3 January 2013

**GRAMMAR QUESTION, Jan. 3rd, 2013**


Correct the errors in the following sentence--it's based on something I heard our Prime Minister actually say on the radio:

I wasn’t understanding what he means when in a speech he has given Mr Harper was saying the funding will help them suffering from mental illness and their family’s.

There are many possible ways to correct this sentence--lots of bonus points for everyone!

35 comments:

Eduardo Moreno. said...

I did not understand what Mr. Harper meant when he said that the funding will help people suffering from mental illness and their families in a speech that he gave.

Sara said...

I didn’t understand what Mr. Harper meant in a speech he had given saying: “the funding will help the people suffering from mental illness and their families”.

Peter said...

I did not understand Mr Harper's speech when he said "funding will help people and families suffering from mental illness".

Veronica Baig said...

EDUARDO: The grammar is good, but there is a problem with the sense--think about who is suffering from what?
SARA:You're almost there, but think about capitalization and who is suffering from what what;-)
PETER:That's a great start--all you need to do is fix the punctuation and capitalization;-)

Sara said...

I didn’t understand what Mr. Harper meant in a speech he had given saying: “The funding will help the people and families suffering from mental illness”.

Zeinab140 said...

I didn’t understand what Mr. Harper meant in his speech, when he was saying the funding will help those suffering from mental illness and their families.

YOSUA said...

Yosua ENGL140.

I did not understand what Mr. Harper meant in a speech he gave when he said that the funding will help those who suffer from mental illness and their families.

Veronica Baig said...

SARA: The punctuation is better, but you still need to take a look at the underlying meaning here;-)
ZEINAB:You're on the right track here, but think about the punctuation and who is suffering from what;-)
YOSUA: You're almost there, but think about who is suffering from what;-)

YOSUA said...

I did not understand what Mr. Harper meant in a speech he gave when he said that the funding will help people who suffer from mental illness and their families.

Zeinab140 said...

I didn’t understand what Mr. Harper meant in his speech when he said, the funding will help those who are suffering from mental illness, and their families.

Veronica Baig said...

YOSUA:You still have not solved that underlying problem:-(
ZEINAB: With that version you need more punctuation (direct speech), and the underlying problem remains:-(

Nathan White said...

I did not understand what Mr. Harper meant when he said in a speech “funding will help those suffering from mental illness and those in their family who need help”.

Zeinab140 said...

I didn’t understand what Mr. Harper meant in his speech when he was saying:”The funding will help those people who are suffering from mental illness, and their families.”

Unknown said...

I didn't understand the meaning in a speech Mr Harper gave about funding which will help people suffering from mental illness and their families.

Zeinab140 said...

I think this is better.

I didn’t understand what Mr. Harper meant in his speech when he said,”The funding will help those people who are suffering from mental illness, and their families.”

Veronica Baig said...

NATHAN:That's an interesting approach--it's a little long-winded, but the only grammatical problem is with capitalization;-)
ZEINAB: You're still not tackling the underlying problem of who is suffering from what;-)
PEGGY: Grammatically that's almost there; it's the underlying meaning is ambiguous. Can you sort out who is suffering from what?

Sue F said...

I didn't understand Mr. Harper's speech when he said the funding will help people suffering from mental illness and their families.

Unknown said...

I didn't understand his exact meaning in the speech Mr Harper gave in reference to the funding which will help the people suffering from mental illness and their families.

Yosua ENGL140 said...

I did not understand what Mr. Harper meant in a speech he gave when he said that the funding will help families with people who suffer from mental illness.

Unknown said...

I did not understand what Mr. Harper meant in a speech when he said, "the funding will help those suffering from mental illness as well as their families."

Zeinab140 said...

I didn't understand what Mr. Harper meant in his speech when he said,”The funding will help the families and the people who are suffering from the mental illness.”

Unknown said...

In Mr. Harper's speech I didn't understand when he said "the funding will help people and their families suffering from mental illness".

Alexey said...

Alexey ENGL140

I don’t understand what Mr. Harper meant when in a speech he gave he said the funding would help those suffering from mental illness as well as their families.

Unknown said...

In a speech he was given Mr. Harper says the funding will help them suffering from mental illness and their families, I didn't understand what he means.

Veronica Baig said...

SUE: That's a great start--now sort out the ambiguity around who is suffering from what;-)
PEGGY:The underlying ambiguity is still there:-(
YOSUA:That's much better:-)
WILLIAM:Good--now can you fix the capitalization?
ZEINAB:That's better:-)
NICOLE: That's a great start--now can you fix the capitalization error?
ALEXEY:That's good apart from a problem with ambiguity as to who is suffering from what;-)
DIANE: You've made a good start, now think about the following items: using the passive voice can change meaning, verb tense, pronoun usage, and an underlying ambiguity as to who is suffering from what;-)

Unknown said...

I didn’t understand what he meant when in a speech he has given Mr. Harper was saying the funding will help people suffering from mental illness and their families.

Alexey said...

Alexey ENGL140

I don’t understand what Mr. Harper meant when in a speech he gave he said the funding would help those people who are suffering from mental illness as well as their families.

Anonymous said...

I didn't understand what Mr. Harper meant in his speach when he said: "The funding will help those who suffer from mental illnes and their families."

KennethENGL140 said...

I didn't understand Mr Harper's speech when he mentioned that, "The funding will help those and their families suffering from mental illness".

Veronica Baig said...

DIANE:Good--you've solved all the problems except the underlying ambiguity;-)
ALEXEY: You still haven't got it:-(
MIRELA: Everything is good apart from an ambiguity--who is suffering from what?
KENNETH: Almost there--think about whether or not the families are suffering from mental illness;-)

Unknown said...


I didn't understand what Mr Harper meant, when in a speech, he said, funding would help those suffering from mental illness and their families.

Alexey said...

Alexey ENGL140

I don’t understand what Mr. Harper meant when in a speech he gave he said the funding would help families with people who suffer from mental illness.

KennethENGL140 said...

I considered the phrase in the context that it is the individual and not the family, but a family could suffer as well with a child or parent who has mental illness. I could change it further to make it the individual.

I didn't understand Mr Harper's speech when he mentioned that, "The funding will help the families of those that suffer from mental illness".

KennethENGL140 said...

Sorry... made an error

I didn't understand Mr Harper's speech when he mentioned that, "The funding will help people that suffer from mental illness, and their families".

Veronica Baig said...

PEGGY: That underlying problem remains--wait for the answer coming tomorrow;-)
ALEXEY:That's it!!
KENNETH: Almost--the last comma doesn't really solve the underlying ambiguity;-)