1)A 6-foot-2-inch tennis player named John won a 3-to-2 set.

2)He was John Smith, 6 feet 2 inches, who defeated Doe in a 3-to-2 set.

Did I use '3-to-2' correctly?

Thank you

Yes, Welkins, you did a good job!

One thing: It was John Smith, 6 feet 2 inches tall, who defeated ...

This is a pattern we normally use: It was X who ...

Richard

I am playing tennis for many years and I do not recognize your expression:

> won a 3-to-2 set.

Show me the link on the net which you used as a MODEL.

Do you mean:

- he won a set by (the score of) 3 to 2? (that would be a short set, as one normally plays until a player gets 6 games)

- he won a 5-setter, or a 3 out of 5 sets match, by (the score of) 3 to 2 (in sets)?

That's interesting that you've been playing tennis for many years, Jerry. It's a great sport!

I'm not a tennis player, so I bow to the master. It's interesting that I interpreted what Welkins wrote to mean the set consisted of five games and the subject of the sentence had won three out of the five games.

Richard

OK, I looked again at it:

> won a 3-to-2 set.

I think it can work, in a simplified way.

Thank you very much, Richard and JerryS,

quote:

Show me the link on the net which you used as a MODEL.

Now I understand what you mean. I can tell that your English is better than mine,which I cannot fathom, so I think that MODEL may be really work for you. But to me, I've not readied yet; however, I'll keep what you mean MODEL in mind.

I can tell you that, since a couple of days ago, when I have been reading the paper , I have been trying very hard to understand the structure of the grammar; therfore, one day when I make up a sentence, I hope that I can follow that kind of of MODEL in it. So far, it does not really work for me. I hope it will someday.

I think you're putting way too much stress on the grammar.

You should LISTEN to the idiomatic usage and memorize patterns used in MODELS.

What I mean by model is simply GOOD ENGLISH spoken and written by educated natives. I mean read or listen to the BBC, the New York Times, choose a sentence there and make sentences based on that MODEL.

You seem to just try to learn grammar and words and compose sentences based on that, but you forget about the idiomatic usage, and that's the most important part: the acceptable patterns of the language, the MUSIC of the language.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Marius Hancu,