Writing about Your Life
2022-04-08
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1Imagine you want to describe your life.
2 You might begin with where and when you were born.
3In last week's report, Describing Your Life, we showed you how one of the most famous books of 20th century literature, Midnight's Children, described the beginning of a life.
4In this week's Everyday Grammar, we use a story from one of our readers, Luna, to teach you about subject-verb agreement, vocabulary, verb forms, and more.
5Here is the story that we received from Luna:
6My name is Luna
7I was born in Seoul in South Korea.
8I have heard that my parent was very delighted for getting their first child.
93 years later, my father had left home to make money
10Mother, my younger sister and me always have being missed and waited for him to return home.
11but it was last time since he had left home
12Luna wrote an excellent story. It was very moving.
13Her first sentences are clear and direct:
14My name is Luna.
15I was born in Seoul in South Korea.
16The next sentence needs a small change in subject-verb agreement:
17I have heard that my parent was very delighted for getting their first child.
18Luna wrote "my parent was very delighted," but we generally use the plural form "parents" and corresponding BE verb agreement - "were."
19In other words: "my parents were very delighted..."
20In general, we use the structure "to have" when talking about children.
21So, we can update the sentence to say the following:
22I have heard that my parents were very delighted to have their first child.
23Luna's next sentence says this:
243 years later, my father had left home to make money
25We recommend changing "3 years later" to "3 years after my birth" as well as changing the verb form to the simple past- "my father left home to make money."
26"Had left" would still be understood, but we usually use this verb form to describe an action that is completed before another action, as in "He had left by the time I arrived."*
27So, this could be the updated sentence:
283 years after my birth, my father left home to make money.
29In the story's next sentence, we recommend changing some of the pronouns.
30Mother, my younger sister and me always have being missed and waited for him to return home.
31We recommend replacing the pronoun "me" with "I." In general, we use the object pronoun after the verb "miss," as in "missed him," or "missed her."
32We could change the sentence to the following:
33Mother, my younger sister and I always missed him and waited for him to return home.
34This was the final line:
35but it was last time since he had left home
36We recommend including a determiner before "last time," as in "but it was the last time."
37We can simplify the rest of the line a bit further.
38The word "since" is not necessary, and the simple past works well in this situation.
39The line could say:
40But it was the last time he left home.
41Here is the complete story with the changes that we recommend:
42My name is Luna
43I was born in Seoul in South Korea.
44I have heard that my parents were very delighted to have their first child.
453 years after my birth, my father left home to make money.
46Mother, my younger sister and I always missed him and waited for him to return home.
47But it was the last time he left home.
48Thank you for sharing your story, Luna. We wish you continued success in your English studies.
49For all of our other readers and listeners, we hope that you have learned something from the suggestions we gave.
50I'm John Russell.
51And I'm Faith Pirlo.
1Imagine you want to describe your life. You might begin with where and when you were born. 2In last week's report, Describing Your Life, we showed you how one of the most famous books of 20th century literature, Midnight's Children, described the beginning of a life. 3In this week's Everyday Grammar, we use a story from one of our readers, Luna, to teach you about subject-verb agreement, vocabulary, verb forms, and more. 4Luna's message 5Here is the story that we received from Luna: 6My name is Luna 7I was born in Seoul in South Korea. 8I have heard that my parent was very delighted for getting their first child. 93 years later, my father had left home to make money 10Mother, my younger sister and me always have being missed and waited for him to return home. 11but it was last time since he had left home 12Feedback 13Luna wrote an excellent story. It was very moving. 14Her first sentences are clear and direct: 15My name is Luna. 16I was born in Seoul in South Korea. 17The next sentence needs a small change in subject-verb agreement: 18I have heard that my parent was very delighted for getting their first child. 19Luna wrote "my parent was very delighted," but we generally use the plural form "parents" and corresponding BE verb agreement - "were." In other words: "my parents were very delighted..." 20In general, we use the structure "to have" when talking about children. So, we can update the sentence to say the following: 21I have heard that my parents were very delighted to have their first child. 22Luna's next sentence says this: 233 years later, my father had left home to make money 24We recommend changing "3 years later" to "3 years after my birth" as well as changing the verb form to the simple past- "my father left home to make money." "Had left" would still be understood, but we usually use this verb form to describe an action that is completed before another action, as in "He had left by the time I arrived."* 25So, this could be the updated sentence: 263 years after my birth, my father left home to make money. 27Pronouns 28In the story's next sentence, we recommend changing some of the pronouns. 29Mother, my younger sister and me always have being missed and waited for him to return home. 30We recommend replacing the pronoun "me" with "I." In general, we use the object pronoun after the verb "miss," as in "missed him," or "missed her." 31We could change the sentence to the following: 32Mother, my younger sister and I always missed him and waited for him to return home. 33This was the final line: 34but it was last time since he had left home 35We recommend including a determiner before "last time," as in "but it was the last time." 36We can simplify the rest of the line a bit further. The word "since" is not necessary, and the simple past works well in this situation. 37The line could say: 38But it was the last time he left home. 39Here is the complete story with the changes that we recommend: 40My name is Luna 41I was born in Seoul in South Korea. 42I have heard that my parents were very delighted to have their first child. 433 years after my birth, my father left home to make money. 44Mother, my younger sister and I always missed him and waited for him to return home. 45But it was the last time he left home. 46Thank you for sharing your story, Luna. We wish you continued success in your English studies. 47For all of our other readers and listeners, we hope that you have learned something from the suggestions we gave. 48I'm John Russell. 49And I'm Faith Pirlo. 50*Please note that there are some differences in British and American usage of this verb form. 51_______________________________________________________________ 52Words in This Story 53delighted - adj. highly pleased 54determiner - n. a word (such as an article, possessive, demonstrative, or quantifier) that makes specific the denotation of a noun phrase