What I have learned from the Hacker Review

    The hacker review exercises were really a good way for me to learn grammar knowledge. As an international student, my English was not good enough, especially in terms of the grammar. This exercise was really helped me to make a better understanding of some grammar knowledge such as active and passive verbs, dangling modifiers, parallelism and needed words, etc.
    Here are three examples:

1. Parallelism
In 1998, a tsunami hit a populated coast in Papua new Guinea, killing two thousand people and wiping out whole towns.
This sentence is correct because the -ing form killing and wiping out are parallel.

2. Needed words
Christopher had an attention span longer than that of the other students.
The underlied words that of are needed because it is illogical to compare an attention span to students.

3. Choppy sentence
An instructor manual is enclosed with your computer. The manual is user-friendly.
A simple and and effective way of combining the sentence: A user-friendly manual is enclosed with your computer.

     Parallelism, needed words and choppy sentence were the most helpful exercises to me. The parallelism exercise help me to make sure that I use the parallel words or phrases correctly. The needed words exercise helped me understand when the relative words or relative adverbs are needed and when they were not necessary to exist in the sentence. The choppy sentence exercise help me to learn a single way to combine two sentences.
    All in all, this exercise was really helpful to me.

Hacker Review of

8-1 Active vs. passive verbs

This exercise helped me to make a better understanding of Active and passive verbs.

8-2 Active vs. be verbs

This exercise was not very helpful because I already understand the difference between active and be verbs.

8-3 Active verbs (edit and compare)

This exercise helped me to understand how to transfer a active sentence to a passive sentence.

9-1 Parallelism

This exercise helped me because I learned what is parallelism, which was an unfamiliar word to me before I did this exercise.

9-2 Parallelism

This exercise helped me to maker a better understanding of parallelism.

9-3 Parallelism (edit and compare)

This exercise helped me to make sure that I use the parallel phrases or words correctly.

10-1 Needed words

This exercise really helped me to understand when the relative pronoun or relative adverb is needed and when it is not necessary to exist in the sentence.

10-2 Needed words (edit and compare)

This exercise helped me to make a better understanding of when the relative pronoun or relative adverb is needed in the sentence.

11-1 Mixed constructions.

This exercise helped me know not to add some unnecessary words in the sentence.

11-2 Mixed constructions  (edit and compare)

This exercise helped me to make sure that the sentence I wrote must be logical.

12-1 Misplaced modifiers

This exercise was not very helpful because I already knew how to use modifiers.

12-2 Misplaced modifiers  (edit and compare)

This exercise was not very helpful because I already knew how to use modifiers.

12-3 Dangling modifiers

This exercise helped me to make a clear understanding of the dangling modifiers.

12-4 Dangling modifiers  (edit and compare)

This exercise helped me to make a clear understanding of the dangling modifiers.

13-1 Shifts: person and number

This exercise helped me to make sure that the pronoun and number in the sentence must be consistent.

13-2 Shifts: tense

This exercise helped me to make sure that the pronoun and the verb in the sentence must be consistent in the same tense.

13-3 Shifts

This exercise helped me to make sure that the verbs in the sentence must be consistent in the same tense.

13-4 Shifts  (edit and compare)

This exercise helped me to make a better understanding of shifts.

14-1 Choppy sentences

This exercise helped me to learn how to combine the choppy sentences in an acceptable way.

14-2 Choppy sentences  (edit and compare)

This exercise helped me to make a better understanding of how to combine the choppy sentences in an acceptable way.

14-3 Subordination

This exercise was not very helpful to me because I already know the subordination.

Misplaced Modifiers

We chose to study misplaced modifiers. A modifier is a word or a phrase that describes something else. You should place it as close as possible to what it describes. If you don't, your intended meaning may not be clear.

Consider the unintentional meanings in the following:  

• The young girl was walking the dog in a short skirt.
• The dog was chasing the boy with the spiked collar.

You can see what's wrong. The dog isn't "in a short skirt" and the boy doesn't have a "spiked collar." Because the modifier is misplaced, we have to think for a minute before we get the intended meaning. The correct versions are:

• The young girl in a short skirt was walking the dog.
• The dog with the spiked collar was chasing the boy.

You also need use  modifiers such as almost, even, hardly, nearly, often, and only appropriately

1        1.      He almost ran around the yard twenty times.

2        2.      He nearly ate a whole box of treats.

In both sentences when he "almost ran" and "nearly ate"--nothing happened! He didn't quite get around to doing either thing. What is intended is:

1. He ran around the yard almost twenty times.
2. He ate nearly a whole box of treats.

If you give the readers to interpret something in more than one way, they will probably get it wrong. Make sure you place the modifiers correctly so that you will eliminate the reader from interpreting something differently instead they will have a better chance of getting what you want to interpret.

The evaluation of all stories in a box by peers

here

top three

Punctuation--Comma usage

    This post will focus on the usage of comma. Comma is a punctuation mainly used for separating things. I choose this topic because I was so confused about how to use this punctuation in writings sometime. Now, I studied this topic and I have a clear understanding of the comma usage.

    

Comma usage 

•     Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction that separate two independent clauses (unless the independent clauses are very short).

    
    Examples:  
                      a). This math problem is so difficult for me to figure it out, but I will try my best to work     on it.
                      b). He wanted to help me but I refused.

•      Use a comma after an introductory word, phrase, or clause that comes before a main clause.

    Examples:
                      a). Eventually, we finished our trip to China.

                      b). After we finished our trip to China, we went to Mongolia next day.
                      c). Since I am an international student, it is hard for me to understand my professor completely.

                      

•      Use commas to separate things.

    Example:

                    a). I love many makeup brands such as Chanel, Lancome, Bobbi Brown and La Mer etc.

•      Use a comma to set off a nonrestrictive attributive clause.

     Example:

                     a). Jenny has received her mother's letter, which makes her so surprised.

•     Use commas around words, phrases, and clauses in the middle of the sentence when they are not essential to the meaning of the sentence.

     Examples: 

                      a). My father, however, he did not agree.

                      b). China, on the other hand, is developing very fast. 

                      c). My father, who is a very kind man, always like to sing songs for me.

•    Use commas before and after a quotation within a sentence.

     Example:

                     a). My mother always said," The more you do, the more you can learn."

•    Use a comma before an afterthought or contrasting element.

     Example:

                     a). When we come across difficult problems, we should try our best to solve them, not avoid them.

•    Use commas to set off geographical names, items in date,and professional titles.

     Example:

                     a). My father was born on January 12, 1970, in a simple family.

Reference: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/punct/comma.html

 

   

When is a story good?

1. Interesting topic
2. A catchy introduction
3.A good organisation (thesis ..body ..ending clear main point)
4.Good grammar
5.Spelling
6.Good Transition
7.Creative body
8. Original writing (unique)
9. Good characterization
10. Should be logical
11. Clear and intresting ending

Story-in-a-box

  I have a dear father who loves to travel around the world. Sometimes, I travel with him. Together, we have a  lot of fun and a lot of impressive memories.

    I still have many memories about our trips to many different countries. First of all, when I was a little girl about 11 years old, my father and I went to China. We stayed in China about 7 days and we visited many cities. Our first destination was Beijing, the capital of China. We went to Tian'an men Square. There were a lot of people walking on the street and most of them dressed very simple. We bought a Chinese stamp which  is made of  marble and there is a special mark on the bottom of the stamp which I cannot understand what it means. What's more, we tasted the Chinese roasting chestnuts which were so delicious that I could never forget  its flavor. Then, we went to the Great Wall. It was so long and we were all very tired when we arrived at the end of the Great Wall. Our next destination was Shanghai, one of the biggest cities in China. Also, the city was crowded and we could see many people at anywhere. After that, we went to Guilin and Chongqin. All in all, our trip to China was fantastic. After we finished our trip to China, we also went to Mongolia. We stayed there about 2 days and we got a leather wallet, a ruler and a blanket as souvenirs. Personally, I love China better than Mongolia. 

  The second trip which left a deep impression in my mind is our trip to Africa. We went to Kenya. As we all know, people live in Africa is poor who cannot even afford the food. We went to the capital of Kenya and people live in such big city is better off. We visited many places of interest and we bought a sculpture of a African woman, a carving of a woman's head. All of them made with exquisite workmanship.

   Last but not least, our trip to Singapore is also fantastic. It is one of the smallest countries in the world. Singapore is extremely beautiful and I do not even want to go back.We bought a collection of coins. I love it so much.

   Today, when I stay in bed, I always look around my bedroom. There are so many souvenirs from many different countries. Except some souvenirs that I mentioned before, I also have other amazing souvenirs. A small pot from an island named Gozo. A carving of a man from Peru. A model of canoe from my own country-America. 

    This time, daddy has been to Spain and he says he will come back 4 days later. During his phone call, he told me he will bring me a model of the Spanish farm. I was so excited when I heard that. I am so glad that I have such a nice daddy.

Inventory List

Inventory List


Ruler   A standard 1 foot ruler which is used to measure distance or to rule straight lines. This ruler is made of wooden.

Blanket   This blanket is made of some kind of animal’s wool. The color of this blanket is dark.

Three Chestnuts    There are three chestnuts with different shapes. The color of them is dark brown.

A model of Spanish farm   This piece of model is made of figuline I think. It shows how a traditional farm looks like in Spain.

Stamp   This is a Chinese stamp which is caved out of a material called marble. There is a special mark on the bottom of this stamp.

A small pot   This small pot comes from an island called Gozo. This small pot is made of ceram I think. The color of this pot appears green and a little bit white.

A leather wallet   A leather wallet contains some coins and 50 Euros. The color of this wallet is khaki.

A collection of coin   It is a collection of coin of the republic of Singapore. On the first page of the booklet says it is a " Year of Dog" coin collection. There 6 coins contained in the booklet and each of them has different size.

A model of canoe   It is a model of a native America canoe which is made of tree barks. The color of this model appears khaki. 

A sculpture of an Africa woman   A sculpture of a slim and tall Africa woman made with exquisite workmanship. The color of this sculpture is black and the woman appears kind and wearing native African costumes. 

A carving of a man   It is a carving of a man who dresses traditional Peru costume. Also the carving appears that he is running and hitting the drum. 

A carving of a head   It is a carving of a head of a man I think. The face of this man appears kind. 

"Who am I"- What did people write who were asked this question?

There are a lot of different answers about this question. People who were asked this question usually concentrate on their personal profiles like birth and hobbies. Also, people would like to talk about their background like where they are from, where they live right now and their degrees or their jobs, etc. Some of people would talk about their dreams or goals and the important things they need to do in the future. And some of people would like to talk about their abilities and things they good at. What's more, some people would also talk about their personal qualities like time management, money management and independence, etc. Also, I saw some special things such as the way of thinking, the way of growing up.