John Briggs wrote:
> John of Aix wrote:
>> sprocket wrote:
>>> dreaminggirl wrote:
>>>> I am a Chinese graduate student. The following is part of my
>>>> master's thesis. Who can help me polish my language. Thank you very
>>>> much. William Somerset Maugham (1874--1965), born in Paris, is one
>>>> of the
>>>> most popular writers in British literature. He has created
>>>
>>> "He wrote"... you would only use "he has written" if you were
>>> expecting him to write more.
>>>
>>>> about 20
>>>> novels, more than 100 short stories, 32 plays as well as lots of
>>>> memoirs, travel essays, comments etc., all his life.
>>>
>>> "During his life"... which is of course a bit redundant, as few
>>> writers write after death, so leave it out. Or recast the whole
>>> sentence to something like "During his career he wrote"...
>>>
>>> "Lots of" and "what's more" are rather informal.
>>>
>>>> Maugham has shown
>>>
>>> "showed"
>>
>> No, 'shown'
>
> He meant "Maugham showed" rather than "Maugham has shown". This is
> supposed to be a simple narrative, don't forget.
Ah yes, I see what he meant now.
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