Summary

I hope you've had a good weekend showing Giovanna around Sant'Arsenio, Antonio!

The school summer holidays have started here. I'm still working with the Chinese university teachers at York St John University College, so my children are going to a do a 'Sports Camp' next week.

In this post I have a suggestion about phrases using have + object and will summarise some of the suggestions I made earlier this week, including: hard/hardly, relative clauses, doubt/no doubt, ever, war, and anyone/someone.

1. Have + object

In your post about your plans for a trip around Scotland, you mention getting suggestions from '....people who have already done this experience'. The correct verb with 'experience' is 'have'; 'people who have already had this experience.'

Have + object is often used to talk about actions and experiences, for example:

have a good journey/trip/flight
have breakfast/lunch/dinner/(a) coffee/a drink
have a bath/a shower/a wash
have a rest/a lie down/a nap/a sleep/a dream
have a chat/a talk/a conversation/an argument/a row/a fight

To make a question or negative, 'do' is used. For example, 'did you have a good trip?', 'I didn't have a good experience'. Continuous forms are OK; for example, 'what are you doing this evening? I'm having dinner with Sarah'. It's not OK to contract 'have'; for example, 'I have coffee with Claire every Saturday' but NOT 'I've a coffee with Claire...'.

2. Hard/hardly

You say that it is late to be making bookings now for travel in July/August and that you 'will hardly find a good accommodation'. 'Hardly' means 'almost no(t)/never', 'only with difficulty' and 'only just/not really'. Your sentence is an example of the 'almost no' meaning, and in this case, needs to be followed by 'any', rather than 'a'. The correct sentence is, 'I will hardly find any good accommodation...'. Probably more natural sounding, however, is 'hard', rather than 'hardly'. For example, 'it will be hard to find good accommodation'.

'Accommodation' is an uncountable noun and so doesn't need an indefinite article (a/an) when we are talking about accommodation in general.

3. Relative clauses

In the sentence, 'it was a wonderful experience which he has never tried before', you describe the experience ('wonderful') and then give us additional information, 'which he has never tried before'. The additional information is an example of a relative clause, used correctly to modify (give more information about or identify) a noun, 'experience'. You correctly use 'which' (a relative pronoun in this sentence) to introduce your extra information, because 'experience' is a thing. Usually: which = thing, when = time, where = place, who = person, that = place, person or thing.

'When' (time) and 'where' (place) are used in the same way as preposition + which. For example, 'the town where I was born' and 'the town in which I was born' are both OK. I think 'in which I was born' sounds a bit more formal that 'where I was born'.

Relative pronouns (which, that, who, where, when) usually follow their nouns directly. For example, 'the town was beautiful where I was born' is incorrect because 'was beautiful' separates 'town' (noun) and 'where (relative pronoun). 'The town where I was born is beautiful' is correct because the noun and the relative pronoun are not separated.

Your sentence, 'the region from where Josephine comes from' needs to follow one of the two 'rules' described above. You could delete the first 'from', to make the relative pronoun follow the noun directly; 'the region where Josephine comes from' Or, you could change 'where' to 'which' and delete the second 'from'; 'from which Josephine comes'.

Similarly, your sentence, 'Salerno, which Giovanna’s aunt Paola lives in' could be 'Salerno, where Giovanna's aunt Paola lives.' Or, 'Salerno, in which Giovanna's aunt Paola lives...'.

4. No doubt

You mention the Pink Floyd concert in Pompeii, Antonio. You say that the film of this concert is, 'with no doubts my favourite concert film'. 'No doubt' can mean 'certainly'. For example, 'there is no doubt that he is guilty, the evidence against him was very strong' = he was certainly/definitely guilty. When 'no doubt' is used to mean 'certainly' it is usually followed by 'that', as you can see in the example, 'there is no doubt THAT he is guilty.'

'No doubt' can also be used to mean 'I think' or 'I agree'. For example, 'no doubt the best concert film ever made = I think it is the best concert film.

'Without doubt' also means 'certainly', and is, I think, stronger than 'no doubt' , suggesting a strong sense of knowing the real truth. For example, 'this is, without doubt, my favourite concert film'.

I think your sentence about the concert film combines 'without doubt' and 'no doubt'. In fact you can choose either, but not both!

5. Ever

When talking about the Pink Floyd concert, you say that it is, 'the most famous live concert which has always been performed in this location'. This is a superlative sentence ('most famous') and you want to make your meaning very strong; to emphasise how famous the concert is. To do this, you need 'ever', not 'always'.....'the most famous live concert that has EVER been performed...'. 'Ever' adds emphasis in superlative sentences and in sentences with 'only'...'he's the only man I've ever loved.'

6. War

'War' (noun) can be both countable and uncountable. As an uncountable noun, it means 'armed fighting (usually between nations)'. For example, 'the two countries have been at war for years'. We can add detail about the kind of war by adding another noun, or an adjective, in front: civil war, cold war, nuclear war, gang war etc.

As a countable noun, 'war' means, 'an example or period of armed fighting (usually between nations)'. For example: the American war of independence, war graves, war poetry etc.

Antonio, you ask the important question, 'how can someone see the future in the war?' Your question uses the uncountable meaning of the noun 'war'. Because 'war' in your question is uncountable, and you are talking about war in general, you don't need to use an article. When we are talking about things, or people, in general, we don't usually use 'the' with uncountable (or plural) nouns. Another example, from the John Lennon song 'Imagine' that you quote is, 'living life in peace', not 'living the life in peace'.

7. Anyone/someone

Another change I'd like to suggest to your sentence, is using 'anyone' instead of 'someone'. Usually, but not always, 'some(one)' is used in statements and 'any(one)' in negatives and questions. We can use 'some' in questions when we expect or hope that someone will say 'yes'. For example, 'would you like some more to eat?'.

'Someone' usually means we are thinking of only one person, 'there's someone on the phone for you'. Compare, 'did anyone phone while I was out?'. 'Anyone' has an open, non-specific meaning and usually suggests an indefinite number or amount.

I think your important question needs to be, 'how can anyone see any future in war?'.

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