The winner takes all!
Hi there
Hope you all had a great weekend! I spent most of mine doing mum duties, i.e supporting my son Danial who was taking part in a competition. This was a competition that is called F1 in schools. His team reached the finals and achieved a fine result of 4th place. However for the boys in the team it was a devastating loss. They'd really worked hard for the last 4 months and had hoped to get first place! Heart-breaking as a parent to see the disappointment in their faces as the results were announced. Although we tried to cheer them up through positive comments and praise it didn't work. Ah, I have such divided feelings about competition. I realise that they wouldn't have been so motivated to achieve what they did without the competition but of course the winner takes all and in this case a place in the International Finals to be held in Australia.
I was actually pleased to see that the winners were an all girl group. Great to see young women taking on traditionally male areas of engineering. So if my son's team couldn't be the overall winner, I was pleased to support the girls.
Alex, many thanks for the pictures, I have a much better idea of your hometown now. My goodness, even without the snow it looks cold!
As you have discussed your problems with articles previously here are some suggestions from your blog;
at the junction of the rivers Volga and Oka
to defend the young russian state
the lucky position of crossing several trade tracks, our town formed to a big trade center
during the Soviet period
During World War Two the town helped a lot in the struggle with fascism providing the Soviet Army with a significant amount of weapon.
It's great to see you using the word, vivid, Alex and you are exploring when it can or can't be used.
Nevertheless the arhitecture of the town is getting pretty more vivid.
Unfortunately Alex, vivid doesn't collocate with or go with the word architecture. In this case try using strikingas in;
Neverthess the architecture of the town is getting more striking
Collocation or which words go together, is I think a very difficult element of using English. In this case vivid and striking have very close meanings but are used with different subjects somtimes but can also be used in the same context as a colour can be both vivid and striking. Confusing I think?
Tricia
Lexis and patterns from today's blog;
a devastating loss
heartbreaking as a (parent) to see the something
to have divided feelings about something
the winner takes all
to collocate with something
striking
Collocation
Comments
Hello,Tricia! My comment will devert from the subject.Yesterday I read a big article about Kuala Lumpur.I was ashamed of myself because I haven't heard about it before. F1 track is situated in Kuala Lumpur.There were fascinating pictures of Petronas towers and Palace of Justice in the magazine.I learnt many things about Malaysia.I like reading travel notes, because they give me a pleasure of travelling(despite the fact that it is only in my mind).You should be happy and proud to live in such a cosmopolitan town. Best Wishes! Diema
The Russian language has no "the" like English. They have that "eto" but it's only used if you mean a special thing. Like "This book" I have once participated at? a competion. And the first price was a 3-month course at? an English university. I failed :-( What a pity.
Hello Tricia! You are good kind teacher. Thank you! I read these blogs eagerly every day. First time it was mid September. Anita`s excellent writing was very helpful for me. I admire all nice young people who are able to write interesting stories in this language. I am any student but nearly 50. I can read English books but to write these few easy sentences take me great effort. I have learned speaking German for only 5-6 month in 1992. Now all what I would like to write or tell in English get on my mind in German first. I come from as old town as Alex but small one. There take place a ghost festival in the castle in May every year and lovely town is crowded of people.
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