Hi I'm a Japanese and I'm now learning English at a high school. What is now annoying me is how to compose sentences describing something generic in English.
(1) The first question is which is or and acceptable among the four.
(1-a) A whale is a mammal. (1-b) The whales is a mammal.
(1-c) Whales are a mammal. (1-d) Whales are mammals.
My answer is that (1-a), (1-b) and (1-d) are acceptable. But how about (1-c)?
(2) The second question is which is or and good among the four below.
(2-a) An apple is a fruit. (2-b) The apple is a fruit.
(2-c) Apples are a fruit. (2-d) Apples are fruits.
My answer is that (2-a), (2-b) and (2-d) are acceptable. I am not sure whether (1-c) is acceptable or not.
(3) The third question is which is or and good among the four below.
(3-a) A giraffe has a long neck. (3-b) The giraffe has a long neck.
(3-c) Giraffes have a long neck. (3-d) Giraffes have long necks.
My answer is that (3-a), (3-b) and (3-d) are acceptable. But how about (3-c)?
I am glad if someone makes any comment on these questions and my answers.
Thank you in advance.
I have to correct a part of my previous message.
(1-b) The whales is a mammal. => (1-b) The whale is a mammal.
Sorry for the mistake.
It must be "whales are mammals", "apples are fruit".
Both 3c and 3d are acceptable.
I am not native speaker. Just take it as a reference.
Hi wingyellow, I am Saya from Japan How do you do! I have just read your messages in another topic and know you are from HK. You seem a really good speaker of English, I guess. I envy you for it.
By the way, why do you think "Giraffes have a long neck" is right? If there are plural giraffes, there must be plural necks. I think in the way like that. Am I wrong?
Konnichiwa! Saya san.
Watashi wa Nihongo o daisangengo ni narutsumoridesu.
My English is still far from being good.
Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan share the same method of teaching English and share, of course, the same disappointing result.
We pay little attention to spoken English. Instead, we fill in the blanks all the times. I suggest listening more.
About your question, consider this: Children in room A have two legs while those in room B have only one. Children in room A all together have 20 legs while those in room B have 13. It depends on whether you consider the subject as a whole or as individual.
This is what I read from grammar book. I am not a native speaker. You should consult one.
I want to make friends with Japanese.
Saya,
Personally, I think you should start learning Mandarin Chinese when you go to university. It will help you much if you can speak English, Japanese and Mandarin. And Chinese is easy for Japanese people. I bet you can read a little bit Chinese.
I think Japanese people talk extremely fast.
At least Hong Kong children in British schools and Taiwanese children in American schools don't fill in the blanks. Are there any international/foreign-run schools in Japan?
Hi Wingyellow
Wow! You speak Japanese! I think you are a genius of languages. Yes, we have problems in English education. Our English education is too much concentrated in grammar and reading skill. This is why I can’t do even everyday conversation despite I’ve learned English almost for six years. I’d like to learn Chinese in future but now I haven’t the time to spare to any thing other than preparation for entrance exams to a university. I have learn some classic Chinese in the class of Japanese language. I liked the poem “Spring Vista” by Du-Fu. Do you　know it? I tried to translate it into English.
Our nation is going down, yet our mountains and rivers still remain. 　
　 It is springtime in this country, and the weeds and trees grow green.
　 We grieve over the times, and the flowers shed tears for us.
　 We are parted in sorrow, and the bird’s cry beats our heart.
　 Fires continued for a season, and a letter from home is worth thousands gold.
　 Every time I stroke my white hair, it get shorter, too short to hold a pin.
As for the grammatical question, I now understand what you meant. “Giraffes have a long neck for each”. It’s OK?
Have a nice weekend!
Hi Wingyellow
I'll repost the previous message because some wrong chars were insereted there.
Wow! You speak Japanese! I think you are a genius of languages. Yes, we have problems in English education. Our English education is too much concentrated in grammar and reading skill. This is why I can’t do even everyday conversation despite I’ve learned English almost for six years. I’d like to learn Chinese in future but now I haven’t the time to spare to any thing other than preparation for entrance exams to a university. I have learn some classic Chinese in the class of Japanese language. I liked the poem “Spring Vista” by Du-Fu. Do you know it? I tried to translate it into English.
Our nation is going down, yet our mountains and rivers still remain. 　
It is springtime in this country, and the weeds and trees grow green.
We grieve over the times, and the flowers shed tears for us.
We are parted in sorrow, and the bird’s cry beats our heart.
Fires continued for a season, and a letter from home is worth thousands gold.
Every time I stroke my white hair, it get shorter, too short to hold a pin.
As for the grammatical question, I now understand what you meant. “Giraffes have a long neck for each”. It’s OK?
Have a nice weekend!
Hi Guofei
Yes, we have some international schools in Tokyo. I think they are run by some Christian societies. Most of the students are foreigners but some Japanese are learning together. The language used there is English. I heard the problem for the Japanese students is the entrance examination to a university is given in Japanese.
Have a nice weekend!
For Japanese and Chinese, your background, especially education background, is very important if you want to live and work there. Almost all Japanese Prime Ministers are from Tokyo University and Chinese senior officials from Beijing University or QingHwa University. Going to internaiton schools just in order to learn English will harm one in certain extent.
I think Guofei Ma's dad has this problem. If you speak perfect English and spend a long outside the country, people affected by the Confuscian culture will regard you as foreigners, exclude you and, of course, be jealous of you. You will never be able to work in the society if you don't spend sometimes over there to build a network and a background. And to build a local network, you have to study at local schools. That's sad. But I think English just plays a relatively small part in Asian countries. Relation and network matter more.
If you think you can live and work happily in other countries, so be it. But if you think one day you will move back to China or other Asian countries, do it when you are still young.
1-a and 1-d are acceptable;
1-b is wrong because 'The whales' is plural [they], so it requires 'are' instead of 'is';
1-c is wrong because 'Whales' are plural and 'a' is an indefinite article for singular nouns;
The other questions are very similar. Just use the right verb and complement for the sentence's subjects regarding number and person and do your homework by yourself.
:)
1-b is acceptable too as you corrected it. Sorry for the mistake.
Wingyellow, be relieved! In ten years, Japan will be renamed the Provinces of Honshu and Hokkaido in the People's Republic of China and all Japanese will be forced to learn mandarin.
Perhaps Wingyellow is correct. It is not necessarily true that fluent English speakers can work and live happily in other countries. As Wingyellow said, speaking good English will make others jealous of you in Asia and is nothing special in America or Britain- there are too many fluent English speakers in those places! Being a human being is difficult, isn't it?
Perhaps the world needs more polite and positive people like Saya.