Hi natives:

Could you please correct my sentences and tell me which ones are more common to use?

Note: ( ) means the words in the ( ) can be omitted.
/ means the words beside / are exchangeable.

1. (The) birds fly high, so the nest is high in the tree.
2. He is very polite to the teacher. He talks politely to her/ He politely talks to her/ He talks to her politely.
3. I looked at the teacher nervously. / I nervously looked at the teacher./ I looked nervously at the teacher.
4. Jeff holds a glass bottle carefully./ Jeff carefully holds a glass bottle.
5. Kitty and Lily are talking to each other happily./ Kitty and Lily are happily talking to each other./ Kitty and Lily are talking happily to each other.
6. Joe is the laziest student in (the) class, and he seldom does his homework.
7. No student in Jeff’s class is as smart as Gary. / No students in Jeff’s class are as smart as Gary.
8. He can run as fast as I can/ me.
9. I can’t go as/so often as you can/ you.
10. They didn’t walk as/so far as I did/ me.

Question

Hi natives:

Could you please correct my sentences and tell me which ones are more common to use?

Note: (  ) means the words in the (  ) can be omitted.
/ means the words beside / are exchangeable.

1. (The) birds fly high, so the nest is high in the tree.
2. He is very polite to the teacher. He talks politely to her/ He politely talks to her/ He talks to her politely.
3. I looked at the teacher nervously. / I nervously looked at the teacher./ I looked nervously at the teacher.
4. Jeff holds a glass bottle carefully./ Jeff carefully holds a glass bottle.
5. Kitty and Lily are talking to each other happily./ Kitty and Lily are happily talking to each other./ Kitty and Lily are talking happily to each other.
6. Joe is the laziest student in (the) class, and he seldom does his homework.
7. No student in Jeff’s class is as smart as Gary. / No students in Jeff’s class are as smart as Gary.
8. He can run as fast as I can/ me.
9. I can’t go as/so often as you can/ you.
10. They didn’t walk as/so far as I did/ me.

sglimpse2 · Answer

For 9 and 10, using the word "so" doesn't work. Other than that, I don't see any issues.

WinnieTheNooh · Answer

Most of these are perfectly fine and can be used interchangeably. They get similar amounts of use in literature, and which one to use depends on your writing style.

The only one I would correct is #1. Although the grammar is correct, this is very difficult to be sure about. Most native speakers would use a speculative point such as “probably.”

For example:

A: The birds fly high, so the nest is probably/likely high in the tree.
B: The birds fly high, so odds are that the nest is high in the tree.

Also, the word “The” can’t be omitted in that sentence.

WinnieTheNooh · Answer

@chen117 The grammar is technically correct, but the sentence is a bit awkward because just using “birds” sounds as if you are talking about all birds in general.

WinnieTheNooh · Answer

@chen117 No problem!

For 9 and 10, using the word "so" doesn't work. Other than that, I don't see any issues.

@chen117 The grammar is technically correct, but the sentence is a bit awkward because just using “birds” sounds as if you are talking about all birds in general.

@chen117 No problem!

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