I don't agree with people who think that studying the past ...

[Anna232]

I am sharing my opinion about the importance of studying the past. I think some sentences are translated directly so I wrote explanations next to them. Do my sentences and explanations sound idiomatic?


I don't agree with people who think that studying the past is not necessary. No happiness is happiness for a person if he hasn't experienced misfortune. (I am afraid this is a very direct translation. It makes sense in my language, though. I mean "a person can't fully realise what true happiness is if they haven't experieced misfortunes in their life)
If we don't study the past of the country we will not know how much struggle our ancestors went through to get to this point, ( I mean "how many struggles our ancestors went through to be where we are now) and we will not be able to appreciate them properly.
Also, given the ongoing processes in my country, what is the point of taking part in rallies of protests if you don't know the past and the reasons for all of this. In conclusion, knowledge of the past is essential for (the) development in the future. (I mean with the ongoing protests in my country what is the point of taking part in them if you don't know the past and the reason behind them.)
Because of the importance of the past it is given great attention in education.

 

[Tarheel]

"No happiness is happiness" doesn't make sense in English.

Your spell checker should have caught the misspellings of "experience".

What do you mean by "studying the past"?

 

[Anna232]

"No happiness is happiness" doesn't make sense in English.

Your spell checker should have caught the misspellings of "experience".

What do you mean by "studying the past"?

I mean studying a country's history.

 

[Tarheel]

I think you are talking about understanding history.

You are right that it doesn't make sense to protest something if you don't know why you are protesting.

 

[Anna232]

"No happiness is happiness" doesn't make sense in English.

Your spell checker should have caught the misspellings of "experience".

I will edit it now. Thank you.

What do you mean by "studying the past"?

 

[Anna232]

I think you are talking about understanding history.

Yes, I am. I am afraid most sentences are wrong because they are unnatural.

You are right that it doesn't make sense to protest something if you don't know why you are protesting.

 

[Tarheel]

It's unclear to me what you mean by "ongoing process" there. Do you mean the rallies and protests?

You need some line breaks.

Say: rallies or protests (not "of")

 

[Anna232]

It's unclear to me what you mean by "ongoing process" there. Do you mean the rallies and protests?

Yes, that's what I mean.

You need some line breaks.

Say: rallies or protests (not "of")

OK. Should I use the parts in bold?

 

[Tarheel]

OK. Should I use the parts in bold?

The first one makes perfect sense. You can probably use the second one also. (It's doubtful that they were thinking about posterity that much.)

You are talking about two different things. On the one hand, there's personal history. On the other hand, there's national history.

 

[Anna232]

The first one makes perfect sense. You can probably use the second one also. (It's doubtful that they were thinking about posterity that much.)

Do you mean the following parts should be crossed out because they are grammatically wrong? No happiness is happiness for a person if he hasn't experienced misfortune. I should use instead: "A person can't fully realise what true happiness is if they haven't experieced misfortunes in their life."


If we don't study the past of the country we will not know how much struggle our ancestors went through to get to this point, If we don't study the past, we will not know how many struggles our ancestors went through to be where we are now and we will not be able to appreciate them properly.

You are talking about two different things. On the one hand, there's personal history. On the other hand, there's national history

 

[Tarheel]

You've got them right.

I would probably phrase it a little differently, thus: If we don't study history we won't know how we got to where we are now.

 

[Anna232]

You've got them right.

I would probably phrase it a little differently, this: If we don't study history we won't know how we got to where we are now

Are the singular forms of "misfortune" and "struggle" wrong in them? I used the plural forms in both parts.
we don't study the past of the country we will not know how much struggle our ancestors went through to get to this point.
.... if he hasn't experienced misfortune

 

[Tarheel]

The singular forms are not wrong.

Of course, it depends on how word it. As for "misfortune" the plural is rarely used. You can certainly have more than one struggle. You can have many struggles.

There are struggles, and there are triumphs. You struggle to overcome difficulties, and (hopefully) achieve success. Maybe I would go with "struggles".

 

[Anna232]

The singular forms are not wrong.

Do you mean in my sentences either form can be used. Sorry, I don't understand.

A person can't fully realise what true happiness is if they haven't experieced misfortune(s) in their life.


If we don't study the past, we will not know how many struggle(s) our ancestors went through to be where we are now and we will not be able to appreciate them properly.
How "much struggle" is wrong anyway, isn't it?

Of course, it depends on how word it. As for "misfortune" the plural is rarely used. You can certainly have more than one struggle. You can have many struggles.

There are struggles, and there are triumphs. You struggle to overcome difficulties, and (hopefully) achieve success. Maybe I would go with "struggles".

 

[Tarheel]

A person can't fully realize what true happiness is if they haven't experienced misfortune in life.

If you had read the whole post then you would that I think the singular is more appropriate there.

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If we don't study the past, we won't know how many struggles our ancestors had and what they achieved and what they went through.

Only the plural works there.