Many questions

Posted by ESC on November 09, 2000

In Reply to: Many questions posted by K. Yone on November 09, 2000

: Hi!

: 1. I'm just wondering the following sentence.

: a. [How goes it with you today?]

: Do English native just say this way?
: How about [How does it go with you today?]?

: 2. Do English speakers use [girls] as well as a singular now [girl] once in a while in the sentence b.?

: b. [Mary is taller than any other girl in the class.]

: 3. I wonder which of the following sentence is correct. Maybe all of them will be correct.

: c. [I could have done it if I had have wanted.]
: d. [I could have done it if I have wanted.]
: e. [I could have done it if I had wanted.]

: Thanks a lot.

: All the best,

: Kodai

The last time I had grammar lessons was Mrs. Collins' English class LONG ago. But my opinion on how we say these phrases in the U.S.:

1. How goes it with you today. People might say that. But more common is: How's it going today? How are you doing? What's up? (Whassup?) What's shaking? What's new?

2. Mary is taller than any other girl in the class. That would be correct. Or: Mary is taller than the other girls.

3. e. I could have done it if I had wanted. That one sounds correct to me.

(A phrase I saw recently that's new to me -- Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Meaning -- We could of done something, we would of, and should of. But we didn't.)