Wedding day blues and pinks
Hello Cheikh,
Thanks for telling us about the wedding traditions in Mauritania. It's so interesting to see the differences between our two cultures in wedding celebrations and ceremonies. In Britain, if a bride didn't smile on her wedding day, most people would think something was very wrong indeed. It's fascinating to learn that a woman's smile on her wedding day isn't a universal expectation.
An old tradition we have over here for a bride is that on her wedding day she should have or wear:
Something old
Something new
Something borrowed
Something blue
to bring her good luck.
On a more modern note, something you might find interesting is that five years ago the law was changed here in Britain. Now gay or lesbian couples can formally declare their love and commitment through civil ceremonies in this country. As far as I know no Muslim countries recognise gay and lesbian relationships. Do you have any gay or lesbian friends in Mauritania? What do you think about same-sex civil partnerships?
Turning to your post, I thought we'd look at word order, too many/too much, the present simple and a few bits of vocabulary.
In your posting, you wrote:
… they slightly differ from one district to another
Usually adverbs come after the verbs the talk about, describe or modify:
She ran quickly
They sang beautifully
And here's an example of a couple of words where the order should be reversed:
… her coming up marriage
Sometimes there's no real logic for why words are in the order they are; it's just the way they are. For example:
… the mission is yet to be over
is usually written like this:
… the mission is not over yet
Next, too many and too much. When we use too many or too much we mean that there is a lot of something, and that we don't like it. We mean in a negative way that we don't like the situation. So for example, we might say:
There's too much pollution in London
or
There are too many dogs in the park
to show that in this situation we think the pollution and dogs are a bad thing and that there is too much of one and too many of the other.
With that in mind, let's look at your sentence:
There are too many social traditions here in Mauritania
Do you really think the traditions are a negative thing and that there are too many of them in your country? If not, how would you re-write that sentence?
Finally, let's revise the present simple. It's formed like this:
verb
I drive
you walk
we write
they look
verb+s
he sits
she runs
it eats
And one of its uses is to talk about habits or things that happen repeatedly. Your stories about what traditionally happens at weddings is a good example of where we'd usually use it.
On the whole you used the present simple very well when you were talking about weddings in Mauritania. However, when you were talking about the 'kidnapping' tradition in rural areas, you started using a lot of woulds and the past simple. I've bolded some verbs below to highlight what I mean. Have a look at them and see if you can figure out a better way to tells us about this tradition.
One more very strange tradition which is more common now in rural areas, is that the bride close female friends would try their best to kidnap her at any time during the wedding party which usually goes on for seven consecutive nights. When they succeed, they would hide her away from the groom friends. Sometimes even take her outside the neighborhood and make sure to limit the number of people who know her whereabouts.
Socially, the bride must conspire with them and abide by the plot instructions, otherwise she would be considered a bad girl.
Then the groom and his friends would have to embark on searching the whole area, house-by-house, looking for her until they find her.
And even then, the mission is yet to be over, they would have to fight the bride female friends until they free her completely and bring her back to the groom. Sometimes she manages to stay for several days in her hideout.
In some areas, failing to get her would mean that the groom has failed to live up to his responsibilities and consequently lose his bride.
Just before I sign off, let's look at a couple of bits of vocabulary from your posting to the commentators:
Taru - … that kind of language would prople them to think.
Did you mean probe or prompt??
Taru - … the frizzing weather
Did you mean freezing?
Sunshine - make this name more attracting
Attractive is the form you would usually need in a sentence like this. But actually I think there's a better word - pertinent (which means relevant). Is that what you meant?
Sunshine – hedge you name
Did you mean hide?
Sunshine – … they used to burry newborn girls burry
The correct spelling is bury
And finally, a word about your homework. You did very well on it. Top of the class Cheikh! I was interested in the words you chose for your scare quotes. When I was writing to you, the ones I was thinking about were 'crime', and 'civilized' but I think your choice of 'normal' was perfectly justified too.
One last thing about sentence 3. You've changed it beautifully but there's just one more thing we could do to make it really perfect. It would sound more natural if you changed a to one, like this:
… we only gain one benefit by losing another.
That's all for now,
Nuala
Vocabularya universal expectation – expected everywhere
commitment – willing to give your time and energy to something that you believe in (here, a relationship)
civil ceremonies – official, formal (but not religious) acts, often fixed and traditional, performed on important social occasions
Life in the slow lane
Hello Cheikh,
Thanks for your interesting posting about life in the slow lane.
My life often feels like this:
But along with a lot of city people, I'm trying to find ways of slowing things down a bit. In fact there's a whole movement dedicated to slow food. The folks at Slow Food are concerned that we've lost our interest in where food comes from, how it's grown, how we buy, cook and eat it.
We also have an online feature you might be interested in at BBC Learning English. It's called Slow London.
But maybe this is all just the tip of the iceberg. After reading your blog I think we need a world-wide push for Slow Everything! Maybe you'd like to take the lead on this project Cheikh. I'll supply the images!
Today I thought we'd look at some punctuation (inverted commas, sometimes known as 'scare quotes'), as well as some common collocations (or words that go together) and other vocabulary.
I'm sure you know that when you want to show the exact words that someone has said, you use inverted commas or quote marks.
He said, "I'm from Paris."
But we can also use quote marks to show our distance from a word or idea.
Keith thinks his poems are fantastic but I'm not impressed by his "art" at all.
Here, the speaker is saying s/he doesn't think that what Keith writes is poetry at all, even though Keith clearly thinks his writings are very poetic.
In this example from your posting I think there are two words that you could have put in scare quotes, while the word suicide doesn't need the quotes at all. Which words would you like to show you disagree with or would like to distance yourself from here?
This horrible crime "suicide" has become an almost normal act in the civilized world.
Here are some common collocations which means get things done
achieve goals
do things
do activities
complete tasks
meet deadlines
However, we don't achieve activities in English. What collocation would you like to put in here instead?
… you can drive your car and achieve many different activities
This next sentence I'd like to look at is quite complicated:
Today's discussion aims only to argue that we can't seem to get a benefit in our progress without losing another.
The word only is in the wrong place. Where you have it just now means the only thing you want to do today is argue. You don't want to talk, eat, dance or laugh, the only thing you want to do is argue.
Where it needs to go is near the benefit if what you want to say is that the benefit is the only thing to be discussed. However, there are a couple of problems to be sorted out there first.
Only already has a negative meaning but you've got a negative with benefit – can't seem to get. So, first you need to change the negative part of benefit into a positive. Secondly, the collocation with benefit is have or gain. Thirdly, the second half of this kind of only phrase is by + verb+ing. For example:
We only got to go to the party by promising to come home by 10.30.
He only finished the work by staying really late at the office last week.
So to re-cap, to improve this sentence, you have four things to do:
move only
change the benefit part from negative to positive
choose the right collocation for benefit
delete some words in the second half of the only phrase and add by + verb+ing (by losing)
So can you see how you could improve your original sentence?
Finally we use on the contrary when we want to contradict what has been said previously. We often use it if we want to disagree with someone else who has spoken or written. For example:
A: Rich people are generous.
B: On the contrary, I find people who have a lot of money want to keep it all to themselves.
In the paragraph before you use On the contrary you're talking about how people in the desert have a lot of time to think about and consider things. The paragraph that follows contrasts the desert with the city. So a better introductory phrase would be:
In contrast
However
On the other hand
That's all for today. Looking forward to hearing from you soon,
Nuala
Vocabulary
the slow lane – the slow lane is the part of motorway or highway where slower cars drive (as opposed to the fast lane). Here, it means a way of life that isn't hectic or fast-paced but slow and relaxed
concerned - worried
dedicated – putting energy, time and effort into something
just the tip of the iceberg – only a small noticeable part of a problem, the total size of which is really much greater
take the lead – be the boss, be in charge of or be the manager
It's half past north
Hiya Cheikh,
I feel so mellow after reading your last posting I'm not sure I can make myself meet my deadline of writing back to you by the close of play today!
The vision you conjured up of staring up into the vast night sky, drinking camel's milk and composing romantic verses has unsettled me entirely. You've made me realise I don't need a watch or clock, it's a compass that's missing in my life!
I'm looking out the window at the dull, grey London skies and the rain falling down in sheets against the anonymous, brick city offices and thinking thoughts that have nothing to do with work. You've inspired and corrupted me too. I need to get back to nature. Here's what I should be doing right now:
Ah, I feel better already!
Reluctantly, I turn back to work…. Today, I thought we'd look at some rules about punctuation, as well as some rules about articles.
Throughout your last post you used brackets (...) when you should have used quotation marks " …" For example:
I hope your answer was a resounding (no)
should be:
I hope your answer was a resounding "no"
We use brackets to add some detail that might not be essential (but is, the writer thinks, still somehow interesting).
I know with the blogging software we use here it's sometimes difficult to see what your posting is going to look like until you've posted it. But I do think you need to give some thought to breaking up your text more. I don't know if you write your blog on the computer first, say in Word, before inputting into the blogging software. If you don't, I think you should as that might help you notice that your posting is often one long, unbroken stream of text.
English writing can sometimes be difficult for speakers from Arabic countries because they're writing in a different script (or alphabet) to the one they're used to using for writing in Arabic. However, I believe the rules are the same in Arabic writing as they are in English – each new topic or idea gets a new paragraph.
The use of paragraphing is particularly important on the web, where a lot of people find looking at a lot of very dense text very tiring (on their eyes)
Have a look at your recent posts and see if you can find ways you could break up the text a bit. On a blog, it's often a good idea to put an extra empty line between each paragraph, just to break up your text on the screen for your readers.
In your next posting, cast a critical eye over your writing, in terms of how your paragraph it.
Next, let's talk about articles. I'm sure you know that if there's only one of something, we use the definite article the:
the Sahara, the moon, the Mississippi
But did you know that we sometimes don't use the at all? For example, when we're talking about generalisations with plural nouns (films):
I love films, don't you?
And with uncountable nouns (music):
I find music very relaxing.
Here a few examples from your last blog where you used the but you shouldn't have:
… to keep up with the chock-a-block life
… away from any kind of distraction about the nature
… and the human fate
Next, let's look at the indefinite article (a and an). We use the indefinite article when we introduce something for the first time in a conversation, when we mean one. Here are a few examples from your blog where you're 100% on the money using indefinite articles:
… from a hectic day
… perform a new sort of meditation
… on a trip my friends and I took
Now, here's your homework. Below there are 10 sentences taken from your last blog. Your job is to decide if each sentence is correct or not in its use of articles. I've thrown in one sentence where agreement is the issue. If you sort out the agreement, the articles will be ok then too.
One final clue before you start - there are five correct sentences:
1. Are you run off your feet most of the time?
2. You would wake up every day without alarm.
3. Then you would watch the lonely rising sun.
4. … it sinks … behind the sand dunes.
5. … you want to take look.
6. … the tea maker has enough time
7. The Bedouins here spend several hours holding a green tea ceremonies
8. … in the modern civilization
9. Though we are called underdeveloped world …
10. We prefer the compass to the watch.
Thanks again for a really inspiring posting. I'm going home now and I'm going to throw away my alarm clock for good!
All the best,
Nuala
Vocabulary
mellow – very relaxed
the close of play – (from cricket) at the end of a match. Now used in business to mean at the end of the business day (usually 5.30 pm)
conjured up - made something appear as if by magic
unsettled me – changed the way I usually think things should be or have to be (usually when we use unsettle we mean change in a negative way. I'm using it here to show that some people might think my new way of thinking is very radical and therefore wrong)
sheets – (to talk about rain) a lot of
corrupted me - made me think bad thoughts (that work isn't so great after all and that the relaxed life is more for me)
breaking up separating out, leaving space between
stream - continuous flow of things (here, words on the page)
dense – very concentrated
cast a critical eye over – look at something in a critical way (trying to find mistakes or errors)
100% on the money – 100% correct
for good – for ever
Political business as usual
Hi Cheikh,
Another post, another fascinating insight into your world. Your last posting about corruption in politics, and civil servants who look after their own, was very interesting indeed.
But I have to say, when I look at the recent British political landscape, I don't see too many differences between our two countries.
I don't know if you've heard the story, but the most recent scandal here has been about the amount of money our elected politicians (MPs) have been claiming. If they've paid for a train ticket to go to a meeting on political business, it's perfectly reasonable that they should be able to get the money back. No problem there. But how about claiming money back for cleaning a bird house in your garden? I don't think so! Maybe it is true that 'politics is a dirty business' after all!
Now, to your post. Let's look at some vocabulary (including some more of those troublesome words that are written as one word, rather than two).
bile criticism
This should probably be vile criticism. Bile is the liquid you throw up, when you're being sick and finally have no more food to bring up.
…is down to two folds
You can either say:
is down to two things
or
is twofold
And notice as well that twofold is one word.
…handing out power to the civilians
Should be:
handing power to the civilians
If you hand something to someone, you give it to them. If you hand out something, you give something free to people who need it (for example, food or clothes)
There were a couple of words I wasn't sure about. When you were talking about bribes, you said:
staff of the circuit that the paper has to go through
I'm not sure what you meant by circuit. I thought maybe department or area but I'm not sure.
And footy confused me too in this sentence:
… many people live on a footy amount monthly
Did you mean tiny? Footy is informal for football.
Here are seven words from your posting that should be written as one word, rather than two:
some thing
an other
out side
arch- enemy
what ever
every day
home work
So my challenge to you Cheikh is to write your next posting while keeping a sharp eye on these tricky one word monsters!
All the best,
Nuala
PS Most of your last homework was fine but have a look at 4 and 5 again if you've got time. You need to put both in another position in sentence 4. And in the final sentence, the pattern is: We passed a law that + outlawed + verb+ing.
4. I read your blogs both entirely.
5. We passed a law that outlawed to call anyone a slave.
vocabulary
look after their own – care for their family and friends only
keeping a sharp eye on – looking carefully for
landscape - situation
don't see too many differences – both are very similar
scandal - event or behaviour which the public disapproves of or that that causes the public to feel shocked
claiming – asking for the money that you have already spent to be given back to you (for example, for staying in a hotel on a business trip)
a dirty business – a corrupt or dishonest situation
throw up – empty food from your stomach through your mouth
keeping a sharp eye on – looking carefully for
Musicians and money
Hi Cheikh,
Your postings just get more and more interesting. You've really opened my eyes to a brand new (yet very old), culture. Thanks!
You've hit the nail on the head when you talk about how each of us often thinks that it's everyone else's culture that's strange, never our own. A lot of people think, 'Whatever I do makes perfect sense. But what you do is so weird!'
I'm fascinated by the people who can march into your house, and by virtue of being able to play a musical instrument, demand to be paid. I can play a few chords on the guitar. How would I do in Mauritania?
I was thinking of you while I was out at lunchtime today. I was in Covent Garden, a busy shopping area in the middle of London (just a 5 minute walk from Bush House, where the BBC Learning English office is). It's popular with tourists so there are often street performers putting on acts for the visitors. Today I saw some musicians playing and they had a little green basket on the ground in front of them. People who'd enjoyed their music were encouraged, by the buskers, to drop a few pennies into the basket. I thought, if they were in your neck of the woods, they might not ever need the basket!
Looking at your last two postings, I thought we'd concentrate on agreement today. In English, verb forms change depending on whether the subject is singular or plural. For example,
The bus was late. (singular noun, singular verb)
The trains were full. (plural noun, plural verb)
That's easy enough, the tricky bit is to remember to keep your subjects and verbs singular throughout your sentence – from beginning to end.
You also need to keep a similar subject throughout your sentence. For example, if you start a sentence talking about they, you can't finish the sentence talking about him.
Here are a few examples from your writing where you start off OK but as your sentence progresses you change from singular to plural or vice versa.
There are a few words in bold in the first two sentences below to highlight the words that need to agree. In the final two sentences I haven't bolded anything, just to make your task a bit harder!
… but your comments which I really appreciate and will soon reply to – spurs me to carry on.
Some of us also ask the dead for help and believe that their ancestors still have a great role to play in their own lives; they watch them and protect them from evil.
…who must be a religious scholars.
It (slavery) is still a hot debate over here, whether it exist or not.
Here are a few more words that should be one word, not two:
any one
some one
And here a a couple of vocabulary items to consider too:
All is used to talk about more than 2 things.
Both is used to talk about 2 things (though if we use both, we don't need the word two in the sentence as well). How could you improve this one?
I read all your 2 blogs.
A more usual word than incriminate is outlaw + verb+ing (For example, They outlawed begging last year.), or make it a crime to do something. (The government made it a crime to discriminate against older people)
So your final task is to improve this sentence. You've got a few things to think about here. It starts in the past and then goes into the present tense. There are two words that should be one. And the word incriminates isn't correct.
We passed a law that incriminates to call some one a slave.
Hope you have a good weekend.
All the best,
Nuala
Vocabulary
You've hit the nail on the head – (idiom) You've described exactly what the situation is
makes perfect sense – is very logical
weird – (informal) very unusual
march – walk in a very determined way
by virtue of being – because they are
chords – when you put your fingers on an instrument (here, a guitar) and play notes together in harmony
putting on acts – showing off their talents (singing, playing a musical instrument, doing a card trick, etc.)
buskers - people who play musical instruments in public for money
a few pennies – one or two coins, a small amount of money
your neck of the woods – (informal) near where you live (or work)
progresses – goes on, continues
vice versa – the same is true in the opposite order (here, I said your writing changes from singular to plural. But I also meant it sometimes changes from plural to singular)
Wearing a kilt isn't just for Halloween
Hello and welcome Cheikh!
What a lovely first posting. It's so nice to learn about you, your country and some of your customs. I'm sure I'm not the only person who hadn't heard of your capital city till I read it in your blog. And I'm sure I'm not alone in really looking forward to learning more about you and your culture too.
Your national dress – Boboo – sounds interesting and just right for a Halloween costume because it's sounds like you're trying to give someone a fright. (In English, we think that frightening ghosts say 'Boo!') :)
I'm sure you know that the Scottish national dress is a kilt. But in case you don't, here's the actor Hamish Clark wearing one:
He's wearing a kilt, which looks like a skirt and is made of tartan. On the front of his kilt, he's got a sporran – that's a Scottish word – a small leather bag where he can keep his money safe!
I'm not long back from the US and I know what you mean about how seriously they take Halloween there. I was there in the middle of October but already there were plenty of decorations on the houses and shops even though the actual holiday wasn't until the last day of the month.
Before we move on to look at some ways of improving your writing, I'd first just like to say how good I think it is, especially for someone who is self-taught. You should be very proud of the standard of your English, Cheikh.
Today I thought we would look at a couple of areas – countable and uncountable nouns and vocabulary.
First, countable and uncountable nouns. There are some nouns in English which we say we can count (chairs, boats, cats) and some that we can't count, but measure instead (music, love, accommodation). Countable nouns can be made plural by adding s (chair – chairs, boat – boats, cat – cats) but uncountable nouns are never made plural with an s. (The equivalent of plurals for uncountables are, for example, some music, a lot of love, plenty of accommodation). Advice and information are two examples from your posting that are uncountable nouns. Can you see how you could improve these two sentences? In the first one you have to look at the noun (advices) and in the second the noun is OK but the word these isn't right:
get some advices
all these information
Second, let's look at some of your vocabulary. These words should be one word, not two:
my self
a lone
And these words aren't quite right:
handling me this opportunity (Handling means moving with your hands. For example, The porter is handling the luggage. The word you need here is handing, which means giving)
I am getting ridiculed into addressing a bunch of people (I'm not quite sure what you mean here. Do you mean forced or not given a choice?)
We speak Arabic-French, our former colony language (Colony is a noun. You need the adjective colonial here.)
radically stick up for their point of view (Radically means acting in a very extreme way. If you mean they believe very strongly in their point of view, you could say Vehemently (or Passionately stick up for their point of view.)
That's all for now. Thanks again for such an interesting first posting. Looking forward to learning more about the Sahara desert.
Nuala
Vocabulary
costume - a set of clothes worn in order to look like someone or something else
to give someone a fright – to scare of frighten someone
ghosts – spirits of dead people who came back to earth to frighten people (or give them advice or warn them about something)
tartan - cloth with a pattern of different coloured straight lines crossing each other at 90 degree angles (see the photo in the blog for an example of tartan. He man is wearing a tartan kilt)
I'm not long back from – I have recently returned from
Another city, another tale
Hi Jin Lu,
Thanks for your lovely posting and for sharing all those beautiful pictures of Nanjing with us. I suppose almost every city, town or village has a story behind it but it's always so nice to learn of a new place and its legend.
There are lots of tales about Glasgow, my home city, but one of the best known is reflected in our coat of arms which shows a bird, a tree, a bell and a fish. All of these things have a connection with the patron saint of Glasgow (St. Mungo), a holy man who arrived in Glasgow about the year 540.
My favourite part has always been about the fish. The story goes like this: Queen Langeoreth was in love with a knight and gave him her golden ring as a token of her love.
One evening, unbeknownst to the knight, the king took the ring off the knight's finger and threw it in the river.
The next day the king demanded that the queen show him the golden ring he had given her. She said she couldn't find it. He gave here three days to come up with it, or else.
The queen hurried to the knight, told him about her dilemma and asked for her ring back. He said he was sorry, he didn't have the ring anymore; he'd lost it and didn't know where it was. The queen didn't know what to do. She was completely distraught.
So the knight decided to ask Saint Mungo for help. The saint told the knight to go to the river and catch a salmon.
The knight did as he was told – caught a fish - and gave it to the queen.
When the queen presented the salmon to her husband, the king was amazed to find the fish holding the golden ring in its mouth.
To this day, you can see Saint Mungo, the bird, the tree, the bell and the fish (with a ring) all over Glasgow. Our coat of arms is on buildings, lampposts, posters and signs. Here's a photo my brother Michael took this morning in Glasgow of our coat of arms on the side of a rubbish bin:
The coat of arms (and the city's motto: Let Glasgow Flourish) was featured in a song in the late 80s, called Mother Glasgow. This video has a few city shots, as well as a sight anyone from Glasgow instantly recognises – the massive cranes that are a part of the Glasgow skyline. Glasgow, used to be a famous ship-building city. And though the ship-building has gone, the cranes remain.
It's almost time for me to say goodbye to you Lin Ju. But before I do, let's have a look at your posting. As ever, your writing is fluid and very evocative. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels I've actually visited Nanjing, just from reading your great descriptions of it.
Turning to the language aspects of your posting, I'd like to concentrate on your word choices, collocations and word order.
1. A few word choices first. Let's look at this one:
declared himself as the new emperor
You can use declare or another expression with as (set himself up as, for example) but you can't use declare and as together.
So you could say:
set himself up as the new emperor
or
was declared the new emperor
Next let's look at this sentence:
…he suddenly halted at one fatal issue
First, crucial question is probably a better word choice than fatal issue. Second, halt is usually used to mean cause to stop moving or doing something or happening. People don't usually halt themselves – something or someone makes them stop. For example:
Production has halted at the factory because the staff have gone on strike.
Police halted the demonstrators and told them they could go no further.
So stop might be a better - simpler, but better - word to use here. You might even want to go for a couple of punchy sentences, like this:
… he stopped. There was one crucial question: where should the new capital be?
otherwise you get into an unnecessary passive:
… he was stopped by one crucial question …
2. Next, let's look at word order. We'll focus on the word all here:
Unfortunately, Nanjing all failed them.
The word all after Nanjing makes it seem like there are a lot of Nanjings. But actually I think you mean there were a lot of people affected by Nanjing. Can you see where you should move the all to to create the sentence you want?
3. Finally, let's look at a fixed expression in this sentence:
He would just walk and walk and write poems after poems.
This expression, something after something, which means to do the same thing many times, is always a singular (rather than a plural) expression. So can you see how to fix your sentence?
That's all from me just now. It's been lovely blogging with you and I wish you all the best for your studies in Germany!
Take care,
Nuala
Vocabulary
legend – very old story that may or may not be true that people tell about a famous person or event
reflected – shown or expressed
coat of arms - special shield or shield-shaped pattern which is the sign of a city (you can also have a family, school or university coat of arms)
patron saint – Christian saint or holy person who lived or is associated with a city
knight – a noble soldier (in the past)
a token – an object that you give to someone to express your feelings
unbeknownst to the knight – (unbeknownst is an old fashioned word, often used in fairy tales or legends) – the knight didn't know about it
come up with – show or produce
or else – (used as a threat) to say that something bad or painful will happen but not say exactly what it will be
dilemma – situation when you have to make a difficult choice between two different things you could do
completely distraught – very upset
all over – everywhere
motto - short, memorable sentence or phrase that expresses a belief or purpose
flourish – grow, develop and prosper or do well
shots – pictures, photos or here, still photos from a film
cranes - tall metal structure used to lift and move heavy objects
What have you got to lose?
Hi Jin Lu,
What a great posting about the power of positive thinking!
You'll have to let us know soon if you've got the lead (or even a walk-on part as a maid) in the next Agatha Christie production. We'll all have our fingers crossed for you.
Your homework is very good. Well done!
1. You can hardly judge if it's still autumn --> You can hardly tell if it’s still autumn.
Nuala – great.
2. I have several intimate friends --> I have several close friends
Nuala – good
3, I have been offered a perfect chance --> I have been offered an ideal chance… (I think “ideal opportunity” is also right but not as good as “chance”, right?)
Nuala – Ideal opportunity actually collocates better. With chance, I'd go for good.
4. I… have turned out a faithful soul --> I have turned into a faithful soul.
Nuala - perfect
5. Jin Lu sounded too wrong to be a baby name --> Jin Lu would sound awkward as a baby name.
Nuala – much better
6. It’s now reasonable to assume that his parents might have called him “Ming Ming” when he was a little boy – the kind of cute baby-name I wanted but could never get because apparently, Jing Jing, as an official name, also possessed all the essential features of a baby name.
--> His parents might have called him “Ming Ming” when he was little. I wanted a cute baby-name like that too, but could never get one. Because Jing Jing, as an official name, could also be used as a baby name.
Nuala – This is now much easier to understand.
7. But they have been, in a quiet way, very important and indispensible. The time and situations they appeared never allow a baby name.
--> But they are already part of me now. There was never a right time for a baby name, but maybe I just never needed one.
Nuala – Great, much improved!
You asked about what happened when I brought my report card home with the comment Nuala should work more and talk less on it. I don't remember much of the detail. The main reason I remember what the teacher wrote at all was that we had a kind of report card book that each teacher filled in each year. So for the whole seven years I was at primary school that report from primary 1 followed me around like a bad smell. It's still my belief that my primary 2 teacher looked at what my primary 1 teacher wrote and just copied it. And so on and so for the rest of my primary school days. So I ended up with this terrible reputation as a chatter-box that was completely unfounded (honest)!
What I do remember of the day I brought home that first report card home was my dad sitting me up on the kitchen table so that he could look me in the eye. I knew right then that I was in terrible trouble. He wagged his finger at me and said 'This is very serious young lady. School isn't for playing. School is for working. Do you understand?'
I think I turned over a new leaf for about a day. And then I was back to my naughty ways again.
Sounds like you were a saint Jin Lu or did that all change once you got to primary school too?
Let's take a look in detail at a few aspects of your last post:
1. There are a few times you haven't kept your structures parallel. For example:
This Monday I did something I had never done before: going to an audition
It would be better to keep both verbs in the past simple (did and went)
Can you see how to improve this sentence (I made one little change for you – I added an as and changed like to as)?
One day I met my Korean friends, and they looked happy as a child when they ate their food
2. Here are a couple of places where your vocabulary isn't quite right:
They were recruiting for the cast.
We recruit for staff but audition for a cast.
The verb here (accompany) is a bit too formal. Can you think of a way of making it more informal (I cut out a couple of words – to tour - here to tighten it up a bit)?
He asked if I could accompany him around Beijing
3. A couple of times your meaning isn't very clear.
It was a decision I took a long five seconds to make. It should’ve taken no time at all.
Five seconds doesn't seem long to me at all. In fact five seconds seems like no time at all. I know that sometimes even a short time can seem very long so maybe that's what you were getting at here. But I'm not quite sure.
I was nearly drowned when younger
Again, I'm not sure what you wanted to say here but I suspect (though I could be wrong) that someone didn't hold your head under water and try to kill you. That's what I was nearly drowned means. If someone didn't really try to kill you, do you know what you should have written instead?
4. Finally, a few of article problems cropped up. Can you figure our the 3 places where articles (a, an or the) need to go in or come out in these two sentences?
The drama group of English department of University of Heidelberg.
… I hid in the backstage and voiced-acted for the Juliet (in Romeo and Juliet).
Once again, I'd just like to say how good your writing is. And also say what a great turn of phrase you have. These, for example, are really lovely:
What could be more magical than giving life to the silent words?
I give them light, and wait for their blooming
And your lighthouse painting and calligraphy at the end of your piece was beautiful too.
Talk to you again soon,
Nuala
positive thinking – imaging and thinking of things in a positive, happy, successful way
the lead – the main actor in a film or play
a walk-on part – a very small part in a play where the actors has no lines to say
It's still my belief – I continue to believe
a chatter-box – someone who talks a lot about things that are not serious or important
completely unfounded – 100% without evidence or proof
I was in terrible trouble – My father was very angry with me and was going to giving a telling off
turned over a new leaf – changed my behaviour form being bad to being good
you were a saint – you were very good, very well-behaved
turn of phrase - the ability to express yourself well
calligraphy - the art of producing beautiful writing, often created with a special pen or brush
Why did you call me that?
Hi Jin Lu,
Thanks so much for teaching us some 'easy' Chinese! I'm very proud that I can read these two incredibly complicated Chinese characters already.
It's interesting how much you longed for a different name when you were young. I did too! I think lots of people do. Maybe there's a book in that - Why did you call me that?!
My name's an Irish one. You can find out more about my first name, Nuala here.
My family name's O'Sullivan (which is Irish too). O in an Irish surname, is like Mac in Scottish ones. It means son of (those patriarchal systems get everywhere, don't they?). So if you meet someone called MacDonald or McGregor they're probably Scottish or of Scottish descent. If they're called O'Reilly or O'Neill, they either live in Ireland or somewhere in the past, their ancestors did.
When I was young I wanted an easier name. Nuala was just too difficult for everyone! Because it's an Irish name, not many people in Scotland knew how to pronounce it. So every time people saw my name written down (every new school year, when a new teacher took the register) they'd say, 'Oh! That's an unusual name, Noo-a-la.' And I'd have to say, 'Well, no, actually, it's Noo-la'. All I ever wanted was a simple, straightforward name that caused no confusion. I wanted a name that was young and lovely and trendy, but most of all I wanted a nice Scottish name. I wanted to be called ... Felicity Campbell. There, now you know one of my deepest desires!
But you know that old saying… be careful what you wish for? I'm just so glad now I didn't get my wish. I love my name, and like you, Jin Lu, feel I've grown into it and can't now imagine being called anything else.
Turing to your posting, I'd just like to say again how smooth your writing style is and how easy your blog is to understand. Your writing flows well and your word choice and word combination are very sophisticated.
In terms of tweaking it a little bit, let's look at this sentence:
In my hometown dialect, there is nearly no distinction.
In English we don’t say nearly no. Instead we use expressions like hardly any, very little or almost no. With distinction the usual collocation is very little.
... there's very little distinction
You made a similar kind of slip here:
Jin Lu sounded too wrong to be a baby name
Wrong is an absolute in English. That's one of those words that's either one thing or the other; there's no in-between. For example, something is either true or it's false. It can't be a bit false. So in your sentence, either your name was right or wrong for a baby. Can you think of a way to make your sentence right?
And finally, although in general your writing is easy to understand, I have to say I was a bit confused a couple of times in your last posting. In this first example below, I think the main reason for the confusion is simply because the sentence is so long. (It comes in at a whopping 50 words!) I think if you broke your writing into smaller chunks, the meaning would be much clearer for your readers.
It’s now reasonable to assume that his parents might have called him “Ming Ming” when he was a little boy – the kind of cute baby-name I wanted but could never get because apparently, Jing Jing, as an official name, also possessed all the essential features of a baby name.
A good tip for sentence length in English is to try and say it in one breath (without first filling your lungs to maximum capacity!). When you run out of breath, it's time to put a full stop in your writing. Try reading your sentence above out loud and see how you do.
The other example where I think you could have simplified your writing is here:
But they have been, in a quiet way, very important and indispensible. The time and situations they appeared never allow a baby name.
I think I know what you mean but it seems like a very long and complicated way of saying it. And I think the final sentence there also seems quite formal (especially for an informal blog).
Anyway, that's all from me this week. Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you again soon.
All the best,
Nuala
Vocabulary
longed for – wished for, wanted
patriarchal systems - ways of doing things that are ruled or controlled by men
descent - being related to a particular person or group of people who lived in the past
ancestors – people related to you who lived before you
took the register – called each pupil's name to check if he or she was in class that day (the register is a list of all the pupils in the class)
trendy – fashionable
desires – wants or wishes
combination – mixture you get when two or more things (here, words) are put together
sophisticated - clever
tweaking – changing very slightly
comes in at – totals
whopping – very big
chunks – parts
breath - air that goes into and out of your lungs
lungs - the two organs in the chest with you use to breathe
maximum capacity – the most that you can put in something (here, your lungs)
Books, fate and the weather
Hi Jin Lu,
Hello again. I'm back from Baltimore safe and sound and ready for some more blogging.
I've caught up with your posts and all the comments you've been getting about literature, fate and weather!
So here's my tuppence worth on those topics too, with a Maryland twist.
Literature – as some of you might have heard, the city of Baltimore gave the American writer Edgar Allan Poe a second funeral 160 years after his death.
I didn't make it to the funeral (too busy eating the best seafood I've had in ages with Vernon, the oyster shucker, at Nick's in Cross Street Market).
But I did find an interesting Baltimore/literature story. You know how mayors and city officials are always trying to think of memorable slogans for their cities? I don't know if anyone has ever managed to top the New York one,
but the poor officials keep trying. Apparently each mayor of Baltimore has tried to come up with a winner but none of their attempts has ever really stuck. The one that I liked the best was – Baltimore - the city that reads!
Fate – A while ago in a bookshop in London. I picked up a book (The Help by Kathryn Stockett). I thought it looked interesting but didn't decide to buy it. Who knows why? I already had a couple of books under my arm, I hadn't heard anything about the book. I don't know why; I just didn't buy it.
Then, when I was in Baltimore, I picked up a book in a bookshop (you've guessed it – The Help by Kathryn Stockett). But since I'm terrible at remembering book titles and authors, and the one in Baltimore had a different cover, I didn't recognise it initially as the same book.
While I was reading a bit about it from the back cover and the penny was just beginning to drop, a customer said, "Do you really like reading?" I nodded my head. Well, she promised the book I was holding was a fabulous read. The best one she'd read in ages, in fact. So call it fate, call it a lucky hunch but I thought, "a recommendation from a woman in the city that reads? You can't do better than that, can you?" So I bought the book there and then – only a couple of days ago – and am already half way through it and completely riveted.
And weather? We had it all. Sunny days and blue skies, heavy rains and howling winds. I didn't know if I was coming or going!. Here's a picture I took of a sailing ship in Baltimore harbour on one of the colder days!
I'd like to look at a few collocations (words that go together) from your latest posting Jin Lu. Collocations, as I'm sure you know, are words that go together. There's no real reason why they go together, they just do! For example, we say Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas but never Merry Birthday.
Do you know what the right collocations are here?
1. You can hardly judge if it's still autumn
a) hardly tell
b) often judge
2. I have several intimate friends
a) intimate sexual partners
b) close friends
3, I have been offered a perfect chance
a) an ideal chance
b) an ideal opportunity
4. I … have turned out a faithful soul
a) turned into
b) become out
That's all for now. Hope you're well. All the best,
Nuala
safe and sound – (fixed expression) safe
my tuppence worth – my opinion
twist – particular way of looking at something (here, Lin Ju's blog topics)
shucker – if you shuck something you take the outer skin or covering off it. You can shuck corn or oysters. A shucker is a person who shucks.
memorable slogans – catchy phrases that people remember (for example, New York – the city that never sleeps)
to top – to beat or be better than
stuck – continued to be used
initially – at first
the penny was just beginning to drop – (fixed expression) – just beginning to realise or understand something
hunch – idea which is based on feeling, rather than on scientific proof or fact
riveted –not be able to stop looking at (or here, reading) something because it is so interesting
I didn't know if I was coming or going – I was confused
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