Search results for 'tag:Sentence structures tag:Articles' matching tags 'Sentence structures' and 'Articles'

Re: Article - where do they go?

Clive — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:07:21 GMT

Hi,

Please look at this and tell me if the indefinite article 'a' goes with the third and fourth underlined parts. Is there possible confusion? If yes, how would you resolve it in term of grammar and the sentence structure? Would you say ther article 'a' does not go with any other words except the number one word?

Everything that goes into making a programme, lighting, staff and rent is now being reviewed.

The last three words appear to be used in a non-countable sense, so I would take the 'a' to relate only to 'programme'.

In addition, the verb 'make' does not seem to me to be a good choice for use with the other three nouns. We don't usually say, for example, that we 'make staff'.
I'd prefer to add other verbs, to clarify whatever is the intended meaning. eg

Everything that goes into making a programme, creating lighting, recruiting staff and paying for rent is now being reviewed.

Best wishes, Clive

Article - where do they go?

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:26:46 GMT

Re: ellipsis?

Yankee — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:32:21 GMT

Hi Taka

The parallelism with 'the random firing of nerve cells' may be better, but I didn't have any trouble following the original wording. If I'd been reading the article with that sentence in it, I doubt I'd have given the sentence structure a second thought -- probably because it seems easy to equate 'meaningful/clear thought' with 'nerve cells that are not simply firing randomly'.

Re: Is the sentence structure right?

Goodman — Tue, 06 May 2008 22:51:48 GMT

^{From my Googling, I entered a quoted search â20% of the populationâ. Then I randomly selected}

^{these articles and the result was nearly 50/50 with singular and plural verb agreement.}

^{Uganda, Abstinence and the Spread of HIV : NPR}

^{Aug 14, 2006 ... In Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, more than 20 percent of the adult population is infected. -- South Africa (along with India) ...}

^{WPJ Fall 2004 - Political Islam: Image and Reality by Mohammed Ayoob}

^{In South Africa, about 5 million peopleâ 20 percent of the adult populationâare thought to be infected with HIV. Adult infection rates for South Africaâs ...}

^{Taiwan is a hyperendemic area where 15 percent to 20 percent of the adult population carries HBV. A massive vaccination program was initiated in Taiwan in ...}

^{File Format:}^{PDF/Adobe Acrobat -},,'html','27','')" href="http://74.125.39.104/search?q=cache:JP4xFmQDmWgJ:www.ed.gov/pubs/HowAdultsLearn/Sohlman.pdf+%2220+percent+of+the+adult+population%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=27&gl=us">^{View as HTML}
^{More than 20 percent of the adult population}^{participates in one or several study. circles (Rubenson 1996). The results from the IALS study illustrate some ...}

^{Any experts like to give it a stab?}

Re: Doubts about the right vocabulary

Goodman — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:14:31 GMT

Hi Anon,
Aside from Feeb11's comment, I'd like to offer my 2 cents which may be uncomfortable for you to hear.
I got a hint of what you are trying to say but the tone and construct of your article are uncomfortably awkward. It has an abstract impression to me.

>>>>the question of performance in the workplace,relevant issues include( It's hard for reader to grasp what you try to depict right away the way it's cosrtrcuted) : how, if at all, increased female participation will weigh/ impact/bear on the work environment and whether women are integrated/mingled/unified into the paid workforce as primary or secondary earner.

Estimation/Notion Speculation about decreasing opportunities for secure career and âjobs for lifeâ has intensified following recent high-profile examples of company reorganisation, ( this is more than a mouthful! ) downsizing and outsourcing. Is this a major and lasting variation/amendment in patterns of employment? What are the social and economic consequences within the household of uncertain careers? As organisations downsize, multi-skillingand work flexibility become crucial/prime/foremost . But who is responsible for training in the necessary skills: employers, the state or the individual?<<<

You used a lot of jargns to compose this piece but I regret to tell you that they did not effectively make your points come across as clear. My advise is, try to master a simpler sentence pattern before attempting using big words and complex sentence structures. I don't know if it's me who failed to understand your post but that's how it appeared to me. I am just being straight forward. Sorry if I hurt your feelings!

Re: tenses

bernice.farrugia — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:27:34 GMT

1. ...have promised to inform people (the people?) about the beginning of the strike... - In this case both people and the people are accepted. The use of the makes your sentence more specific since it would be directly referring to the group of people who will be effected by the strike. However, it is not considered a mistake to keep your sentence general by not using the article the.

2. At dawn however railwaymen, breaking their promise, stop work without â¦ - I would keep it simple and simple say 'At dawn, however, railwaymen, breaking their promise, stop work without informing the public'. Do not forget that the first part of the sentence already includes a complicated sentence structure, so it makes more sence to simplify the structure of the second part of the sentence.

3. A lot of students are absent from (in?) my class.. - The correct answer is ...absent from my class...

4. Yeah. The railway company announced the beginning of the strike, as promised (as it had been promised?)... - The correct answer is...as it had promised. The subject of your sentence is THE RAILWAY COMPANY. Since you already have a subject you DO NOT NEED TO CHANGE YOUR SENTENCE FROM ACTIVE TO PASSIVE. IT refers to THE RAILWAY COMPANY and it should be followed by an ACTIVE verb -had promised.

Hope you find this information useful.

Re: direct object indirect object object of a preposition help me! plz

ClarkePeters — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:12:39 GMT

This post is a little dated but since I've been working with my students on this very topic I thought I'd post.

First, you can't understand what the "object of the preposition" is if you don't first know how to identify prepositions. So you need to find a list (google "list prepositions English" or "frequency list prepositions English") and you should get plenty of lists. Depending on which list you go by, there are from 80 to 130 or so prepositions. Most are not used too often, so I'd get a frequency list and try to learn the first 50 or so.   That may sound like a lot of words, but compared to the number of words in Webster's 500,000 word dictionary, that's really very few words--and they are SO IMPORTANT to understanding sentence structure. If you don't want to memorize, no problem, just keep a list with you at all times.

When you come across a word from the list, check to see if it has an object by asking "what" after the preposition.
              John called about the party.
              about what? the party,
              so "party" or "the party" if you include the article, is the object of the preposition.

Be careful, prepositions sometimes act as adverbs.
John got up and went to the kitchen.
up what? ---ummmm, no answer, there is NO object, so "up" is an adverb to "got"

as for DO, ask "what" after the verb.

John made a cake.
John made what? a cake
DO is cake

as for IO, ask "to whom/what?" or "for whom/what?" after the DO
John made Mary a cake.
John made what? a cake
DO is cake
a cake for whom? for Mary
IO is Mary.

The following sentences are exactly the same in meaning! (except maybe in emphasis)

John made Mary a cake.         common usage
John made for Mary a cake.   NOT common usage, but technically
                                                  correct, sometimes used for emphasis
John made a cake for Mary.    common usage

same with "to"
John gave Mary a cake.
John gave to Mary a cake.   NOT common usage
John gave a cake to Mary.

some grammarians will say that an IO can ONLY be between the verb and DO.
Other linguists say functionally there is no difference, so it is OK to say that "to Mary" or "for Mary" is the IO. However, others will argue that they are adverbials answering the question where (to) or why (for) about the verb (made why? for Mary    gave where? to Mary).
How one describes it is not important, as they all function the same.

Re: Please help me proof it. Thanks

Cheese1987 — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 04:39:46 GMT

Julielai wrote:

Some parts in red for you to fix

Cheese1987 wrote:

Thank you!

Account of the recent language learning experience and insights gained through the course both inside and outside of class

      I have learnt some useful skills in the course in these months.(incomplete sentence) The most impressing (missing three letters) lesson teach me how to write a composition in an (article) appropriate (sp.) style. I do know it is important to choose the appropriate style and tone when writing. I also understand that language style can be classified as formal, neutral and informal before. However, I do not know how I can write in an appropriate style correctly. The skills are not taught when I am in secondary school. After the lesson, I understand choice of vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar, use of transitional words and phrases, use of punctuation and use of abbreaviations and short forms affect the language style. I feel happy that I know how I can write in an appropriate style now. I believe that I can match the type of writing more correctly and therefore, my writing will _not__ _be__ (Insert words here) awkward or unnatural.

      Reading English newspapers also helps me to improve my English. I am not used to reading English newspaper before. But I am required to buy South China Morning Post from the courses. From then on I try to make reading South China Morning Post to be my daily routine. I find that it is an effective way to learn more vocabularies. It also helps me to broaden my horizon(Review your use of not only but also) Now I read South China Morning Post form Yahoo. So I can read South China Morning Post everyday. I deeply believe that South China Morning Post is worth reading.

Personal changed feelings/opinions/attitude towards English language learning

    I am convinced that English language learning are stressful and frustrating before. I feel nervous when everyone is focus on me and when teacher is listening carefully. I believe this feeling comes from my self- doubt. I think classmates are step ahead of me. I also cannot correctly pronounce some sounds and sets of sound. To be frank, I have thought that English is no more important because I am in Chinese Language and Literature Programme. I no need to improve my English anymore.

However, my friends told me that mastery of the English language is important. Hong Kong being a service - oriented economy, the advantage of having a competent English-speaking work force has become all the more improtant. I know that being a Chinese Language and Literature student is only an excuse to avoid learning English (You shouldn't think like that! Nothing wrong with being a Chinese major.). This thought only badly affects my interest and progress of learning English. I do know that if I lose the interest of learning English, my English cannot improve anymore. I need to find some ways to prevent feeling so embarrassed.

     There are ways for me to prevent feeling so embarrassed. I think the most practical way is to improve English. I should study English continuously. When I find some words that I cannot pronouce, I will check the electronic dictionary immediately. I will also try to speak English with my friends. I believe I can speak English fluently if I often do that. My friends can also kindly point out my grammatical mistakes. They will not laugh at my absurd mistakes. Therefore, I will not feel embarrassed anymore.

Personal Learning Plan

Long term goals:

a)         To get a C grade in Use of English in Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination

b)        To get a band score of 7 in IELTS

Short term goals:

a)         To finish all the exercises in Advanced Grammar in Use.

b)        To keep reading South China Moring Post and Hong Kong Standard

c)        To write compositions

Materials to use:

a)         Advanced Grammar in Use Exercise book

b)        South China Morning Post

c)        Hong Kong Standard

Activities to engage in:

a)         To join some workshops held by ITC

b)        To exchange oversea in Summer

How often:

a)         Doing 3 exercises everyday

b)        Reading Newspapers everyday (Look up the difference between "every day" and everyday)

c)        Writing a composition every 2 weeks

Mode of learning:

a)         Keep doing exercise and composition

b)        Keep reading newspapers

Mode of assessment:

a)         To sit for Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination.

b)        To sit for IELTS.

Re: Please help me proof it. Thanks

julielai — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 22:06:53 GMT

Some parts in red for you to fix

Cheese1987 wrote:

Account of the recent language learning experience and insights gained through the course both inside and outside of class

     Some useful skill I have learnt in the course in these months.(incomplete sentence) The most impress_ _ _ (missing three letters) ~~me is the~~ lesson teaching me how to write a composition in a (article) approicate (sp.) style. I do know it is important to choose the appropriate ~~and~~ tone when writing. I also understand that language style can be classified as formal, Neutral and Informal before. However, I do not know how I can write in an approriate style correctly. The skills are not taught when I am in secondary school. After the lesson, I understand choice of vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar, use of transitional words and phrases, use of punctuation and use of abbreaviations and short forms ~~are a critical issue~~ affect~~ing~~ the language style. I feel happy that I know how I can write in an approiate style now. I believe that I can match the type of writing more correctly and therefore, my writing will ~~be avoided to regard as~~ ___ ___ (Insert words here) awkward or unnatural.

      Reading English newspapers also helps me to improve my English. I am not used to reading English newspaper before. But I am required to buy South China Morning Post throught the courses. From then on I try to make reading South China Morning Post to be my daily routine. ~~I find that not only vocabularies I can learnt more , but also the horizon I can borden.~~ (Review your use of not only but also) Now ~~when the days I cannot received Newspaper from the lesson,~~ I read South China Morning Post form Yahoo. So I can read South China Morning Post everyday. I deeply believe that South China Morning Post is worth reading.

Personal changed feelings/opinions/attitude towards English language learning

    I am convinced that English language learning are stressful and frustrating before. I feel nervous when everyone is focus on me and when teacher is listening carefully. I believe this feeling comes from my self- doubt. I think classmates are step ahead of me. I also cannot correctly pronounce some sounds and sets of sound. To be frank, I have thought that English is no more important because I am in Chinese Language and Literature Programme. I no need to improve my English anymore.

However, my friends told me that mastery of the English language is indispensible. Hong Kong being a service - oriented economy, the advantage of having a competent English-speaking work force has become all the more improtant. I know that being a Chinese Language and Literature student is only an excuse to avoid learning English (You shouldn't think like that! Nothing wrong with being a Chinese major.). This thought only badly affect my interest and progress of learning English. I do know that if I lost the interest of learning English, my English cannot improve anymore. I need to find some ways to prevent feeling so fear and embarrassed.

     There are ways for me to prevent feeling so embarrassment. I think the most basical way is to improve English. I should study English continuously. When I find some words that I cannot ~~ensure to correctly~~ pronouce, I will check the electronic dictionary immediately. I will also try to speak English with my friends. I believe I can speak English fluently if I often do that. My friends can also kindly point out my grammatical mistakes. They will not laugh at my absurd mistakes. Therefore, I will not feel embarrassed anymore.

Personal Learning Plan

Long term goals:

a)         To get a C grade in Use of English in Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination

b)        To get a band score of 7 ~~marks~~ in IELTS

Short term goals:

a)         To finish all the exercises in Advanced Grammar in Use.

b)        To keep reading South China Moring Post and standard

c)        To write compositions

Materials to use:

a)         Advanced Grammar in Use Exercise book

b)        South China Morning Post

c)        Hong Kong Standard

Activities to engage in:

a)         To join some workshops held by ITC

b)        To exchange in Summer

How often:

a)         Doing 3 exercises everyday

b)        Reading Newspapers every day (Look up the difference between "every day" and everyday)

c)        Writing a composition every 2 weeks

Mode of learning:

a)         Keep doing exercise and composition

b)        Keep reading Newspapers

Mode of assessment:

a)         To sit for Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination.

b)        To sit for IELTS.

Re: About the definite article

CalifJim — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:11:27 GMT

Why in sentences #1 and #2 [do] they write "_the_ release of..." and in the third sentence simply "release of...".

This may seem like a silly answer, but they wrote it that way because they meant it that way (or felt it that way). The difference is so slight that it's also possible that the choice was almost unconscious. Or ... the writer was inattentive to subtleties at the time and made some arbitrary choices. Whether through an unconscious impulse or through inattentiveness, neither of these explanations is consistent with the theory that the writer had in mind any "considerations of style" or made any effort to avoid overloading the text with definite articles. In my opinion this is an overly charitable interpretation!
_________

We can claim that the first two are the same because of parallelism, of course.

The release ... normally ...
The release ... also ...

And there's no need to preserve this effect in the third case since the sentence structure is different there. Maybe the conditionality of the third sentence affects the choice.
_________

Nevertheless, I do think it was a matter of the writer's feeling the meanings -- as written -- at the time of writing.

the release individuates and makes the occurrence clearly countable; whereas simply release suggests any releasing occurence in a more general and abstract way -- almost in a non-countable way. I think it is related to the conditionality here. But who knows why the writer felt it one way in the first two cases and the other way in the third case?! He or she could certainly have done otherwise without any loss of information.

CJ

(The fewer the words to explain, the longer the discussion necessary to explain them!)

Search results for 'tag:Sentence structures tag:Articles' matching tags 'Sentence structures' and 'Articles'

Re: Article - where do they go?

Article - where do they go?

Re: ellipsis?

Re: Is the sentence structure right?

Uganda, Abstinence and the Spread of HIV : NPR

Aug 14, 2006 ... In Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, more than 20 percent of the adult population is infected. -- South Africa (along with India) ...

WPJ Fall 2004 - Political Islam: Image and Reality by Mohammed Ayoob

In South Africa, about 5 million peopleâ 20 percent of the adult populationâare thought to be infected with HIV. Adult infection rates for South Africaâs ...

Re: Doubts about the right vocabulary

Re: tenses

Re: direct object indirect object object of a preposition help me! plz

Re: Please help me proof it. Thanks

Re: Please help me proof it. Thanks

Re: About the definite article

^{Uganda, Abstinence and the Spread of HIV : NPR}

^{Aug 14, 2006 ... In Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zimbabwe, more than 20 percent of the adult population is infected. -- South Africa (along with India) ...}

^{WPJ Fall 2004 - Political Islam: Image and Reality by Mohammed Ayoob}

^{In South Africa, about 5 million peopleâ 20 percent of the adult populationâare thought to be infected with HIV. Adult infection rates for South Africaâs ...}