Ｈｉ　David,
As for the "seems" , the word"seems" comes to my mind first regardless of the subject; it seems to be a new word"seems" to me. When I write sentences without thinking carefully, I often make such mistakes. Actually, I noticed my mistake after clicking the button. " seem" means " ～のようだ""～のようにおもわれる”, so Ｉ meant to say"九州で楽しい時間を過ごされたようですね。”
Thanks for using my sentence as a good example sentence,haha!
By the way, I sent a Christmas and New Years Card to your PC in Nanzan. I'm wondering if it was delivered to you or not.

Sorry, I'm going out now, and I don't have enough time write any more. I'll be back tonight , so I'd like to think about it and write some more things.

See you soon,

Anne

•  匿名
• 2010年1月 9日 12:47

Hi David

You rode your bike on the expressway from Osaka to Nagoya?
It must be long long distance and very very cold.
You seem an athlete!

I watched your photos that you took in Kyushu.
They are all beautiful.
I know it was very cold but it didn't seem so cold because some palm trees in one of photo.
This is the first time for me watching your cool bike.

Have a nice weekend

Green

•  Green
• 2010年1月 9日 13:42

Hi David,

I can't give you an anwer to your request, but I can't often decide which English words to be used to say ’・・・のようだ’in English.

There are some verbs' options; for example 'seem', 'look' or 'sound.'

Especially, I'd like to aske you how we should use seem or look depending on?

I'm looking forward to your comment.

Thanks.

•  Gussan
• 2010年1月 9日 13:45

Hi David and everyone,

Five photos in Miyazaki are taken well; particularly the beach and the lighthouse are nice. As for your idea to put “seem” on the new version of the read book, it’d be helpful and your explanation is clear. I also want to know if there’s any difference when using “look”, “seem”, “appear” and “sound”.

【訂正】 (^_^;)
>2010 – 1922 = Taisho 78 (This is wrong!!!)
すみません。やっぱり算数は苦手でした。I’m not good at math, after all.
2010-1911=99 =Taisho 99でした。

•  tsuneko
• 2010年1月 9日 17:36

Hi David

Thank you for updating some pictures on your Flickr page. I took a look and they are nice. I could see the weather was really nice from your pictures. Glad to know that you got back to Seto safely.

As for the word “seem”, I always wanted to know the correct way of saying “だったようですね”, so thank you for your explanation. By the way, I could not remember how I used it in my comments so I checked my old comments. I notice that I tend to use “It seems ~” than “You seem~”. Here is my sentence that I used it in the sentence last time.
“It seems you enjoyed riding down the coast in Kyushu even it was freezing cold.” When I wrote this, I omitted “that” between “seems” and “you” in the sentence. So my full sentence is “It seems that ~”. However, your example “It seems like you had a great time in Kyushu.” I do not know the difference between “it seems that ~” and “it seems like ~”. So I hove some questions.
1.Should I change my sentence to “It seems like you enjoyed ….”?
2.Can I change your sentence to “It seems that you had….”?
3.Is there a big difference between “it seems that ~” and “it seems like”?

Hi everyone
Hope you are having fun the three-day weekend.

•  amo
• 2010年1月 9日 20:38

Hi David,
It's nice to know that you got back to Seto safely. Thanks for sharing the pictures from your trip! They are really nice and I like the first one the best, though your bike is lovely as well.;-)

As for "seems", I think one of reasons to make a mistake is that Japanese students learn "It seems that ~" expression more than "You/he...seem(s) ~" one, so they(we) tend to write "seems", I guess.
I usually start to write with "It seems~", because I wasn't sure how I could use "You/he...seem(s)~" one when I wanted to say …だったようですね. Now I got it! Thanks for your explanation!

Everyone, have a lovely weekend!

Maki

•  Maki
• 2010年1月10日 00:07

Hi David and everyone,

David, thanks for sharing the pictures! No wonder　you have completely fallen in love with Kyushu;-)
As for your explanation of "seem", I think it is useful for English learners. Actually, I didn't know how to say ‘…だった（した）ようだ’ until I read one of your Friday entries(collections).

Gussan＆Tsuneko、
「～のようだ」の seem、sound、look、feel の違いは、私も前に質問したことがあって、some old members（みんな英語上級者ですよ～）が助けてくれたので、それをここに紹介しますね。

日本語にすると全部「～のようだ」になりますが、どうやらそう思った情報源が何かで決まるみたいです。

耳で聞いた情報　→ sound（ブログや手紙などで読んだ情報もOK）
見た情報　→ look
食感などの体感、もしくは第六感的なもの → feel
言動や過去と比べた総合的な情報 → seem
＊seemは情報源にかかわらず、lookのときもsoundのときも使えるらしいです。

それからこんなことも言ってました。

『ネイティブの友人がこんなことを言ったのを覚えています。"It looks like we are going to go back to Australia next spring."（今度の春オーストラリアに帰ることになりそう。）表現は正確に覚えていませんが、It looks like～と言ったことははっきり覚えています。何かを実際に目の当たりにしたわけではなく、状況などを見て、そうなりそうということだと思います。少なくとも、soundやfeelはこの場合おかしいですよね。』

なので、使い分けはあるにしても、はっきりとしたボーダーラインはなくて、みんな少しずつ重なっていて、少しずつずれているのかな、と思います。

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2010年1月10日 00:39

Hi David and everyone,

David, I read your entry again and I noticed that I missed the point, so please forget my last comment.
As for your explanation concerning "seems", as Maki said, we learn " it seems 構文” at school, so I guess the word" seems" comes first.
As for the explanation "tense", it is very helpful for English learners because it is difficult to write it correctly.
Actually when I wrote the sentence, I totally forgot these two points!
*You seem (present tense)+ You had a great time in Kyushu(past)
↓
　You seem to have had a great time in Kyushu.

I should have been more careful when I wrote sentences.

*…だったようですね (is that correct in Japanese?),
　　→Yes, it is correct.

I also want to know amo's question.

Bye for now,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2010年1月10日 00:44

Hi team,
I'm like　～という表現を頻繁に耳にしますね。seemとは関係ない話ですが・・・
どこかで読んだ話ですが、
「これもらってやってくれない？」を英語にするとどうなるでしょうか？直訳しようとするととんでもないことになりそうです。
それではよい週末を。

•  Appoh
• 2010年1月10日 01:18

Hi Appoh,

It's been a long time to talk with you ;->

I'm like　～という表現はよく若者が頻繁に使うと聞いた事があります。日本語だと～「って言うか～」に近いって聞きましたけど、どうなんでしょうか？頻繁に使うのはよくないと聞きました。断定しない言葉だと～？

Kazu

•  Kazu
• 2010年1月10日 02:35

Hi Tomo,

Thank you for your detailed explanation that was really clear and helpful. Thank you, old advanced members too!

tsuneko

•  tsuneko
• 2010年1月10日 08:33

Hi David and everyone

David, thanks for uploading photos on Flickr. They are very nice, especially the photo of a ocean and bars. Lights come from between the clouds are very beautiful. It is called レンブラント光 in Japan. What is it called in UK?

Your explanation of "seem" is easily understandable.
I want to know an answer of amo's question, too. And I think it is good that putting the difference between "it seems like" and "it seems like" on your book.
I have a question. If I want to say "だったようだった" (こんな言い回しはめったにしなさそうですが…). Is it correct?

You seemed to had had a great time in Kyushu.

だったようですね is correct Japanese.

I went to Muse live yesterday. Muse are a band from UK. Have you heard of them?
It was great live. I'm still little excited, and my legs ache because of jumping.

Have a nice weekend.

•  trmr
• 2010年1月10日 12:43

Hi Tsuneko,
I'm glad you found the explanation helpful:)

Hi trmr,
As for your question, I think it should be "You seemed to HAVE had a great time in Kyushu" because "to" is followed by a base-form verb in this case.
I checked my English grammar book, and it says, “述語動詞(今回の場合はseem)の時制よりも一つ前の時制を「to have ＋過去分詞」で表す。　これを完了形の不定詞という”

なので、書き換えるとこうなると思います。

1. You seem to have had a great time in Kyushu. = It seems that you had a great time in Kyushu.

2. You seemed to have had a great time in Kyushu. = It seemed that you had had a great time in Kyushu.

Hope that helps.

Tomo

PS Amo, I'm not sure the difference between "It seems like that..." and "It seems that...", but I don't think there is a big difference.

•  Tomo
• 2010年1月10日 17:34

Hi David and everyone,

This is the second time to write the comment.
I still hesitate to write the comment.

David, this is the first time to watch your photo.
Your bike is cool!
I like your photo in Hokkaido, because I live there now.

「～のようだ」の使い方は参考になりました。
AppohさんやKazuさんのように、私も"I'm like~"の使い方が気になります。

When I wrote the comment on January 2, you asked "what are you studying in graduate school?".
I am studying about "membrane protein".
"Membrane protein" is an important role for the cretures.
In a simple term, I am studying of life science.

Have a nice weekend.

Yumi

•  Yumi
• 2010年1月10日 22:30

Hi yumi,

Don't hesitate to write here.
Let's learning English here.

Kazu

•  Kazu
• 2010年1月10日 22:38

Hi team,

Thank you for your comments. I will definitely put this in the new edition of the book.

"Seem" is basically used in the same way as "look" and "sound," and sometimes there is no difference, but "seem" can also be used to cover the meanings of both. For example, if you said that someone looked tired, you would only be talking about their appearance. If you said they sounded tired, you would only be talking about their voice. If you said that they seemed tired, however, you would be talking about a more general impression that could cover both their appearance and their voice.

I think Tomo answered Amo's questions, but here are my responses just in case.

1.Should I change my sentence to “It seems like you enjoyed ….”?
That would be okay, but I can't remember what the original was.
2.Can I change your sentence to “It seems that you had….”?
That's okay too.
3.Is there a big difference between “it seems that ~” and “it seems like”?
I think they mean the same thing.

Anne - thank you for the new year's card. I only saw it on Friday because you sent it to my Nanzan address, and I didn't go into my office over the holidays. Best wishes for 2010 to you too.

•  David
• 2010年1月11日 00:11

Hi David
Thank you for answering my question. At first, I also thought there was no difference between “it seems that ~” and “it seems like ~”, but as I mentioned, your example was different from my sentence. So I was wondering mine was wrong?? But it’s nothing! You just overlooked my comment. In case you would like to read my original comment is on Jan 6th 22:54. I posted the comment, after you posted the comment from Kagoshima.

Good night and sweet dreams

•  amo
• 2010年1月11日 01:22

Hi Kazu & Yumi,
I'm like～が、かなりくだけた表現だということは聞いたことがあります。
さすがに、外国人の私にI'm like～と直接話してくることはありませんが、街中の会話ではしょっちゅう耳にします。他にも何とかlikeはよく使われているようですよ。
使い始めると楽なようですが、癖になるといやなので私は使っていません。

•  Appoh
• 2010年1月11日 02:09

Hi Appoh,

Thank you for replay.
へ～え、よく使われているのですか～？
どんな感覚で使っているのですかね～
こんど注意深く探してみたいと思います。ありがとうございました。
Have you got used to life in U.S?

Bye for now.

•  Kazu
• 2010年1月11日 04:42

Hi David and everyone,

Thank you for everything.
As for the talking about "seem".
It was useful for me.
Thank you very much.

Kazu

•  Kazu
• 2010年1月11日 04:48

Hi David,

Thank you for your reply. I'm relived to know my card was delivered. Actually I noticed that you didn't work at your office at Nanzan during holidays any more after clicking the button because you set up your PC at your house .
I know just your Nanzan address and just wanted to say "Best Wishes."

Anne

•  Anne
• 2010年1月11日 08:51

Hi KAZU、
I was like 'Oh, you did it ?' and he was like 'Absolutely !' and she was like 'No way !'.

•  Appoh
• 2010年1月11日 08:56

Hi David,
your photos on your Flicker page are brilliant! Did you use Appele's gadget?

Hi　team,
It sounds like you all have been fine during my absence. Sorry to say,but I have to admit I almost did'nt read the comments. I'd like to catch up with you all.

May

•  May
• 2010年1月11日 14:27

Hi David,

It's great that you got back safely from Kyushu. Also, your picture is very beautiful!

I think your easy-to-understand explanation of "seem" is really easy to understand.

I hope you're having the great weekend, too.

Hi Tomo,

Thank you for your easy-to-understand explanation! It was great to know that.

Hi everyone,

I hope you're having the great weekend and see you for now!

Yuzu

•  Yuzu
• 2010年1月11日 19:03

Hi Tomo

Thank you for your explanation.
It is very helpful.
I understand it correctly.
>"to" is followed by a base-form verb in this case.
こういうのや、3単元の"s"などをつい見落としてしまいがちです:-(

•  trmr
• 2010年1月12日 00:48