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GMC Forum _ CHILL OUT _ Anyone Good At English?
Posted by: Niko Fran Jan 25 2009, 09:03 PM
I was given the assignment in school to locate five errors in the following text, but I wasen't able to locate that many, can anybody figure some out? Thanks alot!
On Sundays we like to go for a walk in the nature. lt's nice to get away from our usual surroundings and forget about all the work we ought to do. The problem is, of course, that the pollution in this city creeps in everywhere, and is felt even in the parks. The civilization has made the life easier, but there are some drawbacks as well: the parents are concerned because more and more children become allergic, and the unemployment seems to be increasing year by year.
Posted by: timono Jan 25 2009, 09:08 PM
On Sundays we like to go for a walk in the nature. lt's nice to get away from our usual surroundings and forget about all the work we ought to do. The problem is, of course, that the pollution in this city creeps in everywhere, and is felt even in the parks. The civilization has made the life easier, but there are some drawbacks as well: the parents are concerned because more and more children become allergic, and the unemployment seems to be increasing year by year.
think it's supposed to be 'The civilization has made life easier,'
don't know for sure though..
Posted by: tonymiro Jan 25 2009, 09:19 PM
With my copy editor's hat on I can see more than 5 errors.
Some hints: incorrect use of indefinite and definite articles; punctuation prior to conjunctions; incorrect use of punctuation marks; improper use of the implied dative.
As an academic I won't however tell you where all the issues are.
Best of luck.
Cheers,
Tony
Posted by: Alex87 Jan 25 2009, 09:23 PM
On Sundays we like to go for a walk in the nature. lt's nice to get away from our usual surroundings and forget about all the work we ought to do. The problem is, of course, that the pollution in this city creeps in everywhere, and is felt even in the parks. The civilization has made the life easier, but there are some drawbacks as well: the parents are concerned because more and more children become allergic, and the unemployment seems to be increasing year by year.
Pøj pøj med det. Er virkelig ringe til den slags
Posted by: Niko Fran Jan 25 2009, 09:36 PM
Thanks Timono, I had spotted that one aswell though 
I has some doubts about the start, I know it should be "On Sundays, we like..." Instead of "On Sundays we like..." But I have some doubts about if I should take On Sunday at the start of the sentence or the end.... Tonymiro, I dont quite understand what you just said, but thanks anyway
Haha mange tak, dansk er meget dejligere ja
Posted by: tonymiro Jan 25 2009, 09:54 PM
As a help Niko
- incorrect use of definite and indefinite articles - use of 'a', 'an' and 'the'; in English one would not say 'the civilisation' in this example but 'Civilisation'. No article is required usually where we refer to the general rather than the specific in this example. This happens more than once in the piece. Also, as another help, the more common conjunctions are 'and' and 'but'. Whilst one may put a punctuation mark prior to, or following, 'and' you should not place one prior to 'but'. Any punctuation wrt 'and' needs to be used carefully. The implied dative case is 'to' - in the specific instance the implied dative is superfluous. Punctuation - use of the colon and the construction of the preceding and succeeding clauses are dubious...
There are other issues as well. To some extent it depends on how pedantic one wishes to be as to how many errors there are.
Posted by: ParalyzedHorse Jan 25 2009, 10:04 PM
I think its "Civilization has made life easier" instead of "the civilization has made the life." and "Parents are concerened" instead of "the parents." And maybe its "more children are becoming allergic," so it is in agreement with "increasing year by year"
hope this helps 
Posted by: Niko Fran Jan 25 2009, 10:07 PM
Great, I actully understand that Thanks alot Tony :)Thanks to you to Paralysed, hadnt thought about incresing
One last question though, is it: On Sundays, we like to go for a walk in the nature - or - We like to go for a walk in the nature on Sundays ?
Posted by: tonymiro Jan 25 2009, 10:27 PM
You can use either Niko although the expression used commonly in the UK would be 'a nature walk' rather than 'a walk in the nature'.
Cheers,
Tony
Posted by: Muris Varajic Jan 25 2009, 11:42 PM
Damn, looks fine to me 
Posted by: David Wallimann Jan 25 2009, 11:51 PM
Haha!
I love it, GMC not only makes you play guitar better but also improves you English chops.
Excellent!
Posted by: utak3r Jan 26 2009, 01:42 AM
lol, after first reading had the same thought
Posted by: Koopid Jan 26 2009, 10:37 AM
On Sundays we like to go for a walk in the nature. lt's nice to get away from our usual surroundings and forget about all the work we ought to do. The problem is, of course, that the pollution in this city creeps in everywhere, and is felt even in the parks. The civilization has made the life easier, but there are some drawbacks as well: the parents are concerned because more and more children become allergic, and the unemployment seems to be increasing year by year.
I would remove all the "the" that are in bold letters. You can't type becoming allergic because it is not correct.
I am not 100% sure but these are the changes I would do. So remove 5 *the* and you're probably done
Posted by: utak3r Jan 26 2009, 12:43 PM
Although if he write "they are becoming allergic" it'd be perfect, and that's probably the most proper way of saying that...
Posted by: Koopid Jan 26 2009, 12:52 PM
Remove the "they" and it sounds better. But the original sentence is also correct. The extra "the"'s are not 100% incorrect either. They are just unnecessary.
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