I met a very nice bus driver today when I drove on the…

Silverobama

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Aug 8, 2010
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Student or Learner
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Chinese
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China
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China
I wrote the following paragraph:

I met a very nice bus driver today when I drove on the mountain’s road. She used the light twice to signal me to surpass her or I would waste half an hour following her.


Context: I was driving on the mountain’s road. Ahead of me was a tourist bus. Much bigger than my car. It drove slowly because there was so many people in the bus. I was waiting for a chance to surpass the bus but I couldn’t because the road was zigzagging. Suddenly, I noticed that the right light of the bus was shaking, I knew the bus driver was telling me to run past. But I missed that chance. Later, a new chance came and the driver signaled again. I succeeded. I was grateful and I thought she was so nice.

Could you please me how you would phrase this?
 
I met encountered a very nice bus driver today when I drove on the mountain’s while driving on a mountain road. She used the light her indicator twice to signal to me that it was safe to surpass overtake her. or If she hadn't done that, I would have wasted half an hour following her.
See above. Using "met" suggests an actual face-to-face meeting, which clearly didn't happen.
The possessive "the mountain's road" is unnatural. The road doesn't belong to the mountain. This is exactly the kind of context in which we use a compound noun ("mountain road").
In BrE, the flashing lights on the corners of a car are called indicators.
We don't "surpass" other cars on the road. I suspect you've looked up a translation of the Chinese word and found a few English alternatives, but unfortunately chosen the wrong one. In a different context, "surpass" and "overtake" can mean the same, but that's not the case in the context of driving. When passing another car, we use "pass" or "overtake" (the latter is the most common in BrE).
When people use their indicators in this way, they're not telling you to overtake, they're simply telling you that they can see far enough ahead to know there's nothing coming the other way and you can, if you wish, overtake safely at that point.
I wouldn't say that I "would have wasted half an hour following her". In the context of traffic, I'd use "stuck" so I'd say "If she hadn't done that, I'd have been stuck behind the bus for half an hour".
Context: I was driving on the mountain’s a mountain road. Ahead of me was a tourist bus, which was much bigger than my car. It drove was going slowly because there was so many were a lot of people in the bus on board. I was waiting for a chance to surpass overtake the bus but I couldn’t because the road was zigzagging. Suddenly, I noticed that the right light of the bus was shaking right indicator was flashing and I knew this meant the bus driver was telling me to run past it was safe to overtake. But Unfortunately, I missed that chance. Later, a new chance another opportunity came, and the driver signaled again and I succeeded successfully overtook. I was grateful and I thought she was so very nice.
See above.
Don't use "so many" to mean "many" or "a lot of". The same goes for "so nice" at the end. If you use "so" before an adjective (as a learner), make sure it's followed by "that ...". For example:
There were so many people on the bus that it was impossible for the driver to go fast.
The driver was so nice that I wanted to jump out of my car and give her flowers.


(Note that in BrE, it's "signalled".)
 
Much appreciated, emsr2d2.

I don’t think the “to” in “I knew this meant the bus driver was telling me to” is needed. Am I right?

It’s in the second corrected paragraph; it’s the fifth sentence.
 
I don’t think the “to” in “I knew this meant the bus driver was telling me to” is needed. Am I right?
Yes, I'm sure emsr2d2 meant to cross it out.
 
I don’t think the “to” in “I knew this meant the bus driver was telling me to” is needed. Am I right?
It’s in the second corrected paragraph; it’s the fifth sentence.
Thanks and well spotted. Yes, I meant to strike through "to" as well.
 
The roady was windy, not 'zigzagging".
 
"Windy" as in being crooked and having a lot of bends. "Zigzagging" is not a good adjective.
 
Last edited:
"Windy" as in being crooked and having a lot of bends. "Zigzagging" is not a good adjective.
It's a perfectly good way of describing such a road. If I hadn't thought it was OK, don't you think I'd have changed it in post #2? It describes a road with hairpin bends.
 
"Windy" as in being crooked and having a lot of bends. "Zigzagging" is not a good adjective.
“Zigzagging” isn’t a verb, yes, but in this context it works as a present participle. This is very basic grammar and many primary school kids here know that.

Examples are:

1) a crying baby
2) a barking dog

I could go on.

“Windy” is ambiguous in this context because that day was sunny and hot, no wind at all.
 
“Zigzagging” isn’t a verb, yes, but in this context it works as a present participle. This is very basic grammar and many primary school kids here know that.

Examples are:

1) a crying baby
2) a barking dog

I could go on.

“Windy” is ambiguous in this context because that day was sunny and hot, no wind at all.
A windy road has nothing to do with wind as I have explained in my post #8. It's the other meaning of "windy", pronounced "wine-dy".
 

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