A Typical Saturday
Dear Soyoung,
Many thanks for your blog. I bet you’re relieved that it’s the weekend and that you don’t have to go to work.
Here the storms have passed but a lot of damage was done all across the country. One of our readers, a Korean who lives in Lincoln, wrote about the bad weather up there (Lincoln is in the east of England, towards the north). The newspapers say that over £1bn worth of damage was done. Seven people were killed in the storms. Some airports and ports were closed, and many train services were cancelled. There are thousands of households across the country still without electrical power. We are lucky, here, not to have been too badly affected.
Another of our readers, however, thought that my mood was affected by the storms, and I think she’s right. I am easily affected by changes in the weather. How about you? What most easily affects your mood?
Isn’t it great that so many readers write such wonderful comments? It’s like having a whole new set of friends all across the world. Or am I being too poetic?
Here, it’s a typical Saturday morning. I woke around 07.30, took a quick shower and went to the coffee shop, which opens at 08.00. I’ve tried to give up coffee completely. In fact, I’ve been quite successful. I had no coffee between last Sunday and yesterday. So I allowed myself a little treat this morning – one small but very strong cappuccino. I met a couple of friends there, briefly, read the Saturday papers, bought some food for the weekend and then came home to do some D-I-Y in my bathroom. I had a small leak which I hope I have fixed – otherwise I’ll have to get a plumber to come and fix it, and that will be expensive.
I’m not especially good at D-I-Y. Well, I’m not so bad at it, but I don’t like doing it. The leak will probably return. I should have phoned the plumber.
Anyway, my typical Saturday continues. The mail has just arrived and I’ve got a postcard from a very old friend, and former colleague, in Serbia. About twenty-five years ago I went to Belgrade (in what was then Yugoslavia) and gave a couple of lectures at The British Council there. (Soyoung, is there a British Council office in Seoul? If there is, it will be a good place to find books in English and useful information about Britain.) I also ran a workshop for university teachers in the town of Kragujevac and I visited a few schools in and around Belgrade. One of these schools was in a little town called Sabac. The head of English there was a very impressive and hard-working woman whose pupils were, I think, exceptionally lucky to have her. We have kept contact over the years. She is now rather old and she retired a long time ago, but we still keep in touch. Her postcard, this morning, is to give me her new address. After I finish this, I’ll probably write her a long letter.
Then it will be lunch-time. It would be nice if I had a ticket for the Arsenal (football) match this afternoon, but I haven’t (and, to our reader in Scotland, I was exaggerating a bit about crying all night if Arsenal lose – but just a bit!) so Lucy and I have decided to take a long country walk. I need the practice for Mount Kilimanjaro, and Lucy tells me she just can’t face any more school work this weekend. She had some bad news yesterday: her first choice of university has not offered her a place. I feel so sorry for her. She’s exceptionally bright and very hard-working. She has chosen extremely difficult subjects to study and has applied to the most difficult universities to get into. This is quite a disappointment for her and, as a parent, I, of course, want to make everything right for her – and in this case I am completely powerless. She’ll get over it, I suppose.
Aaaggh! I have just looked out of the window. It looks like the storms have returned. A quick change of plan, then. We’ll spend the rest of the afternoon curled up on the sofa with good books and warm soup. I’m reading Restless by William Boyd at the moment. Lucy’s re-reading White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
Soyoung, I hope you manage to see lots of good friends over the weekend and that when Monday morning comes you’re feeling refreshed and ready for another week at the office. Say ‘Hi!’ to you mum and dad, and to all your friends, from me and Lucy – and from all your many fans around the world.
Best wishes,
STEPHEN
SOME USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
I bet
I’m sure
relieved
glad (because something unpleasant has stopped)
£1bn worth of…
You should read this as, “one billion pounds’ worth of”. A billion is a thousand million.
mood
state of one’s emotions
a little treat
something special; a reward
cappuccino
espresso coffee with steamed, frothy milk
D-I-Y
This stands for ‘do it yourself’ and is used to refer to household jobs such as decorating and small repairs which you do yourself.
leak
If a container or pipe has a leak it means it is cracked or has a hole in it and liquid (or gas) is escaping.
plumber
person who connects and repairs water pipes
ran a workshop
directed a workshop
retired
stopped working because (she) reached 60
can’t face
don’t feel able to deal with
bright
intelligent
get over
recover from
SOME GRAMMAR
Look again at the sentences in my second paragraph. Can you find five examples of passive structures? The passive form is used when you want to focus on a person or thing affected by an action. The person or thing then becomes the subject of a passive form of the verb.
[Soyoung, as I write this explanation I am uncomfortable that I am perhaps making it more difficult for you. I am sure you have studied the passive form (sometimes called the passive voice) in your grammar books. It is probably more helpful if you refer to those books again and then look at my second paragraph to find five examples of verbs in the passive form.]
The sentences with passive forms in them are:
Here the storms have passed but a lot of damage was done all across the country.
The newspapers say that over £1bn worth of damage was done.
Seven people were killed in the storms.
Some airports and ports were closed, and many train services were cancelled.
Those sentences could have been written in the active voice (with verbs in the simple past tense), like this:
Here the storms, which have passed, did a lot of damage all across the country.
The newspapers say that the storms did over £1bn worth of damage,
The storms killed seven people.
The storms closed some airports and ports.
Many railway companies cancelled their train services.
LOOK AGAIN
I have selected a few sentences from your blog to correct and re-write. Look again at your original sentences and compare them with my corrected and re-written versions.
I called a friend, Haeng-ja, who has been living in the US since she got married.
I was glad to hear from her but I felt quite sad because I felt I had lost a good friend.
I met two friends called Kyung and Eun-mi. We were at the same elementary school.
We became friends when we met again at our church.
We worked as Sunday School teachers.
Now look again at your original paragraph about Tiradentes and compare the re-written paragraph. Look especially closely at verb forms (including phrasal verbs), sentence links and idiomatic use:
Then we moved on [PHRASAL VERB] to Tiradentes, a Brazilian café at the airport terminal station. I had [TENSE] never been there [WORD ORDER] before. It’s the first branch in Korea. We usually go for [IDIOMATIC USE] coffee at [PREPOSITION] Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Pascucci or [LINK WORD] Dunkin Donuts. The international coffee shops are very popular places [GRAMMAR AGREEMENT] to meet. Tiradentes is quite small but [WORD SELECTION: CONRAST] it has a pleasant [WORD SELECTION] smell and the quality is good [PHRASE STRUCTURE]. Like other places [SENTENCE STRUCTURE], it is usually [PRECISE MEANING: REGULAR EVENT] quite packed inside. The café’s interior [WORD ORDER] is decorated [WORD SELECTION] in [PREPOSITION] orange which [SENTENCE LINK] is one of my favourite colours. Maybe that’s why I feel comfortable there [PHRASE STRUCTURE].
Soyoung, I know that the re-written paragraph will be difficult to read with all my comments in it. So here it is again without them:
Then we moved onto Tiradentes, a Brazilian café at the airport terminal station. I had never been there before. It’s the first branch in Korea. We usually go for coffee at Starbucks, Coffee Bean, Pascucci or Dunkin Donuts. The international coffee shops are very popular places to meet. Tiradentes is quite small but it has a pleasant smell and the quality is good. Like other places, it is usually quite packed inside. The café’s interior is decorated in orange which is one of my favourite colours. Maybe that’s why I feel comfortable there.
Comments
Hi! On Friday´s lesson the teacher (23) asked me about the crasiest thing I made. For her it was a belly piercing which she decided to make during her stay in the US in summer 2005. I did none of these things. But as we were talking spontaneously more than our 60 minutes and laughing much, she said my life was very adventurous. Isn´t the life an adventure? We are waiting for the snow too. I was looking around the wett country through a car.
I was very intrigued by one book that you told about it in your blog, White Teeth by Zadie Smith. I´ve looked for information and I´ve found a interview with Zadie Smith at World Book Club at BBC World Service. In this interview Zadie Smith also reads a book´s passage. I thought very interesting. Now I´m going to looking for this book here in Brazil. I hope I find it. Regards.
Hi Stephen.Some words about storm. I' m surprised that "Kirill" lasts so a long time.We(I mean Belarus) also have a strong wind ,but ,thanks to God, it's not storm.And we have a preaty warm winter,Belarus even hasn't snow,as usually having( I'm sure I've make mistake in this sentence, but I don't know how's right).It' very nice that you are Arcenal's fan.Me too. In England the match Arsenal-MU they'll be playing suterday afternoon, and we have it's broadcast only at 17.25 , Sunday.U'r lucky. U've already know who is win.But I 'll not looking the results somewhere else.Let it'll be surprice.I hope Arsenal will have a strong win, but C.Ronaldo is a really good in this season.And what's going on with Rooney.Poor thing.O'k, I'll finishing.I need stop,because about football I can tolk to hours...Bye. A.
Hi,Stephen I'm really sorry for Lucy and you. I can't imagine how much she was disapointed and how much you felt powerless.But every cloud has a silver lining.I think all she has to do is keep her chin up and look to the future.I know some people who are good at D-I-y including my husband.It's really handy and useful that you can fix or repair things without any help or hassles.it's not easy to get a decent plumber nowadays and it costs a fortune.I do hope you will have solved the problem out by the weekend so you can put your mind peace.enjoy reading the book!
Hi Stephen, I particularly liked this saturday's blog. I'm not sure why. I think it was because you described a typical saturday of yours and I found it so colourfull and interesting and different from mine. I felt like doing the things you said you do. I was sorry to know about your daughter's not getting the place at the University she wanted. You said she had chosen many difficult subjects. I was curious to know what subjects were those. Maybe you can tell us later. I would like to ask you about an expression I came across in one of bbc`s web pages about learning. It's to turn a hand on something. Is it to refuse? I thought so but I couldn't find it in the dictionary. I you can give me a hand on this. Thank you for the great lines you've been writing to us. See you.
Sorry Stephen, I looked the expression I asked you about before and it's actually to turn my hand to. The sentence is "I'd be happy to turn my hand to public speaking". It's a kind of test which we have to say how truthfull the sentence is for us, but, as long as I didn't understand very well the expression I'm not sure if I gave the right answer according to what I feel. Thanks again.
Hi Stephen, I've heard about these changes in the weather, especially in UK. I've watched on tv about this. I saw an image of an airplane losing the balance and it scared me. Today I was watching a movie (Poseidon) and I was thinking which would be my reaction during a catastrophy? I think I would be one of those women of the movies who always refuse to jump when they have to do it or always fall when they have to run. I'm not sure if I would be shocked or in panic but probably I would be extremely scared. I bet you, Stephen with your high QI would be the guy who finds the solution and always is the hero. It's interesting this " DIY". Is there any variation of this for what we women love to do when we take care of ourselves? For instance, when we dry our hair or decorate our nails? Stephen, I'd like to ask you about football. It's my passion.I'm upset because the match Brazil X Argentina on last friday was 2 X 2. You know..our "hermanos" are very loved here but we always fight in the field. Well, the question is that sometimes the term "football" confuses me. I know the americans call our football "soccer" but when I read the blogs about football on the Herald Sidney Morning from Australia, they call football as is known here in my country and they always say something about "The beautiful game". What do this mean? And this is related to football or soccer? Stephen, do me a favour. Tell Lucy that I hope she gets over this very soon. I understand how she feels because I've failed in the reading and listening subtests of the OET, especially in reading, a skill that i was sure I was bright. I think the anxiety sometimes may cause problems and perheps I have passed the answers to the answer sheet in a wrong way. I spent some days ( no more than 3) crying and then I decided to get over it. You don't know but you had an important role in this with your blogs. Gradually I am finding my self confidence again. I think that when we want a thing very much, it is like a thing inside the box which we try hard to open. We try at one side and then at another side until we can get it. It's the same in life. We can't stop or give up. We have to be always learning and improving our knowledge as a pleasure, not as a duty, and one day we will receive the return.
Hello Stephen On Saturday, when I was reading newspaper I was thinking about you. As the paper said that it was the worst storm for last 17 years. Around 40 poeple have been killed in the Europe and it has left a trail of destruction. Most of them you have pointed out in your blog. Thanks for discussing my comments in your blog, I am really honoured. You gave me a difficult time by asking the question about my mood. It is amazing that I never ever give a thought to it. However, I would say that my mood is affected by bad remarks, selfishness of the people and when somebody cheats me. I like D-I-Y very much and I bet you would like P-D-C-A, which is a work philosophy that emphasizes four phases of activity. P= Plan what to do, D= Do it, C= Check what you did, and A= Act to prevent error or improve the process. I am sorry for Lucy as she couldn't get admission in her favourite University. Some times it happens with bright students. I don't knwo why, may be becasue they do not pay heed to less important things, which an ordinary student usually does. Anyways, you and Lucy should not worry it would be good for her not to take admission in that university, as I hope that if one door is closed several other are opened. Take care. Farida
Hi Stephen, How weather has spoiled your weekend. I hope you return back to normal. Have you ever been in India. You said you like to travel and visit many places. But I couldn’t find it in the list of the countries you visited. Don’t you like my country? Do you know the weather condition of India. There are many religion and many languages. Have you heard about my culture? I am living in Southern India. Now we are in the winter season. We don’t have much cold this year. But I heard that severe cold is in the northern India. We feel the cold only in the month of December and January. Other months we are actually in the hot climatic condition only like summer. At the time of cyclone only we get heavy rain. Otherwise we get moderate rain. Sometime people expect cyclone to bring rain. You might have heard about tsunami, the tidal wave hit our part of the world two years back. Thousands of people were killed by this wave. More children lost their parents. The fisher men lives in the coastal areas were totally devastated. Still the rehabilitation works are going on. Even though Lucy is exceptionally bright and hard working girl, she could not get the seat in the place where she very much wanted. Please encourage her. Every intelligent student faces these kind of situations in their life. She will find some other good places where she can shine more than the place where was expected.
Dear Mr Stephen, I hope the weather gets better and back to normal condition soon up there. When I read your blog, it reminds me my childhood's stormy day. I was then nine years old. It happened during my visit with my mother to my relatives' village. it was the time of onion harvest. I was at the onion fields just beyond the stream playing and helping my relatives as well, who were harvesting the onion. Suddenly, the weather became gloomy and windy. My face was splashed by the sand at the blow of the wind. We all ran to our bullock carts, took the map down and covered ourselves with it to prevent from sand splashing. Later, I released my hand from my relative and went out of the group inside the map as the weather seemed better. Suddenly, I was thrown away by a strong blow of the wind. I heard my relatives shouting in anxiety. I was like a small leave whirling around in the wind. My feet did not touch the ground.I saw a thorny bush just infront of me. But I could not change my direction. I curled up myself until my legs touched my chest. Thanks god. I was not thrown into the the thorny bush, just my toes touched the tip of the bush. I was running with the wind across all the fields along the stream and passed by the village. But I cannot stop. I was totally under the control of the wind. I shouted for help. I heard the villagers shouting for me also. How frightening the situation was, Mr Stephen. But I am a survivour, now happily staying in Singapore. Wishing you and your daughter all the best.
Stephen.It was terrible to feel like an elephant in ´your lives´. To think twice and say rather nothing are great tasks for my brain.(?) In my family, mother, father(asked about Lucy),Peter,Barbora and sister, all were pleased to know about you. Bonjour, to the big thing! And 80 postcards ever. Lucy. I am not allowed to dare, but swimming helps. English is a joy now, French the dream since my 15. We are being in debt to you. PS. I remember of kind Tritia at my tiny strong espresso! It is snowing.
I just want to know if the following passive sentences are possible in English: "We were explained about it" "I was explained a difficult question by the teacher"
Greetings: I am so glad to have like this lesson in English Because i have learnt so much now i feel that i know a little bit about English language. i am very thankul from all teachers. thank u
What a day Stephen! Definitely the weather changes mood. I have been living in Canada since last September and days are cloudy, Anyway I think the storms are not as strong as Lincoln. The rain is always quite weak. As I said before normally the weather is cloudy, then when the sunny days appears definitely It put me in a pretty good mood. cheers!
Your explanation is perfect
it is superb effort on your part.keep it up.
Thanks for all your contributions. This blog has now closed and can no longer accept new comments.
