VOA日常语法2023--Reviewing Your Message about Guests

Reviewing Your Message about Guests

A few weeks ago, we asked our readers and listeners to write about having guests over. Many of you wrote in using the words you learned¹. One reader, Gerardo, wrote to us about his cousin Peter's visit.

In this week's Everyday Grammar, we will comment on Gerardo's message. And we will give some grammar suggestions.

Gerardo's Message about his Guest

I usually am very fond of guests. Two weeks ago, I suddenly met my cousin Peter near the bus station. We have not seen each other for ages. He came to the cita for just three weeks. So I invited him over for drinks last week-end. He was short of time but he finally accepted. On Saturday, we spent time catching² up talking about those beautiful days we played games and eating in the countryside when we were very young. We had dinner together and then he left.

Review of Gerardo's Message

Let's start with the first two sentences.

I usually am very fond of guests. Two weeks ago, I suddenly met my cousin Peter near the bus station.

Gerardo uses the adverb "usually," which means "generally" or "under normal conditions." While this is a good adverb to use, we suggest placing the adverb after the auxiliary³ or helping⁴ verb "be."

I am usually very fond of guests.

The adjective⁵ "fond" is a great descriptive word. It is stronger than "like" but a little less strong than "love."

Lastly, in these two sentences, we have "suddenly met." The adverb and verb combination⁶ are a good way to describe the chance meeting. In American English, we have a phrasal verb that is widely used in everyday speech for that chance meeting, "run into."

"Run into" means to meet someone by chance or without planning.

I am usually very fond of guests. Two weeks ago, I ran into my cousin Peter near the bus station.

Let's move onto the next three sentences.

We have not seen each other for ages. He came to the cita for just three weeks. So I invited him over for drinks last week-end.

There are only a few small changes we need in these three sentences. Since Gerardo is writing in the past tense throughout the paragraph, we suggest keeping the past tense in the third sentence by using the past perfect.

The past perfect is:

Helping verb "had" plus the past participle of the verb.

We had not seen each other for ages.

In the fourth sentence, there is a small spelling error. We can change "cita" to "city."

He came to the city for just three weeks.

In the fifth sentence we will add a comma after the word "so." "So" in this case is an introductory word or transition⁷. We add a comma after introductory words of this kind to show that the main part of the sentence follows.

And lastly in that sentence, we can remove the hyphen (–) between the words "week" and "end" and combine them as a one-word compound⁸ noun⁹.

So, I invited him over for drinks last weekend.

Let's look at the sixth sentence.

He was short of time but he finally accepted.

We suggest changing two things in this sentence. First, we suggest changing the preposition¹⁰ "of" to "on." While both "short of" and "short on" can mean similar things, "short on" means there is less time than expected or wanted, while "short of" means a lacking of something. Plus, "short on time" is used more often in American English than "short of time."

Our final observation is that we need to add a comma between "time" and the conjunction¹¹ "but." These are two separate sentences combined with "but," so we need a comma.

He was short on time, but he finally accepted.

We will continue with the final part of Gerardo's paragraph and suggest some organizational tips later.

Closing thoughts

Today, we looked at Gerardo's message about his cousin's visit. We thought about adverb placement, commas and verbal¹² tense. We learned a new phrasal verb "run into." We even looked at the small differences between "short of time" and "short on time."

We will continue with Gerardo's message in a few weeks. Thank you, Gerardo, for sending your writing to us.

Words in This Story

cousin – n. a child of a person's uncle or aunt

grammar – n. the whole system and structure of a language

fond – adj. feeling or showing love or friendship

phrasal verb – n. grammar: a group of words that functions as a verb and is made up of a verb and a preposition, an adverb, or both

paragraph – n. a part of a piece of writing that usually that begins on a new line and often is made up of a few sentences

tense – n. a form of a verb that is used to show when an action happened

introductory – adj. providing information about something that is about to begin

phrase – n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence

clause¹³ – n. (grammar) a part of a sentence that has its own subject and verb

hyphen – n. a punctuation mark - used to divide or to compound words, word elements, or numbers

1 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

2 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

3 auxiliary   

adj.辅助的，备用的

参考例句：

• I work in an auxiliary unit.我在一家附属单位工作。
• The hospital has an auxiliary power system in case of blackout.这家医院装有备用发电系统以防灯火管制。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。

6 combination   

n.组合，合并，联合；

参考例句：

• He carried on the business in combination with his friends.他与朋友们合伙做生意。
• The materials can be used singly or in combination.这些材料可以单独使用也可以混合用。

7 transition   

n.转变，变迁，过渡

参考例句：

• Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood and adulthood.青春期是童年与成年之间的过渡时期。
• They all support a peaceful transition.他们全部都支持和平过渡。

8 compound   

n.化合物；大院；adj.化合的；vt.加重；使化合

参考例句：

• Air is a mixture,not a compound of gases.空气是气体的混合物，不是化合物。
• How many households in the compound?院内有几家住户？

9 noun   

n.名词

参考例句：

• What kind of noun is this?这是哪类名词？
• This word is a collective noun.这个词是个集体名词。

10 preposition   

n.介词

参考例句：

• You should cancel this preposition in the sentence.你应该删去句子中的这个介词。
• We use different preposition to talk about time,days,months and seasons.我们用不动的介词来谈论时间，日，月和季节等。

11 conjunction   

n.联合，连接，接合；连接词

参考例句：

• Two or more sentences may be joined together by a conjunction.两个或两个以上的句子可以用连词连接。
• The conjunction of heavy rains and high winds caused flooding.暴风雨的同时发生引起了洪水泛滥。

12 verbal   

adj.口头的，用言辞的，用文字的，动词的

参考例句：

• Verbal statements are no guarantee.口说无凭。
• I delivered a verbal protest against their brutal acts.我对他们的暴行提出口头抗议。

13 clause   

n.（正式文件或法律文件的）条款，从句，分句

参考例句：

• The sentence consists of a main clause and a subordinate clause.这句中有一个主句和一个从句。
• What clause do you require in the contract?你要求在合同中订上什么条款？