More Writing Feedback: What is Your National Dish?
2024-04-12
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1In this week's Everyday Grammar, we continue a trip around the world.
2But, instead of seeing famous places, we will learn about wonderful foods of different countries.
3We will also learn about grammar and writing along the way.
4In a recent lesson, we explored how to describe a national dish.
5We asked our listeners and readers around the world to write us messages about their country's national dish.
6Today, we give feedback on some of the writing that we received.
7Let's start in Ukraine.
8Here is part of a message Yanina wrote to us:
9Borsch is the national dish of Ukraine.
10Borsch consists of water, vegetables, meat and spices.
11Yanina's message was wonderful.
12Yanina used the structures we described in our previous lesson - the phrasal verb "consist of," as well as exact nouns: water, meat, and spices.
13Our main suggestion is to include a few more details about borsch.
14Perhaps use adjectives such as savory, spicy, or rich.
15For example, you might say, "Borsch is a rich, savory dish that consists of water, vegetables, meat, and spices."
16Next, we read part of a message from Mei in Taiwan.
17Beef noodle is the national dish of Taiwan. It is a cozy dish that consists of noodles, boneless beef, and full of vegetables.
18Every year, the Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival holds a competition to find Taiwan's best beef noodle soup.
19Our main suggestions are to include "soup" at the beginning of the message and remove "full of" from its position before the noun "vegetables."
20We might change the first sentence to this:
21Beef noodle soup is the national dish of Taiwan.
22It is a cozy dish that consists of noodles, boneless beef, and vegetables.
23We especially enjoyed Mei's use of the adjective "cozy."
24It suggests warmth and comfort.
25The term really helps bring the dish to life!
26Now let's learn about Brazil's national dish. Here is part of a message from Leonardo:
27Feijoada is the national dish of Brazil.
28It's a delicious dish that consists of rice, black beans, pork and kale! And get better when you have it drinking caipirinha!
29Leonardo's message described the dish very well.
30Our main suggestions are for the final sentence.
31We suggest including a subject - as in "the dish," - and including the short word "with."
32Also, a caipirinha is the national alcoholic drink of Brazil.
33We might update the sentence to something like this:
34And the dish gets better when you drink a caipirinha with it!
35Now let's turn to part of a message from Julia in Russia.
36The traditional national dish is soup shchi or cabbage soup.
37It is in two versions.
38In first version the main ingredient is fresh cabbage, in second version the main ingredient is sauerkraut.
39Julia's message was very interesting because it explored two versions of the same dish.
40One with fresh cabbage and one with preserved, or pickled cabbage, known as sauerkraut.
41Our main suggestions are to include "known as" in the first sentence and to change the structure of the following sentences a little.
42One way to update the message might be like this:
43The traditional national dish is a soup known as shchi or cabbage soup.
44There are two versions of it.
45In the first version, the main ingredient is fresh cabbage.
46In the second version, the main ingredient is sauerkraut.
47Finally, let's examine part of a message from Firouzeh. The message describes Iran's national dish.
48Ghormeh Sabzi is the national dish of Iran.
49It is main dish that consist of Red beans, Vegetable, Dried Lemo , and Meat . It is served with rice.
50Firouzeh's message was clear and easy to understand.
51Our central suggestions are to remove "main" and add an -s to the verb "consist."
52Also, be sure to not capitalize the nouns vegetable, meat, and so on.
53These nouns are not capitalized because they are not at the beginning of a sentence and are not proper nouns.
54That means they are not names of people or places for example.
55We might update the message to something like this:
56Ghormeh sabzi is the national dish of Iran.
57It is a dish that consists of red beans, vegetables, dried limes, and meat. It is served with rice.
58We enjoyed reading all the messages sent to us by our readers and listeners.
59Of course, there were messages that we did not include in this lesson or the previous lesson.
60We wish that we could have included all of them!
61Still, we hope that everyone can take some ideas from today's report.
62We also hope that you have learned a little about the wonderful kinds of dishes that exist in the world!
63I'm John Russell.
1In this week's Everyday Grammar, we continue a trip around the world. But, instead of seeing famous places, we will learn about wonderful foods of different countries. We will also learn about grammar and writing along the way. 2Background 3In a recent lesson, we explored how to describe a national dish. We asked our listeners and readers around the world to write us messages about their country's national dish. 4Today, we give feedback on some of the writing that we received. 5Ukraine 6Let's start in Ukraine. 7Here is part of a message Yanina wrote to us: 8Borsch is the national dish of Ukraine. Borsch consists of water, vegetables, meat and spices. 9Yanina's message was wonderful. Yanina used the structures we described in our previous lesson - the phrasal verb "consist of," as well as exact nouns: water, meat, and spices. 10Our main suggestion is to include a few more details about borsch. Perhaps use adjectives such as savory, spicy, or rich. For example, you might say, "Borsch is a rich, savory dish that consists of water, vegetables, meat, and spices." 11Taiwan 12Next, we read part of a message from Mei in Taiwan. 13Beef noodle is the national dish of Taiwan. It is a cozy dish that consists of noodles, boneless beef, and full of vegetables. 14Every year, the Taipei International Beef Noodle Festival holds a competition to find Taiwan's best beef noodle soup. 15Our main suggestions are to include "soup" at the beginning of the message and remove "full of" from its position before the noun "vegetables." We might change the first sentence to this: 16Beef noodle soup is the national dish of Taiwan. It is a cozy dish that consists of noodles, boneless beef, and vegetables. 17We especially enjoyed Mei's use of the adjective "cozy." It suggests warmth and comfort. The term really helps bring the dish to life! 18Brazil 19Now let's learn about Brazil's national dish. Here is part of a message from Leonardo: 20Feijoada is the national dish of Brazil. It's a delicious dish that consists of rice, black beans, pork and kale! And get better when you have it drinking caipirinha! 21Leonardo's message described the dish very well. Our main suggestions are for the final sentence. We suggest including a subject - as in "the dish," - and including the short word "with." Also, a caipirinha is the national alcoholic drink of Brazil. We might update the sentence to something like this: 22And the dish gets better when you drink a caipirinha with it! 23Russia 24Now let's turn to part of a message from Julia in Russia. 25The traditional national dish is soup shchi or cabbage soup. It is in two versions. In first version the main ingredient is fresh cabbage, in second version the main ingredient is sauerkraut. 26Julia's message was very interesting because it explored two versions of the same dish. One with fresh cabbage and one with preserved, or pickled cabbage, known as sauerkraut. Our main suggestions are to include "known as" in the first sentence and to change the structure of the following sentences a little. One way to update the message might be like this: 27The traditional national dish is a soup known as shchi or cabbage soup. There are two versions of it. In the first version, the main ingredient is fresh cabbage. In the second version, the main ingredient is sauerkraut. 28Iran 29Finally, let's examine part of a message from Firouzeh. The message describes Iran's national dish. 30Ghormeh Sabzi is the national dish of Iran. It is main dish that consist of Red beans, Vegetable, Dried Lemo , and Meat . It is served with rice. 31Firouzeh's message was clear and easy to understand. Our central suggestions are to remove "main" and add an -s to the verb "consist." Also, be sure to not capitalize the nouns vegetable, meat, and so on. These nouns are not capitalized because they are not at the beginning of a sentence and are not proper nouns. That means they are not names of people or places for example. 32We might update the message to something like this: 33Ghormeh sabzi is the national dish of Iran. It is a dish that consists of red beans, vegetables, dried limes, and meat. It is served with rice. 34Closing thoughts 35We enjoyed reading all the messages sent to us by our readers and listeners. Of course, there were messages that we did not include in this lesson or the previous lesson. We wish that we could have included all of them! 36Still, we hope that everyone can take some ideas from today's report. We also hope that you have learned a little about the wonderful kinds of dishes that exist in the world! 37I'm John Russell. 38John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 39____________________________________ 40Words in This Story 41consist of - phrasal verb to be formed or made up of things 42savory - adj. having a salty, tasty quality that is not sweet or sour 43cozy - adj. small, comfortable, and warm; friendly and pleasant 44caipirinha - n. a kind of mixed Brazilian alcoholic drink 45capitalize - v. to use a capital letter to write a letter of the alphabet