Are these sentences natural? Aug 2

[musicgold]

Hi,

Are these sentences natural to a native ear?

1. He had better brought us something good from his vacation, not some worthless crap. ( we were speculating about a friend who came back from a long vacation)

2. Your caller is undone. ( I said to a colleague, the collar of whose suit was not set properly)

3. I was not paying enough attention yesterday.


Thanks,
MG

 

[bhaisahab]

Hi,

Are these sentences natural to a native ear?

1. He had better brought us something good from his vacation, not some worthless crap. ( we were speculating about a friend who came back from a long vacation) Change "brought" to "have brought" if he is back. It's not a very pleasant way to talk about a friend, though.

2. Your collar is undone. OK.

3. I was not paying enough attention yesterday. OK.


Thanks,
MG

Bhai.

 

[billmcd]

Hi,

Are these sentences natural to a native ear?

1. He had better brought us something good from his vacation, not some worthless crap. ( we were speculating about a friend who came back from a long vacation)

2. Your caller is undone. ( I said to a colleague, the collar of whose suit was not set properly)

3. I was not paying enough attention yesterday.


Thanks,
MG

In #1 you could say "He had (OR He'd) better bring......." Or frequently compressed as "He better bring....."
From englishsecrets.com :
"We use “had better” plus the bare infinitive to give advice. Although “had” is the past form of “have”, we use “had better” to give advice about the present or future."

In #2 it's not clear to me how the collar of a man's suit could be undone, open etc

#3 looks OK.

 

[Barb_D]

A button-down collar - so that the tie is slipping out.

 

[musicgold]

In #2 it's not clear to me how the collar of a man's suit could be undone, open etc

Please see the attached pic. Not exactly similar to but close to the situation I described.

 

[Barb_D]

Sure, if you leave the top one or two buttons of an oxford-style shirt open, you can say your collar is undone.