I feel the happiest when I'm having a school lunch.

[tzfujimino]

I found the sentence 'I feel the happiest when I'm having a school lunch' in a passage, which might have been written by a Japanese test writer.
I feel there's something wrong with it:

1. 'The' before 'happiest' should be deleted -it's the case where the speaker is comaring the same person(=himself/herself) in different situations.
2. 'a' before 'school lunch' could probably be deleted.

'I feel happiest when I'm having school lunch' sounds the best to me.
Am I correct?
Thank you.:-D

 

[emsr2d2]

I would use "I am at my happiest ..." but "I am happiest ..." is fine. I generally find the use of the verb "to feel" when talking about feelings to be a little tautologous.

 

[Matthew Wai]

May I simply say 'I am happiest when having school lunch'?

Not a teacher.

 

[MikeNewYork]

From my experience, I can't imagine anyone being happy about school lunches. :lol:

 

[tzfujimino]

From my experience, I can't imagine anyone being happy about school lunches. :lol:

Hello, Mike.
Do you have school lunches in America?

 

[MikeNewYork]

Yes. And they are lousy.

 

[SoothingDave]

From my experience, I can't imagine anyone being happy about school lunches. :lol:

That's what I was going to say. This is probably the most unnatural sentence I have come across here.

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes. And they are lousy.

And only getting worse as the government obsesses with making them "healthy."

 

[Barb_D]

Perhaps it's the social aspects that are so enjoyable.

Actually, my daughter's school had good deli sandwiches and smoothies.

 

[MikeNewYork]

In New York, they came up with a rule that a vegetable had to be served with every school meal. So the Schools reclassified ketchup as a vegetable. Never mind that tomatoes are fruits.

 

[tzfujimino]

the Schools reclassified ketchup as a vegetable.

:shock:
I heard that American students go to the school cafeteria to have their lunches.(Japanese students (from first-graders to ninth-graders) usually have their lunches in their classrooms. They all eat the same food.) Do they eat the same food (like the Japanese students do)?

(Edit) For those who might be interested in school lunches/meals in Japan:http://justbento.com/school-lunch-in-Japan

 

[SoothingDave]

The schools have a special place reserved for eating lunch. This is usually called the cafeteria.

Some students bring their lunches from home. Others eat what is prepared.

There is typically one main item prepared each day. So everyone would eat the same thing who is buying their lunch.

In the older grades, there are usually a la carte items served as well. Students can buy these to supplement or replace the regular meal.

 

[Barb_D]

In New York, they came up with a rule that a vegetable had to be served with every school meal. So the Schools reclassified ketchup as a vegetable. Never mind that tomatoes are fruits.

It was the Reagan administration at the federal level and briefly. The story has become quite twisted over time.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup_as_a_vegetable

 

[MikeNewYork]

In my elementary school, we had no cafeteria. Students who lived within a certain radius from the school had to go home for lunch. If the students lived outside that radius, they were allowed to bring their lunches from home. These were eaten in a classroom. In each designated lunch area there had to be one parent of those students to supervise. They did that on a rotating basis.