21 mistakes!
Dear Sophie and all my dear readers :)
Today (tonight - it's already almost 3 a.m.) I'll need to be more concise and to the point. My last two days were very busy, as I had a visit from a good friend of mine, who is now living in London. We worked together in one company in the past, then two years ago he went to London to try his luck, and got a job as a waiter in a nice restaurant. It is always very interesting for me to listen to his stories (this time he said he is so tired of London and that blessed English weather that he decided to move again - this time, to Dubai, where apparently life is more attractive ;)
Anyway, I hope to have more time to myself over the next couple of days (by the way, I have a question on this "couple of" phrase: I never know whether it means "two" or "a few"? Apparently it can mean both depending on a situation, but if someone says "there's a couple of people outside" how do you know if it means two people or a number of people?), so I should be able to write more, and then hopefully answer all the comments and questions... While today I'll just try to refer to Sophie's comments and remarks.
To start with, I really appreciate the work you've done on my texts - 21 points that called for correction, this must have taken you quite a while! Your comments have been very useful to me, as they direct my attention to the problematic areas in my writing - and to be honest, some of them I was completely unaware of! One such area is "word order", which is generally difficult in English for a Polish speaker, because in Polish no particular order has to be observed, generally speaking (so you can say "I play tennis or Mondays" or "Tennis I play on Mondays" or "I play on Mondays tennis" and they are all correct sentences in Polish - you start with the information you want to stress), whereas in English... well... :)
But I think the other problem is the difference between written and spoken language - writing this blog I feel as if I was talking to you, but this is nonetheless written communication, so words like frequency adverbs always have to go before the verb, I guess... OK, will try to improve!
Now, let's have a look at some of my mistkaes in detail (I will use your numbering):
3. Yes, I realise the standard way of saying this is "My teacher was amazed", I just thought I could use 'get' to enliven the statement, just like you use "get" in "get angry".
5. the EU - very useful comment, I never realised it is a similar kind of name to "the UK" or "the US", which are so intuitive that I would never use either of these without the definite article. Funnily I said "the EU" a few times as well :)
6. a fine 7 years? Interesting case, I would have thought that 7 years is a plural expression whoch mustn't be used with an "a", but I understand that the article refers to a period as a whole? I'll search for more examples of this.
7. the UK!!! So, contrary to what I've written above, you can know someting by heart, and still misuse it...
8. I'm not sure I see the difference between the two ways of putting it, to be honest?
20. ...is already underway...
Ok, I do hope I got them correct this time.
I apologise to all those who wrote to me and asked me questions, for not being able to reply at this moment - I will do my best to answer asap.
Till next time,
Lukasz
Comments
Hello Lukasz, welcome on board it's going to be interesting to know more about Poland over the next month. I'm particularly interested in the weather in Poland. Here in Pakistan, we get to experience four seasons in a year which are Autumn, Spring, Summer and Winter. At the moment, we are into summer. Best wishes, Naheed
Hi bro your first three blogs were so interesting , they made me be awake till 2 a.m ! try to talk more about communism and they financial issues in a communist regime ( of course this is a professional question, isn't it?) anyway, good luck
Hi Lukasz! It sounds like you are staying busy with your friend. No worries. No apologies necessary. I look forward to hearing from you when you have the time! Have a nice day! Take care,
Hi Lukasz, How are you? Hope you enjoy your friend's company. By the way, what's the weather like in Poland? Bye for now, Cristina
Hi Lukasz! When we consider the time you write the blogs the number of mistakes seems not so horrible at all. And you probably type like a comet, don´t you? It is not my case. This is the time when many Polen are coming to visit my town, I see they cars when do shoping after work. It is not far from here to Mala Fatra and I have some unforgettable memories on hikes with my father there too.
Hi, Łukasz. I visit this webesite nearly every day.It's very nice to see somebody from PL, read about own country. Good luck :)
Dobry dien, Lukasz! I've been living in Germany, not far away from Poland. In my opinion there are so many things we've common. (I'm sure this isn't correct gramatically).The history of our both countries should have showed each of us the best way is to go, to live, to have fun and to work together. Maybe you are thinking, why does she write this? I do this because Europe's Football Championship started in two days from now. Are you interested in football? What do you think about Poland's "Yellow Press" and the article and photos which are written and taken to the match Poland-Germany? I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Felicitas
Dear Lukasz, It is unfair if we don’t appreciate your nice blogs and your effort to write frequently. Despite of your busy schedule, your determination to write blog interestingly is beyond normal imagination. You clearly mentioned that word order isn’t essential in your own language but I have doubt that is it fro spoken language or written language also. It is not only me all comments writers get amused what time do you really sleep and how long because mot of blogs you have written early in the morning or late night.
Hi Lukasz: How are you? Let me ask you a question: How is one normal day for you? I'm surprised that you write on your blog so later at night. I'm very interested in knowing more about your country: what about lifestyle, salaries, opportunities? I have read that many people from other European countries are going to work to Poland. Also, there are people who are moving to Poland to do business and investment. Is that true? Perhaps (I think) people is seeing new oportunities since Poland is a member of EU. That's all for now. I must close because I have a lot of work to do. Bye, bye, see you soon. Mercè
Hello Łukasz i'm sure we are learning a lot with your mistakes. It's very good to see how dedicated you are. Take care...bye bye.
Hi Lukasz! You´re a night owl indeed :-). I´m a bit different from you. I always hit the sack around 22:00 o´clock. I need at least 8 hours of sleeping in order to wake up full of energy at 6:00 o´clock. Se you soon, Ana Paula.
Hı, lukas your essay is so nice. I am look this web site and thisblog first time. but ı hoped people try to improve their english in here. but everybody set quiet nice sentences. Everybody knows english expect me:)
Hi Lukasz,glad to know you.This is my first comment in this board,i believe your vocabulary is colorful.and i admire the one who can tour mary places often,i never have the opportunity.it is so pity.i think go abroad can widen one's view.
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