My father comes home always late at night

hirashin · 30 May 2012

Would someone help me again?

(a) My father always comes home late at night.
(b) My father comes home always late at night.
(c) My father, always late at night, comes home.
(d)Always late at night my father comes home.

I think (a) would be the usual word order. But do you ever
use the others?

Hirashin

Half-n-Half · 30 May 2012

(a) is the most natural and I don't think I would ever use the others. I think you could say the same for any frequency word i.e. sometimes, never, often, etc.

ewww · 30 May 2012

Yeah, (a) is good.
(d) is coolest one, cuz meaning of word 'later' became slightly different here, and it sounds like father is coming after some deadline time and he is doing it for special.

Mike Cash · 31 May 2012

d) is very unnatural English. If it had been in the present progressive tense I would say it sounds like the odd Jewish immigrant English such as used by the character Mrs. Nussbaum on the old Fred Allen radio program. ("You were expecting maybe Al Jolson?")

ewww · 31 May 2012

Mike Cash>> exactly, but it sounds cool

Abdur Rahman · 31 May 2012

I think (a) is the best choice

Mike Cash · 31 May 2012

ewww said:
Mike Cash>> exactly, but it sounds cool

Have you ever considered that your own English might not be quite good enough to answer questions like this?

Grandpa Frank · 31 May 2012

I'm a native English speaker.....

but my spelling and grammar in high school were terrible. If I do dare to answer , I try to make it clear that's it's my best guess and please wait for other members to answer who have better knowledge than I.

Uncle Frank

ewww · 31 May 2012

Mike Cash said:
Have you ever considered that your own English might not be quite good enough to answer questions like this?

You sounds now like a russian in second generation, who spend a childhood in Brunx, and who's father still work in McDonalds.

Yes, I think that my english is good enough to answer these questions.

Mike Cash · 31 May 2012

ewww said:
You sounds now like a russian in second generation, who spend a childhood in Brunx, and who's father still work in McDonalds.

Yes, I think that my english is good enough to answer these questions.

Then you have a mistaken idea of your English proficiency.

You sounds now like a russian in second generation, who spend a childhood in Brunx, and who's father still work in McDonalds

Now you sound like a second generation Russian, who spent his childhood in the Bronx, and whose father still works at McDonald's

That's at least eight errors in one sentence....two of them on the third person singular "s" (you sounds, father work). You communicate your thoughts quite well in English but you have no business answering questions seeking input from native speakers about natural/correct English usage.

morningmusubi · 31 May 2012

d sounds like something Yoda would say. A is definitely the most natural.

hirashin · 31 May 2012

Uncle Frank. Thank you for your input. I'm impressed how humble you are.
(I hope the usage of the word "humble" is correct.)

I've always been looking for ordinary native English speakers' views about
their own language, not linguists' views. Languages do not belong to linguists.
(Well I'm not sure I'm making sense.) So please feel free to tell me your
personal views about English.

Thank you.

Hirashin

---------- Post added at 18:50 ---------- Previous post was at 18:30 ----------

Thank you for your help, Half-n-half, ewww, Mike Cash, Abdur Rahman (Are you a native English speaker?), and morningmusubi.

How about this?
(e) Always my father comes home late at night.

Do you ever use it?

Hirashin

Half-n-Half · 31 May 2012

Your usage of humble is correct, and your point makes perfect sense. I'm kind of glad that English is my native language because it is such a global language. At the same time, because of this, a lot kids in America have no need to learn a second language and grow up monolingual. I guess I'm trying to fix that by learning Japanese.

(e) also sounds unnatural so I would still use (a).

hirashin · 2 Jun 2012

Thank you for your help, Half-n-half.

I'm glad to know my sentence makes sense.

Yes. You can say that English is an international language. But be careful
if you are planning to visit Japan. Very few people here understand
the language though most of them have learned it for six years.

Hirashin

My father comes home always late at night

hirashin

Sempai

Half-n-Half

先輩

ewww

I am Groot

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

ewww

I am Groot

Abdur Rahman

先輩

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

Grandpa Frank

Sempai

ewww

I am Groot

Mike Cash

骨も命も皆此の土地に埋めよう

morningmusubi

後輩

hirashin

Sempai

Half-n-Half

先輩

hirashin

Sempai

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