Sunday, June 29, 2008

go to the hospital vs go to hospital

In American English, people put "the" before "hospital" as in "go to the hospital" and "in the hospital." In British English, "go to hospital" and "in hospital."

My coworker, a British English teacher, told me that there aren't many hospitals in the UK and that is why they don't put "the."

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Japanese people like causative verbs.

Japanese English teachers like to teach causative constructions. They seem to believe that these constructions are typical English sentences.

I had the barber trim my hair.

He made a stranger on the street give him five dollars.

(These examples are taken from The Grammar Book by Celce-Murcia &
Larsen-Freeman, 1999)

On the other day, I edited a material of sentence combining exercises. In this material, original answers were written by a Japanese English teacher and a native English teacher made a comment on them. One correction impressed me:

Original: All of our buses make passengers comfortable.

Corrected: All of our buses are very comfortable.

However, the question was given to teach learners causative constructions. After I discussed with this native speaker, I had to change the question itself and the answer became like this:

Traveling on our buses makes passengers comfortable.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Fukutoshin Line


Yesterday, Fukutoshin Line, a new subway line in Tokyo, opened.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

No rest for the weary.

I'm teaching 8 classes now. But, I don't have enough money to live by. Therefore, I'm thinking of having my third job, which makes me busier.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Watched The Wicker Man

I watched The Wicker Man (2006) yesterday. This movie is a remake of the British movie of the same title produced in 70s and stars Nicolas Cage.

I felt that the original one was better as people usually feel about any remakes. However, it still describes what a very confined community can be. It makes me think a lot.
Leelee Sobiesky, one of my favorite actors, is in this movie. That is good too.




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