VIP Class Notes (Nicholas) [S + W]

Review the grammar rules of CAN vs. SHOULD BE ABLE TO

In your opinion, what’s more important to a person’s identity (how they think about themselves): how they look/what they look like (skin color, eye shape, male or female, tall or short, ethnicity/blood) or what they believe.

e.g. America is a country of belief. They think that anyone —no matter what you look like or where you come from — can be an American. But…there are some Americans that disagree with this. They think “America was founded by white people (Europeans), therefore only Europeans can be Americans.

e.g. Here’s my opinion: 1 sentence, and here are the reasons why: (1) (2) (3).

e.g. I believe this because 1, 2, and 3.

Original

We had our annual event yesterday. There are four departments in our company: e-commerce,supermarket,group buy and logistics. And every department had a performance. My department’s play is the first one which was a short act. One consumer and one manager, while four other people acted like four kinds of rices. I was the one among(?) the four. According to some jokes, the consumer bought a rice finally. Besides our performance, the other three performances were dancing, talk shows and singing.

Corrected

We had our annual event yesterday. There are 4 departments in our company: e-commerce, supermarkets, group-purchase, and logistics. Every department had a performance. My department’s performance was the first one which was a short play. There were 6 characters: one consumer, one manager, and four rice-people — I was among the four rice-people. Based on some playful jokes, the consumer eventually bought a bag of rice. Besides our performance, there was dancing, talk shows, and singing.

listen / hear 

e.g. I listened to music / I wanted to listen to music, so, I turned some music on, and I listened to it / Active

e.g. I heard music / Maybe I didn’t turn the music on, maybe I didn’t want to listen to music, someone else was playing it, but I could still hear it / Passive

e.g. <<Jesse enters the room>> Oh, we are listening to music.

e.g. <<Whitney hears the music from the other room>> Oh, I thought I heard music! Yes, we were listening to music. Yes, we are hearing music.

e.g. We are hearing music! <<The room is very quiet, the TV is off, the computer is off, but for some reason…we are still hearing music…where is it coming from? OH! It’s coming from the apartment downstairs. That’s why we are hearing music. They must be listening to music!>>

e.g. Lily and Nicholas attended a concert because they wanted to hear/listen to music.

e.g. Lily and Nicholas want to the park because they wanted to heard/listen to the bird.

e.g. Lily’s mother gave her bad news. It was not the news she wanted to hear/listen to.

look / see / watch / read 

e.g. I see a girl wearing a white sweater / OK / she is in front of me

e.g. I’m looking at a girl wearing a white sweater / 恐怖

e.g. I’m watching a girl wearing a white sweater / 恐怖

e.g. I’m watching a movie.

see / what is in front of your eyes / describe what is in front of you / passive / what’s happening

e.g. I see mountains and a blue sky

e.g. What’s in front of you? I see many books on a table.

look / active / to look / doing

e.g. I’m looking at a beautiful mountain.

e.g. What are you doing? I’m looking at books on table.

watch / movies, TV, sporting events, play  / watching other people do something / something is happening

e.g. I’m watching the cats fight on the street.

e.g. I’m watching Nicholas teach the class.

e.g. I’m looking at the cats fight on the street.

read / books, newspapers, magazines

e.g. Lily read 12 books this year.

Vocabulary

vacation / 假期 / time off work and usually a trip somewhere

e.g. I’m going on a vacation to Thailand.

e.g. I vacation in Thailand every year.

e.g. I’m vacationing in Thailand this spring.

e.g. I holiday in Thailand every year.

e.g. I have a holiday in Thailand every year.

holiday / time off work but not always a trip somewhere

Pronunciation

dis / this

Grammar

come back to my hometown / go back to my hometown

since / the reason comes first

e.g. Since her mother is Japanese, she should be able to choose…

because / the reason comes second

e.g. She should be able to choose…because her mother is Japanese.

e.g. Because of her mother nationality…she should be able to choose.

can / it is possible for me to do it / truth or not true

should be able to / it is possible for me to do it and I think this is the right decision / your opinion / “I think…” I’m not sure…

e.g. Can I eat vegetables tonight for dinner? You can (possibility) and you should (recommendation).

I can’t don’t agree with the other Japanese’ opinion. I think it’s weird if her mother is Japanese Since her mother is Japanese, she can should be able to choose her nationality. For example, if my parents come from the a different province I also can choose my hometown…I think it’s free I can choose freely/it’s my choice. So in this situation, I agree with the girl, Naomi, she can be Japanese. Also she can should be able to choose to become her father’s nationality.

In other province, if I want to change my hoku, I can choose freely, but if I want to become hoku it’s not an easy thing.