem" might have been a good idea, like "The film lasts for three hours".)
f) He wants to be rich, but he never gets rich. :tick:

Thanks in advance.

My thoughts are marked above.

 

[learning54]

Hi emsr2d2,
Thank you very much for your help and as usual the correction, '(The verb 'lasts' must remind remain)'. But you have probably noticed that now I always put the period at the end of '... advance.':-D

Of course because of your insistence.;-)

L.