[thadajirajaras]

There are many questions for me in English. I think these are almost all of my questions so There are maybe too much. Please answer my answers. That's ok for answering just some of my questions. Yhank you.

1) How much to buy it? -->No verb. Is it correct?
2) How much for buying it? --> No verb. Is it correct?
3) It is 3 minutes faster. --> Is this correct? /Is “faster” adj.?/ So 3 minutes is adv.?
It is faster (for) 3 minutes. --> How different?
4) How much (for) money/your car? --> No verb Is it correct?
5) There are 3 more % fibres.
There are 3% more fibres.
There are more 3% fibres. --> How different?
6) What the hell is it? --> Is this correct?
What is the hell? --> How different?
What nice/happiness is it? --> To use adj./noun after what?
What is it happiness? --> How different?
Why nice/happiness is it?
Why is it happiness? --> How different?
7) I had never been Australia before but (now) I have been Australia (for 5 weeks). --> Is this correct tense?
8) I’m 20 year olds --> Is “olds” noun? , How old are you --> Is “old” adj.?
9) I never though
I never think/smoke
I had/have never though--> How different?
I never did
I never do --> How different?
10) I did it for 3 hours.
I (always) do it for 3 hours.
I had done it for 3 hours (when he met me). --> How different?
11) I did it from/since last year to yesterday. --> Is this correct?
I had done it from/since last year to yesterday. --> Is this correct?
12) Have to/need/want --> Is it not necessary to use continuous or future tense for these verbs?
13) I had always been scared.
I always was happy --> Can I use “always” with this two sentences? How different?
14) It is a course in CIT that starts tomorrow. It is a course in CIT starting tomorrow. --> Which is correct?
15) I thought that there is there is nothing in this room
I thought that there is there was nothing in this room--> How different?

[susan53]

Sorry - there are far too many questions here to give a detailed answer with a full explanation to all of them. There's a quick answer below, but if you want more information, why don't you take them one at a time and post them separately ? Here goes - your question in normal print, my answer in italics:

1. How much to buy it? -->No verb. Is it correct? Could be - as an "elliptical", or shortened form of the full sentence "How much would it cost to buy it?", in a context such as "A : I'll rent it to you for $45. B: OK - and how much to buy it?"

2) How much for buying it? --> No verb. Is it correct? No

3) It is 3 minutes faster. --> Correct - faster is an adjective.

It is faster (for) 3 minutes. --> Incorrect. Correct : It is faster by 3 minutes

4) How much (for) money/your car? --> Incorrect. Correct : How much for your car? Again an elliptical version of How much do you want for your car?

5) There are 3 more % fibres. Incorrect
There are 3% more fibres. Correct
There are more 3% fibres. Incorrect

6) What the hell is it? --> Correct
What is the hell? --> Incorrect
What nice/happiness is it? --> Incorrect
What is it happiness? --> Incorrect
Why nice/happiness is it?Incorrect
Why is it happiness? --> Incorrect

7) I had never been Australia before but (now) I have been Australia (for 5 weeks). --> Is this correct tense? No. I had never been to Australia before but I went for 5 weeks at Christmas

8) I’m 20 year olds --> Incorrect. Correct : I'm 20 years old.

9) I never thought Correct with changed spelling - eg I never thought about it before
I never think/smoke/do Correct - a permanent fact
I have never smoked/thought--> Correct - at no time in the past up to the present
I had never smoked/thought... Correct : Before a certain point in the past. Until I was 25, I had never thought about getting married.I never did

10) I did it for 3 hours. A past event - eg yesterday
I (always) do it for 3 hours. A permanent fact - eg every Monday
I had done it for 3 hours before I realised what the problem was--> A past event happening before a specific point in the past.

11) I did it from last year to yesterday. --> Correct. "Since" is incorrect here.

I had done it from/since last year to yesterday. --> Again, "since" is incorrect. The whole sentence is unlikely

12) Have to/need/want --> "I have/need/want to see you tomorrow" is fine

13) I had always been scared. OK - before a specific point in the past : "I had always been scared of dogs until my sister bought a labrador puppy"
I always was happy --> Incorrect word order "I was always happy when I was with my grandmother" - a past event.

14) It is a course in CIT that starts tomorrow. Possible if you're contradicting someone -"A : There's a course in BGT starting tomorrow. B : No - it's a course in CIT which starts tomorrow. Not BGT"
It is a course in CIT starting tomorrow. --> Incorrect, but OK with "There's". See the example above

15)I thought that there is there is nothing in this room Incorrect
I thought that there is there was nothing in this room--> Correct

[thadajirajaras]

Thank you very very much susan53


7) I had never been Australia before but (now) I have been Australia (for 5 weeks).--> I mean that now I have live in Australia for 5 weeks and this is the first time for me in Australia. So what is the correct sentence?

15) He thought that He loves her--> Is this correct if he still love her?
He said that He loves her--> Is this correct if he still love her?


Thank you

[thadajirajaras]

13)I never was sad when I was with my grandmother--> Can I use never in this sentence?

[bread_baker]

7. You need prepositions.
I had never been in Australia before, but now I have been in Australia for 5 weeks. OR I had never lived in Australia before, but I have been living in Australia for 5 weeks.
15. If he loves her:
He thought that he loves her. He thinks that he loves her. He said that he loves her.

[bread_baker]

In your last post about number 13, the sentence is correct.

[thadajirajaras]

Thank you bread_baker

I never was in Australia before, but now I have been in Australia for 5 weeks --> Is this still correct?

Can I use "still" instead "present continuous". For example, He is playing football --> He still play football.

[susan53]

Quote thadajirajaras

13)I never was sad when I was with my grandmother--> Can I use never in this sentence?

Yes, but look at the word order : I was never sad when I was with my grandmother.

Single-word adverbs of frequency (always, often, sometimes, never etc) always come after the verb Be in the present and past (see examples A1 and A2 below), but before any other main verb (see example B) or Be in other forms (see example C). So, eg :

A1. David is always at the Rome office on Tuesdays.
A2. David was always afraid of dogs as a child.
but

B. David always works at the Rome office on Tuesdays.
and

C. David has always been afraid of dogs.

The only time that you might put never in front of Be in your sentence would be to emphasise it -and then it would have very heavy stress, eg:

A : I hated visiting my grandparents as a child.
B: I never was sad when I was with my grandparents.

However, this is unusual. I typed never+was into a concordancer and got only 5 examples of this word order in the type of sentences we're talking about here. I then tried was+never and got the full 40 examples that are available. So use that word order - it will always be correct.

[susan53]

Whoops - when I said "post each question as a separate message" I really meant "as a new message" - like you did with your "rain" question. Like this, it's even more confusing. If you keep different questions separate, in separate threads on the forum and each with it's own title, it's easier for answerers and other readers to see exactly what the question is about.

Sorry if I confused you.

[susan53]

15) He said that He loves her--> This is correct - He said it yesterday (so past said is obligatory). You then have a choice for the other verb. You can make it agreed with the first verb - He said that he loved her - or, leave it in the present because it's still true - He said that he loves her. Both are equally possible.


He thought that He loves her--> Think about it - it's logically impossible. "He thought" means "In the past, his opinion was that ..." in other words, he's changed his mind. If it were still true, you'd say He thinks .... So logically it must be one of the following:

He thought he loved her (but now he realises that he doesn't).
He thinks he loves her.

Of course, if you are again just telling me what he said, then there's no suggestion that his opinion has changed, so any of the following are possible, all with the same meaning. Intuitively thought, I'd think that the two with the asterisk are the most likely:

He said he thought he loved her.*
He said he thought he loves her.
He said he thinks he loves her.*

[susan53]

Can I use "still" instead "present continuous". For example, He is playing football --> He still play football.


Not as alternatives no.

He is playing football : Be + Ving expresses a current, ongoing event. For example, in a phone conversation :

A : Can I speak to John please?
B : Sorry, he's not here at the moment. He's playing football this morning. Can you phone back this afternoon?

Still emphasises the fact that something which was true in the past continues to be true. If the person phones back an hour later, you might say :

I told you - he's not here. He's still playing football. He won't be here until this afternoon.


He still plays football : (Notice the 3rd person "s" on the verb). The simple present verb form usually expresses a fact which is permanently true, but not connected to the present moment - for example :

Last year John played football three times a week - on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. But this year he has cut down a lot. He still plays football on Saturdays, but not on the other days.

[susan53]

I had never been Australia before but (now) I have been Australia (for 5 weeks).--> I mean that now I have live in Australia for 5 weeks and this is the first time for me in Australia. So what is the correct sentence?

"had been" sounds strange here. You might say :

This is the first time I've been to Australia. I've been here (for) 5 weeks now.

This is my first visit to Australia. I have never been here before. or I was never here before (which answers your other question)

"had + past participle is used to talk about a past event which happened before another point in the past so isn't relevant here. You might use it to say eg :

I had never been to Australia before 2008, but since then I've been there 7 times!

[thadajirajaras]

Thank you very much. Now I understand many more things in English.
I will seperate my next questions to make less confusion.


???This is my first visit to Australia. I have never been here before.--> For this sentence "I have never been here before." , It is the present tense. Should I use the past tense instead because now I have never been here 1 times. (I am staying here now.)

[susan53]

You have two choices here : you can see it as 1) describing the past, or 2) describing a time before a stated present point

If you see it as describing the past, you would say:

This is my first trip. I was never here before.

This means I was never here at any time in the past.


However, you can also see the meaning as "never before this visit" and "this visit" is present.

I've said in other answers that have/had + past participle (perfect verb forms) can be used to show the sequence of events. The event in the perfect form is understood as happening before another stated (or understood) point in time. For example :

When you have fried the tomatoes, add the salt - frying the tomatoes happens first, adding the salt happens second.

The plane had left when I got to the airport - this tells me that the plane's departure happened first, and my arrival happened second. Notice that here the verb is in the past perfect (had +pp) because both events are in the past.

So in your example, you can interpret "before" as meaning "before this visit" - ie before the present. So :
I've never been here before (this visit) - never visiting Australia happens before the reference point - the visit - which happens second. The verb is in the present perfect (have+pp) because the reference point (=the visit) is in the present.

This is a difficult use of the present perfect to understand. Textbooks often explain it by saying that if it's a past event but the exact time isn't stated, then use the present perfect. This isn't completely correct, but it is an easy way to remember it.

However, if you find it easier to see the event as past, just say I was never here before - it's fine.

[thadajirajaras]

Thank you very very much ^O^