英文法 – Page 8 – SEI 新宿英会話教室 BLOG

Ocean Warming

From Twitter:

Scientists said today that the oceans are __ so quickly it’s like 5 atomic bombs are being detonated in the sea.

a. heated
b. heats
c. heating
______

It’s a serious problem, so please turn off your car, scooter or truck when not driving and all electricity at home when not using it.

Answer: c., heating

Explanation:

Technically, there are two possible grammatical answers but only one contextual correct answer; a., heated is possible grammatically, but in context would make no sense, because using the past tense in this way indicates the causative, meaning someone or something heats the ocean, which of course we know is not true (unless we are talking about the sun); the ocean is heated naturally; people could split hairs with me on this, and they would be right, but give me a break; I’m trying to make a more important point:

The sentence begins with ‘scientists said today…’ and ‘are’ is the linkning verb, so–the best answer is heating (are + ing = the present continuous)

Prepare

The Answers Are: prepares (a), preparing (c), prepared (a)

Explanation:
After ‘always’, a simple tense verb, we can have a past tense or a present tense verb. If we look at the end of the sentence, we see ‘we always have a wonderful time’, meaning this is the present, not the past–so we need a present tense verb after always–so the answer to the first option is ‘prepares’.

After ‘by’ we need a gerund, because by introduces nouns of process or conveyance and actual things; think of how we say ‘go by train’, ‘solve the problem by using calculus’, the cat reached the window by jumping.

After ‘is always’ we need an adjective form or a continuous verb form, because ‘is’, a linking verb, and ‘always’ as an adverb require a description or a habitual action, but the choices offer only one ‘ing’ option and it is needed elsewhere!

By vs. In

From Twitter
Hi! 答えは？/Choose:

The book that’s on the table, which I told you about, was written __ Japanese __ my boss–a Korean dude.

a. of
b. by
c. in
d. about
e. for

Answers will; appear at around 5:00. Be cool. Be happy. Turn off your cars. – CA

ANSWERS:
c., in and b., by:
The book that’s on the table, which I told you about, was written _in_ Japanese _by_ my boss–a Korean dude.

EXPLANATION:

“In”

We communicate in different languages, styles and ways:

We speak in English.
We talk in soft tones.
We yell in excited voices.
We write in different languages.
We sing Opera in Italian
This movie is in English with Japanese subtitles.
The website was designed in HTML.

“by“
Things are made by people (or by other creatures and robots).
So, ‘by’ is used with acts of intention:

King Lear was written by Shakespeare.
The Right Stuff was written by Tom Wolf.
The Origin of Species was written by a former wanna-be friar, Charles Darwin.

The electric light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison, who tested thousands of metals before settling on tungsten.

The automobile seems to have been first designed by Da Vinci. Ah, Italians!

Starry Night was painted by Vincent Van Gogh, who spoke fluent English, French and Dutch; he was a great man.

The first spacecrafts to go to the moon were built by the Russians and Americans

Kanagawa No Tsunami or The Great Wave off Kanagawa was drawn by Katsushika Hokusai.

Which And That

From Twitter:
答えは？Fill in:
The book __ is on the table, __ was written by Sam Harris, is excellent.

a. what
b. that
c. which

Answer:
The solution is to add that first and which second:

The book _that_ is on the table, _which_ was written by Sam Harris, is excellent.

Explanation:
Generally, that defines and which describes. This means that what follows that is essential to the completion of the idea and defines the subject; what follows which is extra information describing the subject and not necessary to the main idea.

That
1. In the sentence above, that tells us exactly book the speaker is talking about: the one on the table. This information is essential, because other books are probably in the room or being considered. So it’s not merely ‘the book’; it’s “the book on the table“. That is the full “name” of this book for the purposes of the sentence.
2. Also in the sentence above, notice there is no comma after that.

Which
3. In the sentence above, which refers back to the subject: the book on the table with extra information about it: that it was written by Sam Harris. This is extra information to add for interest or detail, but it is not necessary for explaining what the speaker has to say–namely that there is a book on the table and that it is excellent. It’s like saying:

The Martian, which was written by a technician and non-professional writer, was a blockbuster movie.

The point is The Martian was a blockbuster; that it was written by a technician, though very interesting, is not the point.

4. Which clauses containing additional information are enclosed by comas. Think of what is in there (between the comas) as words that could easily go inside parentheses:

The book that is on the table (which was written by Sam Harris) is excellent.

The Martian (which was written by a technician and non-professional writer) was a blockbuster movie.

5. That clauses adding essential and defining information to the subject are not enclosed in commas and so could not be enclosed in parentheses.

The book that is on the table is excellent. (there is no place for commas!)

6. Finally, just remember: If you are thinking about adding information to a sentence about the subject, but you could leave that information out without losing the main meaning (of the main clause/the independent clause/the main idea) use which. If you cannot, use that.

Link: http://samharris.org

What is that?

From Twitter
お選び下さい Toshi’s looking at a new electronic device at Big Camera. The only available clerk is Chinese; he doesn’t speak Japanese well.

Toshi must speak English. He should ask:

a. This is what?
b. What is this?
c. This what is?
d. What this is?

Clerk: It’s a router.
#英会話

Answer:
The best answer is: b. ‘What is this’; a. is okay, but is used in particular frames of minds and circumstances, not in common speech.

Explanation:
English is curious in this way, because the ‘what’ (the thing) is at the beginning in a question instead of the ‘this’ (as it is in the answer), and switches to the other side of the linking verb in the answer. This is different from Korean and Japanese, wherein the subject, whether it is known (‘a router’) or unknown (‘what’) stands in the same place in the sentence, whether it be the question or in the answer.

Care of/Take Care?/Care About?

From Twitter
Quiz (クイズ )
Choose the right phrase to complete the sentence:
(空欄に合う表現をお選びましょう)

Photo Credits: Hulki Okan Tabat, Sharron McCuthceon, Unknown

__ one’s health is important for a long, good life. (1)
__ yourself; I’ll see you next year. (2)
__ the things you can change. (3)

a. Take care of
b. Care about/care for
c. Care of
d. Concerning about

Answers: c, a, b:
Care of one’s health is important for a long, good life. (1.)
Take care of yourself; I’ll see you next year. (2.)
Care about the things you can change. (3.)

Explanation:
1. ‘Care of’ is used in formal speech and writing (like in expository writing). Simply: We don’t use ‘Care of’ in everyday speech.

2. ‘Take care of’ is used with things and people we directly interact with. We take care of ourselves. Simply: ‘Take care of’ is active

3. ‘Care about‘ is used with subjects as a whole and often for things and people we do not necessarily directly interact with. John is an auto mechanic, but cares about the space program. Simply: ‘Care about‘ it is abstract.

Examples;
The care of the soul is a subject of most religions. (1.)
I told my mom I would take care of cleaning my room before going out. (2.)
Mom cares about my play-time, but more about my room being clean. (3.)

[To] Find Hotel[s] And [A] School

6th Avenue Looking South from about 52nd Street, NYC

From Twitter
You’re going to NYCーthe greatest city in the world! Butーyou don’t know where the Kendo schools are or where to stay!

Fill in:

Yuniko: I need __ find __ hotel, and __ Kendo school.
Ken: I can help you find ____ schools and hotel_!

a. some
b. a
c. the
d. to
e. s

Answers:
Yuniko: I need _to_ find _a_ hotel, and _a_ Kendo school.
Ken: I can help you find __some__ schools and hotel_s_!

Explanation:
1. We need ‘to‘ in front of find, because it comes after need (a helping verb); in these situations we use infinitives (‘to‘ + the Verb). ‘Need’ is the verbーso after need we need a noun (as object of the verb); an infinitive is a noun form of a verb (but because we know it is the noun form of a verb implying action to be taken or done, we call it “a Verbal,” too).

Just remember:

Want + t0+ Verb

3. We need a in front of hotel and Kendo school to let the listener know that we are talking about a non-specific entity (someone or something the listener doesn’t know exactly about or hasn’t heard about yetーin the conversationーa new thing.

3. We use ‘some’ and ‘s’ together, because no ‘a’ comes before School and hotel (and there is no space for you to fill in those letters), so we know the speaker is talking about more than on school and more than one hotel.

Must

From Twitter:

Dr. Smith, an archaeologist, finds an ancient body in a tomb in Egypt. It is the body of a man. There is a knife in his chest, and the man is holding it. Dr. Smith thinks them man:

a. must kill himself.
b. must be kill himself.
c. must have killed himself.
— SEI 新宿英会話教室 (Shinjuku English Institute) (@sayinsei) November 30, 2019

The answer is C, because it makes use of the present perfect (It talks about the past leading up to the present);

> Option A refers to the future:
‘must’ + action as in: “I must go.”

>Option B makes no sense at all:
‘must’ + be requires an adjective or verbal, next, as in:
George must be sick.
I must be going.

Tell It “in Tense”

From Twitter:

この文章を同じ時制で終わらせますか。A man grows evil. His wife sends their son and daughter to live with different families. Later, the son meets an old knight; they travel to save a princess. The son…

a. discovered she’s his sister.
b. finds she’s his sister.
c. marries her.

There are two possible answers here, if we want to satisfy the quiz guideline of remaining in the same tense, but one does not fit the story (and is also terrible).

When we tell a story, a joke, or what happened–we usually use the same tense (the time frame for the action and “be verbs”)–until we can’t any longer because, we must change it to express the past or future or the present continuous. This is especially true when telling the narrative of a novel, a movie or a proverb. I think the reason is–the story exists forever in our imagination, perhaps in our tradition; we will tell the story or joke or anecdote over and over. So in a sense, it doesn’t happen only once; it’s not “history”, exactly–and even if it is, when we retell it and retell it, it is timeless.

By the way, today’s tweet is a story most of us know–from a famous science fiction movie series. Do you recognize it?

Choose: Proximity*

From Twitter

Choose:

a. The first time, / b. At first, / c. For the first time, … when I came to Japan, I was lonely.

The best answer is ‘b.’, because this phrase means something experienced in an initial instance–the conditions around which continued for a time; or it means something was done that was not done before, and it was done additional times after.

‘C’ means something was done and/or experienced causing certain feelings and results, but that those feelings and/results changed thereafter–and that this difference will be explained shortly.

‘A’, though not wrong, represents a kind of phrase–because of the comma and the use of ‘when’ after it–that presents an unnatural (or non-fluid break in the ) flow of the sentence, specific to spoken English, which requires context and intonation to be fully understood without confusion; and this phrase is adverbial, however is followed by an adverb. Placing them side by side is a possible challenge to the non-contextual expression of this construction (say in written English)–unless understood as dialog, with quotation marks. So this (while often done) is not the best answer for a grammatically and style-correct version of the idea being expressed. Basically, it is only acceptable in spoken English or idiomatic/dialect–in dialog.

*Proximity means distance between or from.