Forum newsfeeds
Forum Newsfeeds


Sites for Teachers

Sites for Teachers


Go Back   UsingEnglish.com ESL Forum > Learning English > Ask a Teacher

Notices

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1 (permalink)  
Old 15-Sep-2006, 12:11
Newbie
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Country: Japan
Posts: 5
First Language: Japanese
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
i0pepper is on a distinguished road
Default It is happy to eat delicious cake

Hello, my students keep writing "It is happy to read interesting books," "It is happy to see my grandfather," etc. My co-worker from England says "happy" should be "fun" or "enjoyable," but we don't know why.

Could someone help us? How can we explain this to our students?
Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links
  #2 (permalink)  
Old 15-Sep-2006, 13:13
Key Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Country: Romania
Posts: 1,670
Current Location: Romania
First Language: Romanian
Thanks: 0
Thanked 25 Times in 24 Posts
Teia is on a distinguished road
Default Re: It is happy to eat delicious cake

Quote:
Originally Posted by i0pepper View Post
Hello, my students keep writing "It is happy to read interesting books," "It is happy to see my grandfather," etc. My co-worker from England says "happy" should be "fun" or "enjoyable," but we don't know why.
Could someone help us? How can we explain this to our students?

Hi

Your co-worker is right. You cannot use the impersonal pronoun in this construction. "It" is used as an impersonal subject of the verb "be", especially to refer to time, distance, weather or in identity constructions.
e.g. It was a nice day yesterday.
It is 3 o`clock p.m.
It is a long distance to the nearest town.
This is my dog ;it[my dog] is happy now though it has been sick this morning.

For further details regarding the use of impersonal "it" see :
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=it

to be happy to see a person:

I am happy to see my grandfather, or
You / we/they are happy....
He/She/It is happy to see....

but [as your co-worker told you ] you can say :
It is fun/enjoyable to see somebody, etc.

She is full of fun./ I am full of fun etc. or,

A picnic would be fun.

Hope you understand the use of "it"

Best wishes,
Reply With Quote
  #3 (permalink)  
Old 15-Sep-2006, 13:17
Dany's Avatar
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Country: Germany
Posts: 602
Current Location: Germany
First Language: German
Thanks: 2
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Dany
Default Re: It is happy to eat delicious cake

Happy is more used to describe that you are glad about something. e.g. "I am happy to see you".

If you want to describe what you like, then "fun" or "enjoy" is much better.
Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)  
Old 15-Sep-2006, 13:30
Key Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Country: Canada
Posts: 3,025
Current Location: Canada
First Language: English
Thanks: 4
Thanked 474 Times in 437 Posts
riverkid is a glorious beacon of lightriverkid is a glorious beacon of lightriverkid is a glorious beacon of lightriverkid is a glorious beacon of lightriverkid is a glorious beacon of light
Default Re: It is happy to eat delicious cake

Quote:
Originally Posted by i0pepper View Post
Hello, my students keep writing "It is happy to read interesting books," "It is happy to see my grandfather," etc. My co-worker from England says "happy" should be "fun" or "enjoyable," but we don't know why.
Could someone help us? How can we explain this to our students?
Your students are mixing up a collocation that is natural to their language so they think it is/should be natural for English. This comes from the terrible manner in which they are taught English, the grammar translation method. You'll run into a lot more of these.

There are many ways to construct possible grammatical sentences but not all will be English.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Tags
eat, delicious, cake

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
The icing on the Cake BellaDonna Ask a Teacher 1 24-Apr-2006 21:32
delicious job Itasan Ask a Teacher 6 19-Oct-2005 08:50
happy to Anonymous Ask a Teacher 2 21-Apr-2004 19:02
BTW, is Moon cake a one word or two separate words? Thanks Helped Wanted Ask a Teacher 21 04-Nov-2003 09:13
happy once more Anonymous Ask a Teacher 1 02-Sep-2003 15:14


New To Site? Need Help?

All times are GMT. The time now is 05:46.


vBulletin, Copyright ©2000 - 2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.2.0 RC5
Copyright © 2002 - 2008 UsingEnglish.com