Diary entry - Today, I was woken up by the smell of burning incense and joss paper.

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Maybo

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This is an entry from my diary. Please check it and correct any mistakes.

Today, I was woken up by the smell of burning incense and joss paper. It was my neighbour again. They burn those things twice a month, and I believe it's their ritual for seeking blessings from their ancestors or gods. The smell is always so strong that lingers in my whole apartment for one or two days. One time, I passed by their apartment, they didn't closed the door, and I saw they was preparing at least eight baskets of joss paper for burning. I'm sometimes really worried that those burning particles would get me sick. Maybe one day I will move to another place.
 

tedmc

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This is an entry from my diary. Please check it and correct any mistakes.

Today, I was woken up by the smell of burning incense and joss paper. It was my neighbour again. They burn those things twice a month, and I believe it's their ritual of worship for seeking blessings from their ancestors or gods. The smell is always so strong that it lingers in my whole apartment for one or two days. [STRIKE]One time,[/STRIKE] There was once I passed by their apartment, they didn't closed the door, and I saw [STRIKE]they was[/STRIKE] them preparing at least eight baskets full of joss paper for burning. I'm sometimes really worried that those [STRIKE]burning[/STRIKE] burnt particles in the air (from the burning) would get me sick. Maybe one day I will move to another place/move out of this place.
I emphathize with you about the problem, which is worse for those living in apartments. It is a common practice of Taoism by the Chinese where I live too.
 

emsr2d2

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This is an entry from my diary. Please check it and correct any mistakes.

Today, I was woken up by the smell of burning incense and joss paper. It was my neighbour again. They burn those things twice a month, and I believe it's [STRIKE]their[/STRIKE] a ritual for seeking blessings from their ancestors or gods. The smell is always so strong that it lingers in my whole apartment for [STRIKE]one or two days[/STRIKE] a day or two. [STRIKE]One time[/STRIKE] Once, I passed by their apartment when they [STRIKE]didn't[/STRIKE] hadn't closed the door, and I saw they [STRIKE]was[/STRIKE] were preparing at least eight baskets of joss paper for burning. I'm sometimes really worried that those burning particles [STRIKE]would[/STRIKE] will [STRIKE]get[/STRIKE] make me sick. Maybe, one day, I will move. [STRIKE]to another place.[/STRIKE]

See above.

Note that ted's suggestion of "There was once I passed by their apartment ..." is not grammatical.

I'm not familiar with "joss paper". In the UK, we have joss sticks and incense cones, or we burn scented oils in an oil burner.
 

5jj

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It was my neighbour again. They burn those things twice a month, and I believe it's their ritual
I am normally a great advocate for singular they/their. Here however, unless you are referring to a singular neighbour whose gender is unknown to you, then I don't think it works. Use either neighboursand they/their or neighbour and he/his or she/her.

I find your ritual far more natural than ted's ritual of worship.
 
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tedmc

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I find your ritual far more natural than ted's ritual of worship.

That is to say something more about the burning of incense and joss, which is for worship. Why do you say it is unnatural?
 

emsr2d2

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Because the piece doesn't say it's an act of worship. It specifically says that it's a ritual designed to seek blessings from ancestors or gods.
 

tedmc

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So it is not an issue of naturalness but that it has been added on by me. But that is what I know for a fact.
 

emsr2d2

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But that is what I know for a fact.

Nonsense. Doing something as a ritual, or involving ancestors or gods, doesn't make it an act of worship.
 

emsr2d2

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Burning incense is common all over the world. I don't need to read about it. I burn joss sticks at home purely for the scent.

"Ritual" was the perfect word in the OP's piece. Please stop trying to tell native speakers what sounds natural in their own language.
 

tedmc

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It is not a question of language but of fact and culture. As a Chinese, I think I know enough about Chinese culture to understand what the burning of incense and joss paper are about.
 

5jj

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The main point in this thread in a language forum is that Maybo's ritual was correct. Not only was the correction to ritual of worship unnecessary, it was less natural for most native speakers of English.
 

emsr2d2

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It is not a question of language but of fact and culture. As a Chinese person, I think I know enough about Chinese culture to understand what the burning of incense and joss paper are about.

On this forum, it's a question of language. On a forum about Chinese culture, your answer would be appropriate and helpful. Here, unfortunately, it has diverted the thread away from the original piece. At least two native speakers have made it clear that "ritual" was correct and perfectly natural in the original and, as 5jj said, "ritual of worship" is actually less natural.
 

teechar

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As a Chinese,
That's very casual, and I consider it incorrect. Try "As a Chinese Malaysian" or "As someone with a Chinese background".
 

5jj

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On this forum, it's a question of language.
:up:

Aware that the feelings of native speakers cannot always be relied on when it comes to discussions of how common words/expressions are, I usually check before I enter discussions on this. I had not done so on this thread's topic,, and so I spent a boring hour or so this morning checking with COCA, BYU, ngrams, Google and Google Scholar. I discovered that:

1. Ritual(s) of worship is far less common than ritual(s). COCA gives five citations for the former, 20,739 for the latter;
2. Ritual(s) of worship is almost exclusively used in discussions of. and articles/books about, religious practices.

As Maybo was talking about the unpleasant result of the practice of burning incense and joss paper, my research suggests that my comment that ritual was more natural was accurate, though less so than emsr2d2's comment that "Ritual" was the perfect word in the OP's piece

it has diverted the thread away from the original piece.
Sorry to have extended the diversion, but I feel it necessary to make this clear. As you, emsr2d2, know, I have always defended the right of non-native speakers to respond in this forum. I acknowledge that you, tedmc, have given many hundreds of helpful responses, However you have had quite a few responses corrected or even deleted because they were unhelpful and/or incorrect. I cannot speak for other members, but I find it frustrating when responding to the original question is side-tracked by discussion of inaccuracies in your responses. Your English is very good, but, frankly, not good enough yet for you to be able to feel that your understanding is better than that of native speakers who are very experienced teachers of English. It is very likely that your knowledge of the specialist vocabulary of construction, architecture and Chinese culture is greater than that of most native-speaking members, but that does not mean than you know better when it comes to using such terms in non-specialist contexts.
 

5jj

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We do not normally use the noun 'Chinese' in the singular. The same is true of 'Swiss'.
 

tedmc

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Does that mean the dictionary is wrong in giving that definition?
 
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