[Chilln]

Originally Posted by Mr.6

Well, thats right to say that Andy 's answer is as you say - general one. But, I can not find out any answer else to meet your question. Im using one E71, ok, im satisfied with this one. My brother - earns more 10m per month, using one 1208, and he satisfies his. And you, use one which has been in your pocket for more 5 years, ok, if its still good, and you feel nothing 's wrong with your phone, so thats right, isnt that? It all comes down to matter of perspective Anyway, this 's always a question that i want to discuss (i did with my father, even now anytime wen we 're talking about this point, we fight )

hah, yes, thanks to you and everyone that discuss this issue.
Actually, Andy was right since this is a matter of perspective and to me it's still an overpriced stuff I will not buy even if I have money. Some say that they are overseas students and they need a smartphone to check mail or look up things on internet why they are not in their room. I do not think so since most of my friends who are studying abroad are using cheap smartphone, even common cells. The issue might be right on business man or kind of.

Originally Posted by beautifu.l.ife

I'm very upset at the moment. I'Ve finished my final exam for 1 month. the result of 4years just only fairy - good
My major in electronics communications and i don't have any extra certifications. And it's seem very difficult to me to get a job(major's job)
I had devised a plan that I'm going to get toeic certification(on this month), learn AUTOCAD and also review some major's subjects. At this time, there are st happened to me, it made me can't concentrate on fulfilling my plan.
Some of my friends have got a job.
I wass really confused. I plunged into finding a jobs, applied a lot of company but none of those offer me.
Tired, disappointed, i blame myself for this crap result.
I really anxious for future, whether i have a job or not, does it suitable job, can i live with that job's salary.....
And i've lost the direction.
What should i do, you guys?

Well, life's tough, isn't it?

But don't you worry. When I graduated, just like you, I got a medium rated diploma. I got a job for 15m dong/month but I had to quit to become a civil servant after a few days at work. My father was tragically ill (he still is) and he put some pressure on me. He acted as if it was his last will and as a son, I must obey. In case you are curious, my salary now is nearly 2m dong/month and my work mates mostly are crap. However this is a chance for me to study another major since I have a lot of free time in a gov. institution.

Meanwhile, my friend was unsatisfied with the education he got from the university and he decided to spend another 3 years to study a different major. Fortunately, he met a guy at class and was asked if he wanted to have a job. He's now doing his best.

Guy, all I want to say is keep focussing on your plan and oppotunity might come to you. Don't be hasty, be patient.

[Utairus]

Talk about job, I'm so confused these days. Back to the year 2007 when I had to choose which university to get in and what to learn in there. I had naturally been thinking of learning something related to technology or mechanic. However, the university I chose was going to National Economics University. The reason was that I'd heard about high salary and good workplace after graduation in the field Economics. Now I'm regretting it. I wish I were strong enough to stand for what I wanted to do.

The question for me now is what to do next. Since I graduated last year and I'm having a job ( not a good one). Should I go and get another chance in the field I have always been dreaming ?

[Coming-soon]

Originally Posted by blackbuddha

This is fine but its meaning alters a bit from your following sentence.

When you put "in the past" at the end, it seems her profession serves as a definite past statement whereas the past perfect tense replaces the present perfect tense in the past or indicates an action further back in time...
[/indent][/i]

erm.. well done with the explanation! blackbuddha. To be honest, I somehow couldn't grasp what you were actually conveying in the texts. though.

perhaps we're not in the same wavelength this time. But I'd like to have your thoughts on the use of "in the past" as an adverbial phrase modifying a sentence.

I, for a long while. Have viewed the use of "in-the-past" by most people [the non-native] as an "abuse". From my point of view, this phrase is often used in a formal manner, chiefly in writing when indicating something like an event that happens 'long' before the time of the statement. It sometimes sounds "poetic" to my ears. too

Having learnt that.. some English learners seem inclined to use the phrase in all contexts which regard the past. Eventhough it sometimes makes the speech sound "unnatural" or "unidiomatic".

like in the original post, the asker gave an example "She used to be a nurse - in the past". Yahh. I admit this is okay. if you're reciting a story [a bit long maybe]
If not. as in the context below:
"gosh, she looks well skilled with the first aid for the injured boy" -- "yeah, it's true! She used to be a nurse..in the past". Then there would surely be a big 'NO' cause it sounds odd. at least to me.

What would be your ideas? Guys

//Sorry for being so long-winded with this post.

[blackbuddha]

Originally Posted by beautifu.l.ife

Tired, disappointed, i blame myself for this crap result.
I really anxious for future, whether i have a job or not, does it suitable job, can i live with that job's salary.....
And i've lost the direction.
What should i do, you guys?

Trust me when I say this! You're nowhere closer and deeper in shit than I am .

Originally Posted by Chilln

hah, yes, thanks to you and everyone that discuss this issue.
Actually, Andy was right since this is a matter of perspective and to me it's still an overpriced stuff I will not buy even if I have money. Some say that they are overseas students and they need a smartphone to check mail or look up things on internet why they are not in their room. I do not think so since most of my friends who are studying abroad are using cheap smartphone, even common cells. The issue might be right on business man or kind of.

My first smartphone came around when my beloved Sony Ericsson (yes, there was still this brand back then) was disfigured to point of unusable. After a brief contemplating period, I decided on the Motorola Milestone. It had been serving me well for 2 years, fulfilling its intended life cycle, before I passed it to my friend and upgraded to Motorola Droid 3. Since I joined the world of smartphone, my little box of "magic" has drastically changed the way I move about with my life.

I stopped using sticky notes for task lists, appointments and countless little things. Instead of this traditional medium, my activities these days are about synchronisation of information on different platforms: calendars, lists, emails, documents, etc. Since I practically spend about 2-3 hours being idle between locations, these seemingly novelties really help me saving time. I could continually reading news and emails, revising my documents or checking my schedules. With the help of little apps, I could be making my shopping list while on the go or have the one I prepared synced to my phone. On a night out, I could always revise my plan, check the transport timetable, decide on venues' reviews and book tickets for shows. The special thing? Everything seems to be at my whim! At the end of the day, whatever changes I've made on the road, I know they're always be there on my desktop, my laptop and my phone.

However, my lifestyle works doesn't mean yours becomes outdated. My father is happy with his VND 500,000 handheld device, "it does what I need", he said. About a quarter of my friends here still use features phones and half of them keep these aging devices as their seconds. Me? I'm still fond of writing journals.

[blackbuddha]

Originally Posted by Coming-soon

erm.. well done with the explanation! blackbuddha. To be honest, I somehow couldn't grasp what you were actually conveying in the texts. though.

perhaps we're not in the same wavelength this time. But I'd like to have your thoughts on the use of "in the past" as an adverbial phrase modifying a sentence.

I, for a long while. Have viewed the use of "in-the-past" by most people [the non-native] as an "abuse". From my point of view, this phrase is often used in a formal manner, chiefly in writing when indicating something like an event that happens 'long' before the time of the statement. It sometimes sounds "poetic" to my ears. too

Having learnt that.. some English learners seem inclined to use the phrase in all contexts which regard the past. Eventhough it sometimes makes the speech sound "unnatural" or "unidiomatic".

like in the original post, the asker gave an example "She used to be a nurse - in the past". Yahh. I admit this is okay. if you're reciting a story [a bit long maybe]
If not. as in the context below:
"gosh, she looks well skilled with the first aid for the injured boy" -- "yeah, it's true! She used to be a nurse..in the past". Then there would surely be a big 'NO' cause it sounds odd. at least to me.

What would be your ideas? Guys

//Sorry for being so long-winded with this post.

I'm not a solid grammar expert. Therefore, I apologise if I didn't make myself clear enough to you. However, I do agree with you on non-native speakers' tendency of using expressions that are totally out of place. It takes time and efforts to correct these bad habits, usually through constant communication with native speakers.

Nevertheless, someday you might find all your hard work being negated by the fact that how easily an average John could make a grammar mistake.

[tranhieuamg]

for casual conversations people dont often put 'in the past' after 'used to', it sounds weird and out of place as 'used to' already indicates the aforementioned action already happened and finished in the past.

that being said, it's like saying 'she quit being a nurse in the past', which is messed up, since she already stopped being a nurse already and everyone knows that that change-of-state-of-being-a-nurse finished way before the subject is brought up.

if my memory serves me well they do use that kind of wording in literature, old classic novels probably. remember reading stuff like that somewhere long ago but not entirely sure since classic english novels are not my cup of tea. they wrecked my brain even before I turned the page.

[blackbuddha]

Originally Posted by tranhieuamg

if my memory serves me well they do use that kind of wording in literature, old classic novels probably. remember reading stuff like that somewhere long ago but not entirely sure since classic english novels are not my cup of tea. they wrecked my brain even before I turned the page.

Do not hide behind your laziness mate ! Every major publisher has their own simplified or reader-friendly edition of classic literature available on shelves . Admittedly it does take a few tries to get around your first novel . Even now I don't understand what drove me to finish "War and Peace" the first time .

[tranhieuamg]

Originally Posted by blackbuddha

Do not hide behind your laziness mate ! Every major publisher has their own simplified or reader-friendly edition of classic literature available on shelves . Admittedly it does take a few tries to get around your first novel . Even now I don't understand what drove me to finish "War and Peace" the first time .

attempted several well known titles in the past (yeah, here comes the infamous 'in the past') but never got round to finishing even the 1st chapter. the wording is nice and all, but that massive amount of new vocab just reminded me of the good old days when I brute forced that huge SAT word list, which I tried to wipe off as fast as I could later.

I have no trouble reading up articles, abstracts, patents, white papers, or anything technical in english, but classic literature is off my list. though I have to admit my english has gone down hill quite a fair amount since I stopped reading nothing but light novels, mangas, and technical stuff.

talking about language, I prefer japanese and chinese to english. a lot closer to vnmese and condensed in any way you look at it. learning kanji (hán tự) is particularly more fun than working your way through that jungle-like SAT vocab list.

[beautifu.l.ife]

Originally Posted by Chilln

Well, life's tough, isn't it?

But don't you worry. When I graduated, just like you, I got a medium rated diploma. I got a job for 15m dong/month but I had to quit to become a civil servant after a few days at work. My father was tragically ill (he still is) and he put some pressure on me. He acted as if it was his last will and as a son, I must obey. In case you are curious, my salary now is nearly 2m dong/month and my work mates mostly are crap. However this is a chance for me to study another major since I have a lot of free time in a gov. institution.

Meanwhile, my friend was unsatisfied with the education he got from the university and he decided to spend another 3 years to study a different major. Fortunately, he met a guy at class and was asked if he wanted to have a job. He's now doing his best.

Guy, all I want to say is keep focussing on your plan and oppotunity might come to you. Don't be hasty, be patient.

yep, thank you so much.
there are lots of things i have to learn before i have a job. So i won't think about the job any more. I decided to spend this month just for doing what i want,don't care about job. On next month, i'm going to continue finding job.
Let's feeling free......

Originally Posted by Utairus

Talk about job, I'm so confused these days. Back to the year 2007 when I had to choose which university to get in and what to learn in there. I had naturally been thinking of learning something related to technology or mechanic. However, the university I chose was going to National Economics University. The reason was that I'd heard about high salary and good workplace after graduation in the field Economics. Now I'm regretting it. I wish I were strong enough to stand for what I wanted to do.

The question for me now is what to do next. Since I graduated last year and I'm having a job ( not a good one). Should I go and get another chance in the field I have always been dreaming ?

After 5years, you're still thinking about your desired field. so you should give yourself a chance to fulfil your dream.
but, if you want to change you must have a strong determine for what you going to do. it may have some strange looks, talk about your decide. just keep on your stance. better late than never

[vnzhugeliang]

Can I write Vietnamese at there?