"possess ..... life style convenient"
DJ
I have a question about this sentence:
"Taipei city possess some of the most modern life style convenient and
efficient traffic networks."
Is it correct?
(Sorry, there's only one sentence. It could be written by a native speaker)
Thanks,
--DJ
Not a native speaker of English
Skitt
> I have a question about this sentence:
>
> "Taipei city possess some of the most modern life style convenient and
> efficient traffic networks."
>
> Is it correct?
>
> (Sorry, there's only one sentence. It could be written by a native
> speaker)
Oh, just for starters, maybe something like this might be better:
Taipei has one of the most modern and efficient traffic networks.
Then the question remains, what is a traffic network? A road system?
--
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
http://www.geocities.com/opus731/
DJ
> DJ wrote:
>
>> I have a question about this sentence:
>>
>> "Taipei city possess some of the most modern life style convenient and
>> efficient traffic networks."
>>
>> Is it correct?
>>
>> (Sorry, there's only one sentence. It could be written by a native
>> speaker)
>
> Oh, just for starters, maybe something like this might be better:
>
> Taipei has one of the most modern and efficient traffic networks.
>
> Then the question remains, what is a traffic network? A road system?
Thank you for the prompt reply :)
So, it sounds like "traffic network" isn't exactly idiomatic...
The original Chinese phrase means a network (or networks) composes of
road systems(high way, local streets,etc), subways, street cars, and
rail road. (hm...that's about it).
How about the original sentence? Is it correct(make sense even)?
-- DJ
Skitt
I see. Maybe a "road and public transportation system" would be better.
> How about the original sentence? Is it correct(make sense even)?
It is not correct. It should be "possesses", but "has" is much better.
Also, "lifestyle-convenient" ("lifestyle" is one word, and a hyphen is used
to eliminate ambiguity of the compound adjective) is not something I'd ever
say, as just "convenient" covers the concept very well.
I'll revise my suggestion to:
Taipei has one of the most modern, efficient, and convenient road and
public transportation systems.
I hope that others can improve on that.
--
Skitt
Living in The Heart of the Bay
http://www.ci.hayward.ca.us/
Don Aitken
>Hi,
>
>I have a question about this sentence:
>
>"Taipei city possess some of the most modern life style convenient and
>efficient traffic networks."
>
>Is it correct?
>
No. "Possess" should be "possesses". Possibly "some of" should be "one
of", depending on what exactly is meant by "traffic network", which
does not convey any obvious meaning. If you mean "road system", then
say that. And "life style", which should be hyphenated, is a noun
phrase - you can't stick it in the middle of a list of adjectives like
that. Leave it out.
--
Don Aitken
Mail to the From: address is not read.
To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com"
John Kane
Traffic network is almost idiomatic but sounds more like something
that would apply to an information or computer network
I think what you want is "transport' or "transportation" network.
Taipai has one of the world's most modern, convenient and efficient
transportation networks.
Or if you don't trust the reader to know where and what Taipai is:
The city of Taipai has one of the most modern, convenient and
efficient transportation networks in the world.
In the world, in Taiwan in Asia or what ever. It is just with "some"
or "one" you should know what it is being compared to.
Taipai City is redundent in English.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada
DJ
>
> I see. Maybe a "road and public transportation system" would be better.
>
Much better :)
>> How about the original sentence? Is it correct(make sense even)?
>
> It is not correct. It should be "possesses", but "has" is much better.
> Also, "lifestyle-convenient" ("lifestyle" is one word, and a hyphen is
> used to eliminate ambiguity of the compound adjective) is not something
> I'd ever say, as just "convenient" covers the concept very well.
>
Just as I thought, but I couldn't be sure, so I needed help. I'd better
warn the person who asked the question and got that translation from
some unknown one.
> I'll revise my suggestion to:
> Taipei has one of the most modern, efficient, and convenient road and
> public transportation systems.
>
This is good too.
Thanks!
--DJ
DJ
<snipped>
Thank you for the detailed explanation!
-- DJ
DJ
<snipped>
Thank you!
I'd better put a link pointed to this thread. There're so many
good explanations and examples.
-- DJ
Don Phillipson
news:SaOdnfre65QdRqXb...@rcn.net...
> "Taipei city possess some of the most modern life style convenient and
> efficient traffic networks."
>
> Is it correct?
1. No. English verbs must agree with their subject
in number. I.e. two cities POSSESS, but one
city POSSESSES.
2. It is not clear why the drafter used the long
word POSSESS instead of the short word HAS.
3. "Most modern life style convenient traffic networks"
is such a horrible phrase as to be almost meaningless.
If you must use "life style convenient" as an adjective
it must be hyphenated: "life-style-convenient." Much
better would be something like:
"Taipei's traffic networks are efficient and convenient,
suiting the city's modern life style."
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Toby A Inkster
> "Taipei city possess some of the most modern life style convenient and
> efficient traffic networks."
Might be better re-expressed as:
Taipei has some of the most efficient traffic networks,
which are convenient to the modern life-style.
--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/
Toby A Inkster
> 1. No. English verbs must agree with their subject
> in number. I.e. two cities POSSESS, but one
> city POSSESSES.
Which I suppose must seem like an odd rule: most English words take a
plural by *adding* 's' or 'es' to the end of a word; whereas the plural
form of a noun usually *drops* the 's' or 'es':
One carpenter makes wooden things.
Two carpenters make wooden things.
doesn't seem to make sense if you look at it coming from say, a Latin
background, where the endings of associated words are generally made to
match up. The following might seem more logical:
One carpenter make wooden things.
Two carpenters makes wooden things.
Yet that's entirely wrong.
cybercypher
Yep. It's gotta bee
"One carpenter make wooden thing."
That makes a hole lotta more sents.
--
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
Native speaker of American English; posting from Taiwan.
"It has come to my attention that my opinions are not universally
shared." Scott Adams, The Dilbert Blog, 23 Jan 2007;
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/
teranews charges a one-time US$3.95 setup fee
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
Mike M
> Hi,
>
> I have a question about this sentence:
>
> "Taipei city possess some of the most modern life style convenient and
> efficient traffic networks."
>
> Is it correct?
>
At a stretch. I have commented here before about the BrE/AmE
difference in the use of singular nouns "as plurals".
The example I usually give is of sports teams: American speakers would
probably say "Manchester United has won the game", whereas British
speakers are more likely to say "Manchester United *have* won the
game" - the singular "Manchester United" represents in their minds a
number of people (be it the players on the pitch or the staff, or the
fans) and hence takes a plural verb.
I could *just* about imagine that usage for "Tapei city" here - "[the
people of] Tapei City posess..." - although I don't much like it.
And I think I'd "tidy up" the punctuation to make it easier to read:
"Taipei City possess some of the most modern, lifestyle-convenient
and
efficient traffic networks."
I assume "City" should be capitalised.
Mike M
Mike Lyle
"Mike M" <mikm...@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:1178276782.1...@o5g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
It's probably a good idea always to be profoundly suspicious of any
sentence containing the word "lifestyle": it often seems to signal
vacuity. I think the OP probably means "convenient to the modern
lifestyle"; if so, he assumes we know what is meant by "modern
lifestyle". If "modern" belongs to the transport networks, then
"convenient" is left, as in Mike M's version, alone with "lifestyle",
and the pairing means even less.
--
Mike.
Robert Bannister
The 3rd person singular verb ending in a large number of Indo-European
languages is -t, which became -th in English. Somehow, this th turned
into s.
--
Rob Bannister
John Kane
City is redundant I think. It is a bit like saying Paris City or
Toronto City.
R H Draney
>Toronto City.
"But I'm sad to say I'm on my way
Won't be back for many a day
My heart is down, my head is turning around
I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town"....r
--
"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!"
"You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!"
Mark Brader
> Which I suppose must seem like an odd rule: most English words take a
> plural by *adding* 's' or 'es' to the end of a word; whereas the plural
> form of a noun usually *drops* the 's' or 'es':
Of a *verb*.
And then only in the present tense, third person.
--
Mark Brader "I like to think of [this] as self-explanatory."
Toronto "I hope *I* think of [it] that way."
m...@vex.net -- Donald Westlake: "Trust Me On This"
Mark Brader
>>> "Taipei city possess some of the most modern life style convenient and
>>> efficient traffic networks."
John Kane writes:
> City is redundant I think. It is a bit like saying Paris City or
> Toronto City.
There are many cities have have the same name as the place where they're
located, so it isn't redundant to use the word with them -- "Mexico City",
"Quebec City", "New York City", "Luxembourg City", to name the first
four that come to mind. Note that none of these is the official name
of the place (in contrast with Oklahoma City, for example), but they're
useful locutions nevertheless.
Well, Taipei turns out to be another example. According to the CIA World
Factbook, the primary divisions of Taiwan are called counties, and yes,
there is county called Taipei (or T'ai-pei as they spell it). So it
does make sense to say "Taipei City".
Having said that, the forms with "City" are really only useful among
people who might be likely to think of the other area. Once a city
context is established, it's Quebec, it's New York, and it's Luxembourg.
(Oddly enough, Mexico City doesn't seem to go the same way, at least not
for me.)
Well, people in distant countries are unlikely to have even heard of
the county Taipei; so for us, "Taipei" means the city and, as John said,
"Taipei City" sounds weird. But if the sentence occurred in a context
where the county might also be mentioned, then it certainly would make
sense to say "Taipei City".
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "I like the other Bobs. Now, if I can only
m...@vex.net | recall which Mark I hate." --Al Fargnoli
My text in this article is in the public domain.
Pat Durkin
"Mark Brader" <m...@vex.net> wrote in message
news:133ntp0...@corp.supernews.com...
http://www.actionext.com/names_t/the_browns_lyrics/detroit_city.html
or
http://www.steamiron.com/twangin/essay-detroit.html
I googled "in Detroit City", just because I remembered the song. But
apparently that use of "City" is common in the image many have of
Detroit.