Language of the Olympic Games, Part 2
2024-07-19
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1In a recent Everyday Grammar lesson, we explored some language used to talk about the Olympic Games - the words host, compete, and expect.
2We invited listeners to answer our report with their own writing about the Olympics using those words.
3Many VOA Learning English fans sent messages.
4Today, we will give feedback on two of the messages that we received.
5Let's begin with a message written to us by Fernando from Columbia.
6Here is part of what he wrote. Please note: "that time" refers to the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled for 2020 but held in 2021.
7...By that time Paris, the France's capital was announced to be hosting the competitors to the 2024 (Olympic) games.
8During the competition in Paris people around the world expect to watch a great competition where it will be broken many records; competitors will expect to be well hosted, and Paris expect to be the best host.
9Fernando's message is clear and understandable, but we have a few suggestions that might help improve the writing.
10In the first sentence, remove the article "the."
11Instead of saying "Paris, the France's capital," we say "Paris, France's capital."
12We do not need the article because the possessive, "France's," already gives us the exactness we need to know about what is being talked about.
13We might also say "Paris, the capital of France," or simply "Paris, France."
14Overall, the first sentence has a passive structure.
15It might be better to change the sentence to the active voice.
16The active voice will make the sentence's meaning clearer.
17So, we might say this:
18"By that time, the International Olympic Committee had announced that Paris, France, would host the 2024 Olympic Games."
19Our first suggestion for Fernando's second sentence involves articles.
20Instead of saying, "expect to watch a great competition," we might remove the article "a" and say "expect to watch great competitions."
21This makes more sense because the Olympics includes many different sports events.
22We might also remove the pronoun "it" and slightly change the word order to something like this:
23During the Olympic Games, people around the world expect to watch great competitions where many records will be broken.
24Now let's turn to part of a message from Eleni.
25Eleni is from Greece. She wrote to us about the creation of the Olympic Games.
26The first Olympic Games were held in Greece every four years since 776 BC.
27The host town was the ancient Olympia.
28The Olympic Games were dedicated to Zeus, the Supreme God of the Greek religion.
29During the Olympic Games no wars were permitted.
30On arrival, all athletes swore to compete with honor and respect.
31There were a few completions such as foot-race, wrestling, pentathlon, horse races, pankration- a mix of boxing and wrestling and the athletes competed naked probably for complete freedom of the movement.
32Each city expected its own athletes to win in the Olympic Games.
33When that happened they were tearing down a part of the city walls to honor him.
34It meant that the city was protected by such great athletes...
35Eleni's message was excellent.
36We have a few suggestions, beginning with the words "On arrival..."
37We suggest creating an introductory clause and changing some of the wording to make the sentence clearer in meaning.
38We could rewrite it this way:
39"When athletes arrived at Olympia, they swore to compete with honor and respect."
40We also suggest checking the spelling of a few words - "completion" should be replaced with competition, for example.
41And, we think adding punctuation, such as commas, might help make the message clearer.
42Our final suggestion is for the second-to-last sentence.
43Eleni uses the pronoun "they."
44But, who "they" are is not clear. Does "they" describe city officials, townspeople, fellow athletes?
45We might also use a different verb form - "tore down" instead of "were tearing down," as in this example:
46When a city's athlete won a competition, the townspeople tore down part of the city walls to honor him.
47All of the messages we received were excellent.
48In terms of grammar, our main feedback is to pay careful attention to articles, to use active voice more often, and to clarify pronouns.
49That is, make sure that the pronoun very clearly refers to an exact noun.
50We hope that all of you get to enjoy the Olympic Games.
51And we thank all our listeners who sent us messages about the international event.
52I'm John Russell.
1In a recent Everyday Grammar lesson, we explored some language used to talk about the Olympic Games - the words host, compete, and expect. We invited listeners to answer our report with their own writing about the Olympics using those words. 2Many VOA Learning English fans sent messages. Today, we will give feedback on two of the messages that we received. 3Fernando's message 4Let's begin with a message written to us by Fernando from Columbia. 5Here is part of what he wrote. Please note: "that time" refers to the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled for 2020 but held in 2021. 6...By that time Paris, the France's capital was announced to be hosting the competitors to the 2024 (Olympic) games. 7During the competition in Paris people around the world expect to watch a great competition where it will be broken many records; competitors will expect to be well hosted, and Paris expect to be the best host. 8Fernando's message is clear and understandable, but we have a few suggestions that might help improve the writing. 9In the first sentence, remove the article "the." Instead of saying "Paris, the France's capital," we say "Paris, France's capital." We do not need the article because the possessive, "France's," already gives us the exactness we need to know about what is being talked about. We might also say "Paris, the capital of France," or simply "Paris, France." 10Overall, the first sentence has a passive structure. It might be better to change the sentence to the active voice. The active voice will make the sentence's meaning clearer. So, we might say this: 11"By that time, the International Olympic Committee had announced that Paris, France, would host the 2024 Olympic Games." 12Our first suggestion for Fernando's second sentence involves articles. Instead of saying, "expect to watch a great competition," we might remove the article "a" and say "expect to watch great competitions." This makes more sense because the Olympics includes many different sports events. 13We might also remove the pronoun "it" and slightly change the word order to something like this: 14During the Olympic Games, people around the world expect to watch great competitions where many records will be broken. 15Eleni's message 16Now let's turn to part of a message from Eleni. Eleni is from Greece. She wrote to us about the creation of the Olympic Games. 17The first Olympic Games were held in Greece every four years since 776 BC. 18The host town was the ancient Olympia. The Olympic Games were dedicated to Zeus, the Supreme God of the Greek religion. 19During the Olympic Games no wars were permitted. 20On arrival, all athletes swore to compete with honor and respect. There were a few completions such as foot-race, wrestling, pentathlon, horse races, pankration- a mix of boxing and wrestling and the athletes competed naked probably for complete freedom of the movement. 21Each city expected its own athletes to win in the Olympic Games. When that happened they were tearing down a part of the city walls to honor him. It meant that the city was protected by such great athletes... 22Eleni's message was excellent. We have a few suggestions, beginning with the words "On arrival..." 23We suggest creating an introductory clause and changing some of the wording to make the sentence clearer in meaning. We could rewrite it this way: 24"When athletes arrived at Olympia, they swore to compete with honor and respect." 25We also suggest checking the spelling of a few words - "completion" should be replaced with competition, for example. And, we think adding punctuation, such as commas, might help make the message clearer. 26Our final suggestion is for the second-to-last sentence. Eleni uses the pronoun "they." But, who "they" are is not clear. Does "they" describe city officials, townspeople, fellow athletes? 27We might also use a different verb form - "tore down" instead of "were tearing down," as in this example: 28When a city's athlete won a competition, the townspeople tore down part of the city walls to honor him. 29Closing thoughts 30All of the messages we received were excellent. 31In terms of grammar, our main feedback is to pay careful attention to articles, to use active voice more often, and to clarify pronouns. That is, make sure that the pronoun very clearly refers to an exact noun. 32We hope that all of you get to enjoy the Olympic Games. And we thank all our listeners who sent us messages about the international event. 33I'm John Russell. 34John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English. 35_______________________________________________ 36Words in This Story 37feedback -n. helpful suggestions or advice for improvement 38refer -- v. to have a relation or connection 39passive -- adj. grammar showing that the subject of a sentence is acted on or affected by the verb 40active -- adj. grammar showing that the subject of a sentence is the one doing the action expressed by the verb 41pentathlon -- n. an athletic contest involving participation by each contestant in five different events