The old woman died under mysterious circumstances.

[Bassim]

Are my sentences grammatically correct.

The old woman died under mysterious circumstances. She had left the engine idling and went back into her house, which soon was engulfed in flames. Before firefighters arrived, the wooden house had turned into ashes.

 

[J&K Tutoring]

Re: The old woman died under mysterious

You wrote 4 sentences. #1 and #3 contain errors.

 

[Bassim]

Re: The old woman died under mysterious

I wrote three sentences.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Re: The old woman died under mysterious

You wrote 4 sentences.

Including the one below?

Are my sentences grammatically correct.

A question mark should be used.

 

[Rover_KE]

Re: The old woman died under mysterious

I finished off the title for you.

 

[Tarheel]

Bassim, what is missing?

 

[Bassim]

Re: The old woman died under mysterious

But there are no rules that the title should include all the words.

 

[Tarheel]

Re: The old woman died under mysterious

But there are no rules that the title should include all the words.

That is true. Now please answer the question in post #6.

 

[Bassim]

Re: The old woman died under mysterious

I don't know the correct answer. So it is the best I close this tread because I don't want to be banned because of some people.

 

[emsr2d2]

1. Are my sentences grammatically correct.

2. The old woman died under mysterious circumstances.
3. She had left the engine idling and went back into her house, which soon was engulfed in flames.
4. Before firefighters arrived, the wooden house had turned into ashes.

You're in no danger of being banned. We're just trying not to spoonfeed you the answers. I have reopened the thread. You now know that there was a question mark missing from sentence 1 (I've numbered the sentences to help with future responses).

Look carefully at your use of tenses in sentence 3, bearing in mind that "had" attaches itself to the verbs that come after it.
I would change the word order in the second half of sentence 3.
I would add an article to sentence 4, and I would use a different preposition.

 

[Matthew Wai]

The OP seems to have left, so I hope I can ask a question.

"had" attaches itself to the verbs that come after it.

Does that include the verbs that come after the conjunctions 'and', 'but', and 'or'?

 

[Bassim]

I have left because of the people like you. I have told you before not to answer my posts. I have no use whatsoever of your corrections. You are neither a native speaker of English nor a teacher of English. You have learnt some grammar rules like a robot and you believe you can speak and write well, and then you make mistakes because a language is a living organism and not dead rules. There are people who know all the grammar rules and they unable to write an ordinary text, because writing means using your mind creatively and not just following the rules. So I will repeat again. Please do not answer my questions. There are enough people on this forum willing to help me, and I do not need your help.

 

[GoesStation]

Matthew writes many of the most helpful posts in the forum, in my opinion. His English is immaculate and his grasp of grammar practically encyclopedic. You would do well to read his contributions carefully.

 

[Tarheel]

The old woman died under mysterious circumstances. She had left the engine idling and went back into her house, which soon was engulfed in flames. Before firefighters arrived, the wooden house had turned into ashes.

There is a word missing in the second sentence.

 

[emsr2d2]

Is there? There's a problem with the verbs but I can't see a missing word. (Well, of course I can't see a word if it's not there but ...!)

 

[Bassim]

GoesStation,

If I need to read about grammar rules I can find on the Internet all kinds of rules and examples. If I get an answer on my question from a teacher, I don't need Matthew after that to tell me that he prefers another construction. If I were not satisfied with the teacher's answer, I would ask again. If you want to learn a foreign language, you usually want help from someone who is a native speaker or a teacher, because from them you can learn the idiomatic English and other phrases which native people use in their everyday contact with each other. Millions of native speakers do not know anything about grammar and rules, but, nevertheless they use the language properly, because that was the first language they have learnt to speak.
Probably many people find his answers useful, but I have told him before not to answer my questions because my mind ignores them and my inner voice tells me not to bother to read them at all. I am 52, and I have always listened to my inner voice. If I hadn't listened to it I would have been dead long ago. My inner voice is my fateful friend, and you do not abandon your faithful friends.

 

[emsr2d2]

Bassim, you need to remember that other learners are reading your threads too. Just because you don't find Matthew's advice helpful doesn't mean that other people won't.

 

[Tarheel]

My mistake. The word is not missing. (Just not where I expected it to be.)

Sorry, Bassim!

 

[Bassim]

emsr2d2,
No problem. I understand what you are saying. He has the right to contribute to this forum as all others and correct the mistakes of other learners. I will not mention him or any other member of this forum. I will instead concentrate on why I am here, and that is learning English.
I will try to correct my sentences from my post.

 

[Bassim]

Let me try again with my three sentences.

The old woman died under mysterious circumstances. She had left the engine idling and had gone back into her house, which was soon engulfed in flames. Before the firefighters arrived, the wooden house had turned into the ashes.