Can I say these?

[Joe]

(1)For sometime I've got the feeling that my family are kind of conservative.

We seldom talk about very emotional, sensitive things. Even if we do, we may

just "taste a bit" and never deeply involve in such a conversation. For

example, I never told them who I admired in school. We steer away from stuff at

this sensitive level, I think you can well imagine how we deal with the sex

subject. I've been thinking maybe it's something about "genetic inheritance",

with which we are all somewhat close to the outside world and other people and

too shy to say something actually very natural.


(2)Sometimes, I feels that I'm "one of a kind". I mean, I just don't fit into

some popular things. For example, I never play computer games. When a couple of

people gathering in my room, talking about computer games, I can share nothing

with them, for I don't know the first thing about it. I can say without any

exaggeration that I'm the only computer owner in our department who is not a

computer game fan.

Thanks a lot. And if you like to add something, please just do it.

 

[MikeNewYork]

(1)For sometime I've got the feeling that my family are kind of conservative.

We seldom talk about very emotional, sensitive things. Even if we do, we may

just "taste a bit" and never deeply involve in such a conversation. For

example, I never told them who I admired in school. We steer away from stuff at

this sensitive level, I think you can well imagine how we deal with the sex

subject. I've been thinking maybe it's something about "genetic inheritance",

with which we are all somewhat close to the outside world and other people and

too shy to say something actually very natural.


(2)Sometimes, I feels that I'm "one of a kind". I mean, I just don't fit into

some popular things. For example, I never play computer games. When a couple of

people gathering in my room, talking about computer games, I can share nothing

with them, for I don't know the first thing about it. I can say without any

exaggeration that I'm the only computer owner in our department who is not a

computer game fan.

Thanks a lot. And if you like to add something, please just do it.

For sometime I've got the feeling that my family are kind of conservative.

We seldom talk about very emotional, sensitive things. Even if we do, we may

just "taste a bit" and never deeply involve in such a conversation.

For some time, (only one word when it is an adjective or an adverb) I've had the feeling that my family are (is in AE) rather (kind of is OK informally)conservative.

We seldom talk about very emotional, sensitive things. Even if we do, the conversation is usually very superficial.

For example, I never told them who I admired in school. We steer away from stuff at this sensitive level, I think you can well imagine how we deal with the sex subject.

For example, I have never told them whom I (most) admired in school. As a family, we tend to avoid subjects even at that level of intimacy; I think you can well imagine how we deal with the matter of sex.

I've been thinking maybe it's something about "genetic inheritance", with which we are all somewhat close to the outside world and other people and too shy to say something actually very natural.

I am not sure what you are trying to say here. What do you mean by "close" to the outside world?

 

[MikeNewYork]

(1)For sometime I've got the feeling that my family are kind of conservative.

We seldom talk about very emotional, sensitive things. Even if we do, we may

just "taste a bit" and never deeply involve in such a conversation. For

example, I never told them who I admired in school. We steer away from stuff at

this sensitive level, I think you can well imagine how we deal with the sex

subject. I've been thinking maybe it's something about "genetic inheritance",

with which we are all somewhat close to the outside world and other people and

too shy to say something actually very natural.


(2)Sometimes, I feels that I'm "one of a kind". I mean, I just don't fit into

some popular things. For example, I never play computer games. When a couple of

people gathering in my room, talking about computer games, I can share nothing

with them, for I don't know the first thing about it. I can say without any

exaggeration that I'm the only computer owner in our department who is not a

computer game fan.

Thanks a lot. And if you like to add something, please just do it.

(2)Sometimes, I feels that I'm "one of a kind". I mean, I just don't fit into

some popular things.

Sometimes, I feel that I'm "one of a kind". I just don't always participate in popular activities or seem to fit well into groups.

For example, I never play computer games. When a couple of

people gathering in my room, talking about computer games, I can share nothing

with them, for I don't know the first thing about it. I can say without any

exaggeration that I'm the only computer owner in our department who is not a computer game fan.


For example, I never play computer games. When others are talking about computer games, I have nothing to say , because I don't know the first thing about them.

I can say without any exaggeration that I'm the only computer owner in our department who is not a fan of computer games.

 

[RonBee]

I agree with Mike, except I would probably say I have never told them who I admired.

:wink:

 

[MikeNewYork]

I agree with Mike, except I would probably say I have never told them who I admired.

:wink:

Better grammar is better, innit? :wink:

 

[Joe]

Thanks, Teachers.

I am not sure what you are trying to say here. What do you mean by "close" to the outside world?

What I want to say there is that we tend to hide our deep feelings or inside
from other people, even if facing something which is actually very natural, we
may be shy to talk about it. I couldn't come up with any adjective which I
think is suitable, so I used "close".

And about the 'genetic inheritance' thing, I want to say as a family, we
inherit some common qualities. And because of that, we kind of behave in the
same way.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Thanks, Teachers.

I am not sure what you are trying to say here. What do you mean by "close" to the outside world?

What I want to say there is that we tend to hide our deep feelings or inside
from other people, even if facing something which is actually very natural, we
may be shy to talk about it. I couldn't come up with any adjective which I
think is suitable, so I used "close".

And about the 'genetic inheritance' thing, I want to say as a family, we
inherit some common qualities. And because of that, we kind of behave in the
same way.

I understood the part about genetics. You could say that it might be ghenetic because the entire family shares that trait. The trouble with using "close" is that it can be used to describe a family that actually shares their feelings with each other. You might want to say "it is surprising that family members who live in such close proximity can be so distant from each other emotionally."

 

[RonBee]

I think the term you are looking for is closed to the outside world. However, closed up emotionally might be better.

(It is unremarkable that family members share certain behavior traits. However, it is highly doubtful that the cause for that is genetic.

 

[Joe]

Thanks again, Mike and RonBee. Although there are "tons" of new words, phrases, expressions ahead for me to learn, with your and other teachers'
help, I have never been as confident as I am now. I'm not a English major, but I've been longing to learn English well.

(It is unremarkable that family members share certain behavior traits. However, it is highly doubtful that the cause for that is genetic.

And RonBee, about the genetic thing, I think you are right. It reminds me of an an English saying:

For every problem, there is always a solution, which is so quick, so appealing, and so wrong.

The "genetic inheritance" is too direct to be an answer. (May I ask, can I say "too direct to be" here?)

 

[RonBee]

Yes, you can say too direct to be. (Did you notice my mistake in punctuation?)

Humans inherit many things, but the inheritance of behavior traits is not one of them. It is possible through conscious effort for us to rid ourselves of undesirable habits and acquire new, desirable habits. For example, we can learn not to interrupt others so much and we can learn to listen to people.



(The way I learned it was For every problem there is a simple solution that is wrong.)

 

[Joe]

Yes, you can say too direct to be. (Did you notice my mistake in punctuation?)

Punctuation mistake? You seemed to miss one of the brackets. Did you mean it, RonBee?

 

[bmo]

I agree with Mike, except I would probably say I have never told them who I admired.

:wink:

Are both who and whom acceptable?

BMO

 

[Tdol]

Yes,they are. 'Whom' is less used nowadays. I would say that the onlytime it isn't optional is directly after a preposition.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I agree with Mike, except I would probably say I have never told them who I admired.

:wink:

Are both who and whom acceptable?

BMO

I'm going to have disagree with my colleague here. One can get away with "who" in that construction in all but the most serious types of speech and in informal writing. But "whom" is the only grammatically correct choice there. It won't matter most of the time, but it will matter sometimes.

 

[bmo]

I remember the correct grammar long, long time ago, like 40 some years ago when I was in high school, now I am all confused. See how hard it is to being an ESL learner? May I say as a learner, the safest way is to use the correect grammar, and in this case, whom is the correct one, no one will dispute that. (I was confused because I thought "whom" was wrong.)

Thanks to you all.

BMO

 

[MikeNewYork]

I remember the correct grammar long, long time ago, like 40 some years ago when I was in high school, now I am all confused. See how hard it is to being an ESL learner? May I say as a learner, the safest way is to use the correect grammar, and in this case, whom is the correct one, no one will dispute that. (I was confused because I thought "whom" was wrong.)

Thanks to you all.

BMO

That is one of the tough "whom" constructions. It is easier when it follows a verb or preposition. Most of the problems arise when it comes before a verb or preposition. :wink: