He found that her book is/was helpful

hirashin · 30 May 2017

Dear native English speakers,
I have some questions again. Would you help me?

1 Would (a) and (b) have the same meaning?
(a) He found her book helpful.
(b) He found that her book is/was helpful.

2 Which sentence would be used?
(a) He is doing volunteer work these days.
(b) He does volunteer work these days.
(c) He joins volunteer work these days.
(d) He is taking part in volunteer work these days.

3 Which would be used?
(a) The Earth goes around/round the Sun.
(b) The Earth moves around/round the Sun.
(c) The Earth turns around/round the Sun.
(d) The Earth rotates around/round the Sun.
(e) The Earth travels around/round the Sun.
(f) The Earth revolves around/round the Sun.
(g) The Earth circles the Sun.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin

johnnyG · 31 May 2017

hirashin said:
1 Would (a) and (b) have the same meaning?
(a) He found her book helpful.
(b) He found that her book is/was helpful.
Yes, and add:
(c) He found her book to be helpful.

2 Which sentence would be used?
(a) He is doing volunteer work these days.
(b) He does volunteer work these days.
X--> He joins volunteer work these days.
(d) He is taking part in volunteer work these days.

3 Which would be used?
(a) The Earth goes around/round the Sun.
(b) The Earth moves around/round the Sun.
X--> The Earth turns around/round the Sun.
(d) The Earth rotates around/round the Sun.
(e) The Earth travels around/round the Sun.
(f) The Earth revolves around/round the Sun.
(g) The Earth circles the Sun.

joadbres · 31 May 2017

"The earth rotates around the sun"

is wrong, because "rotate" is used to describe a different movement of the earth: the daily rotation on its axis.

Also, to me, using "round" instead of "around" is quite colloquial. I would not recommend for written English.

Hirashin, I hope you are building an AI grammar-bot with all this information you are collecting.

hirashin · 31 May 2017

Thanks for the help, joadbres.

joadbres said:
Hirashin, I hope you are building an AI grammar-bot with all this information you are collecting.

What's AI grammar-bot? How do I do?

joadbres · 31 May 2017

I was just making a joke. (AI is artificial intelligence.)

hirashin · 31 May 2017

Ah, OK. Since I don't understand English well, it is difficult for me to judge whether it is a joke or not. Recently, AI seems to be getting more and more intelligent. In shogi, a Japanese board game like chess, and igo, an Asian board game, AI has surpassed professional top players. (Am I making sense? Should I use "exceeded" instead of "surpassed"?

hirashin · 31 May 2017

Joadres, I found this from Rotate - Definition for English-Language Learners from Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary
The planets rotate around the sun.

I believe "The earth rotates around the sun" would also be all right.

Hirashin

mdchachi · 3 Jun 2017

hirashin said:
Joadres, I found this from Rotate - Definition for English-Language Learners from Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary
The planets rotate around the sun.
I believe "The earth rotates around the sun" would also be all right.

Yes, I was just about to say "The earth rotates around the sun" sounds fine.

hirashin said:
AI has surpassed professional top players. (Am I making sense? Should I use "exceeded" instead of "surpassed"?

Surpassed sounds perfect.

hirashin · 3 Jun 2017

Thanks for the help, mdchachi.

joadbres · 5 Jun 2017

mdchachi said:
Yes, I was just about to say "The earth rotates around the sun" sounds fine.

Did you only look at the headline and not read the first paragraph of the article you linked? The distinction in terminology is made clear in the first paragraph.

hirashin said:
Joadres, I found this from Rotate - Definition for English-Language Learners from Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary
The planets rotate around the sun.

My use of "wrong" in my earlier post was too strong. However, "revolves" is preferred over "rotates" in the specific context you were asking about.
Of course, how you are using this information is relevant. If you are grading tests and trying to decide if "rotates" is acceptable, then yes, it is. If you are teaching new information to your students, then it is better to teach "revolves" in lieu of "rotates" in this specific context.

hirashin · 5 Jun 2017

Thanks for the detailed explanation, joadbres.
Probably I should tell my students to avoid using "rotate the sun" because it does not seem to be used commonly.

mdchachi · 6 Jun 2017

joadbres said:
Did you only look at the headline and not read the first paragraph of the article you linked? The distinction in terminology is made clear in the first paragraph.

Actually I did notice that but I left it because there are any number of examples of this kind of usage of that phrase. Here's one right on Nasa's web site.
"The Earth rotates around the Sun and the Moon rotates around the Earth"

hirashin said:
Probably I should tell my students to avoid using "rotate the sun" because it does not seem to be used commonly.

Actually it is used quite commonly. It's even in the dictionary as you noted. Probably you should tell your students it's used commonly but it's not scientifically correct.
Here's an article explaining in detail what joadbres already explained.
Difference Between Rotate & Revolve | Sciencing

What do you say in Japanese? Do you use 回転 for both cases?

hirashin · 7 Jun 2017

Thanks for the detailed information, mdchachi. Now I understand.

mdchachi said:
What do you say in Japanese? Do you use 回転 for both cases?

In science, we say 自転（じてん）for rotation, and 公転（こうてん）for revolution.

He found that her book is/was helpful

hirashin

Sempai

johnnyG

Sempai

joadbres

八方凡人

hirashin

Sempai

joadbres

八方凡人

hirashin

Sempai

hirashin

Sempai

mdchachi

Moderator

hirashin

Sempai

joadbres

八方凡人

hirashin

Sempai

mdchachi

Moderator

hirashin

Sempai

Similar threads