Tag: SEI 英語発音コース

From Twitter:

A: Jan won’t brush.

B: __ her do it before TV. (1.)

A: She won’t.

B: And the new tooth paste?

A: She hates it, and she’s always on her phone.

B: Get her a new app; that’ll __ her to do it! (2.)

A: I tried.

B: __ her do it by saying no phone. (3.)

Choices:
a. make

b. get

c. have

The answers are:
1. have

2. get

3. make

EXPLANATION

Sometimes we need someone to do something. When we ask and that person does it, we say we have or had that person do it for us:

Example 1
Mary: Did you get your hair cut? (We don’t usually cut our own hair.)
Nancy: Yeah. I had Sweeney do it–at Super Kuts.
Mary: Sweeney did a good job. Maybe I should have my hair done there.

Example 2
Mom had the repairman fix the washing machine on Saturday.

In the above two examples we can use ‘have’ or ‘get’ interchangeably–but sometimes we have to persuade (convince) someone to do something. In this case we use “get” exclusively:

Example 3
I couldn’t get myself to quit smoking–even after I learned that there is nuclear radiation in cigarettes. Well–it was winter and very cold, so I started keeping my cigarettes in the garage! Eventually, I grew tired of putting on my shoes and coat just to have a smoke–and I got sick of the cold, outside; so I began smoking less and less, and finally I just quit! That’s how I got myself to do it!

Example 4

Little John John wouldn’t clean up his toys after playing, so his father, Jack, promised to read to John John a story if John John would clean up. John John loved stories, so he started to put away his toys after playing, and Jack kept his promise of reading to him. That is how Jack got Jon Jon to always clean up his toys.

Finally, we sometimes have to force people to do something; in this case we use the word make:

Example 5

The police made the bank robber give up by shooting the money bag out of his hand. The thief was so frightened that he dropped his gun, raised his hands and surrendered.

In the Twitter quiz from today, parents are discussing their daughter, Jan–who will not brush her teeth. One parent suggests, that the other parent have Jan do it before watching TV. This means he is saying ask or tell her expecting her to do it. There is no persuasion or force.

Then the other parent says Jan will not do it. So, persuasion is suggested: Get Jan to cooperate by promising she can have a new phone app. That won”t work. The other parent tried that.

Finally, force is suggested: Make Jan brush her teeth by saying ‘no TV if you don’t brush your teeth it.’ 

Usually ‘make’ is used in more forceful situations, perhaps violent ones, but I did not want to say the parents would hit Jan; violence is never a good motivator for raising healthy children.

From Twitter:

Choose:

1. One of the things that’s hard to get used to living in Japan is:

a. how close things are.

b. things how close.

c. things so close here.

The answer is ‘a,’ because it is a com construction best follows simple grammar: S + V + Complement (though this is reversed when using ‘how’ as a value reference to a quantity, in this case, in relation to distance):

Complement + S + V : How close (meaning “so close”) + things + are

Options ‘b’ and ‘c’ have no verbs, so cannot complete the sentence.

2. A thing that’s hard to get used to living in the US is:

a. no Family Mart close.

b. no Family Mart is close.

c. no near mart.

The answer is ‘b’ because it best follows simple grammar:

(no) family mart is close (S + V + Subject Complement)

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.

From Twitter

I’_ _ student. I _ to _ my English. I _ you have _ teacher who_ , _ poems and essays and _ fun. He _ immersion _ conversation are _ important _ grammar.

• be
• was
• ‘m
• an
• came
• a
• shows
• more
• heard
• then
• who
• is
• than
• has
• draws
• improve
• and
• have
• the
• writes
• thinks

ANSWERS:

I’m a student. I came to improve my English. I heard you have a teacher who draws, writes poems and essays and is fun. He thinks immersion and conversation are more important than grammar.

From Twitter:

S: Why can’t I speak English?

T: Daily you need immersion–story, talk shows, native conversation and to stop focusing on grammar.

S: Why?

T: It’s peripheral, map learning, not language–which is intuitive, human.

Here ‘peripheral’ means:

a. wrong

b. extra

c. unimportant

The answer is ‘b’. The meaning of peripheral is actually on or at the limits of, on the edge of or just outside of

What is meant here is not that grammar is unimportant, but that it is a method of setting down or establishing rules for consistency in language. Grammar did not come first–language did. And so it is felt that language is natural and thus can be understood naturally. Indeed, the research of linguists shows that human beings have an innate and evolved ability to comprehend grammar. The point is students may need to understand grammar, but to become fluent they have to know when to depart from grammar and start trusting their brain and their daily use of the language. This is how to develop fluency. Not by turning every corner by looking at the map, but by trusting the instinct and exploring without it.

From Twitter:

Choose the proper pronoun (and you may even try to answer the question!):

Who was the man that/who said "A republic, if you can keep it." (People not living in America need to understand this too.)

The answer will be posted as a comment by the end of the day.

— SEI新宿英会話教室 (@sayinsei) October 8, 2019

The answer is ‘who’.

‘Who’ should be used–not ‘that’–when referring to people.

However, ‘who’ can also be used to refer to nouns such as countries, like this:

The nation whose people respect laws more than ethnicity can be a republic.

And the answer to the question ‘who said “A democracy if you can keep it?”‘ is Benjamin Franklin. The question he was asked, by a crowd which saw him departing from the Constitutional Convention, was ‘what kind of government have you given us?’

From Twitter:

Get ready!

Choose!

#Astronauts are #resourceful. #BuzzAldrin _______ _______ a #ballpoint pen to start the spaceship engine–instead of a broken start switch… so that he and Neil Armstrong could leave the moon!

(a) even used (b) used even

_________________________________

EXPLANATION

In this sentence even is an adverb (meaning it is a word modifying, affecting, influencing a verb)–and in this way–even is used for emphasis. We should usually put an adverb or other modifying words before the word or words they modify–before the verb (NOT after). We are stressing how differently Buzz Aldrin used something–in this case a pen; we are not stressing the pen, even though the pen is the unusual tool used in this story. To emphasize that (the pen, itself), we can change our intonation and say pen!

My new _________ lives ________ in my new ___________. He just moved in, as I have.* He is from New York, as I am**–and that’s great in a foreign country–to have a friend from home–to talk to.

A. nearby

B. neighborhood

C. neighborly

D. neighbors

E. neighbor

*”As I have” would usually be expressed, “Like I did,” which is how most people would speak, but the phrasing in the example is correct. “Like I did” actually has a different meaning: technically it says “I moved here in a way similar to how the neighbor moved here,” but in spoken English is understood to mean “I moved here too,” and is technically wrong.

** “As I am” means “I am also from New York.” Most English speakers will say, however, “like I am (from New York)” but this suggests that the two people are from New York in some similar way or quality–and is technically incorrect.

Answer:

My new _neighbor_ lives _nearby_ in my new _neighborhood_.

E. A. B.

Did you know? We vary the intonation of the 2nd verb if referring twice to the same noun?

Choose:

1. Please set your mobile phone to silent mode, and refrain from talking on the phone.

2. Please set your mobile phone to silent mode and refrain from talking on the phone.

The answer is number 2, because if we do not emphasize the intonation when uttering the second verb–or action–the two actions mentioned will be expressed in a monotone fashion and the effect will be to unconsciously interpret the instructions as referring to two different nouns or items. The speech of the speaker will also be incredibly robotic and boring.

“Like night and day” means “very different”.

A. Where’re ya from?

B. New York.

A. Ya like Tokyo?

B. It’s OK–too crowded, rushed… noisy?

A. New Yorkers are used to it!

B. I’m from Long Island.

A. But Tokyo and New York are similar.

B. Like night ‘n day.

A. ?

B. We don’t run into each other. We have more space; it’s quiet.

Here, speaker B is expressing an opposite opinion. She probably likes Japan–and Tokyo too–for their own qualities… but like many Americans–and especially New Yorkers–she feels it is best to share her true feelings: She doesn’t think Tokyo and New York are similar (at least in the ways she explains that they are different)–in her opinion. And in her use of the expression, like night and day, she is perhaps being a bit sarcastic (saying the opposite thing-with other words), rather than directly contradicting speaker A and saying “no they are not similar”. The complete unspoken–or suggested comment–would be: “Yes, they are similar–like night and day are similar,” meaning “night and day are similar because they are parts of the day, but one is dark and one is light–so they are not similar at all!”