Search results for 'tag:Prepositions tag:Definite articles' matching tags 'Prepositions' and 'Definite articles'

Re: corrections 7

YoungCalifornian — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:22:21 GMT

(a) A librarian works in / at the library. / A librarian is in charge of a library.

All three are correct, but have slightly different meanings. Also, the switch between indefinite and definite articles in your first two examples sounds odd.

(b) A grasshopper looks / looks like a praying mantis.

I don't understand the distinction you're trying to draw here. A grasshopper looks like a praying mantis is correct.

(c) A boy is climbing / climbing up the ladder.

Again, I don't understand the distinction you're trying to draw here. A boy is climbing up the ladder is correct.

(d) The water lily plants / water lily float on the pond.
The water lily plants are floating in the pond.

The first example is correct as it is, although people usually call them "water lilies" instead of "water lily plants." The second example is incorrect because the conjugation of the verb "float" does not match the noun. It has to be either the water lilies float... or the water lily floats... depending on the number of water lilies you're referring to. The third example is correct. In this context, either the preposition "on" or "in" can be used depending on your meaning. Using "on" emphasizes that the lilies are on top of the water (think of a vertical plane). Using "in" emphasizes that the lilies are in the middle of the pond (think of a horizontal plane).

e) He is picking up the book on the floor.
He is picking the book up on / from the floor.

I would avoid using the preposition "on" in this context. It is technically correct if you want to emphasize "the book on the floor" as the entire subject. However most people would assume that "on" complements the verb "to pick up". In that case, only "from" would be the correct preposition. Either He is picking up the book from the floor or He is picking the book up from the floor sounds best.

(f) This is a photograph of my family.

This sentence is fine.

(g) The boy pointed to /at the toy he wanted.

Either preposition is correct, but using "to" emphasizes the act of pointing itself a bit more.

(h) She is putting the dirty clothes in / into the washing machine.

Technically "into" is more correct since the laundry will be wholly inside the washing machine, but native speakers will often substitute "in" for "into" in this context.

Looking for some tips and/or curriculum suggestions

mikesusangray — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:50:11 GMT

Hi all!

I've been giving English conversation lessons to a theology professor for about a year now. He's getting on in the years - a couple years from retirement - and his primary goal has been just to get his spoken English going a little stronger. His mother tongue is French but he's been teaching at a German language university for many years.

I'd like to add some more specific inputs to our lessons but I can't seem to find the right material. His passive skills are excellent - he reads widely and with perfect comprehension in his field - and he can communicate quite understandably. He is a linguistics specialist and can grasp any concept about the language immediately. I brought along Cambridge Advanced Grammar in Use and he could plow through a chapter in five minutes with perfect conceptual comprehension.

However, he also continues to make very simple errors - for example, he has trouble choosing between present simple and continuous or often uses the present tense for past events. Sentence order tends to get wander hither and yon while definite and indefinite articles come and go with the tide. (Prepositions are a problem too, but I won't beat him to hard there - prepositions are difficult in any new language.) In many cases his mistakes are typical of French or German speech patterns.

One other limitation is that he enjoys the weekly lessons (a good hour), but doesn't have much time to study in between.

Right now we spend about 15 minutes reading a chapter from Advanced Grammar in Use and about 45 minutes talking about just about anything under the sun, while I take notes and show him problems under the categories Pronunciation/Articles & Prespositions/Word Order/Other Grammar/Vocabulary/Idioms. However, I don't think the work book is a good choice - particularly since he doesn't do the homework - and it seems like he isn't making very good progress with his typical problem patterns - though he greets them like old friends when I point them out.

Any tips here?

Re: proofreading of funny article

Skrej — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:39:08 GMT

changeling
Hi everybody!

I was translating a kind funny recipe. Could you, please, check the following passages? Does it sound good? Do I need any improvement?

You will need eggs to make this apple pie. If you've run out of them, get dressed and rush out to the store. And get iodine, cleansers, soap, bandage and sticking plaster, too. On your way back, grab some flour, apples and sugar. So, you come back home and go to your kitchen right away. While unloading your purchases you will surely drop a few of eggs on the floor. Donât worry about that, just beat remaining 5 (put the number first - 5 remaining eggs) eggs into a bowl. C l (This is a typo, I think - delete it) Clean the kitchen floor, or else it will be slippery. Now follow directions carefully. Take your mixer and start beating eggs. Your mixer wonât work? Just try to switch it on. It did no difference? (use made, instead of did - It made no difference?) You probably have to place the blades. (Say 'insert' instead of 'place', or say "put the blades in" instead of place the blades. Also, you might want to say 'beaters' instead of blades) So now you can beat the eggs. When you finish splashing beaten eggs all over the place you will want to have a shower. Wash yourself very well and get the yolk out of your nose. And finally, wash your clothes.

You have three (Earlier you said 5 eggs in the bowl, now 3 - is this intentional? Does this mean the person splashed out 2 eggs?) beaten yolks in the bowl and that's enough to make our apple pie. Now find old newspapers and magazines and paste (I'd use 'cover' instead of paste) the entire kitchen with them. Cover your furniture with some waste blanket (Subject/verb agreement error here - either say 'some waste blankets' or 'a waste blanket) if you don't plan to buy new furniture. Take (Missing a definite article 'the' here) flour package and put about a cup of flour into the bowl. Gather the flour you spilt on a table (forget about the flour scattered on the floor) and put it back to the package. Make sure youâve pasted (Again, I'd use 'covered' instead of pasted) all the walls and the ceiling in the kitchen properly. Now blend the eggs with the flour.

You need a bath again. Wash all that beaten mixture (Simpler just to use the word 'batter' here instead of 'beaten mixture) off. Take a sharp knife. Well, that's where you need iodine, bandage (either 'a bandage' or 'bandages) and sticking plaster. Peel five apples. Apply iodine to your cuts and bandage your fingers. Stick (Use 'apply' here instead of 'stick' ) the plaster. Now, cut (Again, you're missing the definite article 'the' here) apples. Keep in mind, though, we need two apples for our pie, so feel free to eat the rest of them while cooking. (Consider rewording this sentence slightly. It's gramatically ok, but a bit confusing. I'd say use either one of these two options: (1) Keep in mind, though, we need two apples for our pie, so don't eat all of them. or (2) Keep in mind, we only need 2 apples for our pie, so feel free to eat the rest of them while cooking.) Pick up all apple pieces you dropped on the floor and wash them in running water. Add apples and sugar to the dough. Beat the ingredients. Clean up all those nasty spots on the fridge and windows, or else they will dry up which will make cleaning much harder.

Pour what's left in the bowl in a frying pan (A frying pan is for frying, but you're putting the pan in the oven to bake. I think you mean baking pan.) Forgot to coat your frying pan (baking pan?) with oil? That's ok, just pour the mixture back in the bowl. Now wash the frying pan, (baking pan?) towel it dry and coat with vegetable oil. Wash your hands and again pour the dough in the frying pan. (baking pan?) Place in the oven. If your pie still looks pretty much the same after an hour of baking, check if you turned the heat on. So now the heat is on and you can take a rest. As you wake up suddenly, open all windows, doors and your oven. Bring (Use 'give' or 'make' instead of 'bring'.) your apologies to your neighbors and convince them that there was no fire. Now that you've recovered from all that shock, call your darling and say you gonna make something special for the dinner. Make (Use 'go to' or 'head to/for' instead of 'make') for the store again and buy a cake and a bottle of wine, or even something stiffer. Unpack the cake and put it on the frying pan (Again, use 'baking pan' but you'll need to use the preposition 'in' instead of 'on. - Unpack the cake and put in the baking pan). Greet your darling!

Hi Changeling,

You did a pretty good job with your funny recipe, but I commented on a few minor errors. Feel free to ask for further clarification if my comments don't make sense.

Hope this helps!

Re: work in/ at...

Cool Breeze — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 10:30:45 GMT

Hi Lcchang

If there is only one airport in your city, you could say I work at the airport. If you want to emphasize that you are always indoors when you work there, you could say I work in the airport. You could use the indefinite article (a/an) if there are several airports.

If you mention a company, the preposition is often for: I work for China Airlines.

Re: Parts of speech

Yankee — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 16:33:47 GMT

You could try color-coding your answers this way, for example:

(1) the verbs; (2) the nouns; (3) the adjectives; (4) the adverbs; (5) the prepositions; and (6) the conjunctions

The usage of the word 'the' in your sentences would normally be referred to as definite article or determiner.

Re: Check my mistakes,please

CalifJim — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 02:23:47 GMT

<<Do we have to use the definite article "the" for each tense or not? >>
To be very strict about it, yes, but we frequently write telegraphically and leave out the the, especially on this site, where we use the names of the tenses so often.

<<1.In the use of the Present Simple. I would use the here, yes.
2.The Present Perfect Tense or Present Perfect Tense. Either, as explained above.
3.Translate the following sentences into the Past Unreal Conditional. With the is better.
4.Complete the sentences using Past Simple or the Past Simple. Either. >>

Adding the the sounds better when the tense name comes after a preposition.
_____________

<<Check the following sentences,please:
   A: Why didn't you prepare anything yesterday? OK.
   B: Because I didn't know they ~~will~~ would come. (Sequence of tenses. did - would)
       If I had known that they would come, I would have prepared everything. OK.
    - If they had told me they would come, I would have prepared everything. OK.
>>

<<1. This program is on the air ~~everyday~~ every day except on Sundays.>>

<<Which one is correct?
1. Why ~~I couldn't~~ get in touch with you yesterday?
2. Why couldn't I get in touch with you yesterday? >>

Only the second. You have to invert subject and verb for a question unless the subject is being questioned.(Which came first? or Who did that?)
____________

In the future it would be more convenient if you made separate posts for each of your questions instead of putting so many different ones all in one post.

CJ

Re: Preposition

Mister Micawber — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:58:59 GMT

1. Our Acting Manager had to put off his trip, because there was no vacant seat on the plane.
(we use the preposition on, is it correct or not? -- Yes)

2. Lots of farmers work on the farms.
(we use the preposition on, is it correct or not?-- Yes. And in this sentence, do we use the definite article before the word farm or not?-- if you are speaking of specific farms in the context, use the; if you are speaking generally, don't use the)

Preposition

Kittixay — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:56:51 GMT

1. Our Acting Manager had to put off his trip, due to there was no vacant seat on the plane.
(we use the preposition on, is it correct or not? )
2. Lots of farmers work on the farms.
(we use the preposition on, is it correct or not? And in this sentence, do we use the definite article before the word farm or not?)

Trouble understanding this...

SeekerOfPeace — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 03:20:03 GMT

Right or wrong?

âFor a moment¹, I even thought² that this was some sort of test³ and that this woman was someone from the head office⁴, testing my loyalty⁵.â

1: Prepositional phrase used adverbially.

2: Main clause

3: Dependant clause

4: Dependant clause

5: Participial phrase

For: preposition,

A: indefinite determinant

Moment: noun

I: personal pronoun, 1^st person,

Even: adverb, expressing surprise

That: relative pronoun?

This: pronoun

Was: L.V. simple past

Some: determiner, determines âsortâ, indefinite article

Sort: noun

Of: preposition

Test: noun

And: subordinating conjunction, (I thought and could only be used as a coordinating conjunction??)

This: definite article

Woman: noun

Was: L.V. simple past

Someone: indefinite pronoun

From: preposition, links someone and head office

Head office: compound noun+ head used as an adjective rather than a noun here.

Testing: present participle (verb?)

My: determiner

Loyalty: noun

Re: Analysis of a sentence

Philip — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:29:59 GMT

SeekerOfPeace wrote:
Hello everyone,

I'm trying to practice my understanding of grammar. I'm trying to be as detailed as possible in my explanations.

Is the following analysis right? Is there anything I should/could add to it?

Thanks.

The moment she entered¹, the woman presented a sharp contrast to our shiny store² with its bright lighting and neatly arranged shelves³.

1: dependant clause (subordinate clause)

2: Independent clause (main clause)

3: Prepositional phrase

The: Definite article, defines moment

Moment: noun, countable

She: personal pronoun, 3^rd person

Entered: Simple past, Simple past

The: Definite article, defines woman

Presented: Verb, simple past, synonym in this context: provide

A: non-definite article I've always used the term 'indefinite'.

Sharp: adjective

To: preposition

Our: Possessive pronoun (personal pronoun, possessive case) Can I say possessive pronoun?

With: preposition (descriptive)

Its: pronoun, replaces store

Bright: adjective

Lighting: noun

And: conjunction

Neatly: adverb

Arranged: adjective

Shelves: noun

Excellent work! 100%