Could you correct my sentences ?

Question

I speak english as a foreign language and saw these stranges sentences in an english course ; i would like you check my sentences and certify (or correct) them :
- they sell someone on an idea.
- she attends a staff meeting.
- i spent my dollars on plane tickets.
- as a child, i spent my time reading.
- i knew that while i preferred sitting, (my classmates would rather go and play).
Thank you in advance.
-

Answer 1

1. They sell someone on an idea.
2. She attends a staff meeting.
3. I spent my money on plane tickets.
4. As a child, I spent my time reading.
5. I knew that while I preferred sitting, my classmates would rather go and play.

In 3, "money" is used more commonly than "dollars" in this situation. The others are great!

Answer 2

1. They SOLD someone on an idea.
The correct phrase is "sold ... on an idea." It's an idiomatic phrase, and is nearly always past tense--99.9% of the time. It means the same thing as "to convince." It is rarely used in the present tense. Just type the present-tense phrase into a search engine (e.g., "sell on an idea"), and then type in "sold on an idea." I just did, and got only 6 hits on the first phrase, and over 21,000 on the second. There's no logical reason why the phrase cannot take another tense (future, for instance), but as a native speaker, one never encounters it. And yes, the phrase is "sold on ... idea." It must have the word "on" in it (I disagree with the other poster who said it did not). However, you don't sell ideas, you sell cars (and other tangible objects). Therefore, you cannot say "I sold him an idea," but you can say, "I sold him a house." This idiom is actually rather complicated and has other variations, but using the phrase above is good English.

2. She attends a staff meeting.
This is a correct sentence.

3. I spent my MONEY on plane tickets. We don't ever "spend dollars," we "spend money." You could also say "spent my cash," but in this case, the word cash refers specifically to literal cash money, as opposed to checks, credit cards, etc. "Money" is a more generic term for funds, whereas "cash" means physical, tangible dollar bills and coins. You may also hear the tautology "cash money:" when this phrase is used, the speaker/writer is definitely referring to tangible bills and coins.

The word "dollar" usually refers to a specific amount. For instance, "I spent three hundred dollars on plane tickets." Or you can say, "I saved fifty dollars this month." Or, "He was a dollar short." (meaning, he had one dollar less than he needed).

4. As a child, I spent my time reading.
This is a correct sentence.

5. I knew that while I preferred SITTING, my classmates would rather go and play.
This is a correct sentence. However, a native English speaker would probably not be certain exactly what you mean by this phrase. Did you really prefer act of sitting to other activities? Or did you merely prefer being inactive versus active? Do not worry about this excessively; the sentence is gramatically correct.

Answer 3

The first letter of each sentence and the word I should always be capitalized, and there shouldn't be brackets in the last sentence, at least not if there's the "while".

Other than that, nothing's really wrong but a couple things are odd:

They sell someone on an idea.
She attends a staff meeting.

Both of these are in the simple present yet they suggest (because it's "an idea" and "a staff meeting") that what's happening is only happening once. Simple present is for ongoing, habitual, or unchanging activities. You might say for example:

They sell people on ideas. (meaning, that's their job, they do it regularly)
Or you might mean:
They have sold someone on an idea. (meaning, the "selling" has happened for this one idea)

She attends a staff meeting every day. (it's a different meeting, so you'd have "a" but keep present simple)
or you might mean:
She's attending a staff meeting. (That's where she is right now, so she can't come to the phone for example)


And for I spent my dollars on plane tickets:

It sounds odd, normally we'd say "money" not "dollars"--but it could be correct in an informal way, stressing the fact that you've spent every dollar you had, or it is fine if you keep several currencies, and you spent your dollars on plane tickets whereas you spent your Euros on hotels.

Answer 4

- They sell an idea to someone
- She is attending a staff meeting
- I spent my dollars to buy plane tickets
- As a child, I spent my time in reading
- I knew that while my classmates would rather go out and play, I preferred to sit alone

Answer 5

- they sell someone on an idea.

Remember to capitalize where it is required.
*They sell someone on an idea.

- she attends a staff meeting.

*She attends a staff meeting

- i spent my dollars on plane tickets.

Saying dollars isn't really common unless you are stating how much money you have, like $20 or Twenty dollars.
* I spent my money on plane tickets.

- as a child, i spent my time reading.

*As a child, I spent my time reading.

- i knew that while i preferred sitting, (my classmates would rather go and play).

The parentheses are not appropriate here. When using parentheses, imagine you are saying an aside or adding clarifying information. Also, the 'rather go and play' can also be said as 'rather play' (the 'go and' is implied).
*I knew that while I preferred sitting, my classmates would rather play.

Answer 6

They sell someone an idea.
She attends a staff meeting.
I spent my money on plane tickets.
As a child, i spent my time reading.
I knew that while I preferred sitting, my classmates would rather go and play.

Answer 7

They sold someone on the idea.
She attended a staff meeting.
I spent my money on plane tickets.
As a child, I spent my time reading.
I knew that while I preferred sitting my classmates would rather go play.

Answer 8

They are ALL fine.

The first one "they sell someone on an idea" is a rare phrase but it is still correct. It usually means that a person is employed or given a higher status on an idea they have had rather than qualification etc..

Just one other minor point, on the last sentence, take away the brackets. The bracketed phrase is directly related to the phrase "I knew that while I prefer sitting," so there is no need for the brackets.

Answer 9

They are selling someone an idea Or, they sold someone an idea.
She attends staff meetings OR, she is attending a staff meeting.
I have spent all my dollars on........
As a child I spent most of my time reading.
While I preferred sitting, my classmates preferred to play OR, my classmates preferred to go out and play whereas I preferred to sit.

Answer 10

They sold someone on an idea.
She attended a staff meeting.
I spent my money on plane tickets.
As a child, I spent my time reading.
While I preferred sitting, my classmates would rather go and play.