comprehension, vocabulary and grammar

[jiang]

Dear teachers,
I have some questions to ask.

No.1. It involves changing product quality, features, or style to attract new users or more usage from present users.
' usage from present users' is beyond my comprehension. Could you please kindly explain it to me?

No.2. And, inevitably, it will also fuel the debate about how far scientists should be involved in mature and lead to the criticism that they are "playing God".
Here 'muture' is a noun. However, in my dictionaries 'mature' can only be used as an adjective or verb. Does it mean the word can be used as a noun?

No.3. On the one hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in a rich and _____surroundings.

a. varied b. various c. varying

How to distinguish them?

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.


Jiang

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by jiang

Dear teachers,
I have some questions to ask.

No.1. It involves changing product quality, features, or style to attract new users or more usage from present users.
' usage from present users' is beyond my comprehension. Could you please kindly explain it to me?

It is grammatically correct, but it uses a form of "use" three times in seven words. Present users are those who already use the product. This program or campaign wants to attract new customers as well as increase the usage by old customers.

No.2. And, inevitably, it will also fuel the debate about how far scientists should be involved in mature and lead to the criticism that they are "playing God".
Here 'muture' is a noun. However, in my dictionaries 'mature' can only be used as an adjective or verb. Does it mean the word can be used as a noun?

It is a typographical error. It should be "nature".

No.3. On the one hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in a rich and _____surroundings.

a. varied b. various c. varying

How to distinguish them?

Good question. First, the stem is a problem. "Surroundings" is used as a plural noun. This does not fit with the indefinitie article "a" before "rich".
We can't make "surroundings" singular, so the article should be dropped.

The idea here is that the child's environment should not be the same at all times. All three words have something to do with that, but, IMO, "varied" is the only one that carries the right meaning. The participle form "varying" carries a sense of being in a process, just as it would in a continuous verb form. It is not logical that the child's environment be in a continuous process of change. It is logical that the environment be different at different times. One could use "various" in a different sentence. A child should be exposed to various surroundings. This would mean that the surroundings should change at times and implies that there should be several choices. It doesn't work in the sentence "rich and various surroundings", mostly because of the attachment to "rich". "Rich" is a quality of "surroundings", while "various" implies a change in "surroundings". The choice "varied" is a quality of surroundings. It implies change, but as an attribute of the noun.

This is a bit difficult to explain. If I have failed to do so, please let me know.

:wink:

[jiang]

:D
Thank you very much for your explanation. I have fully understood varied and various. I am trying to explain varying to see if I have understood it clearly:
It seems we can use the word in a constantly changing situation. For example in the Middle East. Sometimes there is peace and people can live at peace. When there is a war people live in horror. That means people live in varying surroundings. Am I right?

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you in advance.

Jiang

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

It is grammatically correct, but it uses a form of "use" three times in seven words. Present users are those who already use the product. This program or campaign wants to attract new customers as well as increase the usage by old customers.

It is a typographical error. It should be "nature".

Good question. First, the stem is a problem. "Surroundings" is used as a plural noun. This does not fit with the indefinitie article "a" before "rich".
We can't make "surroundings" singular, so the article should be dropped.

The idea here is that the child's environment should not be the same at all times. All three words have something to do with that, but, IMO, "varied" is the only one that carries the right meaning. The participle form "varying" carries a sense of being in a process, just as it would in a continuous verb form. It is not logical that the child's environment be in a continuous process of change. It is logical that the environment be different at different times. One could use "various" in a different sentence. A child should be exposed to various surroundings. This would mean that the surroundings should change at times and implies that there should be several choices. It doesn't work in the sentence "rich and various surroundings", mostly because of the attachment to "rich". "Rich" is a quality of "surroundings", while "various" implies a change in "surroundings". The choice "varied" is a quality of surroundings. It implies change, but as an attribute of the noun.

This is a bit difficult to explain. If I have failed to do so, please let me know.

:wink:

[MikeNewYork]

Originally Posted by jiang

:D
Thank you very much for your explanation. I have fully understood varied and various. I am trying to explain varying to see if I have understood it clearly:
It seems we can use the word in a constantly changing situation. For example in the Middle East. Sometimes there is peace and people can live at peace. When there is a war people live in horror. That means people live in varying surroundings. Am I right?

Yes, that's excellent. "Varying" creates the idea of constant change. :wink:

[jiang]

Dear Mike,

Thank you very much for your comment.

Best wishes,

Jiang

Originally Posted by MikeNewYork

Yes, that's excellent. "Varying" creates the idea of constant change. :wink:

[MikeNewYork]

[quote="jiang"]Dear Mike,

Thank you very much for your comment.

Best wishes,

Jiang


You're very welcome. :wink: