You could have done all the futile things after you had had a word with us

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tufguy

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You could have done all the futile things after you had had a word with us but you decided otherwise. This could have saved us a lot of time.

Please check my sentences.
 

emsr2d2

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Why would someone talk to you and then go ahead and do these unspecified "futile things"? Please give us the context.
 

tedmc

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The sentence doesn't make sense. Any advice would have prevented the person from doing futile things, not the reverse.
 

tufguy

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Why would someone talk to you and then go ahead and do these unspecified "futile things"? Please give us the context.
We went to a doctor to show her our nutraceutical products but she kept talking to one of her assistants and wasted a lot of our time.
 

emsr2d2

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I'm sure she didn't think that the conversation she was having with her assistant was futile. I imagine she's a busy woman - doctors usually are. However, I would accept that if you had an appointment with her to talk about nutraceutricals, it would have been more polite for her to concentrate on what you were saying. If you showed up without an appointment, I'm not entirely surprised by her actions.
 

Tarheel

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@tufguy The phrase "futile things" is one that's rarely seen (if ever). You probably should lose it.
 

tufguy

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I'm sure she didn't think that the conversation she was having with her assistant was futile. I imagine she's a busy woman - doctors usually are. However, I would accept that if you had an appointment with her to talk about nutraceutricals, it would have been more polite for her to concentrate on what you were saying. If you showed up without an appointment, I'm not entirely surprised by her actions.
Are my sentences correct in post 1?
 

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emsr2d2

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I'm not going to try to make slight changes to your original to make it correct because it still won't express the situation you later explained. You could say something like the following (although it's rather rude!):

It would have been more professional if you had waited until after our discussion/presentation to continue talking to your assistant. We feel that our visit was a waste of time.
 

tufguy

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I'm not going to try to make slight changes to your original to make it correct because it still won't express the situation you later explained. You could say something like the following (although it's rather rude!):

It would have been more professional if you had waited until after our discussion/presentation to continue talking to your assistant. We feel that our visit was a waste of time.
Please correct my sentences in post 1.
 

Tarheel

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Please correct my sentences in post #1.
I think that's good advice (post #10). What do you think is wrong with it?
 

emsr2d2

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You could have done all the futile things talked to your assistant after you had had a word with us. but you decided otherwise. This could have saved us a lot of time.

Please check my sentences.
That's the closest I can get to your original. You need to forget the whole "done all the futile things" completely.
 
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