Please check my sentences (4)

[hirashin]

Thank you all for the help.

I'd like you to check my sentences again.

Which would sound right?
1a) Carpenters in those days built this tall wooden tower without using any nails.
1b) In those days, carpenters built this tall wooden tower without using any nails.
1c) Carpenters at that time built this tall wooden tower without using any nails.
1d) At that time, carpenters built this tall wooden tower without using any nails.

Do both sound right?
2a) They must have known the nature of wood very well.
2b) They must have been very familiar with the nature of wood.

Would both be used interchangeably?
3a) My parents have been married for thirty years.
3b) My parents have been married thirty years.

Would both be used interchangeably?
4a) Tom and Jane got married on March 9.
4b) Tom and Jane got married March 9.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin

 

[WonkoTheSane]

All of the 1s sound wrong because 'At that time' would usually not be used with 'this' as opposed to a group of objects.

At that time carpenters built tall wooden towers without using any nails.

Carpenters built this tall wooden tower without any nails.

 

[hirashin]

Thank you for the help, WonkoTheSane.

All of the 1s sound wrong because 'At that time' would usually not be used with 'this' as opposed to a group of objects.

At that time carpenters built tall wooden towers without using any nails.

Carpenters built this tall wooden tower without any nails.

Oh, I didn't know that. How about this? Does it still sound wrong?
(1e) Carpenters more than one thousand years ago built this tower without using any nails. They must have known the nature of wood very well.

Hirashin

 

[WonkoTheSane]

It's a bit awkward to my ear. I'd put a comma after 'carpenters' and another after 'ago.' To my ear this keeps 'carpenters built' together.

I could be wrong, though, in terms of correct grammar. This is just what sounds right to me.

 

[hirashin]

Thank you for the further help, Wonko.
Then how about this?
(1f) More than one thousand years ago, people built this tower without using nails.

Hirashin

 

[WonkoTheSane]

Sounds fine to me.

 

[Majestic]

Yes, I agree. Your 1(f) sounds the best.

The problem with 1(a~d), is that there is a broad generalization ("carpenters in those days") coupled with a very specific action: the building of the tower. The two together don't necessarily render the sentence incomprehensible, but they do not harmonize well. There is something about it that feels funny - the reader doesn't quite know if you are making a general statement about the technology of the time, or if you are showing respect for the specific technique used in this tower.

 

[hirashin]

Thanks for the help, Majestic. Do you think I should say "more than a thousand" instead of "more than one thousand"?

Hirashin

 

[Majestic]

Either is absolutely fine. My preference would be "more than one thousand", but this is entirely a point of personal preference

 

[hirashin]

Thanks.