A Small Test on English Grammar

hog.wash

原帖由 hog.wash 於 10-11-30 17:14 發表

Q8 我本來希望可以令Y2KChild知道他自己的錯誤。(No adjectives or adverbs are allowed.)

I'll start with Q8. This one is difficult even for upper form secondary school students. Of course, the task mentioned in the sentence is even more difficult. One would say it is simply impossible.

In Chinese, we often use adverbs to help express our intention clearer. However, it is sometimes not necessary in English as a proper tense used can also serve the purpose.

I would put down something like this:

I had hoped to convince Y2KChild of his mistakes.

We use past perfect tense to describe unfulfilled past intentions. It is probably something they don't teach even at secondary school but I think it is one of the areas English prevails over Chinese, i.e. the typical understatement of British English.

Too simple? Maybe. But I cannot think of a better way to express the meaning without the aid of an adverb. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

I'll be posting the other answers one by one later.

[ 本帖最後由 hog.wash 於 10-12-4 11:00 編輯 ]

hog.wash

原帖由 hog.wash 於 10-11-30 12:10 發表
Quiz 3

1.
飛機內有許多乘客

We should say:

There were many passengers on the plane.

Traditionally, when we talk about vehicles for mass transport, e.g. trains, buses, ferries..., we use "on" instead of "in" although it may not sound logical.
We say:
I came on a bus, but
I came in a taxi.

A justified exception is when we need to emphasize the physical location inside the vehicle, in contrast to outside the vehicle. For example, in describing a hostage situation, we may say:

While most passengers have been released, some passengers are still being kept in the plane.

[ 本帖最後由 hog.wash 於 10-12-5 20:15 編輯 ]

hog.wash

原帖由 hog.wash 於 10-11-30 12:10 發表
Quiz 3

2.
我想要一杯咖啡，唔該。(Start with “I”) 。

This one is difficult. Few Chinese students say it properly. If asked to start with "I", many will say

I want to have a coffee, please.

In fact, although grammatically acceptable, it is considered quite rude by 英文人。 They would say

I'd like a coffee, please.

[ 本帖最後由 hog.wash 於 10-12-7 00:02 編輯 ]

hog.wash

原帖由 hog.wash 於 10-11-30 12:10 發表
Quiz 3

3.
即使不是繁忙時間，東京的交通仍然十分擠塞。

This one is easy:

Although it is not rush hour, traffic is still very congested in Tokyo.

hog.wash

原帖由 stccmc 於 10-12-7 20:42 發表
引用:

原帖由 hog.wash 於 10-11-30 12:10 發表
Quiz 3

3.
即使不是繁忙時間，東京的交通仍然十分擠塞。

//
Although it is not rush hour, traffic is still very congested in Tokyo.
//

I am indifferent to whether it is with "still" or without "still" as it is not an conjunction.

With non-prefix words, personally I find it a bit unnecessarily formal. I would also change the preposition "at" to "during" if "non peak hours" is kept.

[ 本帖最後由 hog.wash 於 10-12-7 22:14 編輯 ]

hog.wash

原帖由 hog.wash 於 10-11-30 12:10 發表
Quiz 3

4.
這真是一問五星級酒店？

We say

Is this really a five-star hotel?

When we use a noun as an adjective, we usually use its singular form. Other examples are:

a bookshop, a ten-year-old boy, a twenty-dollar note, a five-person taxi ...

cherubic

Whilst I am waiting for the answers for Q5, 6 & 7,  I ask my son.

Q5 is too difficult for him.

Q6 - We have been here for 5 days.

Q7 - We will come back to Hong Kong in two-days time.

[ 本帖最後由 cherubic 於 10-12-7 23:10 編輯 ]

hog.wash

原帖by stccmc
I am indifferent to "at" or "during".

終於解謎，難怪你一直prefer past tense to present perfect tense。原來你是一個美文人，所以鐘意 "at non-peak hours" instead of "during non-peak hours."
You sentence "Tokyo's traffic is terrible even at off-peak hours." is better than mine although personally I'll even take away the apostrophe and say "The traffic in Tokyo".

hog.wash

原帖由 hog.wash 於 10-11-30 12:10 發表
Quiz 3

5.
我們致力於為顧客提供優質服務。(Use “committed to”)

We say

We're committed to providing our customers(guests) with a quality service.

In primary school, the only -ing form we use after "to" is after "look forward to". In secondary schools we learn some more, like "contribute to", "admit to", "limit to" ... etc. The key is ask ourselves whether the "to" is part of an infinitive structure (followed by an infinitive) or a preposition (to be followed by an -ing word or a noun).

[ 本帖最後由 hog.wash 於 10-12-8 11:02 編輯 ]

hog.wash

原帖由 hog.wash 於 10-11-30 12:10 發表
Quiz 3

6.
我們來這裏已五天了。

I'll change the sentence to the following:
6.
我們離開香港已五天了。

I'll post the answer to this question tomorrow.

hog.wash

原帖由 hog.wash 於 10-11-30 12:10 發表
Quiz 3

7.
我們兩天後回香港。(Don’t use “later”)

We say

We'll go back to (be back in) Hong Kong in two days.

We see "in" used this way a lot of times but many students have problems in using it properly.

hog.wash

This small exercise is to show why it is important to "write" on top of "read". A lot of things appear to be easy until you actually try to put down in words.

The major difference between international school students and local school students lies more, besides the language environment, in the amount of writing they do, than in the amount of reading they do. Y2KChild's son is a good example.

A famous writer (I can't remember whether it's 巴爾扎克 or 莫泊桑 or someone else.) once said that the secret to writing is just three words: write, write and write.

[ 本帖最後由 hog.wash 於 10-12-8 09:11 編輯 ]

hog.wash

For the local students who read as much as the IS students, most of them are still far worse when it comes to writing.

I can say I read as much as educated westerners would do, but sadly I cannot say I write as well as most of them do.

[ 本帖最後由 hog.wash 於 10-12-8 14:45 編輯 ]

hog.wash

"現在最好的大學生比我們時代的更優秀,......" I remember saying the same thing myself to vernique2005. How much I wished we still had her here. She would have done a far better job in explaining all the fine points on English to all of us.