2012/07/04

「if that will help」の使い方


Someone was asking me about these patterns.
...if that will help.
...if that will make a difference.
...if that will solve the problem.
These patterns are for offering assistance. When someone has a problem, you may want to help them. You suggest that you can do something to help by using this pattern.
  • make a difference 違いが生まれる、効果がある (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
For example, someone told me that she was concerned about a business email that she had written. She wasn't sure if it was correct or not, and she worried that it might not be polite enough. I told her:
I can take a look at it if that will help.
We can reverse the patterns and put them at the beginning of a sentence by changing "that" to "it".
If it will help, ...
If it will make a difference, ...
If it will solve the problem, ...
I could have said:
If it will help, I can take a look at it.
I have another plant question for you all. We have this "lucky bamboo", which is actually an African plant unrelated to bamboo. I took some cuttings from it, and they are growing well in some soil.
  • cutting 挿し木
However, there are no new shoots from where I took the cuttings. It has already been two months, so I expected to see some signs of shoots by now. You can see where it was cut. The top of the stalk is covered by a small piece of foil.
  • cutting《植物》〔種子から発芽した〕芽 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
  • stalk《植物》柄、茎 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
Can you give me some advice? If it will help, I can take more pictures or give you more information about the plant. I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

0 件のコメント:

コメントを投稿

フォロワー