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sentences with a relative clause

hirashin

Sempai
Donor
8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers,
would you correct my sentences if needed?
1 The fish I ate yesterday was very good.
2 This is the bike I bought last month.
3 Is that the house your father lived in when he was a boy?
4 The man I want to see is Mr. White, not Mr. Black.
5 The music Tom is playing is a Beethoven.
6 The book Bob gave to me was very interesting.
7 Is that the dictionary you've bought recently?
8 Is this the book you were talking about?
9 This is the pen I usually use.
10 The city/town I visited last month is Paris.
11 That is the man I saw/met yesterday.
12 This is the book I bought last Sunday.
13 I like the dress you are wearing.
14 The food I ate/had here yesterday was wonderful.
15 Is that the woman you are talking about?
16 I've found the book Mike was talking about.
17 I like the cookies I ate at Tom's house/place yesterday.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin
 
5) I would replace "a" with "by" or remove "a".
7)Replace "you've" with "you".
10) Since you are talking about visiting in past tense "is" needs to be changed to "was".

Those are the only issues I saw. Everything else is correct as far as I can tell.
 
Thanks for the help、OoTmaster.
Is it that native speakers ever say like this?
5') The music Tom is playing is Beethoven.

If so, can you also say these?
5a) Is that music the Beatles?
5b) This play is Shakespeare.

Can't you say (7)?
(7) Is that the dictionary you've bought recently?

According to Longman online dictionary, you can use present perfect tense with "recently". The following sentences are from the dictionary. Would they be used in the Unite States as well?
(7a) Her school work has been much better recently.
(7b) I haven't been feeling well recently.
(7c) A number of other institutions have recently applied for corporate membership.
(7d) Just recently I've been thinking about changing my job.
(7e) The President has recently returned from a five day tour of South America.

How about this?
7f) I've bought this dictionary recently.

About 10, how about this? Does it sound off, too?
(10a) Paris is a city I visited last year.
 
5') The music Tom is playing is Beethoven.
That's fine, in a sort of colloquial sense (think of it as omitting "by" between "is" and "Beethoven"), but there's a problem with the use of "a" in the original. Using an article suggests that it's modifying a regular noun, but Beethoven is a proper noun. It's a bizarre combination. It also can't be suggesting any such shortening unlike the revised version above.

If so, can you also say these?
5a) Is that music the Beatles?
5b) This play is Shakespeare.
Again, fine, but you're actually dropping either "from" or "by" between "music" and "the" in 5a, or between "is" and "Shakespeare" in 5b. I wouldn't recommend actually using this technique as a second-language English learner in general; English is not very permissive when it comes to truncated expressions like these, and they're never necessary or even particularly expected.

Can't you say (7)?
(7) Is that the dictionary you've bought recently?
You can, it's just a little jarring. That form is usually used in a context like this when you have reason to believe it's happened multiple times, which is of course highly improbable with the action of buying a dictionary. Not wrong, just an odd choice.

How about this?
7f) I've bought this dictionary recently.
Again, not wrong, but you'd be more likely to hear "I bought" rather than "I've bought" in this context.

About 10, how about this? Does it sound off, too?
(10a) Paris is a city I visited last year.
Honestly, I don't agree that it has to be "was", because in 10, "is" is connecting "Paris" to "city". (Note: Paris is not a town, it's a city. Towns are smaller settlements; it's a bit arbitrary where you draw the line, but the well-known cities around the world, the big ones, are never referred to as "towns".) And yes, 10a is fine.
 
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