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The effects of living in a big city
Big cities have a lot of positive effects on people's lives. One effect ("One effect..." is OK but I think "One positive..." sounds better) is that people can receive a high quality education. If you live in a big city you can go to many schools, for example you can go to an art school, music school, theater school, or opera school. Secondly, when people are ill, they have the benefit of the best health services. In addition, when people want go to the hospital, they can choose from many different a lot of hospitals. Another effect (again "positive" or even "postive effect" sounds better) is that people can use a lot of different types of transportation, like for example, a bus, taxi, subway, train, tram, or steamboat. To sum it all up, despite the fact that big cities are very crowded, the advantages are far more valuable than the disadvantages.
**For your last sentence I would've said, "To sum it all up, despite the fact that big cities are very crowded, the advantages of living in a city far outweigh the disdvantages." Good job and good luck!
0 votedMarch 12, 20132- The Difference between THAT and IT Hi everyone! I'm a beginner English teacher and one mistake I noticed happening repeatedly was the incorrect use of the words "it's" and "that's." So I've decided to write this notebook entry for your future reference and to gather thoughts from other English teachers on this topic. This is the gist of what I said to the student: I notice you are sometimes using IT'S when you should be using THAT'S, for example, when you say "Yes it's right" or "Its very nice of you..." The reason you say THAT is because the word THAT refers to something specific. So when I say "Yes THAT'S right" what I'm actually saying is "yes THAT STATEMENT YOU MADE IS right." Again, when you say "It's so kind of you..." what you should say is "that's very nice of you..." or in other words "WHAT YOU'RE DOING (helping) IS very nice of you..." On the other hand if you look at one of my sentences I said, "Yes it's the little words that will make you sound fluent." I said "IT'S the little words..." because I'm not referring to any specific small words, I'm referring to small words in general.... Here's something I found that someone posted on this topic. It's a great example of how to use this, that, these and those. ------------------- THIS is used to indicate something near (as opposed to that): this pumpkin is smaller than that one. THESE is the plural of 'this': these pumpkins will be carved for Halloween. THAT is used to indicate something further away (as opposed to 'this'): that pumpkin over there is enormous. THOSE is the plural of 'that': those pumpkins are used for decoration. ------- Do you have anything to add to this topic? Let me know in the comments.March 11, 201314
Just to add to pacificamatt's correction, there are two cases where you can use the word rather.
(1) Using it as an emphasis to the degree of something. For example:
"That knife is<em> rather</em> sharp." OR "It's rather hot in here."
Here you're using the word rather to emphasize that the knife is <em>very</em> sharp. I guess you could say that it another way of saying<em> very</em>.
(2) When comparing two things you can use the word <em>rather</em> to indicate the one you prefer.
"You want to take the bus to school, I'd <em>rather</em> walk." OR "I want to walk <em>rather than</em> take the bus."
pacificamatt does a good job of going into depth with <em>your example</em>, I'm just trying to show in general which situations you can use the word<em> rather</em>.
0 votedMarch 2, 20133Well I finally joined this site but unfortunately I can't come here that often because of school. I'm very tired because school(1) is so boring, everything is the same. Because of school, I don't have time to do the things I enjoy because(2) by the time I get home it's too late. I just(3) eat my dinner, study, then sleep. I want to finish school as soon as possible. I often think about the(4) future. I want to be good at my job as a chemical engineer but, in order to be good, I need to speak at least one foreign language. That's why I need to speak English very well. A lot of people say that learning English is easy but I don't think so because I still can't speak it fluently. I hope I can improve my English so I can do better(5) at my job in the future.
<em>Hi Esra! There are some parts where I wasn't sure what you were trying to say. If I got it wrong please let me know so I can help you with what you were trying to say. :)</em>
<em>
</em><em>(1) I changed "it is so boring" to "school is so boring" because it wasn't clear right away if you were referring to "school" or the "site". </em>
<em>(2) You can also use a semi colon here instead of "because" but if I were speaking this sentence this is how I would say it.</em>
<em>(3) "just" emphasizes that this is all you do and you have no time for anything else.</em>
<em>(4)"think of the future" is ok but "think about the future" fits better with what you're trying to say.</em>
<em>(5) I assumed you're already good at your job and what you meant to say was to improve or do better at your job.</em>
0 votedMarch 1, 20134First notebook entry: Introducing myself ^^
hiiiiiiiii, I'm Amal from Yemen and I'm Arabic native speaker.
I join this site to improve my English language and share knowledge with others who have same interests.Hi, this is Amal from Yemen and I'm a native Arabic speaker. I joined this site to improve my English language and share my knowledge with others who have the same interests.
<em>Nice to meet you Amal. You English is pretty good, keep it up. :)</em>
0 votedMarch 1, 20132A new one here！
Come here for learn more English！
Though，I learned English courses before，I is not good enough!A new member here!
I've come here to learn more English! (YOU CAN ALSO SAY - I've come here to improve my English!)
Though I've taken English courses before, it's still not good enough!
0 votedFebruary 28, 20130
