Slava » 05 дек 2017, 21:22
Dear sir,
Thank you very much for your attention to my questions. Thanks to you, I can explain my grandson that:
1) the English sentence "This is an orange." implies the sentence "There exists at least one another orange.", whereas the Russian sentence "Это - апельсин." does not imply the sentence "Существует по меньшей мере ещё один апельсин.",
2) the English sentence "This is the golden orange." implies the sentence "There exists no another golden orange.",
whereas the Russian sentence "Это золотой апельсин." does not imply the sentence "Другого золотого апельсина нет.".
P.S. I want my grandson not only to translate English sentences but to understand them.
Sincerely yours, Slava.
-- 4 часа 22 минуты 34 секунды --
Dear sir,
It seems to me, the question "What is this?" has the following simpliest answers:
1) "This is a star.", "This is a planet." etc,
2) "This is the sun.", "This is the moon." etc,
3) "This is water.", "This is sand." etc.
From my point of view, the sentence "This is water [sand, dust etc]." implies the sentence "It is impossible or stupid to count water [sand, dust etc].".
Am I right or am I wrong?
Sincerely yours, Slava.
-- 15 часов 32 минуты 7 секунд --
Dear sir,
From my point of view:
1) the English sentence "This is a star." means the Russian sentence "Это одна из звёзд." ("This is one of the stars.") and implies the sentence "Это - звезда.",
2) the English sentence "This is the moon." means the Russian sentence "Это единственная луна." ("This is the only moon."), and implies the sentence "Это - луна.",
3) the English sentence "This is dust." means the Russian sentence "Этот материал - пыль." ("This material is dust.") and implies the sentence "Это - пыль.".
Am I right?
Sincerely yours, Slava.
-- 1 день 48 минут 41 секунду --
Dear Sir,
From my point of view:
1) the sentence "This is a star." is used much more often than the sentence "This is one of the stars." because the first of these two sentences is more laconic than the second one,
2) the sentence "This is the moon." is used much more often than the sentence "This is the only moon." because the first of these two sentences is more laconic than the second one,
3) the sentence "This is dust." is used much more often than the sentence "This material is dust." because the first of these two sentences is more laconic than the second one.
P.S. Аналогичным образом, предложение "Это - яблоко" употребляется гораздо чаще, чем предложение "Это одно яблоко.", потому что первое из этих двух русских предложений лаконичнее, чем второе.
Am I right or wrong?
Sincerely yours, Slava.
-- 1 день 13 часов 31 минуту 43 секунды --
Dear Sir,
What do the Russian sentences "Это яблоко.", "Это луна.", and "Это вино." mean in the English language?
From my point of view:
1) the Russian sentence "Это - яблоко" means "This is one apple." because the sentences "Это - яблоко." and "Это - одно яблоко." have identical sense,
2) the Russian sentence "Это - луна." means "This is one moon." because the sentences "Это - луна." and "Это - одна луна." have identical sense,
3) the Russian sentence "Это - вино." means "This is wine.".
Sincerely yours, Slava.
-- 2 дня 1 час 2 минуты 13 секунд --
Dear Sir,
From my point of view:
1.1) the sentences "This is a card." and "This thing is a card." have identical sense, but in the first sentence the word "this" is a demonstrative pronoun, whereas in the second one the word "this" is a demonstrative determiner,
1.2) the sentences "That is a dice." and "That thing is a dice" have identical sence, but in the first sentence the word "that" is a demonstrative pronoun, whereas in the second one the word "that" is a demonstrative determiner,
2.1) the sentences "This is a cat." and "This being is a cat." have identical sense, but ...,
2.2) the sentences "That is a dog." and "That being is a dog." have identical sense, but ...,
3.1) the sentences "These are cards." and "These things are cards." have identical sense, but ...
3.2) the sentences "Those are dices." and "Those things are dices." have identical sense, but ...,
4.1) the sentences "These are cats." and "These beings are cats." have identicel sense, but ...,
4.2) the sentences "Those are dogs." and "Those beings are dogs." have identical sense, but ...,
5.1) the sentences "This is sugar." and "This material is sugar." have identical sence, but ...,
5.2) the sentences "That is salt." and "That material is salt.", but in the first sentence the word "that" is a demonstrative pronoun, whereas in the second one the word "that" is a demonstrative determiner.
Am I right?
Sincerely yours, Slava.
-- 2 дня 13 часов 34 минуты 45 секунд --
Dear Sir,
It seems that there are five demonstrative determiners in the modern English language. I mean "the", "this", "that", "these", and "those".
"The" is the simpliest of the mentioned demonstrative determiners. It indicates to some entity (for instance, "the cat" or "the cats"), but it doesn't indicate to the relative distance between the speaker and the indicated entity. Also "the" doesn't indicate to one of two grammatical number of the indicated entity.
Each of the rest demonstrative determiners is more complicated than "the". Firstly, It indicates to some entity (for instance, "this cat", "that dog", "these cats", "those dogs"). Secondly, it indicates to the relative distance between the speaker and the indicated entity (compare "this cat" and "that cat"). And thirdly, it indicates to a grammatical number of the indicated entity (compare "this cat" and "these cats").
Am I right?
Sincerely yours, Slava.
-- 2 дня 22 часа 15 минут 10 секунд --
Dear Sir,
I want to offer my grandson to learn by heart the following table:
Demonstrative determiners / Demonstrative pronouns
the / -
this / this
that / that
these / these
those / those
Possesive determiners / Possesive pronouns
its / its
his / his
her / hers
their / theirs
your / yours
our / ours
my / mine
What do you think about the mentioned table?
Sincerely yours, Slava.