Diary entry - Recently, I've been learning baking.

[Maybo]

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

Recently, I've been learning baking. I've googled cake recipes online and tried to make cakes. I found people use a lot of sugar - at least 60 grams for a 6 inches cake. That's like drinking sugar to me. Therefore, I cut the amount of sugar down to half. It still turned out sweet enough and tasty.

 

[tedmc]

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

Recently, I've been learning baking. I've googled cake recipes online and tried to make cakes. I found people use using a lot of sugar - at least 60 grams for a 6 inches cake. That's like drinking sugar to me (This is a strange comparison. Sugar cannot be drunk) . Therefore (So), I cut the amount of sugar down to half. It still turned out sweet enough and tasty.

See above.

 

[emsr2d2]

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

Recently, I've been learning baking to bake. I've googled cake recipes online and tried to make cakes some of them. I've found [that] people use a lot of sugar - at least 60 grams for a 6 inches six-inch cake. That's like drinking sugar to me. Therefore, I cut the amount of sugar down to by half. It The cakes still turned turn out sweet enough and tasty.

See above. The underlined sentence doesn't make sense, as tedmc said. Sugar can be drunk but it doesn't work in this context because you're not going to drink the cake.

 

[tedmc]

1. I think learning baking is not wrong though learning to bake (which I had thought of, too) is more natural. It is like saying learning driving/to drive, learning swimming/to swim, etc.

2. "I found people use..." is not right without a "that" or, changing it to a gerund, which I did.

3. Sugar in its natural state is solid. How can it be drunk? It can only be drunk when dissolved as a solution.

4. I think there is no need to change the last sentence into the present tense since it is about a past action.

 

[emsr2d2]

1. We don't say "learning driving" or "learning swimming" either. Sorry, but on this point, you're completely wrong.
2. He didn't find people using lots of sugar. He discovered that some people use a lot of sugar in their recipes.
3. Granulated sugars are solid. When you drink them dissolved in hot water, they're still sugar. There are other forms of sugar. Every time you drink a glass of fruit juice, you're drinking a large amount of sugar (as fructose).
4. For me, the entire piece is talking about a general situation. The writer has looked at lots of recipes and discovered that many of them contain a lot of sugar (one example is given). They go on to explain that they always halve the amount of sugar and all the cakes turn out fine. The present tense is required when talking about a general/habitual action or fact.

 

[tedmc]

1. We don't say "learning driving" or "learning swimming" either. Sorry, but on this point, you're completely wrong.

We say we learn a subject. The subject is cooking/driving/swimming. Is it wrong to say that we learn cooking/driving/swimming?

2. He didn't find people using lots of sugar. He discovered that some people use a lot of sugar in their recipes.

Maybo (she) did not say whether it was some people or a lot of people who use a lot of sugar in cake making.

3. Granulated sugars are solid. When you drink them dissolved in hot water, they're still sugar. There are other forms of sugar. Every time you drink a glass of fruit juice, you're drinking a large amount of sugar (as fructose).

That is if you are talking about the contents of the drink, which comprises sugar, flavouring, acid, vitamins, etc. Of course you drink the contents with the drink. There is calcium in milk. I suppose you can tell people that you drink calcium.

4. For me, the entire piece is talking about a general situation. The writer has looked at lots of recipes and discovered that many of them contain a lot of sugar (one example is given). They go on to explain that they always halve the amount of sugar and all the cakes turn out fine. The present tense is required when talking about a general/habitual action or fact.

Maybo was describing her recent attempts at baking. I don't think it is a general action. The actions are over.

 

[Tarheel]

Try:

I googled cake recipes and used those recipes to bake some cakes.

 

[emsr2d2]

We say we learn a subject. The subject is cooking/driving/swimming. Is it wrong to say that we learn cooking/driving/swimming?

Yes.

Maybo (she) did not say whether it was some people or a lot of people who use a lot of sugar in cake making.

It doesn't matter.

That is if you are talking about the contents of the drink, which comprises sugar, flavouring, acid, vitamins, etc. Of course you drink the contents with the drink. There is calcium in milk. I suppose you can tell people that you drink calcium.

Fruit juice contains just one ingredient - the juice of the fruit in question. It's a simple nutritional fact that fruit juice is full of fructose.

Maybo was describing her recent attempts at baking. I don't think it is a general action. The actions are over.

Perhaps I shouldn't have used "habitual/general". I should have said "repeated".

 

[Tarheel]

I disagree with the idea that she was making attempts at doing it. She was doing it, and she was learning how to revise recipes. I'd say that not only did she do it, but she did it quite well. Way to go, @Maybo !

 

[tedmc]

Yes.

Going by what you say, it is also wrong to say we learn carpentry/golf/gardening then.

Perhaps I shouldn't have used "habitual/general". I should have said "repeated".

Maybo will have to tell us what she intended, but I don't think the past tense she wrote in is wrong.

 

[Tdol]

You could say mainlining sugar, implying that the excess was like taking a drug.

 

[emsr2d2]

Going by what you say, it is also wrong to say we learn carpentry/golf/gardening then.

Maybo will have to tell us what she intended, but I don't think the past tense she wrote in is wrong.

It's OK to say "I'm learning carpentry", although "I'm studying carpentry" or "I'm training to be a carpenter" would be more natural.
We say "I'm learning to play golf" and "I'm learning how to garden/I'm learning how to create/maintain a garden".

 

[Maybo]

Therefore, I cut the amount of sugar down to half. It still turned out sweet enough and tasty.

I made a few cakes, but I only halved the amount of sugar for the latest cake when I wrote the diary, so I thought I needed to use the past tense.

It's OK to say "I'm learning carpentry", although "I'm studying carpentry" or "I'm training to be a carpenter" would be more natural.
We say "I'm learning to play golf" and "I'm learning how to garden/I'm learning how to create/maintain a garden".

I can't believe I made this basic grammatical mistake for so many years.

 

[emsr2d2]

I made a few cakes, but I only halved the amount of sugar for the latest cake when I wrote the diary, so I thought I needed to use the past tense.

That wasn't clear from your piece. If you'd said "With the last cake I attempted, I decided to halve the amount of sugar. It still turned out sweet and tasty", it would have been clearer.

 

[Tarheel]

@Maybo
I wouldn't say you made a basic grammatical mistake. Could you have said it better? Possibly. But it was clear from the beginning what you meant. Don't be so hard on yourself!

As for the other thing, I did get the idea that you looked at the recipe and decided to use less sugar from the beginning. However, it does make more sense that you followed the recipe to the letter at first and only changed things after you had used it a couple of times (as you explained).

 

[Maybo]

@Maybo
I wouldn't say you made a basic grammatical mistake. Could you have said it better? Possibly. But it was clear from the beginning what you meant. Don't be so hard on yourself!

As for the other thing, I did get the idea that you looked at the recipe and decided to use less sugar from the beginning. However, it does make more sense that you followed the recipe to the letter at first and only changed things after you had used it a couple of times (as you explained).

Please be hard on me. I learned a lot in this forum.

 

[tedmc]

Why is learning a subject/learning carpentry okay, while learning swimming is not?

A search on Ngram viewer shows this and this.

 

[Tarheel]

Please be hard on me. I have learned a lot on this forum.

Okay. I'll try.

You should know that people don't always agree. Also, sometimes not saying something can be as meaningful as saying something.

 

[emsr2d2]

Why is learning a subject/learning carpentry okay, while learning swimming is not?

Swimming is a sport. With sports, we use "learning to play/practise ...".

I'm learning to swim.
I'm learning to play tennis.
I'm learning karate.

Writing is an ability/talent. With those, we use "learning to + bare infinitive".

I'm learning to write poetry.
I'm learning to write better prose.

Carpentry is an odd one because there is no possible verb/gerund association. We don't "carpent" or say that we're "carpenting". It's a noun with no associated verb.

 

[Maybo]

How about “I like sleeping”/ “I like to sleep”? Which is better?
Should I use “like” as the way of using “learn”?