Please help me with grammar!

Members help members on grammar, vocab, pronunciation...

Moderator: EC

Post Reply
popinet
Member
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:23 am

Please help me with grammar!

Post by popinet »

I like English very much and that's the main reason I teach English. I'm having difficulties using English. I hope everybody in this club could help me. I'm very grateful.

The first question, Iwant to ask:
What is the difference between these sentences?
1. What do you do?
2. What is your job?
3. What is your career?

The second:
I have some question with "Mr, Miss, Mrs and Ms"
1. "Mr" is used in front of the name of a man (for example: Mr Minh, Mr Brown ...). But is it ever used for a woman?

2. Is "Ms" used in front of the name of a woman whose husband died or used for woman in general?

3. Is "Miss" used for a single woman?

And "Mrs" is used for a married woman?

I hope to receive answers as soon as possible! Thanhks :D
ProfessorVerb
Rising Star
Rising Star
Posts: 159
Joined: Sat May 07, 2005 8:41 am
Status: Teacher of English
Location: U.S.

Re: Please help me with grammar!

Post by ProfessorVerb »

popinet wrote:I like English very much and that's the main reason I teach English. I'm having difficulties using English. I hope everybody in this club could help me. I'm very grateful.
The first question, Iwant to ask:

What is the difference between these sentences?

1. What do you do?
2. What is your job?
3. What is your career?
"What do you do" and "What is your job" are essentially the same question; these mean "how do you make a living right now?" By sharp contrast, "What is your career?" suggests that there are larger goals beyond an individual's current job with a progressive career path in mind. This question might be asked of, for example, a nurse's aide and her reply might be "My career is nursing."


The second:

I have some question with "Mr, Miss, Mrs and Ms"
1. "Mr" is used in front of the name of a man (for example: Mr Minh, Mr Brown ...). But is it ever used for a woman? No.

2. Is "Ms" used in front of the name of a woman whose husband died or used for woman in general? Both.

3. Is "Miss" used for a single woman? Only with her approval; otherwise, you should use "Ms."

And "Mrs" is used for a married woman? Again, Mrs. is used most appropriately if the individual signed her name that way; otherwise, addressing women today in correspondence is most safely done with a "Ms." If a woman, including a widow, signs her name, "Mrs.," it is safe to address her thusly in correspondence; likewise with "Miss." The general rule, then, is to respect how an individual refers to him- or herself; if a woman signs, "Miss Jennifer J. Jones," you can safely respond to her with, "Dear Miss Jones:";* otherwise, you should use "Ms."

Other forms of salutations include: Dear Mesdames (for more than one "ms.") and Dear Messrs.** (for more than one "Mr."). (The Army taught me good, huh?)

____________________
*That was a complicated piece of punctuation...
**I once addressed a letter to two brothers named "Messer," "Dear Messrs. Messer." I waited my whole career to do that...
_________________
http://pbskids.org/dragontales/dragon_s ... g_zak.html (Click on "Dragon Tales Theme" and sing along -- you know you want to...) -- Professor Verb
Post Reply