[Grammar] Notes Missing Stuff

[PromVille]

[FONT=&quot]Michael Swan in his book http://ielts-house.net/Ebook/Vocabulary/Practical English usage.pdf (page 1) writes:
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Some styles of writing and speech have their own grammatical rules, often because of the need to save space and time.

Informal notes, diary entries etc follow similar rules:

Gone to hairdresser. Back 12:30

Book tickets
Phone Ann
See Joe 11:00
Meeting Sue lunch

The same style may be used in postcards and short informal letters:

Dear Gran
Watching tennis on TV. A good book. Three meals a day. No washing-up. Clean sheets every day.Everything done for me. Yes, you've guessed - in hospital.
Only went to doctor for cold - landed up in hospital with pneumonia!! If you have time please tell the others - would kove some letters to cher me up.
Hope to see you.
Love, Pam.
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I am trying to decipher all of the above:


[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have gone to a hairdresser. I will be back at 12:30

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have to book tickets[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I have to phone Ann
I have to see Joe 11:00
I have to meet Sue at lunch

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Dear Gran[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I am watching tennis on TV. I am reading a good book. I have three meals a day. I have no washing-up. I am getting clean sheets every day. I am getting everything done for me. Yes, you've guessed - I am in a hospital.
I only used to go to a doctor for a cold but now I have landed up in th hospital with a pneumonia!! If you have time. please. tell the others - I would love to get some letters to cheer me up.
Hope to see you.
Love, Pam.

Have I written the short sentences full right?[/FONT]

 

[tedmc]

I think the letter is silly and incoherent.

 

[GoesStation]

I think the letter is silly and incoherent.

It's a postcard which, like a tweet, has very limited space for the message. It tells a complete story with a minimum of words.

 

[Tarheel]

Try:

I don't do any washing up.

And:

I went to the doctor for a cold and wound up in the hospital with pneumonia.

 

[PromVille]

Can anyone write the full story in the way he thinks it is correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

Can anyone write the full story in the way [STRIKE]he thinks[/STRIKE] they think [STRIKE]it[/STRIKE] is correct?

Stick with the non-gender "they". Otherwise, it looks as if either you think we're all male, or you only want men to reply.

 

[GoesStation]

Dear Gran
Watching tennis on TV. A good book. Three meals a day. No washing-up. Clean sheets every day.Everything done for me. Yes, you've guessed - in hospital.
Only went to doctor for cold - landed up in hospital with pneumonia!! If you have time please tell the others - would kove some letters to cher me up.
Hope to see you.
Love, Pam.
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I am trying to decipher all of the above:

Dear Gran
I am watching tennis on TV. I am reading a good book. I get three meals a day. I don't have to do any washing-up. I get clean sheets every day. I have everything done for me. Yes, you've guessed - I am in hospital.
I only went to the doctor for a cold but now I have landed up in hospital with pneumonia!! If you have time. please tell the others - I would love to get some letters to cheer me up.
Hope to see you.
Love, Pam.

See above. The card uses British idioms like "landed up in", so I've used the British "in hospital" rather than "in the hospital" as I'd say it in American English.

If you say you used to go to a doctor for a cold, it means that was your former habit but you don't do it anymore.

 

[Tdol]

Relax a bit and talk to your Gran in a similar way you would in your first language- from the heart. These rules are rules of convenience not necessity. Cheat a bit on full sentences. Get your message across. Grans are grans. Remember that.

 

[PromVille]

See above. The card uses British idioms like "landed up in", so I've used the British "in hospital" rather than "in the hospital" as I'd say it in American English.

If you say you used to go to a doctor for a cold, it means that was your former habit but you don't do it anymore.

1) Why "I get three meals" instead of "I am getting three meals"?

2) Why "I get clean sheets" instead of "I am getting clean sheets"?

3) No, no, no, I mean a different context. A person may have 100 different illnesses. Today - this one, tomorrow - that one but all of them he cures himself without any doctors' help. The only illness he goes to the doctor with is a cold. This time this person is in hospital. He says that actually every time he used to be in the hospital was about having a cold but this time he has pneumonia. He doens't want to say that when he was on his way to the hospital he thought he had a cold but it turned out he had pneumonia. Maybe he knew he had pneumonia at once and therefore he went to the doctor. And now his idea is "Now I have one more illness I go to the doctor because of - it's pneumonia though before I used to be here only because of a cold".

If we have such a context, in a postcard we still should write

"Only went to doctor for a cold"

or it has to include "used to"?

"Only used to go to doctor for a cold"

 

[GoesStation]

"Only used to go to doctor for a cold"

That means you formerly had the habit of going to the doctor for a cold but now you also go for other reasons. It would be a very odd thing to say.

 

[GoesStation]

1) Why should I write "I get three meals" instead of "I am getting three meals"?

The continuous aspect is possible there, but the present simple is a good way to express a regular, habitual activity.

2) Why should I write "I get clean sheets" instead of "I am getting clean sheets"?

You're describing a regular occurrence, not an ongoing one. You aren't in the process of "getting clean sheets every day" while you're writing; it's something that happens once a day.

Please review the correct way to form a question. You can't just put "why" at the beginning of a declarative statement and a question mark at the end.

 

[Tarheel]

PromVille, your explanation is confusing. I thought it was a single occasion. He went to the doctor for a cold. (He thought he had a cold.) He went to the hospital with pneumonia. (The doctor had a chest X-ray done. The doctor decided that it was pneumonia and that the patient needed to be in the hospital.)

That's what I thought was the case, but apparently it's much more complicated than that.

(I once had pneumonia, but I didn't go to the hospital. They just gave me medicine (antibiotics).)

I get three meals a day -- they are brought to me.

(Cross posted.)

 

[GoesStation]

And now his idea is "Now I have one more illness I go to the doctor because of - it's pneumonia though before I used to be here only because of a cold".

If we have such a context, in a postcard should we still [STRIKE]should[/STRIKE] write

"Only went to doctor for a cold" …?

That's not what the postcard says. It says your only complaint was that you thought you had a cold. The doctor discovered you had pneumonia and admitted you to the hospital.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Have I rewritten the full sentences right?

Almost!

The only small error I see is "I only used to go to the doctor for a cold. . . ."

Actually, what it means is, "I went to the doctor only because I thought I had a cold, but now I've landed . . . ."

You did well.