[MattHarris]

Yes Jody, I would myself use the handbrake and keep it in gear on the flat or a hill, you don’t have to keep it in gear if you don’t want to but it’s just another safety precaution incase the handbrake fails, I will see you tomorrow at 9am in the car park.

I am looking for help with the structure of the above sentence. Is the suggestion of using the handbrake and keeping it in gear separate to the ‘you don’t have to’ statement or is the ‘you don’t have to’ related only to the or a hill statement. Does the you don’t have to statement apply to the whole of the ‘I would myself use the handbrake and keep it in gear on the flat or a hill‘ or just the ‘or a hill’ part’.

[susan53]

Interesting - this appears to be spoken English (eg the punctuation is inappropriate for written English) and so as if the listener could interrupt to ask the speaker to clarify ambiguities, which do frequently occur in spoken English. The speaker/writer is saying :
a) It is not essential to keep the car in gear whether on flat ground or a hill but...
b) If you keep the car in gear, it prevents problems if the handbrake fails
c) Therefore I personally would keep the car in gear wherever I was.

Hope that answers your question.

[AtlantaEI]

Hi MattHarris and susan53!

Matt, you brought up an interesting few sentences to ask questions about. Susan you did a great job interpreting the sentences and explaining them more clearly. You also pointed out the importance of knowing the difference between spoken and written English. Spoken English is often much more casual and sometimes less clear, as speakers can reference things with their hands or change the tone of their voice in order to clarify what they mean. So reading the text of a spoken conversation can often be difficult, especially if English isn't your native language.

-Atlanta English Institute
Atlanta English Institute AEI