【英文練習題】6.1-英語文法運用

When you can only just do something a little, you use 'hardly' with a positive verb rather than 'almost' with a negative verb.

The verb ' make' is used rather than 'let'; to 'make someone aware of' something.

The normal English term is 'sunglasses' (one word) although you can also say 'dark glasses' (two words): She was wearing dark glasses.

'Born' cannot be used as an active verb. 'Have a baby' is used instead.

The Chinese 繁忙時間 is the equivalent of the English expression 'rush hour'.

'Busy' describes a person or a period of time, not work. E.g. I couldn't see him because I was busy; It was a busy day for me, so I couldn't see him.

The possessive ' children's' is needed here.

The adjective used with 'pencil' is 'coloured'. 'Colour' can be used with some nouns, such as 'colour TV' and 'colour photos'. E.g. This printer will print colour photos.

Although you 'spend' both time and money, something 'takes' time but 'costs' money. E.g. It costs us $400 to get tickets for the family.

A crime is 'committed' rather than being 'done'.

The term used for official documents is 'date of birth', meaning the year as well as the month and day. Socially, telling someone your 'birthday' would only mean month and day, not the year. E.g. 1) Date of birth: 22nd June 2000. 2) My birthday is 22nd June.

As the amount is unknown, the speaker would not refer to 'dollars' but to money in general, and the word 'money' is not normally countable. The answer would use 'dollars', which are countable, because the number if specific. E.g. It was two hundred dollars. If it is clear that you are talking about money, the original question could have been simply: How much did borrow from you?

It would be impossible on one trip to get off 'everywhere' (at all places), but you can get off at any one place no matter where it is, i.e. 'anywhere'.

'Far' is not linked to a specific measure of distance. E.g. We went to a restaurant not far from home.

This is a direct translation of the Chinese 煙花, but the English term is 'fireworks'.

The verbs 'take place' and 'happen' are too neutral for something negative like a fire starting. A stronger verb commonly used for negative things like fire and disease is 'break out'. 'Take place' would be used for meetings and other planned events. E.g. Speech Day will take place on Tuesday.

'Foul' is a strong word and can be used for really obscene language. 'Bad language' is a more common expression for swearing, with the verb 'use' rather than 'speak'. 'Language' is only plual when it refers to different languages. E.g. She speaks four languages: Cantonese, Putonghua, Japanese and English.

'Your' is normally used in front of a noun instead of 'of you' after it. However, if you say ' your friend' here, it sounds as if you think the other person only has one friend! Instead, you can say 'a friend of yours', which means one of a number of friends.

Things that 'happen' are usually unexpected or unplanned. Something like a school sports day is planned, so a verb like 'be held' or 'take place' should be used.

The indefinite 'anything' should be used for the negative sense of 'hardly' rather than 'something', which is definite.

'Homework' is a particular task given by a teacher to do. 'Study' is more general - revising lessons, reading textbook, etc. E.g. Tonight I must study.

In Chinese 怎麽辦/ Cantonese 點做 would be used in this context. In English 'what to do' is used in general sense while 'how' must be followed by something more specific than 'do'. E.g. When the fire started I didn't know how to put it out.

'Lead' cannot be followed by an adjective ('unwilling') in this way. That is possible with 'make' as the verb. 'Lead' can be followed by a 'to'-infinitive. E.g. This leads them to speak only Cantonese.

If Sally wanted to know whether she looked good or not, then it should be 'how she looked'. If someone else, e.g. a police officer, doesn't know her and is asking for a description, it should be 'what she looked like'. E.g. The police asked us what she looked like.

'Make someone' should not be followed by a negative verb. 'Stop someone' should be used with the '-ing' form of positive verb.

This may be influenced by the Chinese 吃藥 / Cantonese 食藥. In English you 'take' rather than 'eat' medicines. You also 'take' liquid medicines rather than 'drinking' them. 'Take' is also used for addictive drugs. E.g. They were trying to find a way to stop him taking drugs.

'Moving one house' means moving the building. 'Moving house' means moving all your furniture and belongings to another house or apartment.

This is quite logical, but the adjective used is 'mobile'. In America 'cellphone' is more commons. E.g. She go a new cellphone today. (US)

It is paying the bills that is necessary, not the people. But this is more simply expressed with the verb 'need.

Although the Chinese is 我需要 / Cantonese 我要用, English uses the impersonal 'it takes me'. 'Need' would only be used if it was a trip being planned for the first time. E.g. I shall need over an hour to get to the centre for the Speech Festival.

'Ever' is more appropriate here than 'never' (since you have now dreamed it) with the superlative 'the most terrible'.

Cantonese uses 幾 in both positive and negative sentences. In English 'quite' is used in positive statements (e.g. 'It's quite important'), but 'not very' in negative statements.

'Of them' is not used after a noun to show possession - 'their' is used in front of the noun. The same is true of other pronouns: - 'my' rather than 'of me' - 'your' rather than 'of you' - 'his' rather than 'of him' - 'her' rather than 'of her' - 'its' rather than 'of it' - 'our' rather than 'of us' 'Of them', and the other plurals 'of us' and 'of you', can be used after a determiner. E.g. One of them was very hard-working; Most of us had not studied at all; Some of you may want to attend.

You 'go' bowling, roller-skating, ice-skating, wind-surfing, etc. You 'play' many sports, such as football, basketball, tennis, etc. E.g. I love playing football.

If you say 'use a gun to point' it sounds as if the robber only wants to point you out to someone else.

Although the Chinese would be 陳校長, English doesn't normally use a person's position as a title with their name, particularly British English. One of the few exceptions is for the president of a country, but not the president of a company. E.g. President Obama was elected in 2008. Titles, however, are used in front of a name, e.g. 'Professor', 'Dr' (medical or academic), and religious ones such as 'Reverend' (Rev.), 'Father', 'Mother', 'Sister' and 'Brother'. E.g. Dor Wong has many patients including Sister Marie and Professor Au.

Although clothes are 'put' on', they are 'taken off'.

Similarly, although things are 'put in(to)' a purse, bag or pocket, etc, they are 'taken out'.

The Chinese is 大雨, but in English it is 'heavy' rain, not 'big' rain.

This may come from the Cantonese 紅綠燈, but the English doesn't refer to the colours, calling the ' traffic lights'

You 'have', 'get' or 'achieve' results.

The verb commonly used for reporting what someone says is 'say' and its object is usually what has been said. 'Speak' is used for speech in a more general sense and often has no object. E.g. This teacher speaks rather softly. 'Speak' can have an object of a more general nature but not reporting what is said. E.g. She speaks three languages. However, you can speak 'to' someone 'about' something. E.g. She spoke to me about the plans.

'Say' is the verb normally used for reporting what is said - or not said. 'Talk' doesn't usually have a direct object but you can talk 'about' something. 'Say' can be used with a direct object. One of the few direct objects 'talk' can have is 'sense'. E.g. Now you're talking sense! You can also use 'talk' with a language, although 'speak' is the usual verb. E.g. I think they are talking Spanish.

'Tell' would need a person as object before reporting what was said. E.g. He told us that the class was cancelled. 'Tell' can be used with general words such as 'news', 'story', 'truth', 'lie' rather than reporting what was specifically said. E.g. He was telling jokes all evening.

This is a direct translation of the Cantonese 光頭, but the English adjective is 'bald'. It may be kinder, though, when a man still has some hair, to say: He is going bald.

'Sir' is used when talking to a male teacher but it is not a title before or after the name. It is used without the name: May I go now, Sir? This is a different use of 'Sir' from the British title, which is used with a name (the full name or the first name, but never with just the family name). E.g. One of the last governors of Hong Kong was Sir David Wilson.

This may come from the Chinese 坐 for travelling on buses, trains, trams, ferries, taxis, etc. The English is 'take' or 'go by', not 'sit. E.g. I wanted to enjoy the harbour view so I went by ferry.

An activity, like space travel or shopping, 'costs' money. A person or an organisation (e.g. the government) 'spends' money. E.g. The government has spent a lot of money on the space programme.

A journey or a vehicle 'takes' time, but a person 'spends' time doing something. E.g. I spend a lot of time travelling to school.

The Chinese verb here is 用, but in English the verb 'spend' is better, particularly for amounts of leisure time.

'Sportive' is a rather old-fashioned word and 'sporty' is more common, particularly for clothes and cars. E.g. She was wearing a very sporty outfit.

'Take' is rather old-fashioned word for eating meals. 'Have' is the normal verb. E.g. Let's have lunch before we do any more.

This mistake is understandable because 'their' is a possessive form and some reflexive pronouns do begin with the possessive forms such as 'my': - 1st person: 'myself', 'ourselves', - 2nd person: 'yourself', 'yourselves'. But in the third person they begin with the object forms, such as 'him', not 'his': - 3rd person: 'himself', 'herself', 'itself', 'themselves'.

The only way to listen is to use your ears, so there is no point mentioning it. The verb 'listen' is enough.

The normal way of pointing is with a finger, so it is not necessary to mention that the finger was 'used'. When something else is used to point, the most common expression is. E.g. The teacher pointed at me with a ruler.

If you are recommending a visit to Japan, then you say it is 'worth visiting'. Alternatively, if you mean it costs a lot of money to visit, you would say: Japan is expensive to visit.

You 'wear' clothes, shoes, hats, or glasses, but you 'carry' schoolbags.

'Your letter' sounds like a specific letter that got lost, but it is the absence of a letter the speaker is concerned about, so 'a letter from you' is used.