Sentences

[Camilus]

Dear teachers!
Could you please check the following sentences and correct them for me?

I. Idioms

1. You won't avoid taking responsibility for that - you have had a finger in the pie too.
2. It's cold so I told him to wear a sweater, but it fell on deaf ears.
3. All concert preperations are sewn up. Now, we're just waiting for the band to come.
4. "Oh, for crying out loud" "They told me that if I registered my product via the Internet, I'd give a free technical support and updates - they threw dust in my eyes!".
5. I always call a spade a spade and I will testify what I indeed saw.
6. When I see many people being afflicted with incurable diseases, I just count my blessing.
7. The English Premiership is a cut above Polish. (Premiership is a name of the English Football League)
8. I chalked it up to experiance and now I promise this time I won't cheat.


II. Grammatical Structures

1. An adverbial clause means the same as an adverb clause, doesn't it?
2. A relative clause means the same as an adjective clause, doesn't it?

I've found some helpful information about "fronting" and "inversion" at the following address: www.anglistik.unibonn.de/staff/ofiles/GLC1Sum01-WordOrderGram.doc
I have some queries as regards them, could you namely help me understand the following things:
- From what I understand, elements [i.e. adverbials, coordinators, adveb clause (Are noun and adjective clauses at stake as well?)] which are restrictive or negative make the main clause in word question order. If I am wrong, please get me on the right path.
- What does it mean that those elements must be 'restrictive or negative'?

Thank you very much in advance
Best regards.

[Pete]

-- We'll be able to answer short, direct questions easier and faster than long questions covering several topics. I'll probably break up my replies to this.

I. Idioms

1. You won't avoid taking responsibility for that - you have had a finger in the pie too. [Ok. Probably not all that common.]
2. It's cold so I told him to wear a sweater, but it fell on deaf ears. [Ok, but since there's no specific antecedent for "it", it would be more common to say, "..., but my advice fell ..."]
3. All concert preparations are sewn up. Now, we're just waiting for the band to come. [Ok.]
4. "Oh, for crying out loud" "They told me that if I registered my product via the Internet, I'd <u>give</u> [did you mean "get" or "receive"?] free technical support and updates - they threw dust in my eyes!". [I'm not used to that last idiom about "dust", although it is clear that doing so would have kept you from seeing clearly. A similar idiom that means "tricked me" is "pulled the wool over my eyes."]
5. I always call a spade a spade and I will testify what I indeed saw. [Ok.]
6. When I see many people being afflicted with incurable diseases, I just count my blessings. ["Blessings" should be plural.]
7. The English Premiership is a cut above Polish. (Premiership is a name of the English Football League) [I guess it's ok; is "Polish" by itself understood as a proper noun in this sense? To my ears, "Polish" as a noun sounds like the language. "English" in the subject here is an adjective.]
8. I chalked it up to experience, and now I promise this time I won't cheat. [Minor spelling and punctuation change.]

[Pete]

II. Grammatical Structures

1. An adverbial clause means the same as an adverb clause, doesn't it? [Yes.]
2. A relative clause means the same as an adjective clause, doesn't it? [Usually; there are relative noun clauses also.]
- He told me who had been visiting. [Relative noun clause; "who" is a relative pronoun.]
- I wonder why he said that. [Relative noun clause; "why" is a relative adverb.]

[Pete]

>I've found some helpful information about "fronting" and "inversion" at the following address: www.anglistik.unibonn.de/staff/ofiles/GLC1Sum01-WordOrderGram.doc
>I have some queries as regards them, could you namely help me understand the following things:
>- From what I understand, elements No, I don't think so.] ] which are restrictive or negative make the main clause in word question order. If I am wrong, please get me on the right path.
>- What does it mean that those elements must be 'restrictive or negative'?

-- I think it may help if I give some examples:

Ordinary sentence with negative adverb:
- He never eats meat.
Same sentence with fronting; note subject/verb inversion is required:
- Never does he eat meat.

Ordinary sentence with restrictive adverbial clause:
- She watches TV only on weekends.
Same sentence with fronting; subject/verb inversion is required:
- Only on weekends does she watch TV.

Ordinary sentence with adverbial clause that is neither negative nor restrictive:
- He does well on tests when he studies.
Same sentence with fronting of the adverbial clause; no inversion is used:
- When he studies, he does well on tests.