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If I am a native speaker . . . Do I will write this sentence like that ? ( I tried to mollify myself by eating chocolate, after a stupid situation happened to me yesterday ), As a native speaker . . . tell me how could you express the meaning of this sentence ?
13 dec. 2013 18:57
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3
I would say "Yesterday, I tried to cheer myself up with some chocolate after having a bad/crazy day". Here in the states we call that 'chocolate therapy' haha!
13 december 2013
2
I frequently mollify myself by the eating of copious quantities of chocolate ... in various forms... cake... cocoa... puddings. I use the word 'mollify' whenever I mollify myself with chocolate... which is often... therefore 'mollify' gets an almost daily airing. Dear me!
13 december 2013
2
Correction: "I tried to mollify myself by eating chocolate after a stupid situation happened to me yesterday." "Mollify" is one of those "big words" people would avoid in casual conversation. It would be common to see written (although not in casual places such as forums or chatting), though, and would be used by those who are comfortable with exercising the breadth of the English vocabulary. Using it would depend on your audience. I repeat: Using "mollify" and your above sentence DEPENDS ON YOUR AUDIENCE if you were to ask if it sounds "natural." If I were to speak to someone to whom I feel is my intellectual equal or superior, I would not care if I dropped it. If I were speaking casually with intimate friends or with those whom I perceive to not have as great a grasp of English (you would be surprised to know how many native English speaking college students don't speak nor write English well), I would more likely refrain. Neither of the above situations would rule out using it. Even if I did use your above sentence in the latter situation, people would still understand me, but I would be laying the foundations of being a snob. Using "stupid" implies a sense of casualness in the conversation, so pairing it with "mollify" is odd.
13 december 2013
2
"If I am a native speaker . . . Do I will write this sentence like that ?" If I were a native speaker, would I write a sentence like that? The answer is probably not. There is not actually much wrong with the sentence but it just not sound like something a native speaker would say. Maybe something like: "I tried to make myself feel better (or calm myself down/ soothe myself) with some chocolate after something stupid/crazy happened to me yesterday". to mollify = to calm down, soothe
13 december 2013
I agree with Bihe. To me, the sentence "I tried to mollify myself by eating chocolate after a stupid situation happened to me yesterday" definitely sounds like a native speaker, the weird thing is that the word "mollify" seems to be too high a register compared to the phrase "after a stupid situation happened to me yesterday." Strikes me as a native speaker trying to sound very fancy. In addition, I'd like to mention that I never use "mollify" reflexively -- I'm not saying it can't be done, but to me, it's something you do to other people. Maybe that's because I'm thinking of the original meaning of mollify, which is "to soften." If I may I correct your title (definitely not native speaker): "Do I will write this sentence like that?" We need to choose either "do" or "will" as the auxiliary verb. Both "do I write" and "will I write" are grammatically correct; I would use "do" (forming a "zero conditional.") You could also use the 3rd conditional if you wanted to sound more hypothetical: "If I were.... would I...." Also, I would use "this" instead of "that," because it's right in front of us on the computer screen. I'm an American, so it's possible they use "that" in British English.
16 december 2013
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