Introduction
Hi! I am Lyme. This page is my first blog, which is used to document my personal review of my English homework. Yep, I created the blog to promote my English skills indeed. I confirm that I will write these words by myself, not AI or translation application. So it may have some grammar issues. If you find it, please tell me :).
The Homework
Today’s essay is about the “Traditional Chinese Cuisine”. And here are the original test requirements:
为了提高学生的生活实践能力，下周你校学生会将举办“中华传统美食”厨艺大赛。请你为学生会英文公众号写一篇英语推文，内容包括：1. 比赛时间、地点；2. 比赛内容、意义；3. 邀请参与并且宣传推广。
To be honest, I decided to write the requirements in English at first, but my English is too poor to tackle it :(.
Problems & Solutions
I had found some problems that needed to be solved after the teacher had corrected1 my homework. In the first paragraph, my context is:
Next Friday afternoon, the competition of Chinese cuisine will be embarked on by Students’ Union, whose place is located in the center of the school canteen.
My teacher underlined the words of “embarked on”. Obviously it has some error, so I asked AI about it.
- “Embark on” means to start something like a journey or project, but it’s not the right fit for a competition. Plus, it’s not typically used in passive voice (“will be embarked on”).
- “Students’ Union” is correct, but in English, we usually say “the Students’ Union” (with “the”) when referring to a specific group.
- “Whose” refers to the Students’ Union, but it sounds like the Union itself is located in the canteen, which isn’t what you mean. You’re trying to say the competition’s location.
The sentence is a bit long and clunky. Splitting it or reordering it can help:
“Next Friday afternoon, the Students’ Union will hold a Chinese cuisine competition in the center of the school canteen.”
And my teacher’s version is:
A cooking competition “Traditional Chinese Cuisine” will be held by the Students’ Union at the school cafeteria running from 2 pm until 5 pm next Saturday.
Hmm, that is better, isn’t it? So let’s build up a few phrases2 for next time (This is so easy so I didn’t write here :P).
Another problem is how to build up the second paragraph? I have a map: Cooking -> Judging -> Awarding3. In my version I used “Active form” to list the requirements like “The competition offers one hour to participants to finish their unique dishes”. But the teacher’s version like “Competitors are required to …”, using the “Passive form”. Whole sentence is:
Competitors are required to cook a traditional dish unique to Chinese culture within the given time, followed by a brief introduction to the delicacy.
After that, all the works will be rated and the winners will be awarded a trophy4. Okay, I have learnt how to refine my homework :).
At last, I need to fix a sentence from my version: “And the latest dinner gathers us stronger.” (Yes, I used to plan that these competitors could enjoy their fruits in the end.) “Latest” sounds odd, and “gathers us stronger” isn’t clear. So I could modify5 it:
- “At the end, a final dinner brings us closer together.”
- “Afterward, we enjoy a dinner that strengthens our connection.”
- “Finally, the competitors share a meal to celebrate and grow closer.”
Oh, to make the post more “TRUE”, a sentence is recommended:
Please forward the news to your classmates.
Jottings6
MY GOD. Writing the blog even close to kill me :(. I really made hundreds of grammar issues, and I feel that it’s very hard to write English properly. Anyway, I had finished it, so, give myself a congratulation :).
Footnotes
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I will highlight the word that I don’t know how to use it and achieve them :) In this context it means “批改”. ↩
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A group of words that is part of, rather than the whole of, a sentence. ↩
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A prize, such as a gold or silver cup, that is given to the winner of a competition or race, and often returned after a year to be given to the winner of the competition in the following year. ↩
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To change something such as a plan, opinion, law, or way of behaviour slightly, usually to improve it or make it more acceptable. ↩