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Message board > -----------------> S.O.S.......................... Please help me!!!
-----------------> S.O.S.......................... Please help me!!!
Miss_Alel�
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-----------------> S.O.S.......................... Please help me!!!
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Sorry to be such a dunce but...
I �ve been corrected in another post because I had used the expression "I have a doubt".... instead of using "I have a question" ... why is it wrong to say I have a doubt?
Here is another one:
Once my teacher at the "teacher trainee course" corrected me while he was calling the role because I said "present" instead of "here" .... Why?
Thanks in advance. |
27 Mar 2009
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Apodo
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To answer �Present � when the roll (not role- different meaning) is being called is perfectly correct in English. Opposite �absent � or �not here �.
Doubt does not have the same meaning as question so it would depend on the context.
I have a question = You don �t know something and you would ask a question to find out the answer.
Please answer these questions:
What is your name?
What is 2+2?
Are you a student?
Where is Antigua?
After teaching something, a teacher may ask �Have you any questions? � �Do you understand? � not �Have you any doubts? � This would imply that what has been taught may be incorrect or doubtful.
We don �t usually say �I have a doubt �, but �I have doubts about that � or �I doubt it �
Can he run 2 kilometers in 5 minutes? I doubt it.
She said she is going to clean the whole house, but I doubt she �ll get it finished.
Doubt = You have some information but it may or may not be correct. You are uncertain. You will have to ask questions to find out.
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27 Mar 2009
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eng789
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When you doubt - you aren �t sure
When you have a question - you don �t undertand something or you need more info. |
27 Mar 2009
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Vickiii
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I doubt that is correct - I have a question because I don �t know.
Sorry - it wasn �t a correction - just making people aware as I know that it is a common error that many teachers use in class as well - when they have english as a second language that is.
Present and here are both correct.
That is a strange correction for a teacher to make - as it is more polite to say present. If my children said present I would be very happy with them!
Cheers Vicki
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27 Mar 2009
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ameliarator
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In my opinion there is a difference between "I have a question" and what Spanish speakers want to say when they say "I have a doubt."
As others have mentioned, to say, "I have a doubt" sounds to an English speaker like you think there is a mistake. �If you want to say (please forgive me) "tengo una duda" in the classroom context, you could try, "I �m not sure about something," �"I �m uncertain about something" or "I �m not clear on...."
As for "here" versus "present," I agree that both are perfectly correct. (maybe your teacher just felt like correcting someone!) |
27 Mar 2009
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sandywu
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doubt is mostly used as a verb, not a noun. You can �t say "I have a doubt" because have is a verb and you should follow it with a noun, in this case, "question" can be used a noun. |
27 Mar 2009
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douglas
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I remember the post and wondered about the correction as well. It is perfectly okay to say "I have a doubt" and having a doubt may lead to a question. In your post you said you had a doubt and directly after that wrote-out a question, that is what made it a little strange (but not severely strange!).
In the case of your post, it would have been better to write either:
1) "I have a question: Do we say ......?" or
2) "I have a doubt about the proper way to say ..., could somebody please tell me how we say.......?"
The "mistake" was actually very minor and I was surprised someone corrected it. I would let it go even with my advanced students, unless they asked about it. It �s good they corrected it though because it led to this post which betters our understanding of English.
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27 Mar 2009
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