use a keyboard to write

[diamondcutter]

This is my special Technology Box. It's the best laptop in the world. It's small and light and I can carry it in a special bag. When I open it there's a screen for me to watch DVDs and read my emails. I can put a small webcam on it so my friends can see me when we chat. I also carry my pens and pencils under the keyboard, which I use to write. My pen drive, which goes below the pencil sharpeners, can carry a lot of information, especially music and photos. I can listen to my music through the speakers or use my headphones.

(From Kid’s Box 6, an English textbook for kids, CUP)

I have two questions about this passage.

I also carry my pens and pencils under the keyboard, which I use to write.

In this sentence, I think the pronoun ‘which’ doesn’t refer to ‘pens and pencils’ because it’s too obvious for them to be used to write and it’s needless to say that. I think the ‘which’ refers to the noun ‘keyboard’. But I don’t know if it’s appropriate to say use a keyboard to write.

My pen drive, which goes below the pencil sharpeners, can carry a lot of information, especially music and photos.

In this sentence, I wonder if the verb ‘goes’ means ‘is used’ or ‘is connected’.

 

[GoesStation]

I also carry my pens and pencils under the keyboard, which I use to write.

In this sentence, I think the pronoun ‘which’ doesn’t refer to ‘pens and pencils’ because it’s too obvious for them to be used to write and it’s needless to say that. I think the ‘which’ refers to the noun ‘keyboard’. But I don’t know if it’s appropriate to say use a keyboard to write.

It is.

My pen drive, which goes below the pencil sharpeners, can carry a lot of information, especially music and photos.

In this sentence, I wonder if the verb ‘goes’ means ‘is used’ or ‘is connected’.

Neither. "Which goes somewhere" means "which I keep somewhere".

 

[diamondcutter]

Thanks, GoesStaion.

This is the picture with the passage.

We can see there are two USB ports under the pencil sharpeners. Does they goes below the pencil sharpeners still mean they are kept under the pencil sharpeners?

 

[GoesStation]

This is the picture that goes with the passage.

We can see there are two USB ports under the pencil sharpeners. Does they goes below the pencil sharpeners still mean they are kept under the pencil sharpeners?

Yes. The writer is describing the box when it's vertical, which is how it goes in the bookbag. The picture shows it in a more horizontal orientation.

 

[diamondcutter]

I also carry my pens and pencils under the keyboard.

I wonder if the ‘carry’ above means ‘keep’.

My pen drive, which goes below the pencil sharpeners, can carry a lot of information, especially music and photos.

I’d like to know if the ‘carry’ in this sentence means ‘hold’, ‘keep’ or ‘transport’.

 

[Tarheel]

I am a little confused. I wouldn't think you would put pens and pencils in your laptop. However, I think you might put them in the bag used for carrying the laptop.

 

[Tarheel]

I also carry my pens and pencils under the keyboard.

I wonder if the ‘carry’ above means ‘keep’.

My pen drive, which goes below the pencil sharpeners, can carry a lot of information, especially music and photos.

I’d like to know if the ‘carry’ in this sentence means ‘hold’, ‘keep’ or ‘transport’.

The word "carry" in this sense is the same as "contain". In other words the pen drive holds all that information digitally.

 

[diamondcutter]

I am a little confused. I wouldn't think you would put pens and pencils in your laptop. However, I think you might put them in the bag used for carrying the laptop.

Thanks, Tarheel.

It’s a imaginary product (see the picture in #3), which combines a laptop and a pencil case and so on.