Describing the world around you
Hello everyone,
Thanks to everyone who got in touch after my last couple of blogs, in particular thanks to Jow who shared a very interesting legend about two sparring giants. There are so many tales of giants throughout the world, it seems that almost every country has its own myths of colossal human beings. It's not too late to tell us about the local legends where you are.
Karolina's third blog gives us a historical tour of her hometown Krzeszowice and includes many interesting photographs, which helps us to create a mental picture of the town. It's quite a short blog, as you've mentioned, but I'll just pick up on a few things to give you some pointers for your next one.
Adjectives to describe buildings
First of all, you use the word "devastated" a couple of times to describe some of the older buildings in your city:
Now it's very devastated but it was a beautiful building in the past.
It's not crowded or devastated.
The word "devastated" has a couple of different meanings in English. Although it can be used to describe the state of buildings, it usually means that a place has been completely wrecked or is no longer standing. Here are some examples:
This city was devastated by a massive earthquake.
The town has been devastated by so many bombings.
In addition, the word "devastated" can be used to describe the feeling of being overwhelmed with sadness. For example, if someone dies suddenly, their family may be devastated by their loss.
However, Karolina is describing buildings which are still there in the city, so let's take a look at some adjectives you could use to describe disused buildings.
This pub is dilapidated. It's old and in very bad condition. You could also use this word to describe an area in general.
In this picture we can see a derelict factory. It's not an old building, but it is empty and also in very bad condition. You could also say it's run-down.
This picture shows a castle in England. We can say this castle is ruined, which means many of its parts have been severely damaged over time. We tend to use this adjective when referring to much older buildings. Karolina uses this adjective in her blog to describe a castle in her home town.
Adjectives give your writing a lot of colour and flavour, but make sure the translation is correct before you use them.
Subject / verb agreement
Make sure that your subject and verb agree. Your blog is generally very good, but there's a mistake in the last sentence.
There is a lot of interesting places in my city which I would like to show you.
"Places" is plural, so we need to say "there are", rather than "there is".
Article improvement
Karolina's use of articles in this blog is much better - so well done. There are still a couple of slip-ups, for example:
it will be ___ party with a folk band
but generally your writing has improved.
It's been great learning about your hometown and really getting to know where you're from. Next time, why not tell us a little more about yourself and your studies?
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½work answers
Here are the answers from last week. Well done if you got it right!
"But there is also an historical explanation."
"One of the destroyed buildings was the Royal Castle..."
"So the castle was devastated by Swedish, German and Russian armies."
When you use the indefinite article ("a") in front of a word which begins with a vowel sound, you need to use "an" instead.
This week's homework
We've already seen that the word "devastated" can have two meanings. The word "ruined" also has two meanings. Firstly it can be used to describe a building which is falling down, but also it can be used to describe something which has been spoiled.
Complete the sentences below and choose either "devastated" or "ruined".
1. Flooding has _____________ this small fishing village.
2. It's pouring with rain outside. My barbeque will be ________!
3. My boyfriend wants to split up with me: I'm ___________.
4. Around the corner is a ______________ Roman fort.
5. If the share price keeps falling, the company will be financially _________ and the boss will be ___________.
Good luck - and I'll give you the answers in my next blog!
Jennifer
Vocabulary
sparring - fighting
colossal - huge
overwhelmed - overcome by a feeling
disused - no longer in use
dilapidated - falling apart and in a poor state
condition - state
derelict - empty and in a poor state
run-down - not taken care of, in a poor condition
slip-ups - mistakes
Comment number 1.
At 22nd May 2012, Sakshi wrote:Hi Jennifer,
Firstly, I thank you for correcting our mistakes. I am feeling great honored to be commenting as first on your informative blog. I would like to introduce myself to you that I am from India, (Bangalore). Though my English is very poor even I would try, so that I can learn something from you. Here is my homework:
1. Flooding has ___devastated_ this small fishing village.
2. It's pouring with rain outside. My barbeque will be __ruined_!
3. My boyfriend wants to split up with me: I'm _devastated_.
4. Around the corner is a _ruined_ Roman fort.
5. If the share price keeps falling, the company will be financially _ruined_ and the boss will be _devastated_.
I would appreciate if I am pointed out about my mistakes.
Best Regards,
Sakshi
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 22nd May 2012, Jaser wrote:Hi Jennifer ,
Thank you so much , you've given us a good information about the adjectives and when to use them accurately .
i made many mistakes , i will do my best next time but, i thought that we should use ''a'' with ''historical'' because in the school they taught us that there are five vowels in the English language , which they are (a,u, e , i , o ) and the letter ''h'' is not one of them , and the teachers pronounce it the same way , they put A instead of AN , they say a historical event , a historical character . sometimes i feel that i learned in the school and in the university too many mistakes , unfortunately too bad .
Here is my homework :-
1. Flooding has __devastated ____ this small fishing village.
2. It's pouring with rain outside. My barbeque will be __devastated___!
3. My boyfriend wants to split up with me: I'm __devastated____.
4. Around the corner is a ___ruined_____ Roman fort.
5. If the share price keeps falling, the company will be financially __ruined___ and the boss will be __devastated____.
Thank you again Jennifer .
Best wishes ,
Jaser
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Comment number 3.
At 23rd May 2012, imran wrote:Hi Ms Jennifer & friends,
Are there any slip-ups?
it will be __a_ party with a folk band
1. Flooding has __devastated_____ this small fishing village.
2. It's pouring with rain outside. My barbeque will be __ruined______!
3. My boyfriend wants to split up with me: I'm __devastated_________.
4. Around the corner is a _____ruined_________ Roman fort.
5. If the share price keeps falling, the company will be financially ___ruined______ and the boss will be ____devastated_______.
regards
Imran
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Comment number 4.
At 24th May 2012, Jow SingSing wrote:1. Flooding has ___devastated______ this small fishing village.
2. It's pouring with rain outside. My barbeque will be __ruined____!
3. My boyfriend wants to split up with me: I'm ___ruined________.
4. Around the corner is a ____runined______ Roman fort.
5. If the share price keeps falling, the company will be financially ___ruined____ and the boss will be ___devastated_____.
Hi Jenny,
At first I'm impressed about your liking of my 2 giants story. It will be cheered up for a rooky english practicer like us to be a little bit been refer to or get any feed back. I'm not quite sure about different usage between devastate and ruin, initially I suppose that ruin will be use to show the sense of deminishing while devastate will refer to something been destroyed by some acting and abruptly impact.
Your topic about "The world around us" is so huge in the meaning, in term of geographical and construction mine is not so much complicated. It is moderate environment at here, we don't have so much hi-tech things and on the other hand we are going to catch up with the world advancement in future. I prefer it has been worked like this, since step up is mostly prefer to all of us but step down is also some aspect that we should not neglect. We look back in order to realize that our progress is the correct way or we should change or stop it if the final outcome will hurt and change the world. Your picture about the old place ruined, derelict or even delapidated construction has given me full of artist impression. We cannot forget that any creative idea or inventive things mostly reflected from inspiration that we got from the past. I am quite astonished each time I have seen the seven wonders, for example the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids in Egypt how they could make it without mechanical assistance.
Again thanks for your time to read my poor and aimlessly english story, hoping to see your next blog soon.
Jow :D
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Comment number 5.
At 24th May 2012, BarDror wrote:Hello Jennifer:
I'm a new student just getting involved with this community and I'm very happy that I found these blogs. I must say that the work you do is quite amazing. I really, really aprecciate it. For a long time I had a lot of writing question but many of them have been already answered thanks to this blog. I found it really fun that while you patiently teach and help us to improve our writing we can read about other's people thoughts and experiences, learning about so many different cultures and sharing photos of places all at once. I really enjoy studying like this and I believe that there is nobody over the world that could ever get bored learning like this. I see how every week many people around the world are getting better at english thanks to your helpful teachings and it's like you were a kind of world class teacher since the whole world is your classroom. Isn't it amazing?... Thank you :)
ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½work:
1. Flooding has RUINED this small fishing village.
2. It's pouring with rain outside. My barbeque will be RUINED!
3. My boyfriend wants to split up with me: I'm DEVASTATED.
4. Around the corner is a RUINED Roman fort.
5. If the share price keeps falling, the company will be financially RUINED and the boss will be DEVASTATED.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 5)
Comment number 6.
At 26th May 2012, gondhoshudha wrote:Hi Jennifer I am new student of this bbc world.
I hope this site help me for improve my English.
I am from Bangladesh.Best regards--
In the below my homework-----
1. Flooding has devastated this small fishing village.
2. It's pouring with rain outside. My barbeque will be ruined!
3. My boyfriend wants to split up with me: I'm devastated.
4. Around the corner is a ruined Roman fort.
5. If the share price keeps falling, the company will be financially ruined and the boss will be devastated.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 6)
Comment number 7.
At 27th May 2012, Sai-fung wrote:Dear Jennifer,
Hi, Jennifer. I didn't come to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ LE a couple of weeks because I was busy on work. My job is always worn me out. I'm so glad to have you teaching us English here. What I could see and tell that are you teaching us English not only from your mind but also from your heart. That is the point I most appreciate. This time I came back, I caught up and read all the articles of May. Thanks Carolina! Thank you! Looking forward to reading the next posts from you and Carolina. That is so interesting to learning English thought knowing exotic things. Jennifer's homework I did it in my mind. Thanks! ^^
Best regards,
Sai Fung (From Hong Kong)
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Comment number 8.
At 29th May 2012, Jeffrey wrote:Hi Jennifer. I am so happy to join this Blog. I must say that the work you do can improve my English . I hope I can become the good English writer
Here is my homework:
1. Flooding has ___devastated_ this small fishing village.
2. It's pouring with rain outside. My barbeque will be __ruined_!
3. My boyfriend wants to split up with me: I'm _devastated_.
4. Around the corner is a _ruined_ Roman fort.
5. If the share price keeps falling, the company will be financially _ruined_ and the boss will be _devastated
Complain about this comment (Comment number 8)
Comment number 9.
At 1st Jun 2012, Soler wrote:Hello Jenifer!
1. Flooding has _devastated____________ this small fishing village.
2. It's pouring with rain outside. My barbeque will be _ruined_______!
3. My boyfriend wants to split up with me: I'm _devastated__________.
4. Around the corner is a ___ruined___________ Roman fort.
5. If the share price keeps falling, the company will be financially _ruined________ and the boss will be __devastated_________.
Hope I have done well.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 9)