Thread: Моя Работа (Пожалуйста исправляйте мою грамматику)

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

"В общем и целом, Я не жалею ни о чем, я надеюсь оставаться тут еще год, по крайне мере, с надеждой что ничего не будить происходить, и всех будут остаться в живых." ->

1. В общем и целом - no "и", it is a expression
2. About "чтобы": you can split что and бы, but the sence will be different
Я хотела, чтобы ты остался. - I wanted you to stay.
Я сказала, что я бы осталась еще на неделю. - I said that I would stay for a week.

СПАСИБО БОЛЬШОЙ!

Thank you so many much Bob, you're amazing. Where did you come from?

I really can't thank you enough. This is so detailed and invested. It's really professionally done. Are you a teacher?

1) Sometimes it can be very difficult to provide some general explanation when we use "в" and when we use "на".

It's a matter of experience mostly I guess

1) Why did you write "спасателя"? To form the feminine? The nouns for people's occupation in Russian usually do not have a feminine version, the masculine form is used for both men and women. If you want to form the feminine, it would be "спасательница" (with adding a feminine occupation suffix, not just by replacing -ь with -я). However, "спасательница" would sound too colloquial, and is never used in more or less official speech.
But I think, you can say about yourself "спасательница" among your friends, if you like it.

1) Я не "спасатель".

2) Я писала "спасателя" потому что я писала что я "НЕ" этой профессии. Genitive Это для отрицания.

[quote]2) "вода" does have plural: "воды", so "на воде" is singular and "на водах" is plural. But in Russian, the plural form "воды" sounds too poetic. In normal speech it is only used when talking about "waters" of some specific ocean or sea (e.g., "в водах Тихого окена" = "in the waters of Pacific"). Otherwise, use singular. So, your occupation is just "спасатель на воде".
[/qupte]

Maybe it's the fault of my dictionary, it gave me the translation to "lifeguard" as

lifeguard
с. личная охрана, лейб гвардия, спасатель на водах

Didn't think the first two were appropriate. I blame the dictionary in this case.

2) Grammatically your sentence is correct. But your choice (мне нужно было) means "I needed to do something", like there was some necessity for you to do it. It does not suit logically. What you want to say is about your experience, not about the necessity, right? The expression "мне приходилось + infinitive" is exactly what you need.

Hmm maybe. That depends who I am describing it to. Like, if I was describing to a friend, to enhance the understanding it's my duty, that I am under orders, I might say that "I needed to perform"... If I was looking for a job in the field, I'd just say to my interviewer "I'd performed many CPR's during my time at the coast".

3) Again, you use the time modifier (в прошлом) in the end of the sentence . Put it in the beginning, and you would sound much more Russian! And I would replace "в прошлом" with "раньше". Your option sounds as if that was long time ago in the past... and you have not been doing it since then. "Раньше" is much more colloquial and frequently used.

You'll have to forgive me for forgetting it! I remembered it in a different sentence, I think, but forgot it here clearly. I'll try to take better heed of time modifiers.

"К счастью, большую часть времени (no comma) ничего не происходит, особенно в зимнее время.
Я уже работаю тут три года. Я видела много. У нас проблематичное население: бесприютные люди (бездомные люди or беспризорные дети), нелегальные иммигранты (арабы и африканцы обычно), воры, наркоманы, хулиганы, уголовники и так далее. Совсем не скучно, это уж точно."

Excellent! Nearly no mistakes! Did you write it by your own?

I think Paul helped just at the first sentence ""К счастью, большую часть времени (no comma) ничего не происходит, особенно в зимнее время. "

But I did the rest.

1) "бесприютные люди" - I'd say it's an unusual expression (at least to me). I cannot say it is incorrect, just unusual. It IS understandable, however. If you mean "homeless", it is "бездомные". There's also an expression "беспризорные дети" or "беспризорники" about the kids which live in the street without any control from adults.

Oops, yes I should've stuck to "бездомные" - decided to go fancy...clearly didn't work.

3) "наверняка" is when you guess about something, it does not suit here. If you reply to someone else's story, you could say: "Наверняка, тебе совсем не скучно". But you talk about your own experience, so you cannot "guess", you can only "affirm". Yes, "наверняка" assumes almost 100% probability (unlike "наверно" with lesser probability), but it is still "guessing".

"Наверняка, он любит мороженое" - I'm pretty sure he likes icecream. - Possible expression.
"Наверняка, я люблю мороженое" - I'm pretty sure I like icecream. - Impossible expression.
"Я люблю мороженое, это уж точно!" - I like icecream, it's true! - Affirmation.

Вы ОЧЕНЬ полезные, это уж точно!

"Мне повезло, я работаю весь год в настоящее время." -> Мне повезло, в настоящее время я работаю круглый год.

1) "Весь год" is a time duration (a whole year): Весь год он ничего не делал. - He did not do anything for the whole year.

"Круглый год" is a special expression meaning "12 months a year" (i.e., with no season breaks). A similar expression is "круглые сутки" (24 hours a day, without night break). Only "год" and "сутки" can be "круглый" (lit.: "round") in Russian, no other time unit can. They are very useful expressions.

Ahh I perfectly get it. Again, I saw круглый год - but "весь год" seemed like a safer choice. I guess I needed you to set me straight for it

2) One more time: please do not put a time modifer "в настоящее время" to the end of the sentence every time. It is just unnatural. Sometimes we do it, but mostly if we want to emphasize this time modifier.

Sorry sorry sorry! Will pay MUCH more attention henceforth!


I'll post more later

2) Я писала "спасателя" потому что я писала что я "НЕ" этой профессии. Genitive Это для отрицания.

Genitive is used when you say "нет" - На пляже нет (кого?) спасателя. У меня нет книги. Но - "это не спасатель, а просто отдыхающий" - nominative. The noun "спасатель" here acts as a predicate and thus is put in nominative.

About "на водах" или "на воде": in Russian Google I found both, and plural is even more frequent. I think we have not got many beaches in Russia, and even if so one can hardly meet a lifeguard there (unfortunately). So not many Russians know the exact word for this exotic profession.

About нужно и приходилось: The expression "мне нужно было" ( and the synonym "мне надо было") as I feel it has no indication that the needed action was performed. Example: Мне нужно было выучить это ещё вчера - I was to learn it yesterday (but no undication that I did learn it, may be yes but most probably no). Мне пришлось выучить это - I had to learn it - the action is completed, you obviously have the result. In case "Мне нужно было часто делать СЛР в прошлом." there is no indication that you were successive in these procedures though of course in this context it is understandable but just sounds slightly awkward for a Russian ear.

Вы ОЧЕНЬ полезные, это уж точно!

You can't say so, you need a short adjective here: вы очень полезны. Though it is also sounds awkward You can put an ajective together with a noun - вы очень полезный собеседник, it will be quite Russian. Вы очень милы, вы очень добры ко мне, вы были МНЕ очень полезны - also sounds Russian.

Originally Posted by Valda

СПАСИБО БОЛЬШОЙ!

Спасибо большое. "Спасибо" is not a noun, and it does not have any gender. But when there is no gender, always use neuter.

Another example: Он сказал своё "нет". - He said his "no".

Originally Posted by Valda

Are you a teacher?

Thank you, but I am not a teacher. I am just an amateur of linguistics. And I used to teach basics of English to some Russian adults as well. But I work as a software engineer in fact.

Originally Posted by Valda

1) Я не "спасатель".

2) Я писала "спасателя" потому что я писала что я "НЕ" этой профессии. Genitive Это для отрицания.

Aluette told you right. The genitive of negation is used to express absence of something, for example: "На этом пляже нет спасателя". The same is for "не было" (past) and "не будет" (future).
But you had to write: "Я не спасатель".

Originally Posted by Valda

Hmm maybe. That depends who I am describing it to. Like, if I was describing to a friend, to enhance the understanding it's my duty, that I am under orders, I might say that "I needed to perform"... If I was looking for a job in the field, I'd just say to my interviewer "I'd performed many CPR's during my time at the coast".

As Aluette noted, "I needed to perform" does not necessarily imply you performed it.

Originally Posted by Valda

You'll have to forgive me for forgetting it! I remembered it in a different sentence, I think, but forgot it here clearly. I'll try to take better heed of time modifiers.

Sure! Don't take it personally I just wanted to draw your attention to this fact.

Originally Posted by Valda

But I did the rest.

Congratulations then! Not so many mistakes, and it was fully understandable.

Originally Posted by Valda

Not entirely sure-- Google translate suggest
в общем и целом - overall

OK, maybe it is acceptable. I would say "в общем и в целом". But I checked Yandex:
"в общем и целом" - 2 000 000;
"в общем и в целом" - 2 000.

So, you won

Originally Posted by Valda

I thought you always say всех when you refer to people

No, you probably got something wrong.
When you refer to people, use "все" /everybody/ (and decline it in all 6 cases as necessary).
But when you refer to things, use "всё" /everything/ (and decline it in all 6 cases as necessary).

Declention of "все": все (Nom), всех (Gen and Acc), всем (Dat), всеми (Inst), (обо) всех (Prep).
Declension of "всё": всё (Nom and Acc), всего (Gen), всему (Dat), всем (Inst), (обо) всём (Prep).

BTW, the original form is "весь" (all) - it is masculine singular. Feminine singular is "вся", neuter singular is "всё" and plural is "все". They are used as adjectives (when accompanied with a noun): весь хлеб, вся вода, всё молоко, все вещи etc.

Neuter singular (всё) can be used independently (without acompanying a noun), and it means "everything" then.
Plural (все) can be used independently (without acompanying a noun), and it means "everybody" then.

A popular expession (they often use it in newspaper titles etc.) is "все и всё" (everything and everybody). It is a nice example when spelling of "е" and "ё" really matters. But many newspapers still prefer not using "ё", and this expession turns to "все и все"

There are different opinions about using "ё" in Russia (if it should be mandatory in writing or not). But personally, I hate the idea of substituting "ё" with "е". I always write "ё" when necessary (not only in Masterrussian).

Originally Posted by Aluette

1. В общем и целом - no "и", it is a expression

Did not get it. What do you mean by "no и"? There is "и"!

Originally Posted by Aluette

2. About "чтобы": you can split что and бы, but the sence will be different
Я хотела, чтобы ты остался. - I wanted you to stay.
Я сказала, что я бы осталась еще на неделю. - I said that I would stay for a week.

"чтобы" and "что бы" are not the same. "чтобы" indicates a purpose, and it is a single word which cannot be split: Я сел за стол, чтобы почитать книгу.
But "что бы" is just a combination of "что" (what?) with the particle "бы": Я задумался: что бы мне сегодня почитать? The particle can be moved ("что мне бы сегодня почитать") or omitted ("что мне сегодня почитать"), but there is no "чтобы" in this example.

Originally Posted by Aluette

About "на водах" или "на воде": in Russian Google I found both, and plural is even more frequent. I think we have not got many beaches in Russia, and even if so one can hardly meet a lifeguard there (unfortunately). So not many Russians know the exact word for this exotic profession.

I would never say "спасатель на водах", it just sounds weird to me. But maybe they do use it, if you found it in Google.

Originally Posted by Aluette

About нужно и приходилось: The expression "мне нужно было" ( and the synonym "мне надо было") as I feel it has no indication that the needed action was performed. Example: Мне нужно было выучить это ещё вчера - I was to learn it yesterday (but no undication that I did learn it, may be yes but most probably no). Мне пришлось выучить это - I had to learn it - the action is completed, you obviously have the result. In case "Мне нужно было часто делать СЛР в прошлом." there is no indication that you were successive in these procedures though of course in this context it is understandable but just sounds slightly awkward for a Russian ear.

A good point! I did not notice it, but you're right!

"Мне нужно было прочитать эту книгу, но я её не нашёл" - It was necessary to me to read this book, but I could not find it.
So, "мне нужно было" does not provide any information if the action was ever performed.