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<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"><channel><title>Search results for 'tag:Tenses tag:Genders' matching tags 'Tenses' and 'Genders'</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aTenses+tag%3aGenders&amp;tag=Tenses,Genders&amp;orTags=0</link><description>Search results for 'tag:Tenses tag:Genders' matching tags 'Tenses' and 'Genders'</description><dc:language>en-US</dc:language><generator>CSMOD (Build: 3191.21962)</generator><item><title>Re: Help me please.</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/HelpMePlease/grzvl/post.htm#502650</link><pubDate>Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:13:20 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:502650</guid><dc:creator>julielai</dc:creator><description>&lt;p&gt;You need to fix the part in red. 
&lt;p&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;img src="/Themes/englishforums/images/icon-quote.gif"&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Anonymous&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&amp;nbsp;Ok... so basically I need to do a five paragraph essay (Paragraph model?) by analyzing 3 quotes from this a passage I read &amp;quot;No name woman&amp;quot; by Maxie Hong Kingston. I&amp;#39;m just having trouble with a few things... some I understand, and others I don&amp;#39;t. I tried fixing some errors that I made.. (ie: spelling, grammar). This is just the a 2nd draft. I would apprcieate some help and tips. Thanks in advance! 
&lt;p&gt;This is what I need help with: &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;-Verb Tense &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;`Unpacking language of quotes -Introducing all quotes fully&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;-Run on sentences?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;No Name Woman&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Maxine Hong Kingston begins to learn the story of &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;her &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;aunt &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;who in the story &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;is known as âNo Name Womanâ. Kingstonâs mother begins in the first passage, warning her to not tell anyone what she is about to say, referring to the story of her aunt. She explains that the aunt &lt;font color="#000000"&gt;was&lt;/font&gt; Kingstonâs fatherâs sister, who killed herself in the family &lt;strike&gt;well&lt;/strike&gt;, but thereâs no mention of her at all, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;because it is as if she had never been born. The aunt brought shame to the family. She became a disgrace to the village, because the &lt;strike&gt;action of&lt;/strike&gt; adultery committed. As a result of that, she ended up with an unwanted pregnancy. This caused so much commotion with the villagers, who were enraged, and raided the family house. The villagers destroyed and &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;broke&lt;/font&gt; their possessions, wanting to get rid of the aunt from their community; because the villagers did not permit the coupleâs breaking tradition. As a child, Kingston did not fully understand&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;this part &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;of her Chinese culture. She starts making up her own stories. As an adult, Kingston looks back at her childhood years, to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;understand the &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;story and her &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;culture&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Roughly around the age of 12, Kingston starts receiving warnings&lt;strike&gt;, &lt;/strike&gt;and semi-threats from her mother &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;about&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;any unwanted pregnancies. Kingstonâs mother sets the aunt as an example. The mother says:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;Don&amp;#39;t let your father know that I told you. He denies her. Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could happen to you. Don&amp;#39;t humiliate us. You wouldn&amp;#39;t like to be forgotten as if you had never been born. The villagers are watchful;&amp;quot; (325)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The mother warns young Kingston, and &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;talks about &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;the aunt who brought disgrace to the family. Kingston is being guided, not to fall in the wrong path as her aunt did. The mother warns her at this moment, because it is the moment &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Kingston goes into a new stage of life that she must go through carefully (be specific)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. The mother wants Kingston to learn the values of her culture, traditions, and the people she represents. She describes that the villagers are &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;watching (watching whom?)&lt;/font&gt;, because they are a community who stick together as a group. &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;It is part of their culture, having private lives is a dishonor to the culture.&amp;nbsp; (doesn&amp;#39;t make sense) &lt;/font&gt;&lt;font color="#000000"&gt;The&lt;/font&gt; aunt dishonored it, by having a baby without &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;a father&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. The mother is preventing young Kingston from &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;bring&lt;/font&gt; shame to the family again. &lt;strike&gt;Kingstonâs mother told stories&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Adult Kingston remembers when her mother &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;use&lt;/font&gt; to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;tell her stories to &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;warn her about life, and the realities &lt;strike&gt;that existed&lt;/strike&gt;. &lt;strike&gt;She would tell stories, to teach Kingston morals.&lt;/strike&gt; Kingston explains:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;âWhenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strength to establish realities. Those in the emigrant generations who could not reassert brute survival died young and far from home. Those of us in the first American generations have had to figure out how the invisible world the emigrants built around our childhoods fit in solid America.â (325) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Adult Kingston discusses &lt;strike&gt;about&lt;/strike&gt; the emigrants who were struggling with poverty, and moved to America. This was the old generation, who struggled with &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;survival&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. The emigrants re-&lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;assert&lt;/font&gt; themselves with the new life; some &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;endure&lt;/font&gt; (tense) brute survival. Poverty was an issue in old China. The new generation is growing in America. China was the âinvisible worldâ for &lt;strike&gt;most that was part of&lt;/strike&gt; the new generation. Kingston &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;they&lt;/font&gt; never been there, but only hear stories about it. &lt;strike&gt;America was solid, because&lt;/strike&gt; the new generation &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;was&lt;/font&gt; adapting to new changes. Kingston &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;wanted&lt;/font&gt; to uncover more of this Chinese cultural history.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;As an adult, Kingston starts to question if her aunt is really guilty&lt;strike&gt;, to commit such an act,&lt;/strike&gt; &lt;strike&gt;which would lead to her own demise&lt;/strike&gt;. Kingston searches for answers, because the stories only seem to confuse her. She &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;did&lt;/font&gt; not fully understand the Chinese &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;cultural&lt;/font&gt; as a child, because she &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;is part of &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;the new generation. This leads Kingston &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;to form &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;her own perspective of the story that her mother had told. She starts &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;rewriting &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;the story in her own words, and her own point of view. Kingston thinks:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;âAdultery is extravagance. Could people who hatch their own chicks and eat the embryos and the heads for delicacies and boil the feet in vinegar for party food, leaving only the gravel, eating even the gizzard lining--could such people engender a prodigal aunt? To be a woman, to have a daughter in starvation time was a waste enough. My aunt could not have been the lone romantic who gave up everything for sex. Women in the old China did not choose. Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil. I wonder whether he masked himself when he joined the raid on the family.â (326)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Adult Kingston does not believe that her aunt gave up everything for adultery. She questions, &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;and thinks &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;how cruel the villagers &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;are&lt;/font&gt; towards the aunt. Kingston describes her aunt as &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;a &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;âprodigal auntâ &lt;strike&gt;meaning she is yielding profusely&lt;/strike&gt;. She questions&lt;strike&gt;,&lt;/strike&gt; if a human being is capable of bringing a newborn &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;to this world&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;, and then getting rid of it without any remorse. She realizes that &lt;strike&gt;in Chinese culture, woman &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;had&lt;/font&gt; no right to rule, because they &lt;font color="#ff0000"&gt;had&lt;/font&gt; to obey the rules set by the husband. We&lt;/strike&gt;women in that time &lt;strike&gt;of Chinese culture&lt;/strike&gt; did not have a choice &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;because they had to obey their husbands&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. Kingston wonders if the man responsible for impregnating her aunt wasnât man enough to &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;try to be responsible&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. She also believes the man might have been responsible for organizing the raid in the first place. Kingston&lt;strike&gt;, &lt;/strike&gt;somehow wanted to defend her aunt. She tries to analyze the possible reasons behind her aunt&amp;#39;s unwanted pregnancy&lt;strike&gt;, in&lt;/strike&gt; which dishonored her entire &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;family&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Kingston as an adult&lt;strike&gt;, &lt;/strike&gt;finally realized her aunt was not fully guilty. The aunt &lt;strike&gt;went through injustice, and&lt;/strike&gt; was the victim of rape. While the entire society rejected her aunt, Kingston honored her aunt instead. The motherâs aim was to warn young Kingston, not to humiliate the family by making the same mistake as her aunt did. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The motherâs aim also had another purpose, in which she wanted to show the values of her culture, traditions, and making Kingston a better person in life&lt;strike&gt;, without any disruptions&lt;/strike&gt;. Kingston as an adult reflects back on what she has learned from her mother, and her unnamed aunt. She &lt;strong&gt;&lt;u&gt;has &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;also discovered the world that was once invisible to her. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;</description></item><item><title>Mistakes made by Chinese Learners</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/MistakesMadeChineseLearners/zqpbx/post.htm</link><pubDate>Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:30:26 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:500579</guid><dc:creator>Anonymous</dc:creator><description>&amp;nbsp;Hi everyone&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I just wondered if anyone could help - I have to write a profile of a chinese learner of English (completely made up).&amp;nbsp; In it I must put any difficulties that the learner has in learning English as an L2.&amp;nbsp; I have got so far:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Intonation transfer from L1 may cause them to be perceived as rude/inconsiderate, more serious transfer may affect comprehensiveness.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;No inflections in L1 - tenses difficult to learn in L2 as L1 has no true tenses and concept of time is expressed by adverbs/implicit or contextual assumptions.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Difficulty distinguishing [r] &amp;amp; &lt;img src="http://www.englishforums.com/emoticons/emotion-64.gif" alt="Heart" title="Heart" /&gt; - Does anyone know why this is as I can&amp;#39;t find a reason?!!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Prepositions such as &amp;#39;on&amp;#39;, &amp;#39;in&amp;#39; &amp;amp; &amp;#39;at&amp;#39; have one chinese translation in many contexts, &amp;#39;zai&amp;#39; - may be confused resulting in phrases such as &amp;#39;on Taiwan&amp;#39; instead of &amp;#39;in Taiwan&amp;#39;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Use of awkward gerunds e.g. &amp;#39;no noising&amp;#39;, excessive use of verbs ending in &amp;#39;ing&amp;#39; e.g. &amp;#39;do not climbing&amp;#39;, confusion of &amp;#39;ed&amp;#39; &amp;amp; &amp;#39;ing&amp;#39; verbs e.g. &amp;#39;i am bored&amp;#39; vs &amp;#39;i am boring&amp;#39; --- all of these errors occur because verbs are not conjugated in chinese, for tense or pronoun.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;No equivalent word for &amp;#39;the&amp;#39; so may be used excessively when not needed e.g. &amp;#39;The China&amp;#39; or missed out when needed.&amp;nbsp; May also be confused with &amp;#39;a&amp;#39;/&amp;#39;an&amp;#39;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Confusion over countable and uncountable nouns, use of &amp;#39;how much?&amp;#39; vs &amp;#39;how many?&amp;#39; - leads to phrases such as &amp;#39;I want a soup&amp;#39; &amp;amp; &amp;#39;a lot of shoe&amp;#39;.&amp;nbsp; This is due to there not being plurals in chinese - no inflections.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Switching between &amp;#39;he&amp;#39; &amp;amp; &amp;#39;she&amp;#39; - Does anyone know why this is?&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If anyone can think of anymore it would be greatly appreciated or if anyone knows the answers to my questions about gender switching and distinguishing [r] &amp;amp; &lt;img src="http://www.englishforums.com/emoticons/emotion-64.gif" alt="Heart" title="Heart" /&gt; this would also help a lot!!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Thank you in advance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shannon&amp;nbsp;</description></item><item><title>Help me please.</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/HelpMePlease/zqxdh/post.htm</link><pubDate>Sun, 13 Apr 2008 22:44:07 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:500317</guid><dc:creator>Anonymous</dc:creator><description>&amp;nbsp;Ok... so basically I need to do a five paragraph essay (Paragraph model?) by analyzing 3 quotes from this a passage I read &amp;quot;No name woman&amp;quot; by Maxie Hong Kingston. I&amp;#39;m just having trouble with a few things... some I understand, and others I don&amp;#39;t. I tried fixing some errors that I made.. (ie: spelling, grammar). This is just the a 2nd draft. I would apprcieate some help and tips. Thanks in advance!

 &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This is what I need help with:

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;-Verb Tense

&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;`Unpacking language of quotes

-Introducing all quotes fully&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;

-Run on sentences?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;No Name Woman&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Maxine Hong Kingston begins to learn the story
of an aunt, in which she is known as âNo Name Womanâ. Kingstonâs mother begins
in the first passage, warning her to not tell anyone what she is about to say,
referring to the story of her aunt. She explains that the aunt was Kingstonâs
fatherâs sister, who killed herself in the family well, but thereâs no mention
of her at all, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;because it is as if she had never been
born. The aunt brought shame to the family. She became a disgrace to the
village, because the action of adultery committed. As a result of that, she
ended up with an unwanted pregnancy. This caused so much commotion with the
villagers, who were enraged, and raided the family house. The villagers destroyed
and broke their possessions, wanting to get rid of the aunt from their community;
because the villagers did not permit the coupleâs breaking tradition. As a
child, Kingston did not fully understand the way of her Chinese culture. She
starts making up her own stories. As an adult, Kingston looks back at her
childhood years, to learn the identity of the story, and go deeper with her
cultural history.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Roughly
around the age of 12, Kingston starts receiving warnings, and semi-threats from
her mother, to avoid any unwanted pregnancies. Kingstonâs mother sets the aunt
as an example. The mother says:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p style="text-align:justify;"&gt;&amp;quot;Don&amp;#39;t let your father know that I told you. He
denies her. Now that you have started to menstruate, what happened to her could
happen to you. Don&amp;#39;t humiliate us. You wouldn&amp;#39;t like to be forgotten as if you
had never been born. The villagers are watchful;&amp;quot; (325)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The mother warns young Kingston, and sets an
example from the aunt who brought disgrace to the family. Kingston is being
guided, not to fall in the wrong path as her aunt did. The mother warns her at
this moment, because it is the moment Kingston goes into a new stage of life
that she must go through carefully. The mother wants Kingston to learn the
values of her culture, traditions, and the people she represents. She describes
that the villagers are watching, because they are a community who stick
together as a group. It is part of their culture, having private lives is a
dishonor to the culture. The aunt dishonored it, by having a baby without any
father present. The mother is preventing young Kingston from bring shame to the
family again. Kingstonâs mother told stories&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Adult
Kingston remembers when her mother use to warn her about life, and the
realities that existed. She would tell stories, to teach Kingston morals.
Kingston explains:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;âWhenever she
had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a
story to grow up on. She tested our strength to establish realities. Those in
the emigrant generations who could not reassert brute survival died young and
far from home. Those of us in the first American generations have had to figure
out how the invisible world the emigrants built around our childhoods fit in
solid America.â (325) &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Adult Kingston discusses about the emigrants who
were struggling with poverty, and moved to America. This was the old
generation, who struggled with surviving life. The emigrants re-assert
themselves with the new life; some endure brute survival. Poverty was an issue in
old China. The new generation is growing in America. China was the âinvisible
worldâ for most that was part of the new generation. Kingston they never been
there, but only hear stories about it. America was solid, because the new
generation was adapting to new changes. Kingston wanted to uncover more of this
Chinese cultural history.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;As
an adult, Kingston starts to question if her aunt is really guilty, to commit
such an act, which would lead to her own demise. Kingston searches for answers,
because the stories only seem to confuse her. She did not fully understand the
Chinese cultural as a child, because she grew up in the new generation. This
leads Kingston making up her own perspective of the story that her mother had
told. She starts remaking the story in her own words, and her own point of
view. Kingston thinks:&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;âAdultery is extravagance. Could people who hatch their own chicks and
eat the embryos and the heads for delicacies and boil the feet in vinegar for
party food, leaving only the gravel, eating even the gizzard lining--could such
people engender a prodigal aunt? To be a woman, to have a daughter in
starvation time was a waste enough. My aunt could not have been the lone
romantic who gave up everything for sex. Women in the old China did not choose.
Some man had commanded her to lie with him and be his secret evil. I wonder
whether he masked himself when he joined the raid on the family.â (326)&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Adult Kingston does not believe that her aunt gave
up everything for adultery. She questions, how cruel the villagers are towards
the aunt. Kingston describes her aunt as âprodigal auntâ meaning she is
yielding profusely. She questions, if a human being is capable of bringing a
newborn, and then getting rid of it without any remorse. She realizes that in
Chinese culture, woman had no right to rule, because they had to obey the rules
set by the husband. Women in that time of Chinese culture did not have a
choice. Kingston wonders if the man responsible for impregnating her aunt
wasnât man enough to take hold of his responsibilities. She also believes the
man might have been responsible for organizing the raid in the first place. Kingston,
somehow wanted to defend her aunt. She tries to analyze the possible reasons
behind her aunt&amp;#39;s unwanted pregnancy, in which dishonored her entire culture. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Kingston
as an adult, finally realized her aunt was not fully guilty. The aunt went
through injustice, and was the victim of rape. While the entire society
rejected her aunt, Kingston honored her aunt instead. The motherâs aim was to
warn young Kingston, not to humiliate the family by making the same mistake as
her aunt did. &lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The motherâs aim also had
another purpose, in which she wanted to show the values of her culture,
traditions, and making Kingston a better person in life, without any
disruptions. Kingston as an adult reflects back on what she has learned from
her mother, and her unnamed aunt. She also discovered the world that was once
invisible to her. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;</description></item><item><title>Re: Proficiency alongside &amp;quot;poverty&amp;quot;.</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/ProficiencyAlongsidePoverty/3/vmwwr/Post.htm#395488</link><pubDate>Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:37:02 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:395488</guid><dc:creator>Forbes</dc:creator><description>&lt;P&gt;Cool Breeze, your English is faultless!&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;I think that Mr P has hit the nail on the head. In English the complexity resides in the syntax. Many say that English has no "grammar" because you do not need to grapple with conjugations and declensions, but of course if it had no grammar it would just be soup.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;I have been to Thailand many times. I have made&amp;nbsp;a not very sucessful attempt to learn Thai, which is even more analytical than English. When you hear that the Thai verb is completely invariable and does not express time, person, mood or anything else and that nouns have no gender or separate forms for singular or plural, you think "Great!" But you soon find that it is tricker than you thought. Even more than English, the meaning of a sentence is context driven. You feel as if you will never get a hold on the language.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;When Thais who know some English speak it they tend to speak it like Thai. They do not worry about articles and tense, or even necessarily expressing who is doing what, as they consider these to be unnecessary frills! The future is expressed by using "soon" and the past by "already". When I stayed in a small hotel in Chiang Mai the cook/waiter learned that I did not like bacon for breakfast and so used to give me prawns. One morning he said: "Sorry, sir, not prawn. Not go market. Too much sleep."&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;It almost seems that a language either&amp;nbsp;has high hurdles that you need to jump at the beginning and once you have jumped them you are more or less in the clear, or that it has an endless succession of low hurdles. Malay is often said to be "the easiest language in the world", but it is also said that whilst it takes ten weeks to learn to speak it well it takes ten years to learn to speak it properly.&lt;/P&gt;</description></item><item><title>Re: Proficiency alongside &amp;quot;poverty&amp;quot;.</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/ProficiencyAlongsidePoverty/2/vmgwh/Post.htm#394917</link><pubDate>Sat, 21 Jul 2007 21:36:41 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:394917</guid><dc:creator>Cool Breeze</dc:creator><description>&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;table width="85%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="txt4"&gt;&lt;img src="/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Forbes wrote:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="quoteTable"&gt;&lt;table width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;table width="85%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="txt4"&gt;&lt;img src="/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;strong&gt;Cool Breeze wrote:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class="quoteTable"&gt;&lt;table width="100%"&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td width="100%" valign="top" class="txt4"&gt;Fortunately English is structurally so simple...&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/BLOCKQUOTE&gt;&lt;br&gt;Hi Forbes&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;In the days of Old English the grammar of the language was more complicated than it is today: nouns had three genders, and there were even strong masculines as there are in modern German, 's' wasn't the normal plural ending for nouns etc. These days an English noun can have a maximum of four forms: &lt;i&gt;boy, boys, boy's&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;boys'&lt;/i&gt;. A verb normally has only four forms: &lt;i&gt;ask, asking, asks, asked.&lt;/i&gt; Countless adjectives have only one form: &lt;i&gt;beautiful, difficult&lt;/i&gt; etc.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Adjectives have no plurals: &lt;i&gt;old cars &lt;/i&gt;(not: &lt;i&gt;olds cars&lt;/i&gt;).&lt;br&gt;Relative pronouns have no plurals: &lt;i&gt;The cars that are parked in the street are mine.&lt;/i&gt; (Not: &lt;i&gt;The cars thats are parked...&lt;/i&gt;)&lt;br&gt;Relatives &lt;i&gt;that&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;which&lt;/i&gt; have only one form each, which serves many purposes:&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;The cat &lt;font color="#0000ff"&gt;which&lt;/font&gt; looks old is mine. &lt;/i&gt;(subject)&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;The cat &lt;font color="#0000ff"&gt;which&lt;/font&gt; you saw is mine. &lt;/i&gt;(object)&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;And so on. There are languages that use a different form of a verb for &lt;b&gt;every&lt;/b&gt; grammatical person in all tenses and even the negative word (not) is inflected for all grammatical persons. If that happened in English, sentences like these might be correct:&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;I am not tired.&lt;br&gt;You are nott tired.&lt;br&gt;He is note tired.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;We are net tired.&lt;br&gt;You are nette tired.&lt;br&gt;They are nottem tired.&lt;img src="/emoticons/emotion-1.gif" alt="Smile [:)]" /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;In my native language all nouns have a basic minimum of about 30 inflected forms but for greater expressiveness far more forms are used.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;The difficult thing about English is the fact that spelling and pronunciation are worlds apart. There are at least eight ways to pronounce &lt;i&gt;ough&lt;/i&gt;, for instance: &lt;i&gt;rough, though, plough, through&lt;/i&gt; etc.&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Cheers&lt;br&gt;CB&lt;br&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;/i&gt;</description></item><item><title>Re: letter to professor! urgent help! please!</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/LetterProfessorUrgent/dpvgk/post.htm#325526</link><pubDate>Wed, 07 Feb 2007 11:46:03 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:325526</guid><dc:creator>Lil' Ruby Rose</dc:creator><description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;Dear Professor xyz &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;My name is abc and I am a graduate student of the Department of Anthropology in xyz University. Since I joined graduate school, I have been focusing on HIV/AIDS in my research&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;, and in particular how it relates to&lt;/FONT&gt; inequality, gender and social movement. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size=2&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í color=#ff1493&gt;I am&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;&amp;nbsp;preparing my master&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;s&lt;/FONT&gt; dissertation &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;on the&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;HIV/AIDS &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;activist&lt;/FONT&gt; movement in xyzland&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;,&lt;/FONT&gt; and particularly &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;their &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;claim that&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;access to affordable treatment for HIV/AIDS &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;is a [human] right&lt;/FONT&gt; . I &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;am concentrating on&lt;/FONT&gt; conflicts between &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;the&lt;/FONT&gt; intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical companies and access rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. Recently, xyz government made a decision to issue &lt;STRIKE&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;a &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRIKE&gt;compulsory licensing for the production or importation of three drugs&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;: &lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;two for treating HIV/AIDS. So dispute around HIV/AIDS drug has grown more intense. I &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;plan to travel &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;to&lt;/FONT&gt; Singapore in March &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;to&lt;/FONT&gt; conduct my field work with&amp;nbsp;activist groups and grass-root&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;s&lt;/FONT&gt; organizations of PLWHA. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size=2&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;With&lt;/FONT&gt; the support of the Graduate Student Research Grant, I &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;am currently&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;in New York &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;researching&lt;/FONT&gt; the xyz organization &lt;STRIKE&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;in&amp;nbsp;NY&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRIKE&gt;. Although xyz NY is not directly related my master&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;s&lt;/FONT&gt; dissertation, their historical movement is widely acknowledged to have been the flagship of AIDS activist efforts, particularly with regard to treatment issues. Recently,&amp;nbsp;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;I have&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;attended&lt;/FONT&gt; xyzNY&lt;/FONT&gt;â&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;s weekly meetings and interviewed with xyz members. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size=2&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;Your research about South Africa, especially the question of poverty and the issue of women&lt;/FONT&gt;â&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;s autonomy in the context of &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;the&lt;/FONT&gt; AIDS pandemic&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;,&lt;/FONT&gt; has contributed a lot to &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;developing&lt;/FONT&gt; my perspective about &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;the&lt;/FONT&gt; HIV/AIDS movement. Unfortunately, in Korea, it is hard to find an anthropologist who has experience &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;of being involved&lt;/FONT&gt; in extensive fieldwork about HIV/AIDS issues. &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;I would very much appreciate it if I could&lt;/FONT&gt; visit you, &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;to talk about&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;your field work experiences and get some advice&lt;STRIKE&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;s&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/STRIKE&gt; for my research.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;It&lt;/FONT&gt; &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;would&lt;/FONT&gt; be really helpful &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;in improving&lt;/FONT&gt; my approach. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;I would appreciate it if you &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;could&lt;/FONT&gt; let me know &lt;FONT color=#ff1493&gt;when it would be convenient for me to&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;visit your office. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;I look forward hearing from you. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;Sincerely yours. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493 size=2&gt;I'm / I'll / I've is generally too informal for this sort of letter.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT color=#ff1493 size=2&gt;In the UK, we refer to a post-graduate degree as a masters (and sometimes capitalise it Masters) - this may vary in other countries.&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description></item><item><title>letter to professor! urgent help! please!</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/LetterProfessorUrgent/dpvvq/post.htm</link><pubDate>Wed, 07 Feb 2007 09:44:43 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:325498</guid><dc:creator>Anonymous</dc:creator><description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;please edit my letter and gramar check!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;i need help! please!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;-------------------------------------&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;Dear Professor xyz &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;My name is abc and I am a graduate student of the Department of Anthropology in xyz University. Since I joined graduate school, I have been focusing on HIV/AIDS in my research especially as it relates to inequality, gender and social movement. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size=2&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;I&lt;/FONT&gt;â&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;m preparing my master dissertation about HIV/AIDS movement in xyzland particularly which are claiming access right to affordable treatment for HIV/AIDS. I concentrate upon conflicts between intellectual property rights of pharmaceutical companies and access rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. Recently, xyz government made a decision to issue a compulsory licensing for the production or importation of three drugs, two for treating HIV/AIDS. So dispute around HIV/AIDS drug has grown more intense. I&lt;/FONT&gt;â&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;ll go to Singapore in March and conduct my field work with&amp;nbsp;activist groups and grass-rooted organizations of PLWHA. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size=2&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;Now with the support of the Graduate Student Research Grant, I&lt;/FONT&gt;â&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;m staying in New York to research xyz organization in&amp;nbsp;NY. Although xyz NY is not directly related my master dissertation, their historical movement is widely acknowledged to have been the flagship of AIDS activist efforts, particularly with regard to treatment issues. Recently, I&lt;/FONT&gt;â&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;ve joined xyzNY&lt;/FONT&gt;â&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;s weekly meetings and interviewed with xyz members. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT size=2&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;Your research about South Africa, especially the question of poverty and the issue of women&lt;/FONT&gt;â&lt;FONT face=ë°í&gt;s autonomy in the context of AIDS pandemic has contributed a lot to develop my perspective about HIV/AIDS movement. Unfortunately, in Korea, it is hard to find an anthropologist who has experience to be involved in extensive fieldwork about HIV/AIDS issues. So if I could visit you, share your field work experiences and get some advices for my research, it will be really helpful to improve my approach. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;I would appreciate it if you let me know when I can visit your office. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;I look forward hearing from you. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;Sincerely yours. &lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;xyz&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;FONT face=ë°í size=2&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/FONT&gt;&lt;/P&gt;</description></item><item><title>Re: Paragraph check</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/ParagraphCheck/dhbrx/post.htm#285257</link><pubDate>Wed, 25 Oct 2006 01:30:29 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:285257</guid><dc:creator>Marius Hancu</dc:creator><description>Which tenses? Everything is present tense&lt;img src="/emoticons/emotion-1.gif" alt="Smile [:)]" /&gt;&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;
&amp;gt;Bother genders&lt;br&gt;
Both genders&lt;br&gt;
&lt;br&gt;</description></item><item><title>Paragraph check</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/ParagraphCheck/dhbrw/post.htm</link><pubDate>Wed, 25 Oct 2006 01:13:28 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:285251</guid><dc:creator>Student011</dc:creator><description>&lt;P&gt;Why is it hard for men to comprehend what women need, and why do women feel that men lack emotion? For most people, this question is very difficult to answer. Men and women who are in relationships complain too much about their partners. Bother genders have different ways of building their relationships with other people. Their beliefs and the way they view the importance in a relationship lead them to misunderstand the situations they come across every day. What people do not realize is that men and women have different understanding, attitudes, behavior, and expectations about building a relationship with the opposite sex.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;I really have problems about verb tenses. Please let me know if it's right. Thanks!&lt;/P&gt;</description></item><item><title>Re: Pop songs</title><link>http://www.englishforums.com/English/PopSongs/drlxc/post.htm#253982</link><pubDate>Wed, 09 Aug 2006 10:48:33 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="true">946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:253982</guid><dc:creator>Arvsworld</dc:creator><description>&lt;P&gt;Learning English by listening to songs is not always the best path. Like you said, there are often lines or words that are omitted.&amp;nbsp;A lot of lyrics are written to fit the music. This causes many lines in certain songs to be grammatically poor. If you randomly listen to any song out there, you may learn the wrong things.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;You'll have to ask some&amp;nbsp;of your most trusted native English speakers&amp;nbsp;to recommend songs for you to learn from. Many people may not like the genre, but Copacabana by Barry Manilow is an excellent song&amp;nbsp;- musically and lyrically. You can learn&amp;nbsp;structure (but not punctuation),&amp;nbsp;tenses, genders, third person,&amp;nbsp;and general story-telling.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/copacaba.htm" target="_blank" title="http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/copacaba.htm"&gt;http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/copacaba.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;If you read through each verse, you'll find that all&amp;nbsp;his ideas are complete and well structured to clearly tell&amp;nbsp;his story.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Many of the older songs have better lyric writing as well. Many songs made popular by the likes of Nat "King" Cole and Frank Sinatra have well written lyrics.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;Try to avoid learning from songs that use too many metaphors,&amp;nbsp;reduced forms or omissions&amp;nbsp;and slang.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;-A&lt;/P&gt;</description></item></channel></rss>