Leaning Notes-20180619

in, after, later
Eg.
1. I will go to the next training in one week, and I will come back home in two weeks. = I will go to the next training in one week, and come home a week later.
note: use 'later' to compare to a time that ISN'T now. -- I disagree. I feel okay using 'later' when comparing to 'now'. "I'm still at work right now, but I'll be home later to put the kids to bed." -- Here 'later' means 'later than now'.

Only
Eg.
1. Only in Beijing people can afford Nike. -- This sentence sounds unnatural to me.
2. Only people in Beijing can afford Nike.
3. People can only afford Nike if they live in Beijing.
4. Only in Beijing can people afford Nike.
note: 'only' can go in 2 positions, it can go before the subject, or before the verb.
If it is modifying the subject, put it in front of the subject.
If it is modifying the verb OR ANYTHING AFTER THE VERB, put it in front of the verb. -- I don't think this rule will help you understand and use 'only'. You cannot learn how to use 'only' by learning abstract rules. Meaning and context is important.

For example

3a People can only afford Nike if they live in Beijing.

3b People can only afford basic supplies if they live in Liangshan.

Same sentence structure, different meaning. In 3a, the meaning is the same as "Only people in Beijing can afford Nike." In 3b, the meaning is that people in Liangshan can only afford basic supplies (because they don't have money for other things).

I don't think 'only' is very different from 只 in these situations. You might find it better to focus on meaning, and trust your own understanding.


a. Only Bob came to my party. V.S b. Bob only came to my party.

Too considerate mum

There is a woman I should always be grateful for: my mum. Over the past years, she has fed me, and kept me company, and taught me to be a good person. And she has always been supportive of what I like to do, without which I would have never accomplished anything.

Last summer I left home, and left my dear mum. I felt so sad, and at times even lost sleep. I guess she felt just the same. Luckily, nowadays the Internet has made almost everything easier. Although we live in two different cities, we can still keep in touch with each other. We can have a phone call at night, or maybe use FaceTime through the computer.

However, now it seems that having a phone call or FaceTime isn't enough for her. She asked me to tell her my address and started buying me things through the Internet. At very first, she bought me some fruit, telling me that it was necessary. Yes, I ate them all by myself. Then she bought me a backpack. I realized the backpack I was using had become too old, so I threw it away and used the new one. Okay, thanks mum.

And recently, I'm always receiving something like salt, or spoons or cooking oil from my mum. Oh no, I do not cook for myself! I am living in my college, and there are seven dinning halls over there! So these things are totally useless to me!

I am going to talk with her tonight. And of course, I will express my appreciation as always. But I will also advise her not to be too considerate in a somewhat polite way.

Good luck with your talk!

A Journey Of Food Discovery

I have tried many ways to make eating sweets more delicious, especially chocolate. Maybe a cup of tea(1) or coffee is a good choice to balance sweetness, and they really improve enjoyment of sweets. In fact, considering intensity of manual work I engaged in over last few years, such combination with high calories indeed helped a lot.

Dessert with a cup of tea is a good way to enjoy food. I have ever been in Hainan for several months. Compared with Shanghai, it is not developed, but it's a very beautiful and special coastal city. I am not such a people fond of making detailed plans, so I decided to have a train tour to the south along the coast line. It is worth mentioning that I often spent much time having afternoon tea during my trip. Tea houses mainly provide green tea and black tea with sugar, and of course a variety of desserts are served for the whole afternoon, such as appetizing steamed buns with coconut(2), pieces of fresh cake(2), tasty bread and so on. Undoubtedly, the bitterness of green tea perfectly neutralizes the sweetness of dessert. No matter what people think, I was awfully impressed by that experience.

One day, I wanted to go to the University of Hainan on foot. It was so hot that I could not restrain the desire to drink water. Suddenly, a small grocery store caught my eyes when turning left at a road. The owner was an old man with a tall and thin figure, with white hair. He said with a smile on the face that he only had sugarcane juice, but you could choose to add lemons. Needless to say, it tasted extremely nice and I could not get that smell out of my mind.

Delicious!

(1) You wanted to write "milk tea"? Be careful! This is 中文試英文 and native speakers never say this. Many native speakers will just call 奶茶 "tea", because it's the most common way to drink tea. If you want to be specific, you can say "tea with milk". Sometimes people also say they want their tea "white" when they want milk. However, in the UK, if you just ask for "tea" you will probably get 奶茶.

(2) Remember that foods are uncountable when they are cut up. Maybe you had a selection of cakes (not cut up), and pieces of cake.

Dialogue with my friend Ron

How are you doing?
Not so well, I'm afraid.
What's the problem?
I have grown apart from my(1) boss.
Why?
I don't know, maybe it has something to do with my job.
He gave me a piece of his mind.
Just now?
Just now. I've lost my job.
What are your plans?
I'm planning to look for a new job.
What work do you enjoy?
I like driving. Do have a job like this?
Yeah, I have a friend called Mike. He really has a way with driving.
Do you really? Great, thank you very much.
I did my best help you.
Oh, Ron,(2) I really appreciate your help!!

(1) Careful! I don't think I would use this phrase in this situation. I might grow apart from friends or family. It also happens over a long time. Your dialogue sounds like a quick argument. Here I would say "My boss and I fell out." or "We had a falling out."

(2) Remember, always have a space after a comma, period, question mark or exclamation point.