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Never put off the work till...

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Joe

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Joined
Dec 31, 2003
Never put off the work till tomorrow what you can put off today.

Do you think the sentence above is grammatically correct? It seems to me that it should be 'Never put off the work till tomorrow that you can put off today'. And, I'm also confused about the meaning. The Chinese translation I saw in a book is something like 'If you can't finish your work by tomorrow, you should find an excuse for it today, not tomorrow'. I don't think the translation is correct, either. What do you think?

Thank you very much.
 

MikeNewYork

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Joe said:
Never put off the work till tomorrow what you can put off today.

Do you think the sentence above is grammatically correct? It seems to me that it should be 'Never put off the work till tomorrow that you can put off today'. And, I'm also confused about the meaning. The Chinese translation I saw in a book is something like 'If you can't finish your work by tomorrow, you should find an excuse for it today, not tomorrow'. I don't think the translation is correct, either. What do you think?

Thank you very much.

The original saying is: Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

When one adds "the work" that takes the place of "what". If you want to use "work", it should be "Never put off till tomorrow the work that can be done today."
 

Joe

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Dec 31, 2003
Thanks, Mike. But I'm confused about 'never...till' there. What does "Never put off till tomorrow the work that can be done today" mean?

And I'd like to ask one more question:
Wake up everyday with a feeling or passion that technology will make in people's daily life!

Do you think it is correct? I think the correct one should be "Wake up everyday with a feeling or passion that technology will make changes in
people's daily life!". I feel that something is missing behind "make".
 

MikeNewYork

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Joe said:
Thanks, Mike. But I'm confused about 'never...till' there. What does "Never put off till tomorrow the work that can be done today" mean?

And I'd like to ask one more question:
Wake up everyday with a feeling or passion that technology will make in people's daily life!

Do you think it is correct? I think the correct one should be "Wake up everyday with a feeling or passion that technology will make changes in
people's daily life!". I feel that something is missing behind "make".

Thanks, Mike. But I'm confused about 'never...till' there. What does "Never put off till tomorrow the work that can be done today" mean?

It means that one should not procrastinate because one does not know what tomorrow will bring. If you can write that letter today, write it today. Don't put it off until tomorrow or the next day. It may never get done.

Do you think it is correct? I think the correct one should be "Wake up everyday with a feeling or passion that technology will make changes in
people's daily life!". I feel that something is missing behind "make


I agree with you. As written, it is technology that is making the feeling or passion. In your version, I would change the "a" before feeling to "the".
 
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