Grammar Help

 

 Hello guys,

I guess I need your help and advice in the following:

I was just doing a grammar exercise on tenses, there are 2 sentences which i haver certain doubts about:

1. I need to have rest. We __________ non-stop for four hours. (walk)
I would put "have been walking", but the answer-key gives 'HAD been walking" and i cannot understand why.

2. We ______________ a lovely picnic until my wife was stung by a bee. (have)

The answer-key says " were having"... but i wouldn't put past continuous here, because it's obvious that one action precedes the other.

What would you say guys? Thanks for your help in advance!!
 

 Masha, I hope this isn't going to be the start of us just doing your homework for you....!

1. 'have been walking' sounds correct to me, and here's why: 'I need to have A rest' is in the present tense. Therefore, 'have been' is the present perfect progressive, i.e. the immediately before right now.

2. 'were having' is correct. The bee sting interrupted the past continuous action of having a picnic.

If anyone else has any grammar queries, feel free to ask them here.
 

 Will, THANKS for your help!! ))))

And it's not MY homework actually, I was looking for exercises for the English class with my student..))

Will, I would definitely put "were having" if the sentence were "We were having a lovely picnic WHEN my wife was stung by a bee", but here's UNTIL... it kind of caused my doubts...
 

 The Boy is correct. Damn it's good having good staff!
 

 "Will, I would definitely put "were having" if the sentence were "We were having a lovely picnic WHEN my wife was stung by a bee", but here's UNTIL... it kind of caused my doubts..."

Seems like it's one of those cases when a sentence just sounds odd even though it is grammatically correct. I think "had been having" would be more suitable for a formal style (like a written document or something) while this sentence is clearly informal in nature. Maybe that's the problem? Just a thought...
 

 Also, found this in my grammar book: "If either 'before' or 'after' is used in the sentence, the past perfect is often not necessary because the time relationship is already clear".
Maybe this rule can also be applied to this bee sentence.
 

 one more question to you guys, in Russian we have these two words relating to the world of higher educational institutions - отделение and кафедра, in English both of them will be "department", which is the correct way then to use both of them in one sentence so as to prevent the confusion? Thanks in advance!! :-)
 

 Masha, try using 'faculty' for one of them. Incidentally, if you're translating a term such as 'студент дневного отделения', remember that it refers to a full-time student, and not a department.
 

 Will, thanks for your help again) I know these terms (i mean full-time and part-time student), it was all about trying to render "в состав отделения химии входят несколько кафедр" ))))))
 

 Doesn't "faculty" refer to people who work at the department? (преподавательский состав). I would translate it as:
Their department of chemistry is comprised of the following divisions (is comprised of several divisions).
 

 I have also thought abt division.... the thing is that I'm translating detailed info on one of the Unis, and i have "department" everywhere to render the word "кафедра", but it was only opposed to "факультет", and here i have both "кафедра" and "отделение", i would like to keep the same term in the whole text, so i'm a bit at a loss now...
 

 Nastya: 'Faculty' can refer to the staff or the department.
Masha: "The Chemistry faculty consists of several departments" / "Several different sections make up the Chemistry department"
 

 hmm i like the idea with sections pretty much! )))) thanks Will!!!!!!!))))))))))))))))) BTW, is it you whom William Hackett-Jones mentioned in his editor's intro in the last issue of Cool English? ))))))
 

 Maybe there's a difference between American and British English in how you can translate "faculty"? My American husband is adamant about "faculty" being "преподавательский состав". He says there's no way you can use "faculty" as "факультет". He also says "sections" sounds weird in this case. You, native speakers, should work these differences out - it's so confusing! :)))))))))
 

 Masha: yes, that''faculty' is not used to describe staff, only a department; so possibly it works both ways and in America it isn't used to describe a department, just the staff. I don't think 'sections' sounds weird, but each to their own!
 

 See what I mean? Even native speakers can't agree on how to speak English. And what are we, poor mortals (non-native speakers :)), to do? :))))))))
 

 Nastya - drink more. It always helps, when it comes down to being a poor soul :)
 

 Do I hear sarcasm? :))))))
 

 one more stupid question guys, and i won't torture you with this stuff any more - what are the best English equivalents for the Russian words "специальность" and "направление" (the topic is higher education)? Thanks in advance! :)
 

 Masha - again, no question is stupid here! We're here to help!
As you know, it is difficult to translate words without a contextual sentence.
Therefore I can't offer a single translation.
специальность: degree, speciality, major (if within another degree), subject.
For "направление" i need more of a context, I'm afraid.
 

1 2