It happend this morning at work. A young women (about 25 years old) went this morning in the hospital where I work. We were talking and I was using the "lei" form, as usually I do. At a certain point

Cinzia

It happend this morning at work. A young women (about 25 years old) went this morning in the hospital where I work. We were talking and I was using the "lei" form, as usually I do. At a certain point she told me to use the "tu" form, because she could be my daughter!!!! "Yeah", I said, "you are very kind....your mother..." She got it...." Noooo, I was just saying..." Ahahah....I perfectly got what she was saying, and it was right, unfortunately!

Mar 2, 2015 3:27 PM

Corrections · 2

Nice story and nicely written. What a cheeky young woman!

Here are some corrections that might help perfect it.

It happend this morning at work. It Happened This Morning at Work

A young women (about 25 years old) went this morning in the hospital where I work. This morning I met a young woman (about 25 years old) in the hospital where I work. We were talking and I was using the "lei" form, as usually I do. At a certain point she told me to use the "tu" form, because she could be my daughter!!!!

"Yeah," I said. "You are very kind… your mother…"

She got it. "Noooo, I was just saying… "

Ahahah!, I thought. I perfectly understood what she was saying, implying and it she was right, unfortunately!

The following observations will only help if your English will be read in a formal context.

The big words of headings are usually capitalised in English (google Capitalization). This is different from Italian. This is only a convention that most writers observe but it stands out as being unusual when people don't follow it. Some publications deliberately choose not to follow this in their own house style, notably several newspapers. In the absence of specific style guidance to the contrary it would be better to capitalise.

Use of multiple exclamation marks is fine in a casual email or personal letter but never in a formal context where your writing will be subject to scrutiny e.g. a job application, essay, report or publication.

Putting the lines spoken by each character in the story on a separate line helps the reader to easily distinguish who is speaking. This is the style normally employed in novels. Conventions vary around the world and between publishers on the use of quotation marks and also their use in conjunction with other punctuation. Some use single quotes and others double. Some put commas inside them others outside. Unless you are given particular style guidance on this, learn one of the styles and stick to it. Any book on punctuation will explain the options.

You are correctly using ellipses (…) to indicate unfinished sentences. Very nice indeed. Three full stops only (called periods by Americans) or preferrably the ellipsis character itself should be used. A very minor detail indeed.

March 4, 2015

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