cats and dogs

[beascarpetta]

Hi there!
Asking for your help again
Would you accept as (grammatically) correct
(keeping in mind that these sentences were written by 11-year-old non-native speakers)

1)"It was raining cats and dogs" in the past tense simple as well as
it rained cats and dogs - it does sound a a tad strange

2) He bought a hamburger with extra cheese.

3) He came out of the fast - food restaurant.
He saw his car swimming in the lake.
He watched his car as it went down in the lake.
He saw his car in the lake.

Thank you.:-D

 

[rewboss]

I have no problem at all with anything in 1) and 2) (except that 1 is a cliché), although I don't know the context, so I don't know if the tenses are appropriate.

In 3) :-

We don't normally talk about cars swimming in lakes. "Floating" or "sinking" might have been intended here. And I'd suggest "sank" instead of "went down".

 

[beascarpetta]

thank you very much for your suggestions, rewboss :-D

 

[riverkid]

"raining cats and dogs" is an idiom. I think that these are terrific sentences, especially considering the age and the fact that the writer is a second language learner.

I don't see why we couldn't use 'car swimming' in a figurative sense. It could capture a humorous situation quite well, though the writer may not have intended this.

 

[beascarpetta]

"raining cats and dogs" is an idiom. I think that these are terrific sentences, especially considering the age and the fact that the writer is a second language learner.

I don't see why we couldn't use 'car swimming' in a figurative sense. It could capture a humorous situation quite well, though the writer may not have intended this.

Thank you , riverkid, for pointing out facts I always seem to forget.
So I probably shouldn't tell you that they've only got one year of English below their belts.
I have to confess I always have a good laugh while correcting their tests, but after doing thirty of them I am a bit knackered.
Still, the pun was definitely not intended and I am supposed to offer advice /hard and fast rules.
And you sadly never get extra points for capturing humorous situations within our linguistic performance assessment system.:-(