Online Class Notes (Nick) [W]

Try to write a story that makes use of the difference between “to be” and “being” forms, like we saw below with “due to” or “because.”

Return to the difference between the gerund “-ing” and the infinitive “to (verb)” as addressed in the homework.

Vocabulary

Adjective – 形容词　used to describe things
e.g. The apple is red.

Costume – wearing clothes or putting on makeup to look like someone or something you are not
e.g. On Halloween I wore a ghost costume.

Dress up – to dress stylishly, fashionably, in fancy clothes; or, to wear a costume
e.g. I had to get dressed up to come to work.

Trick or treating – on Halloween, when children go out to ask for candy from their neighbors
e.g. I went out with my friends and we went all over town trick-or-treating. We got a lot of candy!

Skyscraper – a very tall building
e.g. Shanghai is full of skyscrapers.

Grammar

Order of adjectives – adjectives that are more important go closer to the main word
e.g. As below, we have a holiday, and that holiday is American. Together, the “American holiday” (as one idea) is traditional: a traditional American holiday

To be vs. being – as below, “to be” is used after another verb, in combination: to avoid. So “to avoid being possessed” is a single idea, and “being” allows it to be combined.
Also, “being possessed” is continuous, ongoing, not an activity with an end.

Like vs. as – for comparisons, they function the same way, with different grammar
e.g. He is as happy as a child; he’s so happy that he’s like a child.

To have vs. to get – the have is a continuous activity, and means that I already possess the object; to get is to try to acquire something that I don’t have yet.
e.g. I have an old car, but I hope to get a new car next week.

Tall vs. high – tall refers to the description of something; high describes position
e.g. The tree is very tall.
e.g. Planes fly very high above the Earth.

From homework:

Halloween is an American traditional holiday. In the past, people turned off all the lights and fire in order to avoid to be possessed by ghosts. People also wore like monsters to avoid to be caught by ghosts. But now people thought Halloween is a eve that they can do whatever they want. Children like Halloween because of “trick or treat”. In that evening, children wore bizarre dresses and walked to neighbors to have candy or give neighbors a hard time. If Halloween would become a Chinese holiday, it wouldn’t work. Because there are high buildings in China instead of villas or courtyards. So children can’t trick or treat due to they can’t go into the buildings. Chinese parents also don’t want their children to join these kinds of activities. They want their children to spend more time studying. That’s the reason why I think (that) if Halloween wouldn’t work in China.

Halloween is a traditional American holiday. In order to avoid being possessed by ghosts. People also wore costumes/dressed up as/like monsters to avoid being caught by ghosts. But now people think that they can do whatever they want on Halloween (night). In the evening, children wear bizarre clothes and walk to neighbors’ houses/around town to ask for/to get candy or give their neighbors a hard time. If Halloween became a Chinese holiday, it wouldn’t work, because there are (only) high buildings in China instead of villas or courtyards.

Either:
So children can’t trick or treat due to not being able to go into the buildings; or,
So children can’t trick or treat because they can’t go into the buildings.