EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 7 1/4

We can't omit words which are necessary for grammatical or logical completeness.
To complete compound structures, we should add needed word.
e.g.
1) I hate the girl who lies to me.
    Here who is needed word.
We need to add the word that when there is some danger of misreading without it.
e.g. 
2) The fact that he didn't finish his homework yesterday.
    We should add that here.
     I think that he didn't finish his homework yesterday.
     I think he didn't finish his homework yesterday. 
    We can choose don't put that in this sentence.
If we want to make comparisons logical and complete, we must add words needed.
e.g.
 1)I want to buy some apples and park.(wrong)
     I want to buy some apples and go to the park.(right)

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 6 4/4

I have reviewed something about untangle mixed constructions. When I write some long sentence, there may be no subject or no verb in the whole sentences or there are two connection between two clauses, which need me to check carefully. Though and but can just be used once in a sentence but I usually use both because this point is different from China, so I should focus it more. When there is a preposition at the beginning of a sentence, What I should do is that do not see it as the subject of the sentence.

e.g. 
1）Though the weather is bad, we still go out to play.
2）For students who still work hard on their homework, going out and finding own interest is the most important thing.

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 6 3/4

Today I reviewed something about how to add needed words in sentences.There are some grammar rules which should be deeply memorized in my daily English study.Sometimes, adding that is an appropriate method to avoid the misunderstanding in a sentence without it.

e.g.
1) Johnson realized that Lucas could not communicate well with other people. (If that were delated, the meaning became to: Johnson realized Lucas, which is incorrect and confused to readers.)

Comparisons need necessary words so that they can be completed.
e.g.
1) The football in United States is totally different from Europe.    The football in US is totally different from that in Europe.(In fact, the sentence compares American football with European football; therefore)

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 6 2/4

Today I reviewed something about how to make pronouns and antecedents agree.  When we writing something, we need make sure that we use pronouns follow the antecedents what we used.  For example, the antecedent that we used is singular, so we should not use the pronoun which means plural.

e.g.
1) A Chinese student should spend a lot of time doing their homework. (wrong)
     Chinese students should spend a lot of time doing their homework.  (right)
2) Many young girls in this city choose to be a teacher in her future. (wrong)
    Many young girls in this city choose to be a teacher in their future. (right)

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 6 1/4

We need make subjects and verbs agree when we writing.  In the present tense, verbs agree with their subjects in number (one or more than one) and in person(1st, 2nd, 3rd), for instance: we invite, you invite, he or she invites, I invite.  

e.g.

1)  Lily and Tony do the presentation together.("Lily and Tony" are two people, so here we use "do", instead of "does".)

2)  The cat which lies on the blanket is mine.("cat" is singular and 3rd, so here we use "lies", instead of "lie".)

3)  I suggest Kevin does not go to school late.("I" is singular but 1st, so here we use "suggest", instead of "suggests"; "Kevin" is singular and 3rd, so here we use "does", instead of "do".)

  

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 5 4/4

    I reviewed the part 9 of Bedford today and learned lots of knowledge which I might ignored before.  There are some meaningful grammars about parallel ideas which need to be paid attention in the future.

    First of all, it is necessary to put one or more informations into a series.

e.g.

1） A good singer needs not only excellent voice but also reputation, good lifestyles, and they are modest.  （In this sentence, all the items should be nouns so they are modest has to be changed to modesty.）

     In addition, when coordinating conjunctions are located between two parallel ideas, the forms of the ideas must be same. 

e.g.

1）Katy Perry is making her new album and preparing for her solo concert these days.  （In this example, the verb making and preparing are balanced.）

     When parallel ideas are connected with some conjunctions such as whether...or, neither...nor, not only...but also, the grammatical form of second half must be the same with the structure of first half.  

e.g.

1）Switzerland is not only a wealthy country but also a peaceful country.  （Sometimes, it is easy to add is after but also; however, it makes the two parts of sentence become unbalanced.）

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 5 3/4

 Today I want to talk about run-on sentences which means two complete sentences join together without any link words.  When combine two sentences into one sentence, a proper way is join them with a comma and a conjunction between them; 

e.g.
1)Government has invested more money to develop agriculture industry, so farming condition has a great progress in last 5 years.(In this sentence, first part and second part are all can stand alone as an independent sentence, and they have different objects, so they should be joined by a comma and a conjunction between them.)  
Another way to join two sentences is link to parts with a semicolon.

e.g.
People more and more rely on internet; however, the healthy problem that bring by computers threat people’s normal lives.
(According to the relationship of these two independent clauses, these are combined by a semicolon.)   

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 5 2/4

Today I reviewed something about how to repair sentence fragments.  We can repair most sentence fragments by two ways, one of them is either pull the fragment into a nearby sentence, the other way is to rewrite the fragment as a complete sentence. We need to attach fragmented subordinate clauses or turn them into sentence.

e.g.
1）I don't think Kevin will come back this summer. Because he hurt his legs.
  Correct : I don't think Kevin will come back this summer because he hurt his legs.
Or "Because Kevin hurt his legs, I do not think he will come back this summer."
2）I like apple juice. And banana ice-cream.
  Correct : I like apple juice and banana ice-cream.

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 5 1/4

Today I reviewed something about repair sentence fragments.  We named a word group which pretends to be a sentence a sentence fragment.  If we want to know whether the text is a sentence fragment or a sentence, we can use the following methods.
1) If the text doesn't have a verb, it is a fragment.
2) If the text has a verb but doesn't have a subject, it is a fragment.
3) If the text has a verb and subject, and also has the word group merely a subordinate clause, it is a fragment.
4) If the text has a verb and subject, but doesn't have the the word group merely a subordinate clause, it is a sentence.

e.g.
1) Going to downtown. (a sentence fragment, does not have a subject)
2) I have a big trouble now. (a sentence)

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 4 4/4

The prepositions such as at, on, in, by, with, to, for, from, and of are the most frequently used in English.  

e.g.
1) This book written by Zoe.  ("by"is a preposition here)
2) I arrived in 7.p.m. yesterday.  ("in"is a preposition here)
3) He just standing here and waiting for his wife.  ("for"is a preposition here)

Different prepositions have different uses and usages.  For example, the preposition at, when it showing time, we should use it at a specific time, at 6.p.m., at lunch.  If at showing place, It has four different usages.  The first one is at a meeting place or location: at the bar, at school.  The second one is at the edge of something: siting at the table.  The third  
one is at the corner of something: at the end.  The fourth one is at the target: catch at.  

e.g.
1)  I ate my breakfast at 7:40 a.m. this morning.
2)  I hope I can finish my homework at school.

3)  We sit at the table and talk with each other.

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 4 3/4

Hyphen is always used to get some wards together in order to describe nouns. We should use hyphens between them. If I want to spell a word in the last of a line but the space is not enough, I should write some of characters in the word and use hyphen after these part and then spell the left part in the next line.

e.g.
Vancouver is a well-known city around the world.
The fourteen-year-old boy has become a famous person.
She is a hard-working student.

This situation is just used on the adjective before the noun, which is the most important and we should focus on it.

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 4 2/4

I reviewed the usage of the number. If the number is very big like more than one handred, then just write the number but not spell it; however, if the number is easy to  spell such as two thousand, then spell it. If the number is blow one handred but not easy to spell, I should still spell it out.

e.g.
There are two buses coming now.
There are more than 100,000 babies born each year.
There are fourth students in the class now.

What is the most important is that the rules are always changed, so we should not focus the problems of numbers very much.

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 4 1/4

Today I reviewed something about subordinate words groups.  The definition of subordinate words groups is the words group includes phrase and clause.  Different subordinate play different roles in the sentences, some of them are adjective, some of them are adverb, also have some are noun.  
e.g. 
1）I finish my homework by pen.
2）I go to school by bus.
3）I want to go to London by train.
4)  I want to do this on my own way.

In these sentences, "by pen", "by bus","by train", and "on my own way" are subordinate phrases,"by pen","by bus", "by train" and "on my own way" play the same role in their sentences as a adverb.

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 3 4/4

Sentence structure is the basic writing skill and very important.  There are some rules of sentence structure we must follow.  Never write a sentence without a subject because it is a wrong sentence.  We also need a verb to link this sentence.

e.g.
1）The winner of the game is a boy.
（‘‘the winner’’ is the simple subject, and the whole subject is ‘‘the winner of the game’’.  And ‘’is’’ is the verb.）

The second rule is that we can use pronoun in a sentence, but we can not use it as the same function with the noun which we use pronoun to replace.

e.g.
2）The teacher he enjoys playing video game. （wrong）
     The teacher enjoys playing video game.  （right）
‘‘The teacher’’ is the subject and a noun, and we want use ‘’he’’ to replace it, but both of them are subject.  So, this is a incorrect sentence.

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 3 3/4

We can find some abbreviations when we reading or writing.  We cannot use abbreviations for titles when we writing.

e.g.
1) My Dr. said that sleep too much time isn't good for health. (wrong)
    My doctor said that sleep too much isn't good for health. (right)
    ("Dr" here is wrong because it is an abbreviation for "doctor", and we cannot use abbreviations for titles when we writing.)

When we use abbreviations in our writing, we must make sure that our readers can understand them.  Because some abbreviation look same but meanings are totally different.
We also should notice if we want to use abbreviations like BC, a.m., No, we should add specific dates,times or amounts with them.

e.g.
1) The No. is very large. (wrong)
    The number is very large. (right)
    ("No." here is an abbreviation, we can write sentence like this.)

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 3 2/4

Every English sentence should have a subject.  In most English sentences, the subject usually appears before the verb.  But in some sentences, the subject is used after the verb.   There or it, we named these words expletives often appears before the verb.

e.g.
1) She is a good girl.("She" here is a subject in this sentence.)
2) In my hometown, it is very poor. ("It" here is a subject in this sentence.)
3) It is time to go to school now. ("It" here is a subject in this sentence.)
4) There are some people standing on the street.(This sentences have an expletive "there", we can rewrite this sentence, "Some people are standing on the street." "Some people" here is a subject, "are" is a verb.)

EAP 140 AM - WANG, Lingshan - Week 3 1/4

Today I reviewed something about sentence structure.  The English sentences general follow the structure which is from subject to verb to object or complement.  

e.g. 
1) I want to go.  (subject - verb - verb complement)
2) I eat ice cream.  (subject - verb - object)

We should use a linking verb between a subject and its complement. The linking verbs such as is, are, was, and were, should be used in between subjects and complements.  The complements are nous or adjectives that give the words another definition or describe the subject.

e.g.   
1) She is a single lady. ("is" here is a linking verb)
2) A lot of poverty in the west of China are minority. ("are" here is a linking verb)