Reviewing Your Birthday Message
2022-09-02
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1Recently, our readers and listeners wrote many lovely messages about their birthdays.
2We have been reading all of them.
3Most messages are happy.
4You wrote about gifts you received, the people who celebrated with you, or where and how you celebrated.
5Some messages seemed sad.
6Some of you do not get to celebrate your birthdays.
7Other messages were a mix of sad and happy.
8In this week's Everyday Grammar, we are looking at Farhana's message about her birthday.
9She wrote:
10My birthday was on last 23 march.
11This was my 27th birthday.
12In my birthday no one wished me except my younger sister.
13And actually there was no devise for this day.
14I spent my whole day as like it is a normal day.
15Sometimes i felt sad and sometimes i wasn't.
16Let us start at the beginning.
17Farhana writes:
18My birthday was on last 23 march.
19We suggest changing this sentence to the present tense to say when your birthday is.
20My birthday is March 23.
21In American English, the usual order for dates is month, day, year.
22So instead of "23 March," Americans usually say "March 23."
23You used the past tense in this sentence:
24This was my 27th birthday.
25Another way we can say how old we are, is to use the past tense of the verb "turn."
26I turned 27 this year.
27Here, "turn" means to reach or pass into a new age.
28Next Farhana wrote this:
29In my birthday no one wished me except my younger sister.
30We can change the word order of this sentence to make it clearer.
31No one wished me happy birthday, except my younger sister.
32Instead of a prepositional phrase, "In my birthday," we can just start the sentence with "No one." "No one" is an indefinite pronoun meaning "no person."
33You could also use the pronoun "nobody."
34Onto the next sentence:
35And actually there was no devise for this day.
36"To devise" is a verb meaning to plan or think up something.
37You were close! But in this sentence we need a noun.
38And we find it in the definition of devise: plan.
39Actually, there was no plan for the day.
40If you wanted to use the word devise, however, you could! It would come right after "plan" in the sentence.
41Actually, there was no plan devised for the day.
42Farhana's next sentence is:
43I spent my whole day as like it is a normal day.
44We should make a few changes to this sentence.
45"As" and "like" are both used to make comparisons between nouns.
46"As" is an adverb, and "like" is a preposition.
47We only need one of these to make the comparison.
48We can say:
49I spent my whole day like it was a normal day.
50Let us look at Farhana's last sentence:
51Sometimes i felt sad and sometimes i wasn't.
52We suggest changing this sentence to:
53Sometimes I felt sad, but other times I didn't.
54Now the two parts of the sentence agree in verb use.
55Also, We always capitalize the pronoun "I" in sentences.
56We used the conjunction "but" with "other times" only to create more contrast.
57It is also correct to write:
58Sometimes I felt sad and sometimes I didn't.
59Now, let's hear the revised message about Farhana's birthday:
60My birthday is March 23.
61I turned 27 this year.
62No one wished me happy birthday except my younger sister.
63Actually, there was no plan for the day.
64I spent my whole day like it was a normal day.
65Sometimes I felt sad, but other times, I didn't.
66Thank you for Farhana for your message.
67We would like to wish you a happy birthday, early, for next year when you turn 28! We hope you enjoy the day.
68If you would like to receive advice on American English, write us a short message of 5-8 sentences about your favorite character from a book.
69You can describe what the character looks like, their thoughts, actions, what they say, or what other characters think of them.
70You can also talk about why you like this character.
71Send your writing to our email address: learningenglish@voanews.com.
72Maybe we will choose your message for a future episode of Everyday Grammar.
73I'm Caty Weaver.
1Recently, our readers and listeners wrote many lovely messages about their birthdays. We have been reading all of them. Most messages are happy. You wrote about gifts you received, the people who celebrated with you, or where and how you celebrated. 2Some messages seemed sad. Some of you do not get to celebrate your birthdays. Other messages were a mix of sad and happy. 3In this week's Everyday Grammar, we are looking at Farhana's message about her birthday. She wrote: 4A message from Farhana 5My birthday was on last 23 march. This was my 27th birthday. In my birthday no one wished me except my younger sister. And actually there was no devise for this day. I spent my whole day as like it is a normal day. Sometimes i felt sad and sometimes i wasn't. 6Review of Farhana's message 7Let us start at the beginning. Farhana writes: 8My birthday was on last 23 march. 9We suggest changing this sentence to the present tense to say when your birthday is. 10My birthday is March 23. 11In American English, the usual order for dates is month, day, year. So instead of "23 March," Americans usually say "March 23." 12You used the past tense in this sentence: 13This was my 27th birthday. 14Another way we can say how old we are, is to use the past tense of the verb "turn." 15I turned 27 this year. 16Here, "turn" means to reach or pass into a new age. 17Next Farhana wrote this: 18In my birthday no one wished me except my younger sister. 19We can change the word order of this sentence to make it clearer. 20No one wished me happy birthday, except my younger sister. 21Instead of a prepositional phrase, "In my birthday," we can just start the sentence with "No one." "No one" is an indefinite pronoun meaning "no person." You could also use the pronoun "nobody." 22Onto the next sentence: 23And actually there was no devise for this day. 24"To devise" is a verb meaning to plan or think up something. You were close! But in this sentence we need a noun. And we find it in the definition of devise: plan. 25Actually, there was no plan for the day. 26If you wanted to use the word devise, however, you could! It would come right after "plan" in the sentence. 27Actually, there was no plan devised for the day. 28Farhana's next sentence is: 29I spent my whole day as like it is a normal day. 30We should make a few changes to this sentence. 31"As" and "like" are both used to make comparisons between nouns. 32"As" is an adverb, and "like" is a preposition. We only need one of these to make the comparison. 33We can say: 34I spent my whole day like it was a normal day. 35Let us look at Farhana's last sentence: 36Sometimes i felt sad and sometimes i wasn't. 37We suggest changing this sentence to: 38Sometimes I felt sad, but other times I didn't. 39Now the two parts of the sentence agree in verb use. 40Also, We always capitalize the pronoun "I" in sentences. We used the conjunction "but" with "other times" only to create more contrast. It is also correct to write: 41Sometimes I felt sad and sometimes I didn't. 42Closing thoughts 43Now, let's hear the revised message about Farhana's birthday: 44My birthday is March 23. I turned 27 this year. No one wished me happy birthday except my younger sister. Actually, there was no plan for the day. I spent my whole day like it was a normal day. Sometimes I felt sad, but other times, I didn't. 45Thank you for Farhana for your message. We would like to wish you a happy birthday, early, for next year when you turn 28! We hope you enjoy the day. 46If you would like to receive advice on American English, write us a short message of 5-8 sentences about your favorite character from a book. You can describe what the character looks like, their thoughts, actions, what they say, or what other characters think of them. You can also talk about why you like this character. Send your writing to our email address: learningenglish@voanews.com. 47Maybe we will choose your message for a future episode of Everyday Grammar. 48I'm Caty Weaver. 49Faith Pirlo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 50Describe your favorite character by writing us at learningenglish@voanews.com or by leaving a comment. 51_________________________________________________________________ 52Words in This Story 53indefinite - adj. unclear in meaning or detail 54devise - v. to think of; to come up with, to invent or plan 55capitalize - v. to begin (a word or name) with a capital letter 56contrast - n. a difference between things or people that are being compared 57character - n. a person who appears in a movie, book, film... 58feedback - n. the transmission of corrective information 59_____________________________________________________________________ 60We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 61Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.