Writing Feedback: What Is Your National Dish?
2024-04-05
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1In today's Everyday Grammar, we will take a delicious trip to East Asia.
2We will taste wonderful and perhaps unfamiliar foods - if only in our imagination.
3We will also learn about some of the details of writing, including common spelling and punctuation mistakes.
4In a recent Everyday Grammar, we explored how to talk about a national dish.
5We asked our listeners and readers around the world to write to us about their national dish.
6In today's lesson, we give feedback on some of that writing.
7Let's start with Japan.
8Here is part of what Kaori wrote:
9Chirashi-sushi is the national dish of Japan.
10It is a sweet and sour dish that consists of rice, shrimp, eggs, dried gourd, vinegar, salt and sugar...
11In May 5th, we eat the traditional sweet called Kashiwa-mochi.
12It is a sweet and sticky small snack that consists of rice powder, small red beans and sugar.
13Kaori used the structures that we discussed in our previous lesson.
14The writing included adjectives such as sweet and sour, the phrasal verb "consist of," and nouns such as rice, shrimp, and eggs.
15We were especially interested to read about dried gourd - an ingredient that is not common in America.
16Our main suggestion is to replace the short word "in" with "on," as in "On May 5th, we eat the traditional sweet..."
17Remember: we use "on" for exact dates. So, we say, for example, "On January 1st," or "On September 27th."
18Next, we go to China to learn about two popular dishes.
19Here, we notice a similarity between the United States and China.
20If you asked Americans to write about a national dish, you would likely get different answers.
21In the same way, we received different answers about a national dish of China.
22Here is part of Jon's message:
23Chicken soup is a national dish of China, it's a light soup that consists of hens and medicine plants.
24Most part of chicken soup is hens' meat, because it tastes finer...the other ingredients of it are Chinese medicine plants such as DangGui.
25Of course we need some flavorings to make it tastes more delicious, soybeans, peppers, ginger and garlic are necessary to the soup.
26Jon's message is clear and easy to understand. That said, we have a few suggested changes.
27In terms of grammar, we should remove the noun form "medicine" and instead use the adjective "medicinal," as in "medicinal plants."
28We could also use a more exact noun such as "herb," as in "medicinal herbs."
29We should also replace the short word "to" with "for," as in "necessary for the soup."
30We could also make a few small stylistic changes.
31For example, in the first sentence, we could use the noun "chicken" in place of "hen" although a hen makes it clear that the bird is a female.
32Here is one way we might update the message:
33Chicken soup is a national dish of China.
34It is a light soup that consists of chicken and medicinal herbs.
35Most of the chicken soup has meat from the female chicken, or hen, because it tastes finer and softer than meat from the male chicken.
36The other ingredients of chicken soup are Chinese medicinal herbs such as dang gui.
37Of course, we need some flavorings to make it taste more delicious.
38Soybean, peppers, ginger and garlic are necessary for the soup.
39Next, here is part of what Ming wrote to us:
40Meicai Kourou is the national dish of China.
41It is a salty dish that consists of pork belly, fermented red tofu source, dry mizuna, soybean source, salt and species, such as Sichuan Peppercorn and star anise.
42Mei Cai is the mizuna's pronunciation in Chinese....
43Ming wrote a nice message that is clear and easy to understand.
44We suggest a few changes for some of the nouns.
45Instead of "source," we want to use the word "sauce."
46And instead of "species," we would use "spices."
47So, the second sentence might say: "fermented red tofu sauce," "soybean sauce," and "salt and spices."
48The final sentences might go like this:
49It is a salty dish that consists of pork belly, fermented red tofu sauce, dry mizuna, soybean sauce, salt, and spices, such as Sichuan peppercorn and star anise.
50Mei cai is the Chinese pronunciation for mizuna.
51We can take a few lessons from the messages that we received.
52The first is that writing does not need to be perfect to be understandable.
53All the messages had nice, clear structures and were easy to understand for a native English speaker.
54The main issues were in the details - the spelling of nouns and adjectives, punctuation, and other small things.
55Our recommendation is to carefully look over these details several times in future writing efforts.
56We will give more writing feedback on messages from our fans around the world in coming lessons.
57We will learn more about national dishes from other areas of the world including Europe and Africa.
58If you have a question or comment about today's lesson, feel free to send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com
59I'm John Russell.
1In today's Everyday Grammar, we will take a delicious trip to East Asia. We will taste wonderful and perhaps unfamiliar foods - if only in our imagination. 2We will also learn about some of the details of writing, including common spelling and punctuation mistakes. 3Background 4In a recent Everyday Grammar, we explored how to talk about a national dish. 5We asked our listeners and readers around the world to write to us about their national dish. 6In today's lesson, we give feedback on some of that writing. 7Japan - chirashi-sushi 8Let's start with Japan. 9Here is part of what Kaori wrote: 10Chirashi-sushi is the national dish of Japan. 11It is a sweet and sour dish that consists of rice, shrimp, eggs, dried gourd, vinegar, salt and sugar... 12In May 5th, we eat the traditional sweet called Kashiwa-mochi. It is a sweet and sticky small snack that consists of rice powder, small red beans and sugar. 13Kaori used the structures that we discussed in our previous lesson. The writing included adjectives such as sweet and sour, the phrasal verb "consist of," and nouns such as rice, shrimp, and eggs. We were especially interested to read about dried gourd - an ingredient that is not common in America. 14Our main suggestion is to replace the short word "in" with "on," as in "On May 5th, we eat the traditional sweet..." 15Remember: we use "on" for exact dates. So, we say, for example, "On January 1st," or "On September 27th." 16China - chicken soup 17Next, we go to China to learn about two popular dishes. 18Here, we notice a similarity between the United States and China. If you asked Americans to write about a national dish, you would likely get different answers. In the same way, we received different answers about a national dish of China. 19Here is part of Jon's message: 20Chicken soup is a national dish of China, it's a light soup that consists of hens and medicine plants. 21Most part of chicken soup is hens' meat, because it tastes finer...the other ingredients of it are Chinese medicine plants such as DangGui. Of course we need some flavorings to make it tastes more delicious, soybeans, peppers, ginger and garlic are necessary to the soup. 22Jon's message is clear and easy to understand. That said, we have a few suggested changes. 23In terms of grammar, we should remove the noun form "medicine" and instead use the adjective "medicinal," as in "medicinal plants." We could also use a more exact noun such as "herb," as in "medicinal herbs." 24We should also replace the short word "to" with "for," as in "necessary for the soup." 25We could also make a few small stylistic changes. For example, in the first sentence, we could use the noun "chicken" in place of "hen" although a hen makes it clear that the bird is a female. 26Here is one way we might update the message: 27Chicken soup is a national dish of China. It is a light soup that consists of chicken and medicinal herbs. 28Most of the chicken soup has meat from the female chicken, or hen, because it tastes finer and softer than meat from the male chicken. 29The other ingredients of chicken soup are Chinese medicinal herbs such as dang gui. Of course, we need some flavorings to make it taste more delicious. Soybean, peppers, ginger and garlic are necessary for the soup. 30China - meicai kourou 31Next, here is part of what Ming wrote to us: 32Meicai Kourou is the national dish of China. It is a salty dish that consists of pork belly, fermented red tofu source, dry mizuna, soybean source, salt and species, such as Sichuan Peppercorn and star anise. Mei Cai is the mizuna's pronunciation in Chinese.... 33Ming wrote a nice message that is clear and easy to understand. 34We suggest a few changes for some of the nouns. Instead of "source," we want to use the word "sauce." And instead of "species," we would use "spices." 35So, the second sentence might say: "fermented red tofu sauce," "soybean sauce," and "salt and spices." 36The final sentences might go like this: 37It is a salty dish that consists of pork belly, fermented red tofu sauce, dry mizuna, soybean sauce, salt, and spices, such as Sichuan peppercorn and star anise. Mei cai is the Chinese pronunciation for mizuna. 38Lessons 39We can take a few lessons from the messages that we received. The first is that writing does not need to be perfect to be understandable. All the messages had nice, clear structures and were easy to understand for a native English speaker. 40The main issues were in the details - the spelling of nouns and adjectives, punctuation, and other small things. Our recommendation is to carefully look over these details several times in future writing efforts. 41We will give more writing feedback on messages from our fans around the world in coming lessons. We will learn more about national dishes from other areas of the world including Europe and Africa. 42If you have a question or comment about today's lesson, feel free to send us an email at learningenglish@voanews.com 43I'm John Russell. 44John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 45______________________________________________ 46Words in This Story 47punctuation - n. the marks (such as periods and commas) in a piece of writing that separate it into sentences, clauses, etc. 48feedback - n. helpful suggestions for improvement 49gourd - n. any one of several types of fruits that have a hard shell 50fermented -adj. describing a food that has been processed with edible bacteria or yeast to change its flavor and to preserve it 51phrasal verb - n. grammar: a group of words that functions as a verb and is made up of a verb and a preposition, an adverb, or both 52stylistic -adj. related to the way that language is used in writing and what it says about the writer