Please check the English sentences

hirashin

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Hello, native English speakers,

Would you please check the following sentences and give some comments?

1) The price of cell phone is becoming more and more expensive because of various features.
2) The Internet has made us talk more and more frequently.
3) I am a big fan of Ichiro all the more because he is hard-working.
4) He cannot speak French, much/even/still less write a letter in French.
5) I cannot look at his face, much/even/still less speak to him.
6) My elder sister is no taller than me.
7) Leaning how to spend money is no less important than learning how to save money.
8) This problem is no more easy than that one.
9) I have not more than $50 today.
10) There are not less than 400,000 books in the city library.
11) This river is widest here.
12) The car can travel at 150 kilometers per hour at best.
13a) The higher you climb, the colder you feel.
13b) The higher you climb, the colder you will feel.
14) I feel happiest when I'm playing tennis.
15) I like him none the less for his failure.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin
 
Hello,

1) The price of cell phone is becoming more and more expensive because of various features.
( Typically in English we say cellphone, and the correct usage here is cellphones. Also we say 'are becoming' more often than the correct way, 'is' becoming'. )
2) The Internet has made us talk more and more frequently.
( I don't know with this one. The context of which it is being used is confusing me, and if you could elaborate that would be extremely helpful. )
3) I am a big fan of Ichiro all the more because he is hard-working.
( Fine. )
4) He cannot speak French, much/even/still less write a letter in French.
( It is 'much less' also the comma is unneeded. )
5) I cannot look at his face, much/even/still less speak to him.
( It is 'much less' also the comma is unneeded. )
6) My elder sister is no taller than me.
( Fine. Though we usually say older. )
7) Leaning how to spend money is no less important than learning how to save money.
( Fine. )
8) This problem is no more easy than that one.
( *This problem is not easier than that one. )
9) I have not more than $50 today.
( *I only have $50 today. )
10) There are not less than 400,000 books in the city library.
( *There is no less than 400,000 books in the city library. )
11) This river is widest here.
( Fine. )
12) The car can travel at 150 kilometers per hour at best.
( Fine. )
13a) The higher you climb, the colder you feel.
13b) The higher you climb, the colder you will feel.
( Both are fine. )
14) I feel happiest when I'm playing tennis.
( Fine. )
15) I like him none the less for his failure.
( Fine. )
 
Thank you very much for your help, Layatrand. I appreciate it.

I have some more further questions.

Hello,

1) The price of cell phone is becoming more and more expensive because of various features.
( Typically in English we say cellphone, and the correct usage here is cellphones. Also we say 'are becoming' more often than the correct way, 'is' becoming'. )

Do you mean you can say "The price of cellphones is becoming more and more expensive because of various features"?

I thought the sentence should be "Cellphones are becoming more and more expensive". Does "because of various features"
make sense here?

2) The Internet has made us talk more and more frequently.
( I don't know with this one. The context of which it is being used is confusing me, and if you could elaborate that would be extremely helpful. )
I suppose that another teacher (I'm also a teacher) made this sentence to show how to use "more and more", so it has no context.
How about this one?
"As the Internet prevailed, we came to write more and more messages to each other."

8) This problem is no more easy than that one.
( *This problem is not easier than that one. )
Do you mean you would not say like that?

9) I have not more than $50 today.
( *I only have $50 today. )
How about "I have only $50 today"?

10) There are not less than 400,000 books in the city library.
( *There is no less than 400,000 books in the city library. )

Does "no less than" have the same meaning as "no less than" ?
In my knowledge, they are different in meaning.

Thanks.

Hirashin
 
1) The price of cell phone is becoming more and more expensive because of various features.

The prices of cell phones are becoming more and more expensive because of various new features.

There's more than one cell phone so I changed it to plural by adding an s. Cell phones have more than one price, because different models cost different amounts, so I also changed that to be plural. I changed "is" to "are" because "are" is what should be used when referring to something that is plural.

I also added the word "new" because it would more clearly explain why the "various features" are changing the prices. The prices are increasing because these features are new.

2) The Internet has made us talk more and more frequently.
As the Internet prevailed, we came to write more and more messages to each other.

These are both correct as far as I know. In the second sentence the comma may not be needed.

3) I am a big fan of Ichiro all the more because he is hard-working.

The hyphen is not needed. It should be "hard working" because in this case the description is after the noun. If you said "I'm a big fan of hard-working baseball players like Ichiro" then that would be a correct use of the hyphen because the noun is after the description.

4) He cannot speak French, much/even/still less write a letter in French.
5) I cannot look at his face, much/even/still less speak to him.

Either much or even could be used, but I think saying "much less" is more common and sounds more natural. Saying "still less" doesn't sound right to me in this situation.

6) My elder sister is no taller than me.

This is correct, but as mentioned before we normally say "older." The word "older" is more flexible because it can be used in more situations than the word "elder," and it sounds less formal. I think that in cases where either word can be correctly used it would be preferable to say "older."

7) Leaning how to spend money is no less important than learning how to save money.

There's a typo in the first word. It should be "Learning."

8) This problem is no more easy than that one.

Either "This problem is not easier than that one." or "This problem is no easier than that one." would sound okay to me, but I think "no easier" sounds more natural than "not easier." I don't know if one of those is more correct than the other.

Because the word "easy" is an adjective with one syllable and is being used in a comparative form it's correct to write it as "easier" instead of "more easy." The words "more" and "most" are normally only used if the adjective has three or more syllables and sometimes if it has two syllables (for example, "more correct" even though "correct" has two syllables).

9) I have not more than $50 today.
I have only $50 today.


I think saying "I only have $50 today" sounds the most natural. It would be possible to say "I have, at the most, $50 today" (I used commas to show a pause when speaking) or "I have $50 at the most today" if you are unsure of how much you have but you think that it can't be more than $50.

10) There are not less than 400,000 books in the city library.

With the phrases "not less" and "no less" there may be a small difference, but it's hard to explain and I'm not completely sure. I can at least say that "no less" sounds correct and natural to me. Saying "no less than" seems to imply surprise or amazement, while "not less than" seems more analytical.

11) This river is widest here.

Looks okay, but it may depend on when it is being used. If I had a map and was looking at multiple rivers I might say "this river," but if I was only looking at one river and was not comparing it to any others I would say "the river." I might be wrong about that.

12) The car can travel at 150 kilometers per hour at best.

Looks okay.

13a) The higher you climb, the colder you feel.
13b) The higher you climb, the colder you will feel.


They both look okay, but I think English sounds more natural when using contractions. Even though it's correct to say "you will feel" I think most native speakers would say "you'll feel" in most situations. I remember an old tv show that had a character who was suppose to be from China. One of the ways the script writers tried to make him sound more foreign was to make him never use contractions. That doesn't mean native English speakers always use contractions though. Not using them sounds more formal.

14) I feel happiest when I'm playing tennis.

Looks okay, but I would normally say "feel the happiest" instead of "feel happiest."

15) I like him none the less for his failure.

Looks okay, but it sounds a little unusual to me. I think it's correct.
 
Thank you very much for your help and effort, taiyaki. I really appreciate it.

I may ask some further questions later.

Hirashin
 
maybe too late:
1) The price of cell phone is becoming more and more expensive because of various features.
An increase in their number of features has resulted in an increase in cellphone prices.

2) The Internet has made us talk more and more frequently.
The widespread availability of the internet has resulted in us communicating much more frequently.

3) I am a big fan of Ichiro all the more because he is hard-working.
I have a great respect for Ichiro, especially due to his work-ethic.

4) He cannot speak French, much/even/still less write a letter in French.
He can not speak any French, let alone write a letter!

5) I cannot look at his face, much/even/still less speak to him.
Ashamed: I can't look him in the eye and, certainly, don't dare speak to him.
Angry: I don't want to see his face … I absolutely don't want to speak to him!

6) My elder sister is no taller than me.
My big sister isn't any taller than me!

7) Leaning how to spend money is no less important than learning how to save money.
Learning how to spend money is as important as learning how to save it!

8) This problem is no more easy than that one.
This problem is not any easier than that other one!

9) I have not more than $50 today.
I have only fifty dollars today.
I have less than fifty dollars on me, today.

10) There are not less than 400,000 books in the city library.
The municipal library has in excess of four hundred thousand books.

11) This river is widest here.
This is the river's widest point.

12) The car can travel at 150 kilometers per hour at best.
My car can only manage 150km/h.

13a) The higher you climb, the colder you feel.
13b) The higher you climb, the colder you will feel.
a. The higher you climb, the colder you feel. [generally]
b. As you climb higher, you're sure to feel colder. [on a specific climb]

14) I feel happiest when I'm playing tennis.
My favourite way to spend time is playing tennis.

15) I like him none the less for his failure.
a. I still like him, in spite of his mistake.
b. I like in him, even though he's unsuccessful.
 
Hello, Repeat. It seems you are from Bangkok. Are you a native English speaker?
 
Hello, Repeat. It seems you are from Bangkok. Are you a native English speaker?

He seems to have misunderstood the nature of your request to be "completely rephrase my sentences".
 
Hirashin [ hajimemashite はじめまして ]

Yes [native-speaker], I'm from London - living in Bangkok

It's a bit crazy here at the moment, as you may have gleamed from TV/newspapers

I plan to move over to Japan this year and, so, I'm starting out by exchanging ideas on the forum.

This helps quite a bit, as I can see the key problems learners from Japan have with English; helps me to design lessons.



I totally rewrote your sentences, keeping the same meanings [ I hope :) ], so that you can see:

a) how native-speakers might phrase the ideas

and to

b) offer you alternatives to add to your own knowledge

Just to say, I was able to clearly understand all of your original sentences - no problem :)
 
Thanks, Repeat.

Are you British ? Oh, that's great. And are you coming to Japan ? I hope your stay in Japan will be enjoyable.
Are you going to teach English in Japan?

Hirashin
 
Yes, British

My plan was to come to Japan to teach English, from Thailand, where I currently work. Due to the political situation here, Air Asia X delayed the launch of Japan flights

Now, those are about to begin

Have option to fly to Tokyo, Osaka or Kyushu

At first, I plan to work as a teacher. However, I am a qualified Fitness Trainer and Nutritionist. So, it would be nice to find some gym-work too; it's so interesting

Kyoto is amazing. I went there and, as I was sitting in a cafe, it started snowing. Perfect Moment. Such a nice town.

You're lucky to live there :)

I'm sure I shall visit there again, aftert I move out

Casey
 
1) The price of cell phone is becoming more and more expensive because of various features.

It should be "The pice of a cell phone" or "The price of cell phones". Strictly speaking, a price cannot be expensive. It is the article or service that is expensive. This is the same logic that says a temperature cannot be hot, for example. Many people would not notice this as an error, however.

3) I am a big fan of Ichiro all the more because he is hard-working.

This needs some punctuation. For example "I am a big fan of Ichiro – all the more because he is hard-working."

4) He cannot speak French, much/even/still less write a letter in French.

This implies that speaking French is much easier than writing a letter in French, which seems debatable.

8) This problem is no more easy than that one.

"no easier" would be usual.

9) I have not more than $50 today.

Not terribly natural in ordinary English.

10) There are not less than 400,000 books in the city library.

Questionable. If you are using this formulation to highlight the large number of books, you would say "There are no fewer/less than 400,000 books in the city library." "fewer" is strictly correct, but the distinction is increasingly being abandoned.
 
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