Edit my writing

[bmo]

Practice makes perfect, that is right. I am practicing writing by editing someone else's work, hoping good teachers and other ESL learners continue to help, and point out errors to me. (I think this is one good way to learn, don't you agree?)

Thanks a million and have a great day. BMO

***

My name is B, and I live in Hamilton, Canada. My English is so bad that you can say I don't know anything. Sometimes I feel embarrassed. I want to learn English badly but I have no one to help me, so if anyone out there who would like to help, please contact me.

Sometimes I want to talk to people but I can't; and I don't have friends here because of my English. I read books too but I don't understand. I think my brain is empty.

Since my English is so bad, no one wants to talk to me. Although I can understand, I can neither speak nor write well. If anyone wants to help me, please contact me at my Hotmail address, xxxxx.

Question: Any difference between "I live in Hamilton, Canada" and "I am from Hamilton, Canada?"

 

[RonBee]

I see only a couple of problems, and both of them, perhaps coincidentally, have to do with the word understand.

Re:

• I read books too but I don't understand.

Say:

• I read books too, but I don't understand them.

Re:

• Although I can understand, I can neither speak nor write well.

Say:

• Although I can understand English, I can neither speak it nor write it well.

Question: Any difference between "I live in Hamilton, Canada" and "I am from Hamilton, Canada?"

There can be. It depends. If I live in Saint Louis and say I am from Saint Louis then they mean the same thing. But if I am living in Hamilton, Canada and I say I am from Saint Louis then they clearly mean two different things. In the second case, I might say something like, "I am living in Hamilton, Ontario, but I am originally from St. Louis."

 

[bmo]

Got it and thanks, RonBee. I hope I am improving. (I hope I am not an old dog learning a new trick. Learning is fun, but it wasn't when I was in school. Strange)

BMO

 

[RonBee]

Maybe learning is more fun when you don't do it because you think you have to but instead do it because you want to.

 

[bmo]

Make sense. BMO

 

[Joe]

learning could be murderous when you have to learn something that you reject

from the bottom of your heart. In my case, I have to 'learn' a list of

'communist theories'. By the way, the list is growing longer and longer,

because every new leader has the hobby of putting forth some new 'theories',

which may just be three sentences and then be expanded into a whole book by

his followers. In fact, I regard the whole thing as 'black humor'.

 

[Chizu]

man im love learning english!!!!
i guess i'll write a short paragraph to let the teachers here check it. didn't payed attention at school. "sign"

 

[bmo]

man im love learning english!!!!
i guess i'll write a short paragraph to let the teachers here check it. didn't payed attention at school. "sign"

Best way to learn; try it. It is "I did not pay (not payed) attention." What is "sign?" Sigh?

BMO

 

[RonBee]

man im love learning english!!!!
i guess i'll write a short paragraph to let the teachers here check it. didn't payed attention at school. "sign"

Um, that should be I love learning English.

Enthusiasm is a wonderful thing.

 

[RonBee]

learning could be murderous when you have to learn something that you reject

from the bottom of your heart. In my case, I have to 'learn' a list of

'communist theories'. By the way, the list is growing longer and longer,

because every new leader has the hobby of putting forth some new 'theories',

which may just be three sentences and then be expanded into a whole book by

his followers. In fact, I regard the whole thing as 'black humor'.

That is quite an interesting story. It is too bad you have to "learn" such things.

 

[Joe]

That is quite an interesting story. It is too bad you have to "learn" such things.

Well, RonBee, do you have any idea how funny these 'theories' could be? Perhaps some day I could post some translation of their 'theories' (just for fun), then I think you will feel how humorous their authors could be.

 

[Tdol]

Most political leader5s like to advance theories. Here Tony Balair has his beloved 'Third Way', though after several years in power, few have any idea what it means. I suppose the difference is that we don't have to learn them.;-)

 

[Joe]

tdol, you seem to have a problem with the British Prime Minister. Am I right?
And may I ask, what is his 'Third Way' theory mainly about?

 

[Tdol]

It's supposed to combine the best of capitalism with social welfare and caring. I think, but it's all very vague. Yes, you're right- I'm no great fan of his. ;-)

 

[RonBee]

That is quite an interesting story. It is too bad you have to "learn" such things.

Well, RonBee, do you have any idea how funny these 'theories' could be? Perhaps some day I could post some translation of their 'theories' (just for fun), then I think you will feel how humorous their authors could be.

I would like that. Please post a translation of one or more of the more interesting theories that you have heard.

What is the most interesting or humorous theory that you have heard? Also, what do people say about it? That is, what do people say about it when they are being honest?

I'll be looking forward to hearing from you.

 

[Joe]

Well, RonBee, I'm glad that you are interested in it. However, due to my poor command of English, I don't think I am able to post some translation now. Let me begin with something I recently 'learned' in a political course, which is about 'A Big Break'. In communists' theories, even a little, teeny, tiny, thing can be regarded as 'a big break'. Do you know how teeny, tiny can it be? Even some changes of part of speech of some language in their theories can be called 'a big break'. A book reads, "To realise communism, we must enhance our productive force, promote the quality of people's lives...".

Anyway, there is nothing to blame here. After decades of stupid political movements and delusion, they finally learn something which is actually very simple but was very difficult for them to understand. However, the next line makes me stunned, which is "This was a big breakthrough in the history of communism movement. Every communist leader before had always put forth their theories using 'adjectives', which describe how the communist society would be like, yet they had never used 'verbs' to describe 'how' to realise it. But he(Sorry, I don't want to mention his name)used verbs like 'enhance', 'promote' for the first time in history. This was absolutely a big break...".

My God, even though they did not know how to construct their ideal society, they had struggled for dozens of years to destroy the 'old' society. Then, when they finally figured out that they actually accomplished nothing, they had to find something that would make themselves feel better and they came up with something like 'changes of part of speech of the language', which makes themselves like lovely idiots.

RonBee, you must remember eric2004. I read some of his posts here and feel that he believes the same things as me. Very few people share my opinions in China. A lot people, especially young, they act as volunteer defenders for CCP with no sense of who really deny the rights they deserve. They have a problem with the West, Japan, and Taiwan, yet they have absolutely no problem with the authorities. All they do just reminds me of a saying, "counting the money for those who sell you".

What is the most interesting or humorous theory that I have heard? Many of them. If I have to choose one, I would say the 'people's democratic
dictatorship' theory. Many Chinese are familiar with the phrase 'people's
democratic dictatorship', but it seems to me that they do not notice the
obvious contradiction in it. Maybe they are indifferent about it. Even if they are being honest, they may not say anything bad about it.

This is perhaps the longest 'article' I have written in English. I hope I have made myself clear.

 

[RonBee]

I see what you mean by humorous theories. And I like your phrase lovely idiots. It seems somehow apt.

That was quite well-written. It is quite interesting, and I hope you will post more.

You seem to lack confidence in your English, but you are doing quite well. Indeed, from that last posting I would not have guessed that you are not a native speaker. The writing in that post is quite admirable. In any case, you shouldn't be afraid to post something just because it isn't in perfect English. That would give me something to do, see? :wink:

I will be looking forward to seeing more from you on this subject. (I am quite sure we haven't exhausted it yet.)

I fervently hope that the Communists do not ever carry out their threats and attack Taiwan. (I recently read in Sean Hannity's book, Deliver Us From Evil that the Chinese government has a plan to sink an American aircraft carrier as part of its plan to invade Taiwan.)

The record of Communism bringing prosperity to countries has not been a good one. (In the U.S.S.R. Communism actually destroyed communism when the communal farms were taken over by the state and turned into the communal farms into state run collective farms.)

I can understand why the Chinese government might want to destroy Taiwan. Taiwan's very existence is an embarrassment to the Communist government. It exposes Communism for the lie that it is. Communism has not brought prosperity anywhere, but it has instead brought starvation where there was none before. For a stark example of that look at the difference between North Korea and South Korea.

I would be interested in learning more about what they say about the United States there (in China). Also, what lessons do they tell you can be learned from history? Japan, a former enemy, has renounced imperialism and is now a prosperous, democratic country. China, a former ally, is a "people's dictatorship" and has imperialistic ambitions.

If I were living in China I could be put in jail for saying those things, couldn't I?

(Please correct any misstatements you think I may have made.)

 

[Joe]

I am glad that I have expressed what I wanted to say. And, thanks RonBee, for your encouragement. Please don't be afraid to discourage me by correcting me. If you can afford the time, please say anything you like.

I will be looking forward to seeing more from you on this subject. (I am quite sure we haven't exhausted it yet.)

Yeah, you are right, RonBee. I still have a lot of things to say on this
subject. I like this kind of exchange of ideas.

I can understand why the Chinese government might want to destroy Taiwan. Taiwan's very existence is an embarrassment to the Communist government. It exposes Communism for the lie that it is.

RonBee, I'm afraid I am going to disagree with you here. I don't thnk that'd be the reason why they threaten to wage a war against Taiwan once Taiwan declares its 'independence'. It might be one of the reasons why Taiwan does not want to reunify with the mainland. I think at this point whether Taiwan is a democracy or not is irrelevant, what it really matters is that if Taiwan became a independent country, it would draw in some foreign anti-communist forces which is a real threat to their regime.

What do they say about the US? In recent years, the authorities has somewhat changed. In fact, they admit something good about the US, yet they have always been sending their children and close relatives to the US using their privileges. If they deny everything that the US stands for, that would just be a slap on their own faces because the people know more about America now. They usually accuse America when America releases human right reports on China, sells weapons to Taiwan. The frequently used phrases are something like 'interference in other countries' internal affairs'. In doing so, they have made many young people believe that the US is an aggressive country. Another source that may be critical of the US is our history books and politics books, in which they accuse the US of 'military aggression' in Korea and Vietnam. Speaking of the reason, they say 'the US feared that communism would spread over other parts of the world'. Yes, the US did fear the spread of communism. But when explaining the reason why the US feared that, they are being funny again. They'd say 'the US bourgeoisie feared that communism would overthrew their regime'.

If I were living in China I could be put in jail for saying those things, couldn't I?

You wouldn't be arrested as long as the things you say are not likely to get around and cause a 'bad consequence' for them. If not, I would have been arrested. The problem is that, you have no right to express yourself publicly and make many people know what you are thinking.

 

[RonBee]

Well, Taiwan is an independent country, isn't it? One might think that they have every right to say they are an independent country if they wish to do so.

Assume that I am a Chinese citizen. If I were to criticize the government and do so publicly would I be subject to arrest? What if I advocated "regime change" in China?

Do they ever talk about the demonstrations in Tianamen Square in Beijing in June of 1989 and the government's reaction to them? As I recall, the students had carved a replica of the Statue of Liberty. It was a symbol that I believe spoke volumes about their aspirations.

 

[Tdol]

Taiwan'soffical status is not that of an independent country- here in London, they have a Cultural Attache rather than an Anbassador. ;-)