Taking blood / receiving blood / collecting blood

Question

How should I say if at a blood bank some people donated blood?

The blood bank received 20 blood donation from different people.

OR

The blood bank took 20 blood donation from different people.

OR

The blood bank collected 20......

Please assist me as I am unable to get the right answer.

Thanks

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

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I think that this one is most appropriate:

The blood bank received 20 blood donations.
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D_say · Answer

Thankish Chief <img src="http://www.EnglishForward.com/emoticons/emotion-21.gif"/>

Huangpengcheng · Answer

None of them sounds native to me.

A native speaker would say, "20 people have donated their blood to the blood bank."

Or,

"The blood bank has received 20 blood donations."

If you want to use simple past tense, you need to make sure that you have given a time reference either explicitly or implicitly.

and,

DONATION is a countable noun.

D_say · Answer

Dear Mr. huangpengcheng,

Many thanks for your prompt attention.

Mister Micawber · Answer

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Simple past requires no time reference, huangpengcheng. Papa died.
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Huangpengcheng · Answer

Mister Micawber.
Simple past requires no time reference, huangpengcheng. Papa died.
.

When?

I understand you don't have to give time reference in a sentence. however, the time reference is in the context, or it would make no sense to use simple past, and you may as well use present complete to indicate' when did it happen' is irrelevant, 'what happened' is more important.

For instance, in a news item, the reporter would say,

"Former president Bill Clinton died this morning at an age of 65, and he was survived by his wife and daughter."

or,

Chelsea rings from a hospital to her mother, "Dad died."

Hillary, "What? when?"

Mister Micawber · Answer

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Simply untrue, Huang. Unless you mean the single implied time reference 'before NOW'.

A: Is your papa coming to your wedding?
B: No, he died.

C: Is your father still in the hospital?
D: No, he died.

A and C may well follow up with an inquiry as to when the event happened, but again, they are more likely to just give their condolences and leave it at that. Simple past tense does not require a time reference, explicit or implicit, any more than future does.
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Huangpengcheng · Answer

Then you do need to explain the difference between the following two statements:

A

I have lost my car keys.

B

I lost my car keys yesterday.

or,

I lost my car keys. (this statement is very unlikely in real life by a native speaker)

Mister Micawber · Answer

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I don't need to be told what a native speaker likely uses, Huang; I have been one for 60 years. How long have you been a native speaker?

The difference between B and A is the usual difference between simple past and present perfect. The only difference between your two Bs is that one includes a time reference. Both are common permutations. Do I really have to continue to reproduce conversations for you?

A: Why didn't you pick me up?
B: I lost my car keys.
A: Where did you lose them?
B: I dunno. Maybe I lost them in the garage.

No time reference.
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Huangpengcheng · Answer

Hey, let's not draw our authority on a language on the number of years of being a native speaker, please! It will make two old men like us look stupid.

I have been a professional writer of Chinese for nearly 25 years. Does it make me an expert on the Chinese language? Not at all. And I have spent nearly 25 years in a country called Australia, and, does it make me any knowledgeable in English than others? Not at all.

So, let's deal with the questions at hand.

Without making a comparison between English and other languages, even a native English speaker will take something interesting in English for granted. That interesting thing is its time awareness built in the language. In English, you cannot utter a meaningful sentence without a time reference. You must tell me, you "are", "were", or "will be" a teacher, not to mention other variations in between ("have been", "used to be", etc.). However, in Asian languages, at least in Chinese, there is no such built-in feature in their sentence structure. If you want to make a clear statement in relation with time, you have to add a few words to the sentence.

According to Raymond Murphy, an expert on English grammar who published many books about English grammar by Cambridge University Press, when you say, "I have lost my car keys." you are telling the listener that you don't have you car keys now, as for when did you lost them is rather not important. However, when you say, "I lost my car keys yesterday." you are telling an incident occurred in the past, whether you have recovered your car keys or not is not the point.

Now, let's look at your example.

When A asks, "Why didn't you pick me up?" the time reference is implicitly given: the conversation is in relation with an incident occurred in the past. Just try to ask the question this way: "Why haven't you pick me up?"

How should B answer the question meaningfully?

Taking blood / receiving blood / collecting blood

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