To share the pleasure to read - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

To share the pleasure to read is like to share the pleasure to drink a good wine. Then I would like to speak about some novels in english I red this last months. My first novel was The curious incident of the dog in the [i]night-time". A remarkable book writen by Mark HADDON. This author has writen about fifteen books and won several prizes. The curious incidient of the dog in the night-time won the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award among others. It is a story of Christopher, fifteen, who has Asperger's Syndrome. His knowledge of human beings is very tiny than his knowledge of maths. He loves pattern and the galaxy and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He is the narrator. He tell the things of life like he sees them with meticulous observation and precision. The story start when Christopher finds a neighbour's dog murdered : "It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shear's house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog. The points of the fork must have gone all the way through the dog and into the ground because the fork had no fallen over. I decided that the dog was probably killed with the fork because I could see any other wounds in the dog and I do not think you would stick a garden fork into a dog after it had died for some other reason, like cancer for example, or a road accident. But I could not be certain about this."
We can speek togather about this novel when you will read it. Since I started to learn inglesh in septembre 2009 I red numerous books in english I would like to share the enjoy of reading. I read and I write more than I speak. Thank you for correcting me.

Hi Mustapha,

Thank you for posting for the first time on the forum.
I'm always very happy to meet new friends and exchange with them about subjects I like.

> Thank you for correcting me.
Fine, I will do it later in the day as I will be busy for a while.

I understand that the beginning of the text was typed by you (not scanned) after lines read from the back cover of the book (or inside).

However, I could see several mistakes... no problem about mistakes as it's so boring to copy but I was disturbed by one of them:
You used the spelling "red" as the past of "to read"... "red" is well the pronunciation of the past but the spelling is "read".
I wondered if, in some regions of the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, elsewhere in the Commonwealth, red was accepted as the past of to read: so far I didn't find anything. Anyway!

As I was searching, I realized that there was still 54 states in the Commonwealth: I would never have put a cent on this!!

A bit later in the day, I suggest to redden the mistakes in your text and to comment on a few of them. This way, you'll have to try to find out what "I didn't like".

See you later!

Hi Mustapha,

You'll find in red in the text below, words that made me frown Would you like to try to understand why, please?
Some of the mistakes are only typos, others are grammar or spelling ones:

mustaphaE a écrit:To share the pleasure to read is like to share the pleasure to drink a good wine. Then I would like to speak about some* novels in english I red this last months. My first novel was The curious incident of the dog in the night-time". A remarkable book writen by Mark HADDON. This author has writen about fifteen books and won several prizes. The curious incidient of the dog in the night-time won the Whitbread* Novel of the Year Award among others. It is a story of Christopher, fifteen, who has Asperger's Syndrome*. His knowledge of human beings is very tiny than his knowledge of maths. He loves pattern and the galaxy and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He is the narrator. He tell the things of life like he sees them with meticulous observation and precision. The story start when Christopher finds a neighbour's dog murdered : "It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shear's house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog. The points of the fork must have gone all the way through the dog and into the ground because the fork had no fallen over. I decided that the dog was probably killed with the fork because I could see any other wounds in the dog and I do not think you would stick a garden fork into a dog after it had died for some other reason, like cancer for example, or a road accident. But I could not be certain about this."
We can speek togather about this novel when you will read it. Since I started to learn inglesh in septembre 2009 I red numerous books in english I would like to share the enjoy of reading. I read and I write more than I speak. Thank you for correcting me.

"*" after a word means I wrote about the point.
Some sentences are not the way an English speaking person would say things: I didn't redden them but we will see them afterwards.
~~
I would like to speak about some* novels -
"Some" is an undetermined number (Fr "certains"). Often better to use "a few" for countable words (Fr "quelques").
However, "Some" is the only word used with uncountable words like bread (some bread=un peu de pain or du pain) or water (de l'eau).
Whitbread* -
What does "Whitbread" mean (all meanings)? and what about "the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award"?
Asperger's Syndrome* -
Do you know what the Asperger's Syndrome is?

Hi Gérard

There are careless mistakes (English, read, written, incident, (*), tells, not fallen, could not,
together, September). The mistakes due to my ignorance (apparently I cannot say “the story start (l’histoire commence) I must use the past, isn't it ? By “tiny than"... I wanted to say “Christopher knew the maths more he knew human beings, or more better (il connaissait mieux les maths que les êtres humains). “Enjoy” it’s a verbe, I will substitute it by “pleasure”
Also I don’t understand why you redden the two sentences : “we can speek together” and “when you will read” Can you explain me more.
Now about “Asperger’s Syndrome” and “the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award”.When I started to read the book I had to seek the meanings of these words. I can assure you that is not difficult to find : Asperger’s Syndrome means a kind of autism and the Whitbread Novel of the Year called alsoo The Costa Awards is among the UK most prestigious literary awards.
Any way Thank you very much indeed to spending all this time to correct me. Now I know I can write to learn.

Hi Mustapha,

Thank you very much for your answer.

I chose to redden the mistakes so that we can exchange better. I would say that the more we write about a word, the easier it is to remember and learn, which is the aim

Okay, you got the typos. Typos are not that important as they're due to the fact you were busy and couldn't read again... not that important except if they are made several times, that's why I would like to stay a bit on a few of them
- read - remember that the pronunciation (notice the difference between to pronounce & pronunciation) is red but the spelling is read; not the same as with the verb to lead which has got a past written led and a past participle led.
- written - you used the spelling writen at least two times ("twice" in British English / "two times" in American English ). You probably know that the vowel "i" in "to write" is a long sounded one pronounced like in "like" ("aï") while its past participle "written" has a short sound pronounced like in "English" or "bit". When the vowel is followed by "tt" it's a short one or let's say when the sound is a short one, it has to be followed by "tt" (in other words, "writen" would have been pronounced "aï")... it's the same rule at the end of a word: "i" followed by one consonnant at the end of a word is short eg "bit", "trip", "gossip"...

- a mistake you didn't consider: "I read this last months" -
You used a plural for "months" and a singular for "this": they don't fit.
The correct expression is "this last month" or simply "last month" or "these last months".

- His knowledge of human beings is very tiny than his knowledge of maths -
> By “tiny than"... I wanted to say “Christopher knew the maths more he knew human beings,
> or more better (il connaissait mieux les maths que les êtres humains).
I understood what you meant but the sentence was incorrect.
"Than" is a word that is used:
--- as a preposition after a comparative eg older than, bigger than, tinier than, etc.
--- as a preposition after a comparative in quantities, values, degrees (similar to previous item) eg more/less than 10 meters
---as a conjunction after a comparative (similar to item #1) eg he's older than I thought, it was further away than I remembered, etc.
--- as a conjunction after preferences eg I'd rather do this than that (I'd rather walk than drive)
--- as a conjunction in expressions like no sooner had I left than the phone rang
--- (American English) as a conjunction after "different" eg to be different than... British En says different from... or different to...
Above are the only 6 cases.
You cannot say "very tiny than" as it's not one of the 6 cases: you could have said "tinier than".

- The story start when Christopher finds
> apparently I cannot say “the story start (l’histoire commence) I must use the past, isn't it ?
No, the problem is simply that you forgot the "s" at the 3rd person of the singular in the present tense of indicative: The story starts.

- We can speek together about... -
> I don’t understand why you redden
The spelling is simply to speak as you wrote it at the end of your text.

- when you will read it -
> I don’t understand why you redden
After "when", they never use the future in English. There are a few other similar words such as "after", "as soon as" and others: I guess these words already mean future.
The correct sentence is "when you read it" (present tense).

- “Enjoy” it’s a verbe, I will substitute it by “pleasure”
Exactly, "enjoy" is a verb, the corresponding noun can be "pleasure" or "joy" according to the context.



> Anyway

> Thank you very much indeed to spending all this time to correct me.
You're very welcome Mustapha!
Please, remember that I don't want to show off. My remarks will never be nasty: it's a pleasure to help you improve your English.
A few words above are written in red... the correct sentence is:
- either "Thank you very much indeed to spend all this time to correct me" with in mind that I will spend time again in a post to come
- or "Thank you very much indeed to have spent all this time to correct me" if you think of the present post.
- or "Thank you very much indeed for spending all this time to correct me"
- or "Thank you very much indeed for having spent all this time to correct me"
The preposition used after "to thank" is "to" for a verb or "for" for a noun.
To thank to do something.
To thank for a gift.
Always remember that the gerund (verb-ing) is grammatically considered as a noun so: "To thank for doing something".

> Now I know I can write to learn.
Again, it's a pleasure to help you improve your English. Don't hesitate as the more you write, the more you'll use words and the more we will study grammar, vocabulary, etc.

Hi Mustapha,

mustaphaE a écrit:... Now about “Asperger’s Syndrome” and “the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award”.When I started to read the book I had to seek the meanings of these words. I can assure you that is not difficult to find : Asperger’s Syndrome means a kind of autism and the Whitbread Novel of the Year called alsoo The Costa Awards is among the UK most prestigious literary awards...

I asked you about this to get you to write more and have the opportunity of new grammar rules, etc. and also to bring information to members reading the posts.

I also searched (and easily found) about them.

Studied in 1944, Asperger's Syndrome is a special kind of autism in which the subject is very good at maths or something usually very difficult to others.

Whitbread -

Whitbread PLC (LSE: WTB) is a global hotel, coffee shop and restaurant company headquartered in Dunstable, United Kingdom. Its largest division is Premier Inn, which is the largest hotel brand in the UK with around 580 hotels and over 40,000 rooms.[1][2] Its Costa Coffee chain has around 1,600 stores across 25 countries and is the second-largest international coffee shop chain in the world.[1][2] Its other brands include the restaurants Beefeater, Brewers Fayre, Table Table and Taybarns.[2]

Whitbread company sponsors several events:
- a boat race:

La Whitbread est une course à la voile autour du monde en équipage en monocoques avec escales.

Inspirée par le navigateur Francis Chichester en 1967, la première édition a eu lieu le 8 septembre 1973. Elle comportait 4 étapes :
Portsmouth - Le Cap;
Le Cap - Sydney;
Sydney- Rio;
Rio - Portsmouth.

Baptisée à l'origine Whitbread Round The World Race, du nom d'une très importante société commerciale britannique, organisatrice avec la Royal Naval Sailing Association, la première édition de cette course se déroula en 1973 sur seulement 4 étapes, elle connut 7 éditions sous ce nom avant d'être rebaptisée Volvo Ocean Race en 2002 du nom du célèbre constructeur automobile devenu sponsor principal

( http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_Ocean_Race )
- a literary award:

In 1971, the company launched the Whitbread Literary Awards, but in 2005 Whitbread changed its sponsorship strategy to support the Costa Coffee brand, as the Whitbread name was no longer a customer-facing brand, merely a holding company for a series of other brands: hence the new name "Costa Book Awards".

- as seen above, the Whitbread co has oodles of famous subsidiaries and events.

Hi Mustapha, hi everyone,

This book sounds very interesting!

Characters

• Christopher John Francis Boone: The protagonist of the novel, who investigates the murder of Mrs. Shears' poodle.
  
• Ed Boone: Christopher's father, a boiler engineer. Up to the beginning of the story, he has been living with Christopher as a single parent for two years. He is usually very patient and understanding with Christopher, but gradually becomes uncomfortable with his son's investigation.
  
• Judy Boone: Christopher's mother. Early in the book, Christopher writes that she died of a heart attack two years before the book's events. Not much of an initial description is given, but Christopher describes more about her as the story proceeds.
  
• Siobhan: Christopher's para-professional, friend, and mentor. She teaches him how society works and how to behave within its complex guidelines.
  
• Mr Jeavons: the psychologist at Christopher's school
  
• Mr Roger Shears: One of the neighbours who lived near the Boones, but has left his wife before the story begins and has an affair with Christopher's mother.
  
• Mrs Eileen Shears: Mr. Shears's wife, who attempts to console Ed for a time after Christopher learns of his mother's death.
  
• Mrs Alexander: an old lady, who is one of Christopher's neighbours, who offers information to help Christopher's investigation regarding his parents and both the Shearses.
  
• Wellington: Mrs. Shears's large black poodle, which Christopher finds dead in her front yard.
  
• Reverend Peters: the reverend of Christopher's local church.
  
• Rhodri: One of Ed's friends who works with him in the boiler business.
  
• Wellington: the killed poodle.
  
• Toby: Christopher's pet rat.
  
• Sandy: A golden retriever given to Christopher towards the end of the book.
  
• Julie: Christopher's aid before Siobhan

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Curious_Incident_of_the_Dog_in_the_Night-Time )

The book was joint winner of the 2004 Boeke Prize, won the 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year award and sold more than two million copies.

A film adaptation, written and directed by Steve Kloves is currently being planned.

Hi Gérard

Thank you very much indeed for spending all this time to correct me.

I hope you will always have the pleasure to help me improve my English. You know, I started to learn English only last year. Never before. So I am afraid, I’ll make you frown often.
I like what you do.
The next time I’ll try to share (can I use the preposition“to”after the verb “try”? I don’t know all the rules of the English grammar. Self-educated) the pleasure to read writing some words about an other book : The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It’s a second book I read in English.

Hi Mustapha,

mustaphaE a écrit:... Thank you very much indeed for spending all this time to correct me.

You're very welcome Mustapha!
Your sentence is beautiful ("thank you for spending...")!

I hope you will always have the pleasure to help me improve my English. You know, I started to learn English only last year. Never before. So I am afraid, I’ll make you frown often.
I like what you do.

I like to help people who work hard to learn.
Your level is good: congrats!
NB: "congrats" is a short for "congratulations".
> help me improve
This expression is very good. Many people write "help me to improve" but the tendency nowadays (especially in the States) is to get rid of "to".

> (can I use the preposition“to”after the verb “try”? I don’t know all the rules of the
> English grammar. Self-educated)
Yes, you must use the particle "to" after try and before an infinitive.
There are more and more examples in American English where "to" is removed but usually, "to" is used before an infinitive.
There is a discussion about cases without "to", for example:
- help to improve English
- go to purchase a car (common in the States; the British don't like)
- you need not worry
- I'd dare say
- defectives
- etc. cf discussion
There are a few cases with "to" followed by a gerund:
- I'm looking forward to meeting you
- I'm used to drinking a cup of tea at 5 - don't confuse with I used to drink...

The next time I’ll try to share the pleasure to read writing and write some words about another book : The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. It’s a second book I read in English.

Hi Mustapha, hi Gérard,

Gérard has done a sterling job !
His explanations are perfect, and I could not have done better myself !

Mustapha, good luck with your English !
Reading books is a great way to study the language, and to see how words and expressions are used.

Please feel free to ask me for any help ...

Hi Krystyna, Mustapha,

Krystyna, Phew! thanks for your kind comments!

Gérard, as always, you're welcome !

Hi Krystyna, Hi Gérard

Of course, Gerard is a magician of the English language. He is also the guardian angel for all people like me who wants to learn English.
I want to thank him everyday

Hi Mustapha,

Go easy with the compliments to Gérard, or else he will "get a swelled head" !!!

Hi Mustapha, Krystyna, h everyone,

krystynaD a écrit:... he will "get a swelled head" !!!

LOL

mustaphaE a écrit:Hi Krystyna, Hi Gérard

Of course, Gerard is a magician of the English language. He is also the guardian angel for all people like me who wants to learn English.
I want to thank him everyday

Thanks Mustapha! My pleasure!
> Gerard is a magician of the English language
I would like so much but at the same time having to always have plenty to learn is nice.

However I would like to point out that there's a mistake in your sentence:
> all people like me who wants to learn English.
There's a mistake I'm sure but I need Krystyna's explanations as I don't know what, in English, the subject of the verb is, between "people" and "me" (in French, the subject would be "tous les gens").
Anyway, the correct spelling is "want".

Remember "people" is always a plural: people think thinks.
Collective words like "people" look singular but are plural such as "the police", "the French", etc.

Oh mamma mia !
I only speak and write English, and am not so cluey at explaining grammar !

Knowing that the correct way to say this is "for all people like me who want to learn English", I would say that the subject of the verb is all people, so you must use want

So, Gérard is perfectly correct in saying that people is plural, so a singular verb must follow.

Krystyna,

> am not so cluey at explaining grammar !
Sorry! That's right that EMTs don't need grammar a lot...

> people is plural, so a singular verb must follow.
Are you sure you didn't want to write the opposite? "people is plural, so a plural verb must follow"

Hum, I don't know !
I would have said that a singular verb (want) doesn't have an S at the end, where a plural one (wants) does ?

But I admit to not knowing anything !

Krystyna,

Don't be upset.

I found it confusing as "wants" is the 3rd person of singular so I called it "singular".


"s" as the mark of the plural is a convention: look at "mice" or German words sing.der Mann plur.dir Männer, sing.die Dame plur.die Damen...

Krystyna is definitely correct - it should be "what people want" or "what the people want".

Just try an internet search and you will get alot of references to this expression, eg at www.whatthepeoplewant.net

Hi Bob, Krystyna, everyone,

Thanks for explanations and link.

I did agree with Krystyna about the correct sentence being "for all people like me who want to learn English".

gerardM a écrit:Krystyna,

> am not so cluey at explaining grammar !
Sorry! That's right that EMTs don't need grammar a lot...

Could you explain the meaning of "cluey" and "EMTs"

Hi Mustapha,

mustaphaE a écrit:

gerardM a écrit:Krystyna,

> am not so cluey at explaining grammar !
Sorry! That's right that EMTs don't need grammar a lot...

Could you explain the meaning of "cluey" and "EMTs"

Right that "cluey" is not in most dictionaries...
Anyway!
* It's an adjective (location in the sentence, ending in -y showing a usual informal adjective).
Remove the "y": this adjective is derived from "clue" which is in dictionaries.
A clue is a piece of information that would lead you to find or understand.
In French: indice, piste, indication.
I haven't a clue = je n'ai aucune idée, je n'en ai pas la moindre idée, je n'y connais rien en la matière.
* If you ask Google, you'll find

Cluey
'kloo-ee' (adjective) A person who is clever, mentally quick and original. Also a person who is very perceptive, particularly in making smart remarks.

(Urban Dictionary)

1.Savvy; street-smart; in the know.

(Wiktionary)
> am not so cluey at explaining grammar !
Krystyna means that she doesn't know much about grammar and I acknowledge: a native speaker doesn't need to learn grammar as they know in their head what is correct and what is not but cannot give rules (in France, we learn grammar a lot at primary school but EMTs don't).
-> je ne suis pas très bonne pour les explications en matière de grammaire

EMTs -
I'm sorry to use this acronym very often but it is handy as it stands for English Mother Tongue (les membres de langue maternelle anglaise).
Often used in recruitements: "EMT SUMMER ASSISTANT MD looking for a 3-hour twice a week"
- TheFreeDictionary
- AcronymFinder
Note that in French, we would not put an "s" in the plural for an acronym but in English, they do

HTH - Hope This Helps