Stuart Matthew Price sings "Goodnight Kiss"

[tiorthan]

There's no need for it.

It feels odd without the "it" because if you use "for" I expect a noun to follow. Alternatively, and actually the one that I expected at first, you could use "there's no need to" as a shortened form of "there's no need to apologize."

But these are not that urgent desires right now, so please be patient.

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly here, could you elaborate?

-> Do you prefer 'anything' because it's more like a question or because of the word 'if'?

Imagine "some" as "einige(s)" and "any" as "irgend(ein)":

If there is something I could do... - Falls es einiges gibt, was ich tun könnte...
If there is anything I could do... - Falls es irgendetwas gibt, das ich tun könnte...

As you can see, the first version is a bit odd in German. I translated it like that on purpose, because it is the equivalent of what the English sentences read to an English speaker.

-> Thanks for your explanations, 'though I'm not sure how to translate 'distinct masses of water' (unterschiedliche Wassermassen?) correctly. The word 'distinct' has too many different meanings for me.

"Distinct" means not connected, so your translation is right.

Is there anything else I could do? (I can not imagine to go without dictionaries.)

When I have to look up words from a dictionary I'll always look up all possible translations in a monolingual dictionary that explains the meaning of that word and I'll try to find examples of that word with a corpus search or, if I don't have access to a searchable corpus, I'll use google to see how that word is used.

Do you mean it's not necessary to have consideration for it?

Yes. Even though it is a conscious effort for me, I have no trouble understanding ambiguity because I've had to deal with it for quite a while now (literally all my life). I'm fast enough to do that in a spoken conversation and it's even easier when I read things. In fact, my language abilities on that level easily surpass that of the majority of people.

The things I'm really having trouble with are the things that are not expressed like motivations, intentions and so on. I know they exist, I know that people say one thing and mean something else. A good example the question "Hast du ...?" People often don't want to know whether I really got whatever the've asked me for, they want me to hand it to them. Again, reading these things is different than having them asked directly.

[Mackenzie1970]

Zitat:

You could use "there's no need to" as a shortened form of "there's no need to apologize."

-> Thank you, that's exactly what I tried to say.

Zitat:

I'm not sure if I understand you correctly here, could you elaborate?

-> Like I was trying to explain on Tuesday, my most urgent desires at this time are:

1. Speaking proper English more fluently
2. To extend my vocabulary

But I'm aware, there are other things I have to improve (like punctuation, the correct usage of the prepositions 'in, at and on', etc.). These are things, I would have to learn by heart - which I try to avoid . It has always been easier for me to learn something by doing than by heart. And it's not that important for me right now. So please be patient, if I still make mistakes on something, you've already explained to me. Maybe in a month I will be so eager to learn things by heart, who knows... Hope that's more comprehensible.

Could you recommend a reliable monolingual dictionary?

Zitat:

In fact, my language abilities on that level easily surpass that of the majority of people.

-> I'm pleased to read that.

[Schuyler]

Could you recommend a reliable monolingual dictionary?

For English, the two main dictionaries I know of are the Oxford English Dictionary (BE) and the Merriam-Webster dictionary (AE.) Both should be pretty reliable, and you can find them online if you prefer to use the computer instead of an actual book:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us
http://www.merriam-webster.com/

[tiorthan]

There's also http://dictionary.com and to look up nonstandard uses and slang http://urbandictionary.com

[Mackenzie1970]

Thanks to both of you. I am going to have a closer look at all of them and decide, whether it's necessary to pay for the English-German version or if I can get along with the English versions (which should take me to the next level).

[Mackenzie1970]

I am sorry for coming back to this, but I can't get over it somehow.

I wrote last week:

Until now I've thought, it was a reliable one.

The corrected version:

Until now I thought it was a reliable one.

-> Is there really no chance, Present Perfect Simple could be used in such a case? I wanted to express I was relying on this dictionary for several weeks. I'm confused...

[Duckduck]

Hi Mackenzie1970,

kein Grund, verwirrt zu sein, denn Du hast vollkommen recht: "until now" gilt tatsächlich als eines der Signalwörter, die auf den Gebrauch des Present Perfect hinweisen. Insofern war die Korrektur nicht zwingend notwendig. Ich nehme an, manche werden jetzt etwas mit den Zähnchen knirschen und sagen: "Ach, die immer mit den Signalwörtern...". Aber das "now" ist deutlich auf den Sprechzeitpunkt gemünzt und das "until" zeigt an, dass die Handlung in der Vergangenheit angefangen haben muss, also ein klares Indiz für das Present Perfect.

Die Verwendung im Past Tense/Past Perfect würde ich für möglich erachten, wenn man eine kleine Veränderung vornimmt, nämlich "until then" sagt. Man erzahlt, dass man bis zu einem Zeitpunkt in der Vergangenheit der Meinung war, es gebe keine Geister. Aber mit 17 1/4 wurde man eines Besseren belehrt.
I had always been positive that there were no ghosts. Hadn't Mommy and Daddy always told me so?! So living in an old castle didn't make me nervous at all and I enjoyed roaming the many rooms and dark corridors as a small girl. This all changed last Wednesday. Until then my life had been/was a series of innocent rambles through the house but now everything is changed: I've seen them....      
(to be continued)

Nur lesen, wenn Du Dich evtl. wieder verwirren lassen willst, hier wird's etwas wackelig...

Möglicherweise sollte die Korrektur auf die etwas zweideutige Verwendung der Begriffe der kognitiven Erfassung eines Umstandes hinweisen. Wenn Du etwas lernst, denkst, wahrnimmst, verstehst usw. kann man immer davon ausgehen, dass es eine Zeit in der Vergangenheit gegeben hat, wo Du diese betreffende Einsicht noch nicht hattest, wo Du etwas Anderes dachtest. Es ist dann eine ganze dünne Linie zwischen einem Zeitpunkt "nachdem" Du die Einsicht hattest und dem Zeitpunkt des "Anders-Denkens" in der Vergangenheit. Ist also die Gegenwart ganz knapp noch in der Phase des vergangenen "Anders-Denkens" (dann nimmst Du das Present Perfect), oder bist Du ganz knapp in der neuen Phase des "neue Einsicht-Habens" angelangt, hast also die Phase des "Anders-Denkens" abgeschlossen (dann würdest Du das Past Tense verwenden). Haarspalterei? Unbedingt! Deshalb einfach um alles klar zu machen: "until then" für Past Tense und Past Perfect und "until now" bei Present Perfect.

Liebe Grüße
Duckduck

[Mackenzie1970]

Hey Duckduck,

vielen Dank für Deine ausführliche Antwort. Bei meinen Englisch-Fähigkeiten bin ich schon noch größtenteils auf die Signalwörter angewiesen, weshalb aber niemand seine Beisserchen abnutzen sollte.

Zur Haarspalterei: Lustig, dass Du das noch dazugeschrieben hast. Das war nämlich genau das, was mich nicht losgelassen hat. Ich habe überlegt, ob mein Beitrag vielleicht so verstanden wurde, als wäre zwischen den betreffenden Beiträgen schon zu viel Zeit vergangen gewesen. In dem Fall war es aber tatsächlich so, dass ich die Erkenntnis erst beim Formulieren meiner Antwort hatte.

Zitat:

I had always been positive that there were no ghosts. Hadn't Mommy and Daddy always told me so?! So living in an old castle didn't make me nervous at all and I enjoyed roaming the many rooms and dark corridors as a small girl. This all changed last Wednesday. Until then my life had been/was a series of innocent rambles through the house but now everything is changed: I've seen them....
(to be continued)

-> Ist das ein Zitat oder hast Du Dir das selber ausgedacht? Ich hab nämlich eine 'dezente' Vorliebe für alles, was gruselig oder sonstwie unheimlich ist.

Liebe Grüße
Mackenzie

P.S.: Zu dem Kerlchen wollte ich noch etwas anmerken. Als Du ihn zum ersten Mal verwendet hast, war ich schon etwas verwundert. Aber ich habe beschlossen, Dir keine wie immer geartete Böswilligkeit unterstellen zu wollen. Also bin ich dazu übergegangen, nur das Bild zu beachten und nicht die 'Bildbeschreibung'. In meiner Vorstellung streckt er übrigens noch die Zunge seitlich raus und wackelt mit dem Kopf hin und her. Schade, dass es so einen Smilie nicht gibt...

[tiorthan]

I'm not sure if Duckduck was thinking of me when she wrote about signal words because I regularly remind people that signal words are hints you can use to find the correct form but you can't always rely on them.

And there's also another factor you must not forget: Schuyler is American!

Formally, American and British English are identical in their use of the Past and Present Perfect. But culturally there is a difference. American English speakers tend to use the Past in some cases where Brits would use the Present Perfect. It is basically a different way of thinking about how past and present relate to each other. Since we are presented with more British examples in German schools, we also tend to use tenses more like the British.

Language and culture definitely shape the way we think about some aspects of life and time is among those.

Having said that, language doesn't have a huge influence on our thought processes, not as much as it was believed half a century ago when George Orwell invented the idea of Newspeak (although the idea had been around since the middle of the 19th century).

[Duckduck]

Huhu Mackenzie,

doch, die kleine Beispielgeschichte ist von mir ausgedacht, ich mag gerne etwas ausgefallenere Beispiele, dann wird's nicht so langweilig. Gruselig ist gut, nöch? Aber die Ente ist eigentlich recht zart besaitet und bekommt schnell Angst, wenn's zu doll wird.

Und die Bildchen, gut und prima, dass Du mir da keine besondere Absicht unterstellt hast, denn das wäre ein Irrtum gewesen. Ich habe das Smile-Männchen nur für den Bruder des kleineren Smile-Jungchens gehalten (der 2.).

Nee, denk Dir nix, wenn ich was zu sagen habe, quake ich meist ziemlich gerade heraus. Bei Dir fällt mir aber nur ein: Schön, dass Du dabei bist!

Grüße
Duckduck

[Mackenzie1970]

Dear Schuyler, I did not want to say that I do not trust you or I don't appreciate your help and corrections. There was just this question, which did not let me rest. The correct usage of the Present Perfect is something I am currently working on. I simply was afraid of having something entirely misunderstood. So, join in again - the more people I write with, the more I can take along. Ok?  

Zitat tiorthan:

 But culturally there is a difference. American English speakers tend to use the Past in some cases where Brits would use the Present Perfect.

-> Thank you, that's interesting. I had no idea.

I believe the signal words are a nice way to get a feeling for the different English tenses. Especially when the question arises whether to use Present Perfect or Past Tense. Because in German we don't have anything, we can compare to Present Perfect.

Zitat Duckduck:

Gruselig ist gut, nöch? Aber die Ente ist eigentlich recht zart besaitet und bekommt schnell Angst, wenn's zu doll wird.

-> Jep. Je nach meiner Stimmungslage darf es ruhig auch mal ganz doll werden, hrhr.

Zitat:

prima, dass Du mir da keine besondere Absicht unterstellt hast, denn das wäre ein Irrtum gewesen.

-> Siehst Du, das wusste ich irgendwie.

Schön, dass ich dabei sein darf bzw. euch alle kennenlernen durfte!

Liebe Grüße
Mackenzie

[Schuyler]

Schon in Ordnung. Actually, I'm not sure anymore whether it's an American thing or just a mistake on my part because now the more I look at the sentence, the more I think that it sounds better with the present perfect than the simple past. You guys are getting me confused, haha. But yeah, I'd say "Until now I've thought ..." is fine.

[Mackenzie1970]

So we finally seem to agree in the main.   I wasn't expecting that.

But please keep on correcting my mistakes at your convenience. When I'm not able to grasp something, I'm going to try to find an answer by myself at first. If this proves to be unsuccessful, I will have to ask here. Would that be ok by everyone?

[tiorthan]

That is what the forum is for.

[Mackenzie1970]

Thank you, tiorthan. I still feel like having done something wrong to Schuyler ... somehow. But I have no idea, what I could have done or how I could have asked instead.