reacting quickly

[bosun]

I am not sure if the underlined parts sound natural . If not, what is your suggestion?

I am afraid of driving because I don't react quickly to sudden change. For exmaple, if a car in front of me stops suddenly, I am late and sometimes I hit the car.

 

[jlinger]

I am afraid of driving because I don't react quickly to sudden changes. For example, if a car in front of me stops suddenly, I am too slow to react and sometimes I hit the car.

 

[bosun]

Thanks for your reply. By the way, is there any word that refers to a person who reacts very slowly in a certain situation? For example, he/she doesn't understand the humour and later he/she laughs. Or her mother is very upset, but she doesn't notice it and do whatever she usually does and makes her mother more upset. What do you call that kind of person in English?

 

[bhaisahab]

Thanks for your reply. By the way, is there any word that refers to a person who reacts very slowly in a certain situation? For example, he/she doesn't understand the humour and later he/she laughs. Or her mother is very upset, but she doesn't notice it and do whatever she usually does and makes her mother more upset. What do you call that kind of person in English?

One (colloquial) term in BrE is "slow on the uptake".

 

[Khosro]

I am afraid of driving because I don't react quickly to sudden changes. For example, if a car in front of me stops suddenly, I am too slow to react and sometimes I hit the car.

I would say:"I am not quick enough and sometimes..." so that I could avoid repeating "react".

 

[BobK]

One (colloquial) term in BrE is "slow on the uptake".

:up: ... which can be shortened to just 'slow'. If you're late in laughing at a joke, you might say 'Excuse me - I'm a bit slow'.

In the context of driving it seems to me a bit excessive to say 'slow to react to changes'; such a driver - and I'm one - just has 'slow reactions'.

b

 

[konungursvia]

I am not sure if the underlined parts sound natural . If not, what is your suggestion?

I am afraid of driving because I don't react quickly to sudden change. For exmaple, if a car in front of me stops suddenly, I am late and sometimes I hit the car.

In AmE, this doesn't sound unnatural.

 

[Rover_KE]

I am afraid of driving because I don't react quickly to sudden changes. For example, if a car in front of me stops suddenly, I am too slow to react and sometimes I hit the car.

Good answer, jlinger.

Bosun, you could also add, 'I must get into the habit of leaving more space between my car and the one in front'.

Rover

 

[magimagicE]

So you have poor reflexes, bad hand-and-eye coordination, and lacking in spatial awareness to be able to drive confidently?

 

[BobK]

So you have poor reflexes, bad hand-and-eye coordination, and lacking in spatial awareness to be able to drive confidently?

That's easy enough for you to say, but I doubt whether it helps the OP ;-)

(Incidentally, in BE it's 'hand-eye coordination', and the last clause could do with a verb.)

b

PS Also, 'to be able' isn't quite right. You need to have too much or too little or just the right amount of something 'to be able...'; in short, you have to express an amount before you use it: 'He has just enough X to be Y.'