student

[Unregistered]

Dear professor,
could you check the mistakes of the following sentences?

1.He didn't dare to leave the house for fear someone would recognize him soon.

2.you can see the whole city for miles from here in a clear day.

3.He wished he didn't tell he the truth that brought her so much pain.

4.the room,which window faces the south,is the nicest one of all on this floor.

 

[banderas]

Dear professor,
could you check the mistakes of the following sentences?

1.He didn't dare to leave the house for fear someone would recognize him soon.

2.you can see the whole city for miles from here in a clear day.

3.He wished he didn't tell he the truth that brought her so much pain.

4.the room,which window faces the south,is the nicest one of all on this floor.

1. He didn't dare leave the house out of fear that he might be recognized.
2. When sky is clear you can see the whole city from here.
3.He wished he had not told her the truth that caused her so much pain.
4.the room, which window faces the south, is the nicest one of all on this floor

now native speakers should correct me and you will be fine;-)

 

[David L.]

1.He didn't dare leave the house for fear someone would quickly recognize him.

2. You can see the whole city from here on a clear day.
'whole city' implies a view that must have quite an expanse= for miles. However, to include 'for miles' :
You can see the whole city stretching for miles from here on a clear day.
3. He wished he hadn't told her the truth that caused her so much pain.

4. The room faces south, and is the nicest one of all on this floor.
'faces south' implies that the main window in the room faces south.

 

[engee30]

1. He didn't dare to leave the house... and He didn't dare leave the house... are both fine, with the latter used more in spoken English.

 

[apex2000]

1. He didn't dare to leave the house... and He didn't dare leave the house... are both fine, with the latter used more in spoken English.

Both are in use, but using 'to' is better (grammatically).

 

[engee30]

Both are in use, but using 'to' is better (grammatically).

:up:

 

[apex2000]

Here are some other suggestions:

1.He didn't dare to leave the house for fear someone would recognize him soon.
......someone would soon recognise him. This puts more emphasis on what he fears.
2.you can see the whole city for miles from here in a clear day.
it has to be 'on' a clear day.
3.He wished he didn't tell he the truth that brought her so much pain.
There are two possible meanings here. One is any specific truth and the other is the one truth that.....pain. In the first case '...truth that always brought.....' and in the second '....the old truth that.....
4.the room,which window faces the south,is the nicest one of all on this floor.

The room, which has a south facing window, ......

1 and 2 are straightforward. 3 is difficult and you may need more explanation. 4 has a room which is the nicest because of the window facing south. Therefore by emphasising 'south facing' and using 'has' creates a clear understanding of why it is the nicest (light/sunshine).

 

[David L.]

No - it is the nicest because it is largest and best furnished.

or is it?

We cannot assume that it is the nicest because of my reasons, or because it faces south. It might be the politic way of saying, it's not as noisy as the others which are closer to the busy highway.!!
North-easterly rooms are usually considered preferable because they catch the morning sun.

 

[riverkid]

Both are in use, but using 'to' is better (grammatically).

Apex2000,

If you don't mind, could you explain why using 'to' makes it grammatically better.

 

[engee30]

Apex2000,

If you don't mind, could you explain why using 'to' makes it grammatically better.

I agreed with apex2000 on this idea, so this is what I think about it. I know it's too much to say that using to-infinitives is 'more grammatical' than not using them (or in other words, than using bare infinitives). But some people (I happen to be one of them) feel that dare is more of an ordinary verb than a of modal verb, and hence are in favour of dare being followed by an infinitive (especially in negative sentences).
:-?

 

[apex2000]

Apex2000,

If you don't mind, could you explain why using 'to' makes it grammatically better.

In normal speech the 'to' is frequently omitted when the sense is not altered. You could say it is a lazy way of speaking. In the sentence either way gives the correct reading but 'dare to leave' is the grammatically correct way. This is another one of those circumstances where speaking and listening to the language will help you enormously.
Leave is a noun as well as a verb; it is one of our many cases where some confusion can arise. It might help you if you think about a sentence where the bare infinitive appears to be used and then use 'the', 'a', and 'to' before the infinitive to see which one makes sense.

 

[apex2000]

No - it is the nicest because it is largest and best furnished.

or is it?

We cannot assume that it is the nicest because of my reasons, or because it faces south. It might be the politic way of saying, it's not as noisy as the others which are closer to the busy highway.!!
North-easterly rooms are usually considered preferable because they catch the morning sun.

Well, of course, we cannot assume anything, David, and I agree with your comments apart from 'north-easterly'.
Unless you are living in the tropics then the sun will always appear from a south-easterly direction; we in Britain have our best chance of the sun when facing south.

In the given sentence all we have to relate to is that the room has a south facing window. It may be a large or small room, L-shaped, even round, furnished or unfurnished, quiet, noisy, even overshadowed by trees but we are not told any of that. For the benefit of the students reading all this we can only deal with the words we are given.

Whatever else the room has there are only two things that we know about - that it is the nicest room and that it has a south facing window. In almost all circumstances a south facing window is an asset because it lets in more light and sunshine. That is why I placed the emphasis on it as it is the only information given to connect it with being the nicest.
The reverse would be true for those living in the southern hemisphere where a north-facing window would meet more light and sunshine.