PROGRESSIVE MEMO (especially for
the Quiz Questions by Email)
Last updated on: Saturday, November 19,
2011
Warning: some items might need further updating.
Ask me when you are not sure.
Always
send to: senshuguy@gmail.com from Deep Mail
(https://dpml.isc.senshu-u.ac.jp/cgi-bin/index.cgi) or Senshu-Google.
Always
use your PIN number
(as given in class) in the subject box first with a space and the QQ number.
Your documents will then be retrieved easily if a mistake comes up.
PLEASE
TAKE NOTICE.
[Memo
#21 and #23 apply to everyone. It would
work faster, and therefore be more motivating, if your reading skills were high
enough. Anyway, if your motivation is high enough, nothing will stop you from
speaking another language. Finding a foreign friend could also do the magic too
for the motivation, but it will never
be as efficient as what is suggested in here with concern of working with an
audiobook, an English book, and a Japanese book (if needed), as a start. Try it again and again until it clicks by
itself in your mind. The target language will surely click in place if you
don’t give up and give it plenty of time to settle in your unconscious mind.
;-)]
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Examples are marked in blue.
CONTENTS
01- DON’T SEND YOUR
QQ01~10 TOGETHER IN ONE EMAIL!
02- ALWAYS COMPOSE
YOUR QQs WITHIN THE ASSIGNED AUDIO TRACKS.
03- MARKING THE
AUDIO TRACKS IN THE BOOK
04- COMPLETE
STATEMENTS MUST BE USED IN ALL YOUR QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
05- THE PAST TENSE
MUST BE USED IN ALL YOUR QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
06- SPECIAL PROBLEM
WITH "It was..."
07- NEVER USE QUOTE
MARKS ('_' or "_") or Italics,
underlined, and bold
CHARACTERS IN YOUR QQs.
08- ONLY USE NUMBERS
FOR TRACKS, PAGES, AND PIN, OTHERWISE ALWAYS USE LETTERS.
09- USING THE MS
WORD SPELLCHECKER.
10- SHOWING ALL THE
HIDDEN MARKS AND CHARACTERS IN MS WORD.
11- ABOUT PLAGIARISM
12- PLEASE DO NOT USE
YES/NO QUESTION
13- A CAPITAL LETTER
CANNOT FOLLOW A COMMA EXCEPT IF...
14- ABOUT THE SPACES
AND PUNCTUATION MARKS (. or ,
or ; or : or ? or !)
15- STATEMENT
MARKERS
16- - INDICATE the correct answer with a
PLUS SIGN (+)
17- RESTRICTED USE
OF BECAUSE
18- THE DOUBLE-PAST
MISTAKE
19- THE FALSE
EMPHASIS
20- REVISE YOUR
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT W-H QUESTIONS OR DO TEAM WORK
21- THE GRAMMAR PIT
22- NO ORIGINAL
QUESTIONS
23- THE BEST WAY FOR
ME MIGHT ALSO WORK FOR YOU
24- DEALING WITH AN
ACRONYM OR AN ABBREVIATION IN THE QQ
25- USING A HYPHEN
26- DEALING WITH
MIXED FONTS
27- CHOICES ARE TOO
EASY OR FAULTY
28- FALSE DATA
29- INCOHERENCE
BETWEEN SINGULAR AND PLURAL IN NOUNS OR VERBS
30- FORBIDDEN
CHARACTERS AND SYMBOLS
31- DEALING WITH
"WHAT COLOR..." QUESTIONS
32- CAPITALIZATION
PROBLEMS (SUPERFLUOUS OR MISSING)
33- ARTICLE PROBLEM (a/an/the)
34- INDEFINITE
PRONOUN IN THE QUESTION
35- OTHER FORBIDDEN
PHRASES OR WORDS (THAT MIGHT BE IN THE BOOK)
36- IN GENERAL THERE
IS NO ARTICLE WITH THE POSSESSIVE
FORM (apostrophe "s") AND THE NAME OF A PERSON.
37- PLEASE USE THE SAME VERB STRUCTURE AS IN THE
QUESTION OR DO NOT USE IT WAS or IT IS
IN THE THREE CHOICES.
38- FOR ME, THERE
ARE ONLY TWO KINDS OF LATENESS FOR THE EMAIL (QQ).
39-
BETTER
LATE (0.0) THAN TOO LATE (0 or
NOTHING)
40- EXTRA POINTS FOR
THE SELECTED QQ WORK FOR THE QUIZZES
41- UPDATING A QQ
WORK
42- UNCHECKING LINE
AUTO-SPACING
43- SAME TRACK/PAGE
(sameTP)
44- REPETITIVE
PATTERN
45- NEW PARAGRAPH
SPACING
46- EXTRA PARAGRAPH
BEFORE OR AFTER THE TEXT OF YOUR Q/A
47- ERROR OR MISSING
INFORMATION IN QUESTION TAG FORMAT
48- FALSE DATA IN A
QUESTION TAG
49- DEFINITE
PRONOUNS ARE MISSING IN THE THREE CHOICES
-----------------------------------
49-
DEFINITE PRONOUNS ARE MISSING IN THE THREE CHOICES
For
all forms we must make the habit of using definite pronouns in the three
choices as long as their corresponding reference are
mentioned in the question.
-----------------------------------
48-
FALSE DATA IN A QUESTION TAG
The
previous statement is easy to understand (self-explanatory).
(please see #28)
-----------------------------------
47a-
ERROR IN QUESTION TAG FORMAT FOR
QUIZ QUESTIONS
A
question tag FOR A
QUIZ QUESTION (if you work with a full book [Level 2 and Level 3]) looks like
this:
t044p349S61-
For
each question tag
(at the beginning of each question) respectively use:
(a) a
lower-case (little) "t"
(b) the
specific audio track numbers (3 digits, including
leading zero(s) if needed) where we can find the answer to the question;
(c) a
lower-case (little) "p"
(d) the page
number (3 digits,
including leading zero(s) if needed)
where we can find the answer to the question;
(e) your Personal Identification Number PIN (one UPPER-CASE letter
and 2 digits,
including a leading zero if needed) as given in class
(f) with a hyphen and
(g) a space as indicated in the document example K61 QQ13.docx.
Please copy the format in that example
with the same font, size, and spacing. DON'T FORGET TO ENTER YOUR OWN DATA AND CHANGE
THE AUTHOR'S NAME WITH THE COMMAND: SAVE AS IN MICROSOFT WORD.
47b- ERROR
IN QUESTION TAG FORMAT FOR PERSONAL
QUESTIONS
A
question tag FOR A
PERSONAL QUESTION looks like this:
LOG13.0.1S09- What…?
(if you work with the weekly LOGS) [LEVEL 1]
PLEASE, indicate LOG13.0 for your own questions, indicate LOG13.1 for questions that are related or
inspired from the first MY TURN section in the LOG, and indicate LOG13.2 for questions that
are related or inspired from the second MY TURN section in the LOG, and add a third number that
refers to specific choices in the LOGS or to the order of your own questions
(usually 1~5).
For
example, the tag number would become LOG13.0.1S09- for the first question of the student S09 if that is
S09's own question, and so on.
-----------------------------------
46-
THERE IS AN EXTRA PARAGRAPH BEFORE OR AFTER THE TEXT OF YOUR Q/A THAT SHOULDN'T
BE THERE.
The
previous statement is easy to understand (self-explanatory).
-----------------------------------
45-
NEW PARAGRAPH SPACING
Note:
The marks for
paragraphs and manual line breaks are different in the Japanese version of MS
Word, but they have the same behavior.
A paragraph mark is
obtained by pressing the key ENTER.
A
manual line break is obtained by pressing the keys SHIFT down and ENTER.
If one question is one
paragraph, then we get:
t044p349K61- What did the abbreviated designation IDEC
mean? [SHIFT down and ENTER]
It meant International Delta Environmental Consortium. [SHIFT down and ENTER]
It meant International Digital Environmental Consortium.+
[SHIFT down and ENTER]
It meant International Design Environmental Consortium. [ENTER]
If you click anywhere within the question twice, then you select the
whole paragraph.
That is very useful for dealing with many questions as we do.
See the final
example and its behavior on your computer
by downloading it: K61 QQ13.docx or K61 QQ13.doc as template or online: K61 QQ13
-----------------------------------
44-
REPETITIVE PATTERN
I
noticed that the questions with WHO
/ color / It was / etc. pop up like
mushrooms these days. Yes, they are very easy to compose, especially for the
MCP book. I recommend that you do not use the same pattern more than two times.
I understand that some students want their document in my mailbox ASAP, but you
will use points if you take too many shortcuts.
-----------------------------------
43-
SAME TRACK/PAGE (sameTP)
This
chain of characters means that you have used the same audio Track or the same
Page of the book more than twice. In the case of the HP book 10 different audio
tracks are recommended since there are 14 audio Tracks every week, but you may
still use different Pages and you will be okay.
-----------------------------------
42-
UNCHECKING LINE AUTO-SPACING
In
English a picture worth 100 words. So here are two thousand words:
NEW
PARAGRAPH SPACING: see #45
-----------------------------------
41- UPDATING A QQ WORK [Updating is not recommended anymore since your
update becomes a newer message in my mailbox, so you lose your position.
However, if your document is unclassifiable because of a wrong format then you
should update as soon as you can.]
METHOD
1: Do not forget to send your updated document from my reply if you see it in your mailbox by replying to it
directly.
METHOD
2: You may send an updated version before receiving my reply if you get some
insights by yourself by replying to your
own message in Gmail. I don’t know how this works with Meiji Mail.
In
both cases, simply attach a document that has a new title
like K61 QQ13b.docx or K61 QQ13v2.docx, etc. [Of course, use your own
data.]
If
you use Gmail, do not write a new subject to your email, unless there was a
mistake in your subject before, since it would separate your documents in my
Gmail inbox.
Sending
a separate document is more likely to cause an error. Always tell me if you
think I made a mistake. My mailbox is very crowded and I like talking to you if
you are brave enough! I’ll try to be patient, which is very difficult for me
indeed. Ha! Ha!
-----------------------------------
40-
EXTRA POINTS FOR THE SELECTED QQ WORK FOR THE QUIZZES [This section is not used anymore in the second
semester. There is no quiz this semester.]
Extra
points for email work are given only if your document is selectable. To be
selectable, a document must be among the first 15 highest values (for QQ01~05)
or the first 10 highest values (for QQ06~10) in my mailbox. The time order and
the values in my mailbox are the main criteria of selection.
IF at least one of your questions is selected for one of
the quizzes AND IF your first value
is 1.0, THEN you receive 10 extra
points; you receive only 5 extra points if your first value is less than 1.0.
For
a document that was sent on time, it means that if at least one of your
questions gets selected for one of the quizzes, then you could get a maximum
value of 20 points (10 x 1.0+10) that is if your first value is 1.0. You could
get a maximum value of 14 (10x0.9+5, or 10x0.8+5, or 10x0.7+5, etc.), if your
first value is less than 1.0.
In
the case of 0.0, if one of your questions get selected you can get only 10
(10x0.0+10) or 5 points (10x0.0+5). It implies that the second value of your
document would pass over all the inferior values in my mailbox. It means that
if you improve your version to a second value of 1.0 then it could be selected
after all the 1.0 values but before all the 0.9 values in my mailbox. Etc.
Is
this complex enough? It seems that I sure hope so, but I don’t. Ha! Ha! Anyway,
I wanted to give a chance to everyone to make more points, but some work is
needed for that. Good Work!
-----------------------------------
39-
BETTER
LATE (0.0) THAN TOO LATE (0 or
NOTHING) [In the second semester, late
work is welcome for the QQ, but gives you one point only for a minimum of 5
questions and a maximum of 10 questions. For the BR, there are 2 dates for
deadline, check in your respective download page. You may send BR11~BR15 and
BR16~BR22 at anytime in their respective deadline.]
You
may receive extra points if your document reaches a selectable level. This
selection process was used before to make the Home Quiz but the idea was just
germinating. Now that the idea has set in my mind and I am able to explain it
better (I hope).
The
first value of a document that is late is 0.0 LATE. This is the value you receive by email
if you send your QQ after the beginning of class and before the second deadline
for updating. Sending after that second limit would trigger the final value 0 TOO
LATE, which means no points at all.
This
first value for a document that is sent late (0.0 LATE) cannot be changed if you send the current
QQ after the beginning of its target class.
Yet, in the case of 0.0, a second value is attached to it. The second value is
the value the document would have had if it had been on time.
Like
any other document that is sent on time, the second value of a document that is
late could also be improved if the original document is improved before the
following Sunday. This second value for 0.0 is used for comparison to the other
documents in my mailbox only. You will not receive these points, but only the
extra points.
-----------------------------------
38- FOR ME, THERE
ARE ONLY TWO KINDS OF LATENESS FOR THE EMAIL (QQ).
(see #39 above)
The
first kind is 0.0 LATE
which means after class, and the other is 0 TOO LATE which means
after the Sunday after class (23:59). This difference wasn’t enforced
thoroughly before QQ08 though. Sorry, there is no other kind. My email reply to
you should be clear about which one it is. With this idea, you will also see the
difference in the results table.
The
value 0.0 LATE
accommodates a second value that will be used to compare the documents that
were already in my mailbox. The value 0 TOO LATE does nothing,
except that it tells you that I have seen your document.
My
reason for this short deadline is three-fold and surely more if I could scratch
my brain a little more. Firstly, I don't want to work with the contents of
several weeks at the same time. My mind is overloaded enough without that kind
of surplus. Secondly, I hope you will be very quick at sending your documents
so we may interact a little more out of class. I call it playing “spoken
grammar” ping-pong by email. Thirdly, for the last sending before the final
quiz, there is always a problem to compose the quizzes quickly. Given that you
should be used to composing QQ quickly by the end of the semester, it gives me
a little more time for the final quiz. I would need much more time in reality
to produce something of good quality. You may have noticed by now that I am a
kind of perfectionist. Please, keep in mind that I work in 3 other schools with
similar options.
Thus,
it means it's really TOO LATE after the weekend deadline, that is, after the
following Sunday, 23:59. Please, arrange your schedule in consequence.
There
might be a few souls that are able to pass the filter of my vigilance. I
regularly demote the value of several documents weekly, especially when I
realize they were TOO LATE or when my first evaluation at a glance was
incorrect.
Sorry
for the trouble this may cause you.
Let
me know if there are any other considerations or special circumstances that I
should take into account to evaluate your QQ work.
-----------------------------------
37-
PLEASE USE THE SAME VERB STRUCTURE
AS IN THE QUESTION OR DO NOT USE THE
VERB TO BE: IT WAS or WAS or IT IS IN THE THREE CHOICES.
You
can only use the verb "to be" once a week. Try more complex questions
please... The time has come to graduate from high school English, hasn't it?
The
IT for the patterns IT WAS and IT IS should not be used. Replace the IT by
their original form, so I will not see the patterns IT WAS or IT IS. This
exception confirms the rule that for all other forms we must make the habit of
using definite pronouns in the three choices as long as their corresponding reference are mentioned in the question.
EXAMPLE:
Who
stood beside Harry and Ginny,
clench-jawed and frightened-looking, until last they had been allowed in to see
him?
X It
was Ron’s mother.
O Ron’s mother stood there.
There
are other examples at the MEMO #6.
-----------------------------------
36-
IN GENERAL THERE IS NO ARTICLE WITH THE
POSSESSIVE FORM (apostrophe "s") THAT IS USED WITH THE NAME OF A
PERSON (a proper noun).
the coat that belongs to John = John's coat
(NOT John's the coat OR the John's coat OR a John's coat)
the economic
problems of America = America's economic problems
(NOT the America's economic problems)
But a possessive noun (that is not the name of a person) may have an article.
the wife of the boss = the boss's
wife / the house of the
Malfoys = the Malfoys' house (notice that the Malfoys are not a person's
name but a family (a group of people).
THERE IS NO ARTICLE WITH THE NAME OF A PERSON TOO.
-----------------------------------
35-
OTHER FORBIDDEN PHRASES OR WORDS (THAT MIGHT BE IN THE BOOK)
"The answer wasn't mentioned in the three
choices." or similar phrases
are not acceptable because they will be automatically added to each question. [However, if you want to use it
because it is your answer, then you should add a fourth choice.]
ago - tonight - tomorrow
- this week - next week -
The
word "ago" cannot be used in our QQ because it refers
to the present tense. Please use "before
then" instead.
The
word "tonight" cannot be used in our QQ because it
refers to the present tense. Please use "that night" instead.
The
word "tomorrow" cannot be used in our QQ because it
refers to the present tense. Please use "the day after" instead.
The
phrase "the day after tomorrow" cannot be used in our QQ
because it refers to the present tense. Please use "two days after" instead.
The
phrase "next week" cannot be used in our QQ because it
refers to the present tense. Please use "the week after" instead.
Example:
When did Aringarosa visit the Pope’s summer residence for the first time?
It was two months ago. (This means two
months ago from now in 2010.)
It was two months before then.
It was two months before.
He visited him tonight.He visited him that night.
When was the Quidditch game against Hufflepuff?
The game started tomorrow.
The game started the day after.
The game started the day after tomorrow.
The game started two days after.
The game started next week.
The game started the week after.
-----------------------------------
34-
INDEFINITE PRONOUN IN THE QUESTION
We
must present the subject before using a pronoun to replace it.
Example:
What did she do after opening
the box? <- This is not correct.
What did Sophie do after opening
the box?
She ran to the door. <- This is correct as a choice because we know who
"she" is.
Actually,
you should try to use as many DEFINITE pronouns as possible in the three
choices.
Replacing
as many nouns and proper names as possible in the choices is a good exercise,
since most people use definite pronouns when they talk. The pronouns are
indefinite only for the people who are outsiders to the conversation.
-----------------------------------
33-
ARTICLE PROBLEM (a/an/the)
When
should we use an article? / Which one should we use?
These
are going to be the biggest problems for you.
I
will try to put some links here soon.
I
don't have time to find some references now.
When
these problems are encountered I will give you some hints to help you, then
later I will update this section when I have time.
You
should try to find an exercise book with many examples to guide you.
The best is always to try to take the
structures that are used in the book.
That way, you cannot go wrong. (Hum! That is not sure if you don't know the rules.)
Here
is what I found as references.
I
don't know the two first books. They seem expensive given that they touch
articles only.
PRACTICAL
ENGLISH USAGE and its companion HOW ENGLISH WORKS are definitely the best
references I know for grammar.
Click
the pictures to Amazon.co.jp. Good Work!
-----------------------------------
32-
CAPITALIZATION PROBLEMS (SUPERFLUOUS OR MISSING)
For
some magical reasons we often see UPPER-CASE letters appear (or disappear) in
choices needlessly.
Please
respect the capitalization that is in the book and try to limit your use to it.
There
are reasons to use an upper-case character at the beginning of a word.
Usually
it denotes a special feature.
It
is safe to use capitalization only when it is used in the book.
However,
sometimes the capitalization is a simple sentence marker that doesn't need to
be used if the word is in the middle of a sentence afterward.
Please
see the example in #31 below.
-----------------------------------
31-
DEALING WITH "WHAT COLOR..." QUESTIONS
This
is indeed a popular question and we all know why.
However,
if we want to use it then we should use it properly.
WHAT
COLOR... is an exceptional pattern.
We
never answer with "The color was..." unless we want to answer HOW IT
WAS.
THE
COLOR WAS DARK / PALE / etc.
For
this specific pattern we have to refer to the object that has the color
quality.
This
is a multi-purpose example that contains 4 mistakes respectively:
4d
punctuation and space (see #14)
3f a problem with the "What
color..." pattern
4c superfluous capitalization (see #32)
and an advanced grammar mistake that is not target in our class.
What color was Mrs.Weasley wearing old dressing gown?
The color was Silver.
What color was Mrs Weasley's old dressing gown (she was wearing)?
Her
old dressing gown was silver.
Please
refer to this example when you want to use this pattern.
-----------------------------------
30-
FORBIDDEN CHARACTERS (SYMBOLS) AND FORMATTING MARKS
Please
use only short hyphens like this "-" do not use long hyphens (dash) "‑" because their sorting value is different.
Sorry,
there are always exceptions here too.
The
list will keep on growing as I encounter them in the sorting.
Sometimes
it may take a long time to find out what provokes a bug in a program. The quote
marks and other font formats have been mentioned elsewhere. Here we touch
specific characters to avoid at all cost.
Thank
you for your vigilance.
Please
NEVER use:
/ or \ or & or [ or ] or { or } or ( or ) or " or – or “ or ! or ;
or : or
¥ or $ or € or £ etc. in the
q/a.
Please
especially NEVER use ? and ! in the choices.
Also NEVER use the forbidden formats
like ITALICS, BOLD, and UNDERLINE. I use these formats to build the
quizzes. They are absolutely forbidden.
For QUOTING, see memo #7.
-----------------------------------
29-
INCOHERENCE BETWEEN SINGULAR AND PLURAL IN NOUNS OR VERBS
...Why Tarot cards was devised?
It was devised to
pass along ideologies banned by the church.+
It was devised to
enjoy life.
It was devised to
tell a person’s fortune.
...Why were Tarot cards devised?
They were devised
to pass along ideologies banned by the church.
They were devised to
enjoy life in society.
They were devised
to tell a person’s fortune.
Where was he going when the incident
occurred?
He went to his office as
usual.
He was going to his office as
usual.
-----------------------------------
28-
FALSE DATA
FIRST KIND: a question is wrong or all choices are wrong
When
I find an example I will post it here.
This
also applies to the data that is certainly not in the book like "Hayato" or "Thibert" or "Senshu" or "Japanese" or "sushi" I hope you see what I
mean...
SECOND KIND: An audio track number doesn't correspond to the page
number.
THIRD KIND: The audio track numbers do not correspond to the QQ
number.
The
second and third kinds are very important because we should be able to find the
answers according to the track numbers in the quizzes. If a mistake like that
is found afterwards, it will be indicated in the feedback table (BR).
-----------------------------------
27-
CHOICES ARE TOO EASY OR FAULTY
If
your choices are too easy or faulty then your question is void because it
cannot be used in a quiz. I would not even put it in a databank.
Here
is an example:
...Who was
Amelia Bones killed by?
She was
killed by Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
She was
killed by Harry.
She was
killed by Sirius Black.
We all know that Sirius and
Harry are not killers. It would be better choosing the names among the bad
guys.
-----------------------------------
26-
DEALING WITH MIXED LANGUAGE AND FONTS
There
are many automatic features in MS WORD. One of them is highly undesirable when
you work with foreign FONTS. By default, it changes the fonts into Japanese
fonts and put spaces and other characters or shapes that do not fit with
others.
To
be on the safe side, select
the whole text with Ctrl
+ "a" and click English (United States) at the base of the MS Word window and
choose the Font "Verdana"
which is easier to read and will show any anomalies.
Sometimes,
you will have to delete all the faulty characters and replace them completely,
because they are part of the substitute Asian font and are accepted as such by
the program.
-----------------------------------
25-
USING A HYPHEN
ATTENTION:
Do not use a dash (long hyphen —) use a
normal short hyphen (-)
When
a hyphen is used to link
words there is no
space with it (before or after it).
NO: ...a four -legged creature.
NO: ...a four- legged creature.
YES: ...a four-legged creature.
To
see the space markers in your document, follow the instructions in memo #10.
Also
see #8 hyphen
with numbers.
-----------------------------------
24-
DEALING WITH AN ACRONYM OR AN ABBREVIATION IN THE QQ
In
the QQ we do not use punctuation for an acronym or an abbreviation.
(acronym: n. a word formed from the
initial letters of other words as NGO (Non-Governmental Organization))
ATTENTION:
DO NOT USE PERIODS (or
dots) in acronyms and abbreviations even if in the English book they sometimes do.
When abbreviations contain lower case letters put them in upper case, except
maybe for Mr and Mrs and Dr.
This is a special format for the quizzes.
(Let
me know if you encounter other words I will add them to this list.)
Thank
you.
Examples:
NO: O.W.L.
YES: OWL or O W L
NO: N.I. H.
YES: NIH or N I H
NO: D.C.P.J.
YES: DCPJ or D C P J
NO: A.M.
NO: AM (not used because it looks like
the initials of a name.)
NO: a. m.
YES: am
NO: P.M.
NO: PM (not used because it looks like
the initials of a name.)
NO: p. m.
YES: pm
NO: Mrs.
NO: MRS (not used because it looks like the
initials of a name.)
YES: Mrs
NO: Mr.
NO: MR (not used because it looks like
the initials of a name.)
YES: Mr
NO: Dr.
NO: DR (not used because it looks like
the initials of a name.)
YES: Dr
-----------------------------------
23-
THE BEST WAY FOR ME MIGHT ALSO WORK FOR YOU
Given
that your reading skills are high enough, it is time to use them to begin a
real training in listening to improve your speaking. Language learners'
stepping board for speaking consists in building our skills for listening
through reading. Actually, we should always try to improve all our skills since
they amplify each other. This includes writing of course. This may not work for
you, but I sincerely doubt it. Trying is the essence of improvement.
I
think the best way would be to try reading your class English book and
listening to its audio tracks simultaneously at your own pace during summer.
Doing it every day would be best.
The
use of the Japanese book(s) should decrease by itself when the understanding of
the spoken grammar occurs subconsciously.
Give
yourself that chance this summer. This could be the beginning of a new
adventure in your life, leaving the crutches of translation behind.
Good
Work!
-----------------------------------
22-
NO ORIGINAL QUESTIONS
It
means someone else has presented a similar question before you. This is not bad
in itself since there are many people in our classes. Sending a little earlier
might help, but I think composing unexpected questions might have more impact.
For this I recommend reading #23 above. I try the most I can to make this item
unnecessary when I select the q/a for the quizzes, but in the second semester
it always become more difficult to do so… Guess why? ;-)
-----------------------------------
21-
THE GRAMMAR PIT
I
could understand your questions, but your grammar needs improvement.
Here's
a quick reference for questions (pages 001-002-003-004) and W-H
questions.
You
should use the English book to compose your quiz questions. This would help you
greatly.
The
best way is to find the answer you want first. Then you compose the question
from it. This way, you make sure that the answer is where you want it and there
is no mistake since it is written like that in the book. The problem will be to
put everything in the past correctly and make a question correctly.
Please
try filling the grammar gap by having a look at the Grammar Folder. à now disabled, sorry! It might become available next
semester...
Yet,
this is not the best way to improve your speaking skills, but this is a
beginning.
Language
is like mathematics, because mathematics is a language;
IF
some basic knowledge is missing
THEN
it is very difficult to improve further and build on faulty knowledge.
Summer
would be a nice time to go through that material at your leisure or even read
and re-read our target book while using the audio tracks. That is surely the
best enjoyable way (for me at least!).Why not continuing with another book by
the same author or another author, and get its corresponding audio tracks?
If
I were you and had some quiet time / mind / space by myself or with someone I
love, I would do so. Sharing learning with someone is fun, especially if we are
serious about it. Maybe this is the last chance of your life to really get
acquainted to English as International Communication.
Take
that chance as it passes!
[Of
course, if you ever continue using audiobooks when you finish this class to
keep on improving your English skills, then I would have fulfilled my mission
to help the main language on this Earth to become truly planetary. I would feel
that I haven’t wasted my time / space / mind / memory in this country. I would
certainly thank you in the name of humanity consciousness for joining our species
consciously, thus enlarging our mutual understanding. I have always been a
wishful dreamer. That is the flame that has kept me alive in this often
disappointing world; the hope that we could speak the same language one day,
thus returning together to our true source by taking control our own life
without following anyone but our own knowledge of who we are in
aloneness-0-togertherness on this Earth. Have a good life in English! Bye!
[This sounds like my final message, doesn’t it? Ha! Ha! You found it!]]
-----------------------------------
20-
REVISE YOUR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT W-H QUESTIONS OR DO TEAM WORK
Please
revise the basic W-H questions. To work with a
team is a difficult decision because it is difficult to be serious with friends
sometimes. Maybe you should study a little harder and compose your questions
with the English book before thinking of joining a team. The Grammar folder is
there for more practice if you need that. (see #21)
Team
work for the first semester is available only for QQ09 and QQ10 (for rescue).
You
may work with someone else (max. 2 or 3 people). However the number of
questions should be adjusted to the amount of people. Also, your email subject
and your document title must reflect the team.
Example
of an email subject for a team:
G22G23G24QQ09 first week
G23G24G22QQ09 second
week
G24G22G23QQ09 third
week, etc.
(The first number is the sender and it
must rotate every week. It means: a different sender is required every week.)
It
usually is more difficult to work within a team for one of the members, but
there is a reward: By explaining to others we usually become better...
Good
Work!
-----------------------------------
19-
THE FALSE EMPHASIS
This
is another example of over-correction. This error occurs when we are dealing
with a direct object in a question, as in a SVO structure (see #4).
Of
course, putting emphasis in a statement is not a mistake per se if we know what
we are doing. Yet, in our quizzes we almost never use it, unless we are quoting
with capital letters in the case emphasis is used in the book.
Example:
Who did make that cake?
Who made that cake?
Of
course, this would be correct if we really insisted on knowing who made the
cake. Also, there would be a corresponding intonation. However, this is a
mistake most of the time for us. Actually, I have never heard anyone using that
form, except language learners like me. ;-)
-----------------------------------
18-
THE DOUBLE-PAST MISTAKE
This
is an example of over-correction when we learn how to compose questions in
English. That is a very good sign indeed, but it is a mistake nonetheless.
Example:
What did happened... -> What
happened...
Who did he told that to ... -> Who did he tell that to...
See
MEMO #5 for more information about the past tense.
-----------------------------------
17-
RESTRICTED USE OF BECAUSE
DO
NOT USE "Because" at the
beginning of your answers, because the MS Word Spellchecker sees them as fragments
of sentences, not complete sentences and I agree with this verdict.
Also, the use of "Because" at the beginning of your statements may
impede the MS spellchecker.
Examples:
Why did Emma run to the library?
Because she wanted to ...
It was because she wanted to...(Please avoid this
form too if you don't want to be stuck with 6a (repetitive pattern).)
She ran to the library because she wanted to...
OR
BETTER:
She wanted to...
-----------------------------------
16- - INDICATE the correct answer with a PLUS SIGN (+)
The "+" should be inserted at the end of each
correct statement, immediately after the period (putting a space after
is okay too if we want to respect the punctuation rules, but not necessary in
this case since the plus signs will not appear in the quiz versions).
(Also
see: K61 QQ13.docx for a correct example.)
-----------------------------------
15-
STATEMENT MARKERS
This
section is related to the punctuation too. (see #14)
As
a rule, an English statement in written form should always begin by an
UPPER-CASE letter (also called CAPITAL letter) and finish with a punctuation
mark.
Examples:
For
a question:
what kind of butterfly was it?
What kind of butterfly was it.
What kind of butterfly was it
Corrected:
What kind of butterfly was it?
For
a normal sentence:
it was a transgenic butterfly with two
different wings.
It was a transgenic butterfly with two
different wings
Corrected:
It was a transgenic butterfly with two different wings.
-----------------------------------
14-
ABOUT THE SPACES AND PUNCTUATION MARKS (. or , or ; or : or ? or !)
About
Spaces
IF
you see two or more spaces one after the other THEN you should replace them by
one space only.
To
see the space markers in your document, follow the instructions in memo #10.
About the Punctuation
I
often see mistakes with the punctuation marks.
If
you ever open your English book, then you will notice that there is a
convention for the punctuation of a text.
-
Especially check your punctuation marks with the following rules:
(1) In most case put a space
after a punctuation mark, if something follows (not before it).
Examples:
...tomorrow,he...
...tomorrow , he...
Corrected:
...tomorrow, he...
(2) dot and space ((if another sentence follows), otherwise nothing)
(3) comma and space (always something must follow, but no capital
(upper-case) letters, except if it is a proper noun or a special format).
(4) semi-column and space (always something must follow, but the use of a
capital (upper-case) letter is optional, except if it is a proper name or a
special format).
(5) column and space (always something must follow, but here you may add
an optional capital (upper-case) letter, yet this is up to you)
(6) question mark and space ((if another sentence follows), otherwise nothing)
(7) exclamation mark and space ((if another sentence follows), otherwise nothing)
-----------------------------------
13-
A CAPITAL LETTER CANNOT FOLLOW A COMMA EXCEPT IF...
I
distinguish here because this error occurs quite frequently and it might be
difficult to detect for newcomers in the world of punctuation.
This
is the rule of punctuation number three above (#12).
(3) comma and space (always something must follow, but no capital
(upper-case) letters, except
if it is a proper noun or a special format).
Example:
Why did Polly run to the library, When he saw the ...
Corrected:
Why did Polly run to the library, when he saw the ... (The comma is not necessary.)
-----------------------------------
12-
PLEASE DO NOT USE YES/NO QUESTION
A
Yes/No question is a question that can be answered by "Yes" or
"No" or "It depends" ... This pattern is attractive because
it is very simple and that is why we don't use it.
Examples:
...Did John go to...
...Was the tail wagging the dog... etc.
Please
use W-H questions which begin with Why, What,
Who, Where, When, Wow, and How, How many, How much, etc.
-----------------------------------
11-
ABOUT PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism
might be found anytime and it would cancel your credits (tang) for this class.
Usually
I wait until the end of each semester to run a comparison program because I
want to give the cheaters a chance to redeem their case by sending something
different before the final deadline. I also know that plagiarism is a last
attempt for rescue from a very unbalanced habit of procrastination.
I
usually do not tell the administration office about students' plagiarism
because I wouldn't like anyone to be expelled from this school. Another teacher
told me that plagiarism is always taken very seriously. I am not surprised
because this also is the case in my country of origin. There is a kind of
stigma for employment that may block one's success in society. Please think
twice before taking that risky path.
Every
year the Rain season (or the winter break) brings this rare illness. This
(sometimes contagious) disease usually occurs when our English skills are too
low, and one of our friends still has a fighting spirit and a little more
cunning skills.
There
is nothing wrong about trying to help someone who is drowning, but trying to
show someone how to swim when one is drowning might be risky, if not suicidal.
Trying to save yourself first might be better. In our case, one could then help
others revising their questions. Please do not compose QQs for drowning people.
That wouldn't help them really and they would be tempted to repeat the offense
elsewhere and get trapped in a vicious circle of procrastination.
If
your English skills are too low, I recommend that in the second semester
(September ~ January) you join someone to help you in a team formally. (see #20)
You
may also want to open the (Grammar Folder).-->sorry it's disabled
-----------------------------------
10-
SHOWING ALL THE HIDDEN MARKS AND CHARACTERS IN MS WORD.
As
some of you already know, I am very picky about the format of the question tags
at the beginning of each question.
When
I choose a format I stick to it to make sure that the sorting of the QQ will be
accurate and,
of
course, I want to make sure that you do the same.
example:
t043p339K61- What...
Maybe
this hint will help you to see the space between the hyphen and the question.
I
hope that the Japanese version contains the same menus.
Click
the Office Button (top left
corner) in Microsoft Word and
click [Word Options] (in the right left corner)
click the
second category [Display]
in
the second Heading
[Always
show these formatting marks on the screen]
select
the last option:
[Show all the formatting marks]
Good
Luck!
-----------------------------------
9-
USING THE MS WORD SPELLCHECKER.
In
Microsoft Word:
1-
Select the whole text; {hold down the keys "Ctrl" and "a"}
2-
Set the language to English;
3-
Wait until some words become underlined;
IF no word becomes underlined THEN
check that the spelling function
is ON
in the Office Button(Left Top
Corner) in the Word Options Menu (Proofing).
4-
Right-click the underlined words;
5-
Choose the correct spelling or spacing (for punctuation);
6-
IF there is no suggestion THEN check the correct spelling within the English
book;
7-
IF the selected word is correctly spelled THEN add it to the dictionary
(by right-clicking it again and selecting the "add to dictionary"
function).
Thus
if you use that word again it will always be correctly spelled.
8-
IF you made a mistake by inserting an incorrect word into the dictionary
THEN you should UNDO this move. {hold
down the keys "Ctrl"
and "z"}
(sometimes you may have to UNDO all
your previous moves).
-----------------------------------
8-
ONLY USE NUMBERS FOR TRACKS, PAGES, AND PIN,
OTHERWISE ALWAYS USE
LETTERS.
Examples:
He was on flight 1615. <-- not
correct
He was on flight sixteen-fifteen. <--
correct
He was on flight one-six-one-five. [Nobody speaks like
that. You should listen to the audio track to learn the proper way to write
expressions with numbers. That’s why you have got the audiobook after all. Use
it!]
It happened in 2003.
It happened in two thousand three. <--
especially for years
It happened in 1991.
It happened in nineteen-ninety-one. <--
especially for years
He went there 4 times.
Corrected:
He went there four times.
Using
a Hyphen in Spelling for Linking Words that Represent Numbers
• Use a hyphen with any tw
o-word number
(21-99:
twenty-one-twenty-nine)
or fraction.
thirty-two, two hundred
fifty-six, one-quarter, two and two-thirds
• If the fraction
includes a two-word number, hyphenate only that two-word number, as more
hyphens may make the fraction unclear
No: forty-five-hundredths
Yes: forty-five hundredths
-----------------------------------
7- NEVER USE QUOTE MARKS ('_'
or "_") or Italics, underlined,
and bold CHARACTERS IN YOUR QQs.
To quote something or to use something
that is quoted in the book, simply CAPITALIZE (or use UPPER-CASE characters).
The examples,
He said, Hello!
He said, Hello!,
He said, Hello!
He said, 'Hello!' and
He said, "Hello!"
become: He said, HELLO.
ßThis is correct.
[Please do not use ! or ? or ; or : in the
choices.]
Also see the list of
forbidden entries in memo #30
We don't use these marks
because they change the sorting and create compilation errors in the quiz maker
program.
-----------------------------------
6- SPECIAL PROBLEM WITH
"It was..."
We cannot use "It was..." statements as
answers: I AM ALLERGIC TO THEM.
We ESPECIALLY have to use
the same structure that is used in the question, preferably the same verb
structures.
Thus we have to make sure
that
our questions are correct by
using the English book to compose them.
UPDATED:
If you use "It was..."
for more than one question then you will get less points and be referred to the
memo #37.
...How many points were
subtracted from...?
It was fifty points.
Fifty points were subtracted from them.
...What color was the hat?
The hat was black. (or)
It was black. <-
This is forbidden in our class. ;-O
...What did Malfoy hurt after hurting
Harry's nose?
It was his left leg.
He hurt his left leg.
...What did the man sell on the street?
It was magazines.
He sold magazines.
-----------------------------------
5-
THE PAST TENSE MUST BE USED IN ALL YOUR QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
Example
for the choices: "He is
an architect." becomes "He was an architect."
The
same applies to:
IS -> WAS / DOES OR DO -> DID / HAVE -> HAD /
CAN -> COULD / WILL -> WOULD / SHALL -> SHOULD /
etc.
How to make questions (in the past)
ALSO
SEE: VERB LIST - W-H questions
...What did Merope have dropped?...What had Merope dropped?
It was one of the cups.
She had dropped one of the cups.
...Where
Langdon and Sophie could
get out of the Grand
Gallery?...Where could Langdon and Sophie get out of the Grand Gallery?
They got out at the rest room.
They could get out of the Grand Gallery from the rest room.
...With the
fire alarm silenced, what Langdon could hear? With the fire alarm
silenced, what could Langdon hear?
It was the sound of Fache's footstep.
He could hear the sound of Fache's footsteps.
...Where
the clandestine meeting was held?It was held at the attached
seminary of the church of Saint-Sulpice.
Where was the clandestine meeting held?
When
Silas gazed up into the soaring ribbed vault of the ceiling, what he imagined?He imagined he was
standing in a lot of light having various colors.
When Silas gazed up into the soaring ribbed vault of the ceiling, what did he imagine?
When
Silas turned and knelt in the front pew, what he felt?He felt the pen cut
into his leg.
When Silas turned and
knelt in the front pew, what did he feel?
The
past tense is not only required for
active practice of our speaking skills but also because we are talking about a
book that was written in the past (or a story that happened in the past). Any
facts that are contained in books might change, since the essence of reality is
evolutionary. Even hair color and the number of chromosomes may respectively
change with aging and new discoveries. In reality, we cannot take anything for
granted.
-----------------------------------
4-
COMPLETE STATEMENTS MUST BE USED IN ALL YOUR QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
In educated English, a
complete statement includes
a Subject, a Verb, and an Object.
We call them SVO.
The SVO order is usual though a verb can be part of the object part in some exceptions
like:
"[I] [wanted to know] [what his
name was.]" but most students don't know about this exceptional form in
which the SVO is still respected.
The Japanese language uses
the combination SOV
(often OV without S).
When I see a verb at the end I think there might be a Japanese mistake.
Example1:
For
"Who was watching the
Quidditch trials?"
"[Hermione] [was]." or "[Hermione] [did]." is not a
complete statement , because
there is only [S] and [O].
A complete statement ([S] [V]
[O]) could be:
(1) "[It] [was]
[Hermione]." [This one is prohibited.]
or better
(2) "[Hermione] [was
watching] [the Quidditch trials]."
or better
(3) "[Hermione] [was
watching] [them]."
Number two and three (2 and 3)
are better than number one (1) because we avoid using the same pattern "It
was..." all the time. Yet, we practice using English pronouns as everyone
does in English once we know the subject. So, in the case the verb TO BE is in
the question then there should be no problem. The problem will arise only if
you use the iT WAS form in more than one question.
(See #6
about "It was...")
Example2 with [O] only:
[S] and [V] are missing.
Why did Lyra want to go to Lord Asriel's
place?
To give him the alethiometer.+
To give him the food he needed to make
his experiment.
To give him the cigars from the Master of
Jordan College.
[She] [wanted] [to go there
to give him the …]
[S] [V] [O]
-----------------------------------
3-
MARKING THE AUDIO TRACKS IN THE BOOK
(This
is part of the homework.)
1.
Listen to the
first few words of each audio track.
2.
Scan the English
text to find these words.
3.
Mark the places
in your textbook for easy retrieval (for homework, quiz, and class work)
4.
In the book,
for the first track of the first homework, you write 01-001.
(This means N01-001 or DVC01-001 or HP601-001. Please do not use these
references in your QQ. Just use the three-digit track number.)
Thus you can easily retrieve the place in your book, the homework target and
the track number.
I often ask for these references in class.
N. B. The page numbers might
not be available in the quizzes so you'd better be ready to find the audio
tracks when needed.
-----------------------------------
2-
ALWAYS COMPOSE YOUR QQs WITHIN THE ASSIGNED AUDIO TRACKS.
You
may ask in class if you don't know which are your specific targets.
-----------------------------------
1-
DON’T SEND YOUR QQ01~10 TOGETHER IN ONE EMAIL!
For
example, instead of sending in email QQ01~03, send QQ01, QQ02, and QQ03
separately in 3 different emails. This year this is not a problem, because a
weekly deadline is enforced.