February 2010
Life is interesting, isn't it?
Hi Eman,
How nice to meet you and welcome to the blogs.
Your life in Palestine looks very interesting. It's fascinating to see the way you combine a very traditional way of life with such a modern one too.
Your way of life is very different to mine in London. Although, having said that, when I was growing up in Scotland we sometimes saw our own interesting animals in the Scottish countryside too! Here are a few Highland cows.
But as for horse-riding, the closest I ever got to that was going to some stables with my dad and feeding sugar cubes to the horses and foals.
Adjectives
I thought we'd look at gradable and non-gradable adjectives. I'm sure you know that adjectives describe nouns. So that's words like hungry, happy, and beautiful. But did you know that adjectives can also be divided into two groups – gradable and non-gradable?
Adjectives that describe qualities that can be measured are called gradable adjectives (for example, big, cold, old, ugly). Adjectives that don't have degrees, that are absolutely one thing or the other, are called non-gradable adjectives (for example, starving, gorgeous, impossible).
So why am I telling you all about these two types of adjectives? Well, because the word 'very' goes with one group and 'absolutely' goes with the other. Can you guess which word goes with which group?
Here's a clue. Here are a couple of sentences from your blog but they're both wrong. Can you see why?
1. I am very delighted
2. They prepare very delicious food
Use of –ing
Next, I thought we'd look at a couple of examples of where we use the –ing form in English, rather than the base from or the infinitive.
1. My favourite activity is riding horses
2. People in our area are used to eating and cooking
Word choice
Although I understood practically all of your blog, I thought you might be interested in a few suggestions for making your English sound more natural and informal. In the sentences below, (A) is what you wrote and (B) is my suggestion for making your writing flow better. You'll notice too that these suggestions are a bit more informal and that's because most blogs use quite an informal tone:
(A) I hope that my writings will gain your interest
(B) I hope that you'll find my writing interesting
(A) it is crowded with orchards of grapes
(B) it has lots of vineyards
A) In addition to the development of the residents of this region in various fields of life, particularly in education, but they also cling to their ancestral lands
B) Although we're interested in developing ourselves (especially through education) we also cling to our ancestral lands and traditions
Finally, there was only one small part of your blog I didn't understand:
Albowaireh region in the winter, a pond is mediated it to irrigat the surrounded fields of grapes, this pond is filled now with the rain water
I though you might mean:
It's winter just now in Albowaireh. We have a pond in the middle of Albowaireh which irrigates the surrounded fields of grapes. This pond is filled with the rain water now.
Do let me know if that's what you meant or if you had something else in mind.
Looking forward to hearing more from you.
Best wishes,
Nuala
Vocabulary
fascinating – very interesting
combine – mix together
highland or highlands – areas with hills and mountains
stables – shelters where horse sleep in Winter
practically all of - almost all of
posted on Friday, 05 February 2010 | comment on this post
If you can't stand the heat ...
Hi Eman,
Thanks for your posting. I don't know about anyone else, but I thought the chicken looked delicious - and I'm a vegetarian! I think we'd all like to hear more about your grandma's jam making and your mum and sister's chicken cooking.
Your oven looks very different from any oven I've seen before. Most ovens I've used are gas or eclectic. This is my boring old gas cooker and electric oven at home:
Your stove looks much more interesting. Is it used every day or only for special dishes, like the chicken dish that your mum and sister made for you?
I thought we'd look at a couple of areas of your writing today – sentence length and pronouns.
Sentence length
I noticed that your sentences are quite long. And although I don't know any Arabic, I wonder if that's a reflection of your mother tongue. Does Arabic tend to have longer, more flowing sentences perhaps? Let's take this sentence as an example:
Today I were out of my office as I had a meeting with my colleagues in Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU) to work on the publicity of the 3rd Palestinian International Conference on Computer and Information Technology (PICCIT 2010) that is focusing on research, innovation and entrepreneurship, and which will be held by PPU on March 9, 2010.
That's a very long sentence. In English, we tend to go for slightly shorter sentences. We'd probably write something like this:
Today I was out of my office as I had a meeting with colleagues in Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU) on the publicity for the 3rd Palestinian International Conference on Computer and Information Technology (PICCIT 2010). The conference, which we'll be hosting on 9 March, is focusing on research, innovation and entrepreneurship.
And though I really shouldn't blow my own trumpet, here's some advice you might find useful which I gave to , a previous student blogger.
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.
Have a look at few of your other longer sentences in your blog and see if you can see a way of breaking up their length a bit.
Pronouns
Pronouns are words which take the place of nouns (I, his, theirs, etc.). But in a sentence like this from your blog, you can run into trouble:
Everybody is heading to his job.
If you use his, I feel left out (and so should you!). He or man or mankind, when we mean he or she, people or humans, is considered sexist. And what most people try to do nowadays is make their language as inclusive as possible. So where does that leave us with our his job sentence?
Well, you have a few options. You could say:
a) Each person is heading to his or her job.
b) Everybody is heading to his or her job.
c) Everybody is heading to their job.
Most people, I think would say that sentence (c) is the easiest on the ear and eye. However, the use of their in a sentence like this is not without controversy. You see some grammarians say that everybody is singular but their is plural, and that makes for a grammatical no-no! But actually the singular their has been used in English for hundreds of years (even Shakespeare used it), so I think you can quite safely use it, if you want to!
One more point about pronouns is the use of I in a sentence like this:
I and Ruba are responsible of media coverage
In English, it's considered polite to mention ourselves last, after other people in a sentence.
So can you see a way to change the Ruba sentence above?
That's all for now. Thanks for your blogs so far. And along with all your followers, I'm looking forward to your next posting from Palestine.
Nuala
Vocabulary
a reflection - a sign or result of something
blow my own trumpet – (an idiom) to boast or talk proudly of your own achievements
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) breaking up their length a bit – making into smaller pieces
sexist – language or behaviour that suggest women are less able than men or not as good as them
inclusive – including everyone, making everyone feel welcome
the easiest on the ear and eye – the easiest to hear and see (or here, read)
controversy – something that causes disagreement or discussion
a grammatical no-no – grammatically not correct
posted on Thursday, 11 February 2010 | comment on this post
The carnival's here!
Thanks for posting a few more photos about the chicken dish and your grandma's jam. I'm sure everyone who's following your blog enjoyed them! I know both dishes make my mouth water just looking at them.
You trip to the funfair looked really enjoyable. I can't believe you went on all those rides! You must be very brave.
Your pictures brought back lots of happy memories for me because they reminded me of the time that I worked on a funfair in the USA. That was when I was a student (there's a special working holiday visa that students here can get to work in America for a few months in the summer).
I worked on a game called The Bushel Baskets. It was one of those games that always looks so easy to play but somehow seems almost impossible to win and you never walk away with the amazing huge prize on offer. Did you try any games while you were at the fair in Ohio, and did you have any luck at them?
Here's a picture of me (it was taken a long time ago!) in front of the game, with some of the huge Tommy bears, as they were called. (The boss's name was Tommy. I guess that's one of the perks of being the boss – you get to name the products after you!)
I thought today we'd look at sentence length (again), your word choice and some past simple verbs.
Sentence length
Let's look at this sentence first. It's very long for one sentence. I mentioned a tip for breaking up longer sentences into shorter ones in my last blog. Another good tip when you're thinking about the length of your sentences is to bear in mind that there should be one main idea per sentence. In your sentence you're got three ideas – your sister's fear, Jami's warning, and your desire to get on the ride – so you really should have three sentences. So you first homework task is to try to divide this sentence into three separate sentences.
link
My sister Asma rode it before three years, she reached the end line with her mouth moved away in her face with the fear, and my brother in law Jamil reached with his standing hair and blown head, therefore, at this time, they warned me and tried to prevent me from riding it, but I had a strong wish to ride it, to have a challenge and to see what will happen with me.
Word choice
Next, I'd like to you look at some of your word choices. I understand almost all of what you're saying here but I've highlighted a few items and I'd like you to decide which of the two options offered would be better.
My sister Asma rode it before three years, she reached the end line with her mouth moved away in her face with the fear, and my brother in law Jamil reached with his standing hair and blown head, therefore, at this time, they warned me and tried to prevent me from riding it, but I had a strong wish to ride it, to have a challenge and to see what will happen with me.
before three years
a) three years ago
b) in the next three years
the end line
a) the end of the ride
b) the end of the queue
with his standing hair
a) with his hair standing on end
b) with his hair standing on end
I'm not quite sure what you mean here:
with her mouth moved away in her face with the fear
I think you might have translated from Arabic. Can you try to rephrase for us? I think maybe you meant something like:
Her mouth was open in a huge scream.
But I'm really not sure at all.
Past simple verbs
In this paragraph I've highlighted some verbs. Most of your story is in the past tense, so can you look at the highlighted verbs and see if you can put them into the correct form? Some of the them are regular verbs and some of them are irregular.
I kept my arms down, my head back, and hold on, the tree lights count down to green, launched to speed of 120 mph in less than 4 seconds, rising my hands and climbed 420 feet into the air, crest a massive hill and spiral 270 degrees, felt as if my legs were separated from my body, in this moment I hold on strongly and closed my eyes then opened them to see the earth from this point, oh god…where I am? Then speed towards the finish line rising my hands again, the entire experience was over in 17 seconds. Yes, it was the Top Thrill Dragster; which is one of the tallest and fastest roller coasters on Earth.
Looking forward to your next posting.
All the best,
Nuala
Vocabulary
make my mouth water – (idiom) food that looks delicious
one of the perks of - one of the advantages of
name the products after you - call tue products the same name as you
tip – piece of advice
to bear in mind – to think about or to consider
per – for each
posted on Thursday, 18 February 2010 | comment on this post
Goodbye to the land of grapes
Hi Emam,
Thanks for your last few postings with all your great photos. It's been really interesting learning about all the different grapes, sweets and treats from Palestine.
We're moving over to a new blogging system next week, so this will probably be our last chance to blog together.
It's been great getting to know you and I think lots of our blogging audience around the world have been charmed by your postings too.
I thought today we'd have a look at a few vocabulary items, as well as dangling modifiers in this last blog. The examples I've chosen come from your last few postings.
Vocabulary
Let's look at this sentence. I hope you don't mind, I've changed it a tiny bit so that we can concentrate on just one item of vocabulary – the word besides .
She was busy housekeeping and working on the farm besides grandpa.
There are two words that look very similar in English but which have quite different meanings:
beside – (preposition) next to
besides – as well as, in addition to
Here's how to use each word in a sentence like yours:
She was busy working beside my grandpa on the farm.
Besides my grandpa, there was only my grandma working on the farm.
Now that you can see both words, which one was it you wanted to use – beside or besides?
Next let's look at these words – nearly and slightly:
I took a photo of my grandpa’s library. It has some old books, which are nearly damaged that he still reads.
If the books are nearly damaged they aren't actually damaged, they're almost damaged.
I think the word you wanted was slightly. If the books are slightly damaged, they are damaged a little bit.
Dangling modifiers
Now let's have a look at this sentence:
My uncle Sareef, is sitting next to a "Beithingan" vegetable, after being harvested.
The problem here is that it sounds like your poor uncle Sareef has been harvested (as if he's a vegetable that's been growing for six months in the fields)! This mistake is quite a common one. It's one that not only students of English make, but one that native speakers make too. So don't worry, you're in good company!
To make sure you don't make this kind of mistake (called a dangling modifier), you need to be sure that the subject of your introductory phrase, (My uncle Shareef), is the same subject as your main clause (after being harvested). In your example, the subject of your introductory phrase is uncle Shareef , but the subject as your main clause is the Beithingan (being harvested).
Have a look at the sentences below. Can you spot which of them contain dangling modifier mistakes? If the sentence is correct, you don't have to do anything. But if you find a mistake, can you see how you could correct it?
1. Turning up at 10, the party had already started.
2. Seeing the beautiful sunset, she took a photo to help her remember the perfect day.
3. Sitting by the window in the cafe, she asked the waiter for a coffee.
4. Being in need of repair, I was able to buy the shoes at a good price.
5. Stacked up on the library shelves, he began to read the books.
All the best,
Nuala
Vocabulary
treats – special things to eat
charmed by – were attracted to or found something very nice or enjoyable
tiny - small
concentrate on – give your full attention to
poor - unfortunate, or unlucky
native speakers – people first language (here, people who's first language or mother tongue is English)
posted on Thursday, 25 February 2010 | comment on this post
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