English Diary
At First
I’m from China and I plan to write daily to share my life with you and also improve my English skills.
I love guitars, cats, and programming. I hope to be your friend.
I will copy this into my diary after you help me; if you want to share something with me that makes you happy, please write it down, I will be very happy to write it in my diary.
Live Long and Prosper
LOL
If you are a naive English speaker and you want to practice Chinese and help me practice English you can send an email to me (firstandthen@126.com), or send message on skype (https://join.skype.com/invite/xUPdthI9XQrf),
Diary
I don’t know why I usually write the diary for the past day. I think it might because I need to think a lot about how to express my thoughts. When I write a diary in Chinese, I just “say” without too much consideration. So when I write diary in English, I spend so much time.
But I’m so lucky that every friend around me spends their time to correct my grammar and talk with me. I have good patience, and I like to talk with others. My friends suggested me becoming a Chinese language teacher the day before yesterday. That might come true, really. I felt a sense of achievement when I taught a friend to say “my name is …, and I’m from Saudi Arabia” in Chinese.
July 18, 2021
Sunny
We had a team dinner last night, because our upperclasswoman (I’m not sure about how to express that word, might be “school-sister”?) was graduated successfully. She teached me a lot skills about how to communicate with others. Our research team is very harmonious and we treat each other like siblings.
July 16, 2021
Rainy to sunny
It has been a long time since I wrote my last diary. There were so many things that happened these days. I went to Beijing last week for my PhD application with my master’s degree advisor. It’s not easy applying for a PhD. So we visited many teachers. Fortunately, many teachers appreciated my abilities. I think I have a good chance to be able to study in Beijing.
One of the most significant impressions I got when I stayed in Beijing was how crowded it was. Beijing is one of the most famous cities around the world. There are so many people living in Beijing. Many young people who work or go to school flock to the subway every morning. They didn’t seem familiar with each other, but the crowd pressed together. I was also one of them, I even felt the temperature from the strangers. I forgot when the last time I hugged someone was, but I’m afraid that I will feel the warmth of people this way in the future.
Hello again, Echo :)
I’m glad to hear your PhD applications went well. I wish you lots of fun in Beijing if you go there!
Did you get accepted already? Then you have “the” chance to study in Beijing. If what you’re trying to say is that you think your application went well, then you have “a chance” instead. I would say “I think I have a (good) chance to be able to study in Beijing.
One little note about the text is the one sentence where you wrote “we”. Don’t suddenly change the pronoun from singular to plural unless the context makes it clear there is another person involved. Throughout the whole thext, the only person I see who is applying in Beijing is you, so I never learnt who else would be included in “we”. Without the context, it makes no sense!
I’m pointing this out because I see a lot of Chinese people make this mistake (probably because pronouns work differently for you, I’m guessing).
Hi Christian!
I’m really happy to receive your correction again :). I got that I shouldn’t suddenly change the pronoun. When I wrote “we visited many teachers” because my master’s degree advisor went to Beijing with me. But I didn’t explain this in my diary, so it made readers confused. I will notice it in my future diary.
And I didn’t get accepted already. I just have a change to take the exam. So I rewrote the sentence to “I have a good chance…”.
Hope you hava a nice day!
And I’m happy to help =)
I read the text again and (I think) it’s good now! Your new version is better, now the change in pronoun makes sense!
Good luck with the exam!!
June 7,2021
Sunny
Today, it is really hot. We bought a mobile air conditioner, but the after-sales department told us that we should wait several days until they have the mounting hardware. So we have to bear the hot weather for now. Christian told me that he went to the bouldering hall yesterday. I know that there is a bouldering hall in the shopping mall near our college, but I have never attempted to go climbing there. I don’t know if climbing is popular in China. I know that I seldom hear my friends say they’ll go climbing. I guess maybe climbing is popular in some big cities in China, but the city where I live is so small, people usually work out at the gym. Basketball or table tennis is more likely to be the first choice for them.
If you want to use “mobile air conditioning”, you have to drop the definite article and just say “We bought mobile air conditioning”. Otherwise, it will make me think you are talking about a specific machine that you mentioned before. However, the reader lacks the context here, and because of that it ends up sounding incorrect.
If you say you “hear [your] friends go climbing”, it means that you are somewhere completely else but they are soooo loud while climbing that you can still hear them…
so that’s why you need to say you rarely hear them say that they’ll go climbing.
If your friends go climbing again, why don’t you give it a shot? :) My friend had suggested it more than once but I was kinda scared to go, too. Eventually, I gave in and I was very surprised by how much I liked it. Maybe it’s not your thing, but you have to try to know! I definitely recommend going with friends, though, it’s much more fun that way.
June 6,2021
Sunny
After several days of rest, I resumed my English studies. I need to stay up late as little as possible. Recent experience tells me that if I don’t get enough sleep, my learning efficiency becomes lower, and my ability to memorize things decreases. The loss outweighs the gain.
Tomorrow is the College Entrance Examination, which is vital for most Chinese students. I passed that exam many years before. Even though many years have passed since, I can recall it very well. I was so nervous during the exam. And I really hope the students who will take that exam tomorrow will get a good grade. In China, studying at a good college is really important for the future life. Because a good college means better educational sources, better career opportunities, even wider views.
“If I don’t get enough sleep, my learning efficiency will become lower” isn’t completely incorrect. I do think that as a general statement, the zero conditional works well here to reinforce that. But your version works as well.
I think by “my memory decreases” you meant to say that you get worse and learning things by heart. I corrected your text with that meaning in mind. What you wrote, “my memory decreases”, sounds very strange. But more importantly, without context, I would have thought what you’re trying to say is that you lose memories or the ability to remember things at all (the way people with dementia or Alzehimer’s disease might do).
Also watch out for the wrong prepositions that I corrected :)
Today I went to the bouldering hall and now I’m pretty beat. Is climbing popular in China, too? It’s become a trend in Europe in the last decade or so.
Hi Christian! Thanks for your correction. Here is my note:
Zero Conditional
In zero conditional sentences, the tense in both parts of the sentence is the simple present.In zero conditional sentences, we can replace “if” with “when”, because both express general truths. The meaning will be unchanged.
The zero conditional is used to make statements about the real world, and often refers to general truths, such as scientific facts. In these sentences, the time is now or always and the situation is real and possible.
e.g. If I don’t get enough sleep, my learning efficiency becomes lower.
If clause (condition) Main clause (result) If + simple present simple present If this thing happens that thing happens. “the memory decreases” vs “the ability to memorize things decreases”
the memory decreases -> memory loss due to illness
the ability to memorize things decreases -> can’t remember something
right prepositions
study at a good college
is important for the future life
Hey again, Echo.
Just a little improvement for your notes:
When
the ability to memorize things decreases, you can’t MAKE yourself remember something NEW.When
your memory becomes worse(“memory decreases” sounds a bit unnatural), you stop being able to remember things that happened in the past well. It doesn’t have to be from illness, it is said that people’s memory declines (get worse) as they age in general.Instead of decrease, use the word “decline” in this situation! The common collocations in this context may be a bit hard to figure out unless you’ve read about it previously.
June 2, 2021
Rainy
There was heavy rain yesterday. I stayed in the laboratory and met with friends online. And yesterday was also the Children’s Day. A strange phenomenon has appeared these years that even adults celebrate the Children’s Day. Many of my friends received money from their parents and received candies from their friends. Many of my friends usually call themselves a baby. All grownups were once children, and I think they never forget that. And a new policy has been introduced in China. Families can have a third child now.
You start a lot of sentences with “And”, Echo. In colloquial texts like chat messages or in informal speech, this is absolutely fine. But if you want to practice you writing, I think you should try to get rid of this habit. In a formal text, you should use other conjunctions that go at the start of a sentence, because “and” should only really be used to connect two sentences together, not to start one.
I know you realized that with “these days” you should use the simple present, and “these years” really does work in a similar way. However, here I would definitely suggest usage of the present perfect. The appearance of a strange phenomenon is not a general statement about “these years”, because it is a development. The word “appear” already has this written all over it. Because a phenomenon can only start to appear once, you can’t make this a general statement.
You could say “These years, even adults celebrate Children’s Day”, this sentence works perfectly fine in simple present!
But with “Even adults have started to celebrate”, you’d need to use the present perfect, and your sentence with “appear” has the same problem.
Hope this helps!
Hi Christian! Thanks for your suggestion. I noticed that I use the word “and” too much. I will use “and” beside two sentences with logical connection.
I learnt that I prefer to use the present perfect because the “appear” already happened, but “celebrate” have not this question.
May 31, 2021
Sunny
These days, I spend almost my whole time studying English. And recently, I felt that I didn’t have enough time, so I stopped my running plan and my guitar training. I did so many IELTS exercises that I dreamed about the exam almost every day. But one thing abruptly came to my mind yesterday, which was that I need to have some balance.
When I was in high school, my parents told me I could enjoy my life when I came to university. When I came to university, my advisor said I could enjoy my life when I found a good job. My friend with a good job told me, his parents asked him to get married to his girlfriend and have a baby, then my friend could enjoy his life. My advisor who has two sons told me that he must work hard to earn money and feed his child. Few people around me have a balanced life indeed. I think many of us are slaves to our lives. Our lives aren’t really happy, right?
Many professors in our school spend their weekend making meetings for their students and concentrating on scientific research. I think they are excellent teachers. But I would prefer to spend much more time with my family on weekends if I was a professor. Instead of studying all night, I would prefer to play the guitar in the evening, and then have a nice sleep.
We need to improve the efficiency of work and enjoy ourselves. I haven’t seen a full sunset in a really long time.
Great text! :) You used a lot of difficult grammar and made few mistakes. I think you have improved since you started posting your texts here!
You can also say “to be a slave to/of life” but the meaning feels different. I think you’re trying to say is that everyone is a slave to their own circumstances, their own lives, so that’s how I corrected it.
“To improve the efficiency of work and enjoy ourselves” isn’t really a sentence, since it lacks a subject. I think it still works here because you are just mentioning it as an idea rather than a statement, but I wanted to make that clear.
I have heard often that in China peer pressure and society’s expectations are very harsh. I don’t really feel fit to comment on this, since I’ve never been to China myself. But I also think that a relaxed attitude towards life is the right way to achieve happiness :) You shouldn’t listen to everyone’s advice, because it will not make you happy - even if it might work for them. I think some people might be very happy to work on weekends for their students’ sake. I personally think taking breaks is more important. But what’s truly important is that you take time to do the things that make you happy and that you learn to appreciate them at the same time.
Hi Christian. Thanks for your help! Your careful correction really helps me a lot!
I searched on dictionary, and I got the differents between “lives” and “life”, and I also got that “be a slave of (something)” is the same as “be a slave to (something)”.
-> Life means the state that follows birth, and precedes death; the state of being alive and living when used as a noun.
-> Lives is the correct plural form of the noun life, which is defined as a living being, especially a person.
For the above reasons, I should say “many of us are slaves to our lives” or “many of us are slaves of our lives”. Is that right?
And I have changed my word to “we need to improve the efficiency of work and enjoy ourselves”. I think it’s more clearly. And thanks for your point.
“When I came to university, my advisor said I could enjoy my life when I found a good job.” In this sentence, it use “found” because of the subjunctive. Is that right? Because I’m a student now, and I will find a job in the future. The same reason as using “was” in folloing sentence, “I would prefer to spend much more time with my family on weekends if I was a professor.”
I also learnt that I should use the present tense when I say “these days”.
Hope you have a nice day.
Hey Echo,
1.) Yes, that’s the difference I was talking about :)
2.) Yes, I think that works as well!
3.) Exactly, the “found” comes from the subjunctive. If you look at your original text, you actually did this correctly in the sentence before where you wrote “I could enjoy my life when I came to university”. In this case, the “came” comes from the subjunctive.
In modern English, subjunctive isn’t necessarily used a lot anymore. However, in these sentences you still cannot use another tense. As an alternative way to explain this, you can imagine the sentences as conditional sentences (which is really what they are, even though you substituted the word if with when).
“My advisor said I could enjoy my life if (when) I found a good job.”
“If I found a good job, I could enjoy my life.”
If + simple past, main clause + conditional I (would + infinitive, but would can doesn’t exist and becomes could)
So in this case, I think modern English doesn’t really need the subjunctive to explain the grammar of the sentence anymore. There are other sentences in which the subjunctive is used (or was used commonly in the past, but is usually phrased differently in modern English) where you cannot explain the form of the verb in an alternative way, though.
4.) Yes, absolutely. If you want to use the past tense, you can say “The last few days”/“The last couple of days”/“Recently” + simple past/present perfect instead. Maybe you can tell that these expressions reach from the past to the present but don’t extend past it. “These days” talks about days in the past, but extends what you are saying to days in the future as well. It makes your statement sound more general, and as you know we use the simple present to talk about general statements.
EDIT: I wanted to add that actually, you can use the present perfect with “These days” as well. It’s just the simple past that sounds strange/incorrect.
I wish you a nice day as well! :D
Thanks again! :) I have learned what you teached me except one thing. Would you mind to tell me the meaning of “EDIT”. It’s my first time to see that. Forgive me that I don’t really understand where you “add”. And “use the present perfect with ‘These days’” is strange or incorrect, I guess?
Editing is when you go back to change something in your text after you finish writing it. I made an edit to my comment after I posted it, so I wrote “EDIT”, then you know this is what I changed, that’s all.
This is also why I “added” this paragraph or this piece of information, because it was not previously in my comment.
And no, using the present perfect with “these days” is not strange or incorrect. Using the simple past is! That’s the thing I was trying to add to my previous correction :)
Okay! I got it, really thanks!
May 29, 2021
Sunny to cloudy
Today I made two Iranian friends, Mahdi and Rana. They can both speak Farsi and English, and they came to China about one and a half years ago. Since they came to China, they have been learning Chinese. I think their Chinese is really good and I can get the meaning when they talk to me in Chinese. As Rana said, the Chinese language has too many tunes (the Beijing dialect uses four tones). So it’s hard for a Chinese language learner to pronounce things like a Chinese native speaker. But I think languages are just tools, we needn’t remember every word in that language or behave like natives. If we can talk to others and exchange our minds, I think it’s enough. They are both Muslims, like one of my best friends. Rana told me that a Muslim can only marry another Muslim, so he isn’t preparing to find a girlfriend in China. Both of them have really big families, with many brothers and sisters. In China, families have a maximum of two children. They can do many things in our school, like fishing, cooking, having parties, BBQ, etc. But Chinese students don’t have the permission to do so. And they have just one roomate or even none. I think those things are really deserved by foreign students coming to study in China.
Hi Christian and thanks for your correction. I have corrected my diary, but I have one question. “they have came to China for about one and a half years”, is this sentence right? (I think I should use the present perfect.)
If I rewrite like “they came to China since about one and a half years ago”, it’s right.
Hey again Echo,
I made a little mistake here myself. The correct version is “They came to China about one and a half years ago”, without “since”. You can also say “They have been in China for about one and a half years” or “They have been staying in China since one and a half years ago”.
Gramatically speaking the sentence “They have come to China for about one and a half years” is correct, but it doesn’t sound right to me. I get what it’s trying to say, but it sounds like they have been on their way to China for 1,5 years and not IN China for 1,5 years. Maybe it’s just me as a German though.
You could make it more clear by saying “They have come to stay in China for about one and a half years”.
I hope you were trying to say that your friends have been in China for 1,5 years now. If what you’re trying to say is they came to China a while ago and are going to stay for 1,5 years in total, you can’t use my first three sentences. In that case you can use the last sentence
“They have come to stay in China for about one and a half years”
or
“They came to China and will stay for about one and a half years”
or something like that.
I hope that makes sense to you now? Sorry if it’s confusing.
It’s really helps me a lot! I choose “They came to China about one and a half years ago” as my final version. Thanks for your teaching.
May 23, 2021
Cloudy to rainy
As I said yesterday, I will discuss the phenomenon of the growing number of learning anchors in modern China.
First of all, the most important reason is more and more students study with their classmates when they come to school. If you ask a Chinese student, who they spent the longest time with, he/she will most likely say it was his/her classmates. As a result, they develop the habit of needing the company of others. So when students graduate from school or vacation at home, they want to have company, even if it’s from the Internet. One of the other reasons is that families from Chinese urban areas are often having only one child - these young children grow up without any brothers or sisters. So they really lack the care of their peers. Many of them become anchors in order to find people to talk or share their life with online to get more attention. Lastly, I won’t deny that many people become learning anchors just for selling their stationery to earn money.
As for me, I just want someone to stay with me and learn with me. Since I became a learning anchor, I have made a lot of friends. I’m so lucky to know them and their experience really encourages me. I will stick to it, like I usually say, “ we will meet at the top of the knowledge mountain”.
Most of the mistakes here are either superflous words (e. g. increasing) or grammatical oddities (the present form of become sticks out - you are describing something that happened in the past, therefore the past tense). I suggest you revise the past/present/future tenses. I see you tried writing an essay using the usual template (topic sentence, first argument, second argument etc.). I suggest you look into that as well, it could help with any academic writing.
Hi Lonely Stargazer,
Thanks for your correction, and I kown my grammar is not good, so I‘m’ reviewing my grammar knowledge these days, especially tenses knowledge. And I’m also preparing for the IELTS exam. So I use that usual template not just for academic writing but also the exam.
I see that Christian Bleischwitz helped you correct your posts. So I guess you must kown him. He is a really nice man. Because he really helped me a lot to my writting. And I think you are also a nice man.
Thanks again! :)
May 22, 2021
Sunny
I am an anchor on a Chinese website called Bilibili( live.bilibili.com/11652383 ). My live content is just studying. That sounds so strange, right? Because when we see the word “anchor”, what comes to mind is “live game streaming”. Many Chinese people, especially students want to have company while they are preparing for tests, such as postgraduate tests, IELTS tests, civil service exams, etc. As for me, I get efficient in my studies when I’m under supervision. So I turn on my camera, and share my study process with others online. I think the appearance of many learning anchors is a funny phenomenon, I will discuss it in my diary tomorrow.
Good text!
You can also say “what comes to our minds”, but don’t say “our mind” because that suggests everybody was thinking with just one brain…
I think “what comes to mind” without a pronoun is best anyway, because it’s supposed to sound like a general feeling applicable to anyone.
You can also say “I will discuss it in tomorrow’s diary”, but then drop the possesive pronoun (my). If you write “my tomorrow’s diary”, it’ll mean that tomorrow is yours and not the diary, so that doesn’t work.
In my correction above, the tomorrow is just a temporal adverb, technically meaning that the activity of writing take place tomorrow.
In the version “tomorrow’s diary”, it will technically mean that you will discuss it in the diary about the day tomorrow. Practically, it’s the same thing though since diary entries are usually written on the same day as their events.
Hi Christian,
Thanks for your particular correction. I remember that I need to say “what comes to mind”.(I learn that using “our mind” is so funny and not rigorous, I will notice that.) And I also learn that “diary” is written for today, the word imply the time. So we should just say “my diary”, but not “my today’s diary’”. And “my tomorrow’s diary” is not good, the reason is the same as above.
Thanks again, hope you have a nice day!
May 21, 2021
Sunny
It has been several days since I wrote the last diary entry. In these days, I finished two papers and sent them to the journal. And I also made a plan for the IELTS exam. I slept just several hours these days, and until today, I have my “writing time”.
Today is May, 21. In the Chinese language, “521” or “520” sound similar to “I love you”, so the lovers send flowers or gifts to each other in these two days.
Last night, my friends went to see a movie or had a dinner with their other half. As for me, I studied for the whole day.
Overall very solid, well done. I would just like to note the following:
1.) “Share” is a transitive verb, hence why I added “with you” - the verb can’t be used without it refering to some object, person or whatever.
2.) You could use either “I’m planning to” or “I plan to” - the latter sounds better IMO. There is a slight semantic difference, if you’re interested (https://www.italki.com/post/question-187571).
3.) Has been –> present perfect continuous. Time didn’t stop ticking after you wrote your last entry, so you use present perfect continuous to emphasise that this period continued all the way to the present.
4.) I’m not exactly sure what you meant by accent, I assumed you meant language.
Hello Stargazer,
Thanks for your correction! And I have corrected my error in my diary. And I meant by accent because the pronunciation of “521” or “520” is
Lonely Stargazer already gave you great feedback, I just wanted to add that “to share” is actually both a transitive and intransitive verb (for most meanings).
One of the examples in Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries for the definition you are using is:
“ Men often don’t like to share their problems.”
So you can drop the “with you” if you want to, but I agree that it definitely sounds better that way! =)
May 7, 2021
Sunny
Yesterday, I had a sad dream. In my dream, things happened during the Republican period of China. There was a pair of lovers who decided to get married. In ancient China, people who wanted to get married needed to get permission from their parents. So they went back home with their friends, and hoped the boy’s parents could hold the wedding for them. But several days before the wedding, one of the boy’s parents deceived the girl that he would take her to visit her parents. And the girl fell for it. He walked along an alley with the girl and stopped in front of the door of a big old house. He got rid of several black cats for luck, and then he kidnapped the girl with the help of the house owner. They took the girl on a train, and nobody knew where it went. The girl left a letter to the boy, it said:
My dear lover, when you see this letter, you won’t kown where I am. Our love couldn’t get the best of both worlds, but never forget me.
I guess the house owner was a warlord, so he could kidnap the girl and took her away. And the boy’s parents didn’t want their kid get married with the girl, because the parents thought the two young people weren‘t fit for each other. They were so cruel to break them up in that way in order to drop the boy’s idea forever. And I think traditional marriage in China often ended up with a tragedy. The parents usually made the engagement by themselves without considering their kids’ thoughts. The dream was really bad. And I feel so sorry for the two young people in my dream.
Wow, Echo! That’s a really long text. Well done!
The sentence “There was a pair of lovers and they were in love with each other.” is grammatically correct. But of course lovers are in love with each other - that’s why they are lovers. So it sounds super weird.
I would suggest writing “There was a pair of lovers who decided to get married” and skip the next sentence.
There’s a few things I didn’t understand:
What did you mean by “He got rid of several black cats for luck”?
If the girl was kidnapped without knowing it would happen, how could she leave a letter for her boyfriend? LOL I guess sometimes dreams don’t make sense like that.
Also, I don’t understand what you were trying to say by “couldn’t get the best of both worlds’? Which two things are you referring to?
Very few mistakes in general though!
Hi, Christian!
I said “He got rid of several black cats for luck”, because black cats refer to misfortune in ancient culture. About the letter, I guess the girl might found a method to send the letter to the boy when she arrived “unkown-place”, but she couldn’t left their (I wish she could!). About the two things, one is love, the other is the permission of their parents. I want to share a ancient poetry with you, and hope you like it!
How long will the full moon appear？
Wine cup in hand，I ask the sky.
I do not know what time of the year
It would be tonight in the palace on high.
Riding the wind，there I would fly，
Yet I’m afraid the crystalline palace would be
Too high and cold for me.
I rise and dance，with my shadow I play.
On high as on earth，would it be as gay？
The moon goes round the mansions red
Through gauze-draped window soft to shed
Her light upon the sleepless bed.
Why then when people part，is the oft full and bright？
Men have sorrow and joy；they part or meet again；
The moon is bright or dim and she may wax or wane.
There has been nothing perfect since the olden days.
So let us wish that man
Will live long as he can！
Though miles apart，we’ll share the beauty she displays.
May 6, 2021
Windy
These days, I spent a lot of time learning English, but I usually made mistakes because of my carelessness. I found that there are many differences in grammar between English and Chinese. So I needed to change my way of thinking. I used to write “casual” sentences in Chinese daily beacuse I wanted to write down my actual thinking without too much consideration. But I should pay more attention to grammar, especially the way of the native English speakers think. As my teacher said, language isn’t only a tool to talk with other people, but also the representation of a culture (but also part of the the culture which uses it). I wrote down these sentences, and made sure that they could express my thoughts well when others read them. Therefore, I decided to mark every place where I was not sure, and I hope my kind friends could help me correct my grammar errors.
Very good text, Echo! I feel like you put in a little bit more effort and it shows. The grammar you used was more complicated than usual.
I’m not sure what you meant with “thought of the native English speakers”, so perhaps the way I corrected isn’t what you intended to say?
Instead of “the representation of a culture”
you could also say
“a representation of culture”.
If you use “the”, it’s a specific representation and hence cannot be any culture but must be a single one, therefore you need to say “a culture in this case”.
If you only say “a representation” it could be any representation of any culture, so you can drop the article before culture completely.
Either works, but don’t mix them up.
About behalf, it’s a word that means you do something as a representative.
For example
“I came here on Tom’s behalf”
= I came here because Tom wanted me to represent him.
= I am a representative of Tom.
But you were talking about a representation, not a representative. Representation has multiple definitions:
1) a person or organization that speaks, acts, or is present officially for someone else
or
2) “the way that someone or something is shown or described”
1) is the act of being a representative. But you were using the second definition, which doesn’t have anything to do with that. I hope this clears up some confusion.
Your little comments definitely helped me correct your text. I also think trying to rephrase your own sentences with different words is a good way of practicing your understanding.
Good job!
My meaning of “thought of the native English speakers” is the same as what you wrote. I will write another dialy to explain it. And I got that “behalf” is used as “representative” (on behalf of sb). Thanks!
May 4, 2021
Rainy
Happy Labour Day! My friend bought a pot of Linaria vulgaris for me, and I got it on May 1st. Then I transplanted it to a new pot. Due to the long transportation time, it looked a little droopy. It might spend a long time getting better again. I hope it can grow well.
Yesterday night, my teacher asked me to come to his office in todays’ morning. So after 4 days of Labour Day holiday at home, I went back to school in the early morning. I got up at 5:40 AM to fit my dad’s work schedule so that he would be able to drive me to school, and I didn’t have a nice sleep.
Hello again,
what a nice gift! Do you like keeping plants? I’ve been thinking about getting a little cactus myself.
Instead of reverting you could also say
“spend a long time getting better again”
It sounds a bit more natural in my opinion.
What kind of car were you trying to catch? Saying “I got up early to catch the car” sounds kinda strange. Typically, you try to catch the bus or a train because they are scheduled to leave at a certain point. But a normal car doesn’t drive away unless somebody is driving it. So why would it leave without you? That’s what I am wondering about if you say this sentence (haha).
Hey Christian,
When I wrote down this sentence, I also felt strange. (LOL) But I’m not sure how to express my thought. Because my father drove me to school, and he had to come back to work. So I needed to get up early in order to catch the “car”. Could you please teach me how to express this?
Hello again, Echo!
I see now~ :D
In that case, how about something like
“I got up at 5:40 AM so that my dad could drive me to school”
or if you want to elaborate more
“I got up at 5:40 AM to fit my dad’s work schedule so that he would be able to drive me to school”?
April 30, 2021
Sunny to rainy
Today is the last day of April, so let me make a summary of this month. I restarted to write diary entries now, and my life has recovered to normal after many complex things ended. Thanks to my friends, their company helped me come back. Especially my foreign friends, they really helped me a lot. And I found tenses are really hard to understand. But no matter how difficult it is, I can learn it well!
Hello again, Echo.
I understand your struggle with learning the English tenses. I know Chinese is very different in this regard, so it must be a concept that makes little sense to you! :(
Whenever somebody corrects your mistakes in this regard, you should reflect on the reason why the tense was incorrect. Reviewing the rules of when we use which tense will let you get them right eventually!
In this text, for example, you were using simple present all the time. However, you are sometimes talking about things that already happened, so all of these sentences should be in simple past or present perfect instead.
You could say “I will restart to write diary entries now” as well, this depends on your perspective. Using the simple present here sounds strange, though.
It would be best to say “My life has recovered to normal”, because your life is still normal right now. Simple past would work here as well, though (“My life recovered to normal”).
I put a full stop after “your company helped me come back” because you switched from second person (you) to third person (they). In the first sentence you were adressing your friends directly (“you”) but in the second sentence you talked about them in third person (“they”). You shouldn’t do this in a single sentence.
I hope this helps you a bit!
Let me know if you have any questions.
April 29, 2021
Sunny to rainy
Today my friend had a bad stomachache, so I bought a cup of milk tea for her. Also, I rewrote the response to the reviewers of my paper. I felt so tired after finishing it that I didn’ have a conversation with foreigners today. I went to the domitory early and practiced my guitar playing for the whole night. I don’t kown how to express what the weather was like today. It was raining heavily but I could still see the sun. There was loud thunder without any lightning. I dislike this weather. It’s wet, muddy and made me unhappy.
Hello again, Echo.
What kind of reviewers were you talking about? Did someone review your publication, or maybe somebody reviewed your essay for you? The sentence sounds a bit strange without more information.
Instead of “I felt very tired,” you can also say “I felt so tired after finishing it that I didn’ have a conversation with foreigners today”. Just don’t put “so” in both parts of the sentence, one is enough.
You can say “I practiced playing the guitar” or “I practiced my guitar playing”. But you can only practice an activity, and “guitar” is not an activity!
I will read your other texts a bit later. I’m glad you wrote so many things during the holidays!
Hello Bleischwitz,
Thanks for your correcrion, and what I want to say is “I rewrote the response to the reviewers for my paper”. As you kown, I’m a postgratuade student, so I need to write several papers in order graduate successfully. Like writing English diary, I need to spend a lot of time considering how to express my words accurately. And I think writing English diary is much more difficult. LOL
Hey again,
in this case make it “I rewrote the response to the reviewers of my paper” =)
If you think that writing an English diary is more difficult than writing the papers for your field of study, then you must at leat be pretty good at that right? :DBy the way, could you explain your name to me? Is Echo Sun related to the translation of your name in Chinese characters?
I am asking becuase I keep writing “Hello Echo” and I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be your first or last name (LOL)
In Europe we usually talk to each other using first names outside of formal situations. My first name is Christian, so you can write “Hello Christian”!Hello Christian :)
You can call me Echo, and it’s my English name which comes from one of my favorite writers. Her pen name in Chinese is “San Mao”, and her English name is “Echo Chen”. My family name in Chinese is “Sun”, so my English name is “Echo Sun”. The funny thing is that the word “Sun” in English also refer to the sun. I really like to give warm hand to others, just like the sun symbolizes.
April 27, 2021
Sunny
A nice lady called Elisen_J said she wants to help me revise the stories what I wrote yesterday. So the diary might be much better in these days. And thanks to Christian Bleischwitz’s help, my writing skill is improving a lot. I feel very luck to become friends with you.
Oreo(奥利奥). When I first bumped into Oreo in 2017, he was hardly a month old and could barely open his eyes. I found him at the corner of a bazaar and saw him all curled up there, shivering. I decided to take him in and shelter him. Fun fact, I mostly fed him goat’s milk since I ever got him. Oreo is an introverted little fella, just like me. If he likes you and enjoys your company, he will just sit or lay right next to you without making a sound. Oh Oreo, my little buddy, I hope you stay healthy and don’t forget to eat well!
@Christian Bleischwitz
Hi Echo! Your text sounds super natural this time around.I think “my writing skill is improving” sounds better, because this is a process that takes time. Simple present is not really incorrect, but it definitely sounds unnatural here.
Be careful because it’s writing, not writting with two “t”s :D
I tend to correct all if-clauses if I see their tense is not the way it’s strictly supposed to be. In conversation, “If he likes you, he would just […]” would probably slip right by. But technically, the first part is in simple present, so the second one has to be in will-future (conditional type 1). You could also say “If he liked you, he would” but then it would mean Oreo is unlikely to like other people.
By the way, why did you call him 奥利奥? Do you pronounce these characters like Orio = Oreo?? Or does it have a different meaning?
Hi, Bleischwitz! Thanks for your help! And the word “奥利奥” in Chinese has the same meaning as “Oreo” in English. Because “Oreo”(the cat) is black and white just like “Oreo”(the cookie). And also, these two words’ pronunciation are the same. : )
Another question, “If he likes you, he would just […]” doesn’t have problem, right? Because if I change it into “If he liked you, he would just […]” it sounds strange for me.
Wow, so it really means Oreo! I would never have guessed from the characters. I guess the word was made up to sound like Oreo because 奥 and 利 mean completely unrelated things, I think?
About your question, there is a problem! For this, you should read up on “conditional sentences”. I will try to explain it briefly:
In your case, there are two ways to form this sentence:
“If he likes you, he will […]” (first conditional, you think this is realistic)
or
“If he liked you, he would […]” (second conditional, you think this is unrealistic/unlikely)
With these types of sentences, the tenses in both the if-clause (the part of the sentence that starts with if) and the main clause (the other part of the sentences) are set in stone. You don’t change them and you don’t mix them!
So “If he liked you, he will […]” is not correct.
I know why it sounds strange to say “If he liked”, because it makes you think it’s in the past. But this “if you liked” is not in the past! It means “If he likes you (right now)”, except you don’t think it’s realistic that will happen.
When talking about the past, the sentence would be “If he had liked you”.
April 26, 2021
Sunny
I had a tummy stomachache the day before yesterday. So I had a rest yesterday.
In the following days, I’d want to tell some stories about my lovely cats. Hope you will like them.
Jomi(啾咪) was given to a girl as an indulging present by a boy when he was solely a kitten. After the girl turned him down, however, my friend took Jomi in and sheltered him. When Jomi was about two years old, my friend could not keep him further due to his work. Another lady then adopted Jomi. A year had passed, the nice lady became pregnant. She did not feel comfortable keeping the cat during her pregnancy. Fortunately, I was able to take Jomi over and provide him a cozy home. Love you, Jomi!
In the first sentence, I think you might have wanted to say:
“I had a tummy ache the night before yesterday”?
The way you wrote it, it sounds like you had a tummy ache the day before yesterday’s night. The day before yesterday and the day before yesterday’s night are the same, though.
Also, as I understood it, the lady adopted Jomi and then became pregnant a year later, right? Then you can’t say “obtaining the cat during her pregnancy”, because she already had Jomi before. “To obtain” is the same as “to get”, the action of receiving and not the same as “to have”.
Very good text otherwise, few mistakes! =)
April 24, 2021
Overcast to sunny
I don’t think my life is filled with too much happiness, but I have many people who care about me.
My friend told me that she would send me flowers last night, I was so happy I couldn’t sleep all night! I just want to have an easy life, you know? A simple life without too much trouble, even though that’s hard to achieve.
I helped my friend install a software at noon that can automatically reply to “bullet comments” in bilibili. She thanked me with a cup of fruit milk tea. When I received the milk tea, the sun broke through the clouds and shone down on me that made me feel warm. That might have been a great life experience.
I wish you a happier life than I have.
I see you are improving! Great job!
Not everyone can become heros, most people are ordinary, they cheer for the heros.
You have a great life. You have a job, wonderful friends and many things! Appreciate what you have and allways be thankful for what you have!
Hello again Echo :)
It’s “to help somebody do something”, without another “to”. Watch out for that.
I don’t quite understand what you were trying to say with “We shared what we have”? Are you talking about sharing experiences or sharing possessions? It’s hard to correct for me without knowing, so please let me know. :D
Technically it’s not incorrect to say “The sun broke through the clouds, and the sun shone down on me.”, but it sounds extremely unnatural. With short sentences like this that have the same subject, you shouldn’t repeat it again.
Whether or not you set the comma is up to you. However, when connecting two clauses with the same subject, it is generally advised to set no comma.
I hope this helps!
On the 25th, it was very sunny in Germany. I went outside with my friend in the afternoon and we played frisbee together! Afterwards we relaxed in the sun and I ate a lot of blueberries. That really put my mind at ease. I wish you a lot of happy days like that! :D
I’m so happy to receive your words.
Let me take an example to explain the meaning of “We shared what we have”. I can make computer programs, and one of my friends can draw very well. So I helped him to solve the problem with computer, and he sent me some nice pictures he draw. That’s what I want to say, we shared the skills what we have, and then, we became good friends.
Your words really help me a lot! Thanks again!
Okay, I see what you were trying to say now! You can still use “share” here, but you have to say “to share a skill with somebody”. So in your text, it should say: “We shared our skills with each other, […]”.
If you only say “We shared our skills and became friends”, I think everyone would understand what you mean from the context. However, this sentence doesn’t say anything about who you shared your skills with. So this could also mean you both shared your skills with a bunch of other people because you were both part of the same club, and then you became friends that way. This is why you need the “with each other” for it to sound natural and be clear.
I’m glad my feedback is useful, you’re very welcome!
April 23, 2021
Overcast
Yesterday, I watched a TED video called “What Happened When We All Stopped”, the words paired with the song made me feel very inspired. It’s time to once again get closer to mother nature. With more trees and less buildings, we might have a better future.
Last night, I made a new friend called César (/sɪˈzɛ/). This was the first time I have communicated with a foreigner. I was so nervous and not sure what to say so I just listened for a long time. But césar noticed me, and greeted me, and gave me have the chance to talk. He is kind because he tried to slow his speed down in order to let me understand his words’ meaning.
I hope you and I have a good day!
@Linux#5072
The original is good already. It’s just some idiomatic stuff.
I also remember when I first talked to people online, it was quite scary and I was stuttering a lot, but after some time, it becomes more natural and easy. I also hope that I don’t talk too fast^ ^ Have a good day!
Hey again Echo! I’m very happy to hear you made a new friend from a different place :) I think it’s very important to talk to people from different cultures to broaden your horizons. Overcoming the language barrier can be hard, but it’s worth it. I’m sure if you keep talking to foreigners a lot, you’ll improve at speaking English very quickly!
About your text, you should again be careful not to swap between tenses on accident. If you are talking about events in the past, everything needs to be in simple past. Sometimes you might want to use present perfect or past perfect. But don’t go back to simple present unless:
a) you are no longer talking about the past
or
b) are just stating a general rule.
In your last sentence, “he intended to slow his speed down” sounds like he did not really slow down his speed. This would mean he only tried, but could not do it. So instead it’s better to just say “he tried to slow down” or “slowed down his speech for me”.
I wish you and me both a good day, too! :D
April 22, 2021
Light rain
Yesterday, my friend went to the hospital to be vaccinated, and passed by some houses with gardens. There were so many flowers in the garden that I could not name them. When she went back to the terrace, she mumbled with uncontrollable excitement, “Flowers are blooming! Flowers are blooming!”.
Last night, I dreamt that I found a big house with four floors. The landlord said it can hold more than ten people. There was a beautiful garden on the second floor, with a shelf containing a lots of lovely decorations. There was a wall of books on the third floor. On the top floor, there was a terrace where everyone could see the sea. Some bluish violet jellyfishes filled the sea.
A nice dream, wasn’t it?
Really lovely!
Hello again Echo :)
Overall, this was a very good text! You don’t make a lot of mistakes. Your dream sounds very fun. I would tell you about mine, but I already forgot it…
I also have some comments that might help you. They may be a bit hard to understand, but I hope they will be useful anyway. I wish I could explain in Chinese, but sadly I can’t! :(
In the first sentence, you need a place or the sentence will sound incorrect. If you say “She went to do X”, a native speaker will ask themselves “Where did she go?”. The sentence sounds incomplete.
“to have a vaccination” gets the meaning across, but to put this correctly, you need to use the passive. (She was vaccinated = to be vaccinated)
If you do not know how to use the passive yet, you can also say “She got a vaccination yesterday” (It’s informal speech though).
“[…] “Flowers are blooming! Flowers are blooming!”, she mumbled with […]” is how to put the verb after the direct speech. In this case, you need a comma (,) and not a full stop (.) . It’s still the same sentence.
However, you can only say this if you drop the subordinate clause (“When she went back to the terrace,”). With this clause before the rest of the sentence, it sounds very strange if you don’t put the verb before the direct speech.
When using indirect speech, watch out for auxiliary verbs must, can, may, etc., because they will change.
can -> could
may -> might
must -> have to
So: The landlord said “It can hold up to ten people.”
-> The landlord said it could hold up to ten people.
Both “containing lots of” and “containing a lot of” are okay, but not “a lots” because lots is plural and doesn’t need an article. “a lot of” is already spoken language, but “lots” is even more informal.
Since your dream is over now when you tell the story, you should put everything in it in simple past and not simple present. Watch out not to swap between tenses on accident!
April 21, 2021
Cloudy to light rain
I bought a lovely new diary, and I also made a plan to write in my English diary. I’m afraid I have poor English, even though I read some English books and songs. But I want to give it a try. I ate shredded chicken noodles tonight, I love it so much. I wish you could have a taste. I also ordered a milk tea with fruit, but I had to wait for a long time.
Hey again Echo!
Maybe you were confused here:
“I’m afraid of my poor English” = I am scared = My English is scary
(I don’t think your English is scary hahaha)
“I’m afraid my English is poor” = “I am sorry, but my English is poor” or “I am not happy about it, but my English is poor”
I think your diary is a very good idea :) I hope you will post regularly! I’m sure it will help you get better at writing in English. I look forward to giving you feedback and I will tell you if something nice happens to me, too. Today, I will watch a movie with my friends!
You like Star Trek?
Do you watch the old Star Trek, or the new movies? Spock is my favorite too.
I know the Star Trek tv series, they wrote a lot of official books of them, so you might want to read some to practice English.
Great lovely diary! Don’t stop doing it!