Correct sentences, please help me out!

[tuboludo]

(1)

Can I write:

‘His English is maybe even better than his son’s.’

Or should it be:

‘His English may be even better than his son’s.’

(2)

Can I write:

‘He asks Ahmed a question, who loudly and laughingly explains to Hassan that the only things I can say in Arabic are profanities.’

Or should it be:

‘He asks Ahmed a question and then Ahmed loudly and laughingly explains to Hassan that the only things I can say in Arabic are profanities.’

(3)

Can I write:

‘It didn’t help much and soon the airplane was standing still.’

Or should it be:

‘It didn’t help much and soon the airplane was at a standstill.’

(4)

Can I use the word ‘fishes’ in this sentence or should I use the word ‘fish’:

‘They usually don’t have a great deal of luck trying to stop the different smugglers, small fishes or big fishes, it doesn’t matter due to the well organized corruption and the fact, that the kingpins usually are high-ranking officers in the army.’

(5)

Can I write:

‘…and therefore sometimes is using all kinds of medicine to keep life going as smooth and painless as possible.’

Or should it be:

‘…and therefore sometimes uses all kinds of medicine to keep life going as smooth and painless as possible.’

:alien:

[Mohammad Ahmad]

First of all the difference between ( Maybe & May be ) : Maybe ( adv) = possibly or perhaps while May be = modal verb + verb to be

[Whosis]

I think 2 should have "who then loudly and laughingly..."

4 Use fish.

5 More context (whole sentence) would help here.

[tuboludo]

Hi Whosis .... Thank yo so much for you help (you too Mohammad). Here i ssome more context to sentence no.5 :

"I find it a bit disturbing to find medicine like morphine just lying around like that, but I suddenly recall that Ahmed a long time ago told me something about his father being sick and therefore sometimes is using all kinds of medicine to keep life going as smooth and painless as possible."

[tuboludo]

5 More context (whole sentence) would help here.

"I find it a bit disturbing to find medicine like morphine just lying around like that, but I suddenly recall that Ahmed a long time ago told me something about his father being sick and therefore sometimes is using all kinds of medicine to keep life going as smooth and painless as possible."

[Ecurb]

"I find it a bit disturbing to find medicine like morphine just lying around like that, but I suddenly recall that Ahmed a long time ago told me something about his father being sick and therefore sometimes is using all kinds of medicine to keep life going as smooth and painless as possible."

It disturbed me to find morphine lyiing around, but I remembered that Ahmed told me a long time ago that his father was ill and sometimes used medicine to reduce the pain.

Explanation: "A bit" is unnecessary. "Like morphine" is confusing. Did you find morphine or something else? "A long time ago" is awkwardly placed, splitting "Ahmed" from "told me". The way the sentence is written now, "smooth and painless" are incorrect since they are adverbs modifying "going". "Smoothly and painlessly" would be correct, but the sentence is simpler the way I recast it.

[tuboludo]

Thanks Ecurb ;)