Proofread my sentences

Dear native English speakers.

Would you please check my sentences?

1 A lot of American people visited this temple yesterday morning.
ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ
2 My wife and I lived in Australia ten years ago.
ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ
3 I talked with Mary at the party last night.
ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ
4 Tom studied Japanese for three years.

5 She smiled at me.

6 We visited Maruyama Park yesterday afternoon.

7a The man used a lot of tools.
7b The man used many tools.
7c The man used plenty of tools.

8 The people helped me last Saturday.

9 We studied English in the morning.

10 My wife lived in America twenty years ago.

11 My daughter played the piano at the party yesterday.

12 I talked with your parents three days ago.

13a The woman visited a lot of temples in Kyoto.
13b The woman visited many temples in Kyoto.
13c The woman visited plenty of temples in Kyoto.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin

Hola, Hirashin! Happy New Year.

Sorry, I am not native, but most of these sentences looks OK for me.

May be ... in 1), I would not use 'alot' here, but it could sound right unded certain context.
7c) and 13c) sounds awkward for, but that could be used in some cases.

Hello, I'm a native speaker from New Zealand, these sentences are all perfect for grammar and style, your students are lucky to have you! The only thing I notice is, in 7c and 13c, "plenty of" has a slightly different nuance to the other ways of say it, although I'm not sure I can describe what it is. It almost implies there were too many. For example if the woman was sick of visiting temples she might say "I don't want to go to a temple, I saw plenty of temples already". I don't mean to say it has a negative connotation, it's also used like ""We've got plenty of gas in the car." or "Can you afford this? Yes, I've got plenty of money." , it just seems to imply there's an amount of something that is the desirable amount and you've met or exceeded it.
Cheers!

Thank you, Rick. I really appreciate your help.

I'm glad to know my sentences do not have any mistakes.

By the way, I have another question.
I hear that native speakers never say "I'm an American." or
"I'm an Australian." instead of "I'm American." or "I'm Australian."

Then, which would native speakers say,
(a) They are American/Australian.
(b) They are Americans/Australians.

Hirashin

hirashin said:

By the way, I have another question.
I hear that native speakers never say "I'm an American." or
"I'm an Australian." instead of "I'm American." or "I'm Australian."

Click to expand...

I can't speak for our Australian friends, but I use both "I'm American" and "I'm an American", depending on the situation. As you know, in the first case "American" is an adjective and in the second case it is a noun. I use whichever fits.

Then, which would native speakers say,
(a) They are American/Australian.
(b) They are Americans/Australians.

Click to expand...

Both, as explained above.

Thanks for your help, Mike.

Mike Cash said:

I can't speak for our Australian friends, but I use both "I'm American" and "I'm an American", depending on the situation. As you know, in the first case "American" is an adjective and in the second case it is a noun. I use whichever fits.

Click to expand...

Oh, really?

If I say "My name is Hirashin. I'm a Japanese." as my self-introduction., does it sound good ?

Hirashin

hirashin said:

Thanks for your help, Mike.
Oh, really?
If I say "My name is Hirashin. I'm a Japanese." as my self-introduction., does it sound good ?
Hirashin

Click to expand...

It works, but it's a little less natural. I don't know why this is, but "I'm Japanese" seems like the best way to say it, "I'm a japanese" seems to my ears to be a little obscure and uncommon, like it's almost a technical or literary way of saying it. It's not like that for "I'm an American", "I'm an Australian" , they're both very common and don't carry any different nuance to "I'm American", "I'm Australian", I wouldn't even notice or think about the difference.

That self-introduction is correct to me. I think I'm a Japanese emphasize more your nationality.

The following pattern will always be best as it will fit and sound natural with every nationality: He is ((nationality)).

If you use the term 'person' or specify nationality, the the following is best: He is an / a (nationality) person.


It's kind of strange really, with different rules for different rules for different nationalities. Knowing when and when not to use the an will come with practice. For Japanese; this is more natural.

ex: I am Japanese. He is Japanese. Kuriko is Japanese. (natural)

The same rule applies to Vietnamese, Sudanese, and Chinese.

ex: I am Chinese. He is Chinese. Huan is Chinese. (natural)

ex: Mark is a Sudanese (awkward)

If the nationality name has an 'an' at the end, such as American, Iranian, Canadian, Italian, Jordanian, Australian, then the following sound natural.

ex1: Jason is American. John is Iranian. (natural)

ex2: Jason is an American. John is an Iranian. (natural) (has come to be slightly more emphatic though)

Nationality names ending in ish, ench, or a consonant cluster only sound natural one way.

Ex1: Pedro is Spanish (natural) Pedro is a spanish. (awkward)

Ex2 Marco is French (natural) Marco is a French (awkward)

Ex3: Tom is English (natural) Tom is an English (awkward)

Nationalities that end without an 's' 'sh' or 'ch' sound generally don't sound natural with the added indefinite article


However, if a race is specified over a nationality, then the indefinite article is almost always used, especially if humanity is emphasized.

ex: Tom is an English man. Haun is a Chinese person. Pedro is a Spaniard. Kuriko is a Japanese woman. Paul is a french Canadian.

I'll try to write as clearly as possible.

1: This is fine. Though, it would be more natural to say "Many American people visited this temple yesterday morning.", especially in this context because a more formal tone is used ("this" instead of "the", is used, for example). It would be even more natural to say: "Many Americans visited this temple yesterday morning."

2: This is fine. Perfect.

3: Perfect.

4: Perfect.

5: Perfect.

6: Perfect.

7: Perfect, but 'b' is generally preferable.

8: This is grammatically correct, but it would be better to say: "They helped me last Saturday." Saying, "The people..." sounds a bit unnatural.

9: Perfect.

10: Perfect.

11: Perfect. Depending on your intended purpose, however, you could also remove 'the' and say: "My daughter played piano at the party yesterday." If you are referring to a specific piano, then what you wrote is fine, though.

12: Perfect. Alternatively you could have said: "I talked to your parents three days ago." Using 'with' means you engaged in mutual conversation with the parents; using 'to' generally means you talked to them (perhaps about something serious), and they did not engage very much in the conversation.

13: Perfect. Again, 'b' is generally preferred, because it assumes a slightly more formal tone. Also, you could replace "The woman..." with 'she'.

Also, I must say one more thing before I end this post. "Plenty of" is usually not used for speaking of something dignified like a temple, or a national monument, et cetera. Plenty of is informal, like 'lots of', for example, and is usually used in more informal contexts. These are simply niceties (nuances) of the language, but all of your sentences are grammatically correct.

Good luck in your studies!

hirashin said:

Dear native English speakers.
Would you please check my sentences?
1 A lot of American people visited this temple yesterday morning.
ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ
2 My wife and I lived in Australia ten years ago.
ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ
3 I talked with Mary at the party last night.
ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ ﾂ
4 Tom studied Japanese for three years.
5 She smiled at me.
6 We visited Maruyama Park yesterday afternoon.
7a The man used a lot of tools.
7b The man used many tools.
7c The man used plenty of tools.
8 The people helped me last Saturday.
9 We studied English in the morning.
10 My wife lived in America twenty years ago.
11 My daughter played the piano at the party yesterday.
12 I talked with your parents three days ago.
13a The woman visited a lot of temples in Kyoto.
13b The woman visited many temples in Kyoto.
13c The woman visited plenty of temples in Kyoto.
Thanks in advance.
Hirashin

Click to expand...

A lot of American people had visited this temple yesterday morning. The missing word here is had

hirashin said:

Dear native English speakers.

Would you please check my sentences?

Click to expand...

I'd be happy to!

1 A lot of American people visited this temple yesterday morning.

Click to expand...

That is correct, however as Crorepati mentioned, you can also add "had" to the sentence to make it "a lot of Americans had visited this temple yesterday morning"

2 My wife and I lived in Australia ten years ago.

Click to expand...

Yes that is fine

3 I talked with Mary at the party last night.

Click to expand...

That is correct, you could also say "I talked to Mary last night, at the Party", but few people would actually say that, most would just say it how you have

4 Tom studied Japanese for three years.

Click to expand...

That makes sense, you could also say "Tom has/had studied Japanese for three years" ("Has" for if he is currently studying it and "Had" for if he used to study it but has since stopped)

5 She smiled at me.

Click to expand...

There is no problems there

6 We visited Maruyama Park yesterday afternoon.

Click to expand...

That is correct and the most common way of saying it, you could also say "Yesterday afternoon we visited Maruyama Park", but I think few people would actually say it like that, since the way you said it feels more "natural"

7a The man used a lot of tools

Click to expand...

That is correct
.

7b The man used many tools.

Click to expand...

I can't see anything wrong with that, but most people would use 7a

7c The man used plenty of tools.

Click to expand...

That would be understood, but 7a and 7b would be much more commonly heard and used

8 The people helped me last Saturday.

Click to expand...

Yes that is good

9 We studied English in the morning.

Click to expand...

Yes that is OK, but you could also say what morning you studied English on, for example "We studied English yesterday morning" or "We studied English on Wednesday morning"

10 My wife lived in America twenty years ago.

Click to expand...

That is very good!

11 My daughter played the piano at the party yesterday.

Click to expand...

That is very good!

12 I talked with your parents three days ago.

Click to expand...

Yes that is correct

13a The woman visited a lot of temples in Kyoto.

Click to expand...

Spot on!

13b The woman visited many temples in Kyoto.

Click to expand...

That is OK, however 13a would more commonly used

13c The woman visited plenty of temples in Kyoto.

Click to expand...

That is understandable but I would stick to 13a or 13b

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin

Click to expand...

You're welcome! I'm sorry I'm so late but I hope this helped you!

Your English is very good!

Crorepati said:

A lot of American people had visited this temple yesterday morning. The missing word here is had

Click to expand...

Your revision is incorrect.