Upper-Intermediate - English Grammar Difficulties (D2193)

A: 王小明,到我的办公室来!
Wáng Xiǎomíng, dào wǒ de bàngōngshì lái!
Wang Xiaoming, get into my office!
B: 惨了。
cǎn le.
Busted.
A: 你怎么回事啊,摸底考试才考了48分!你到底复习了没有啊?
nǐ zěnmehuíshì a, mōdǐ kǎoshì cái kǎo le sìshíbā fēn! nǐ dàodǐ fùxí le méiyǒu a?
What's to be done with you? You only scored 48% on the placement test. Did you review or not?
B: 老师,我复习是复习了,可是很多东西过了一个暑假都忘记了。而且考试时也太粗心了,好几个句子一般现在时第三人称单数动词都没加“S”。
lǎoshī, wǒ fùxí shì fùxí le, kěshì hěn duō dōngxi guò le yī gè shǔjià dōu wàngjì le. érqiě kǎoshì shí yě tài cūxīn le, hǎo jǐ ge jùzi yībānxiànzàishí dìsānrénchēng dānshù dòngcí dōu méi jiā" S”.
Teacher, I reviewed and I reviewed, but I forgot lots of things over the summer vacation. Also, when I took the test, I was so careless. There were a lot of sentences where I didn't add an “s” to third person verbs in the present tense.
A: 不止没加“S”,你时态错得不少啊。你看这里,明明写了“at this time yesterday”,你应该用过去进行时啊,怎么会用“I am studying”呢?
bùzhǐ méi jiā" S”, nǐ shítài cuò de bùshǎo a. nǐ kàn zhèlǐ, míngmíng xiě le" at this time yesterday”, nǐ yīnggāi yòng guòqùjìnxíngshí a, zénme huì yòng" I am studying” ne?
It wasn't limited to adding an "s", you made a lot of tense errors. Look at this. It's clearly written "at this time yesterday". You should use the past progressive tense. How could you write "I am studying"?
B: 我只看到了“at this time”,没看到“yesterday”。
wǒ zhǐ kàndào le" at this time”, méi kàndào" yesterday”.
I only read "at this time"; I didn't read "yesterday".
A: 另外你介词用错的也很多。
lìngwài nǐ jiècí yòng cuò de yě hěn duō.
In addition, you used prepositions incorrectly many times.
B: 老师,介词太难了。什么go to,go on,go into,go over不都差不多嘛。
lǎoshī, jiècí tài nán le. shénme go to, go on, go into, go over bù dōu chàbuduō ma.
Teacher, prepositions are so hard! "Go to", "go on", "go into", "go over" are all pretty much the same.
A: 暑假前发的那张表格呢?里面有常见的介词搭配,让你们去背的。
shǔjià qián fā de nà zhāng biǎogé ne? lǐmiàn yǒu chángjiàn de jiècí dāpèi, ràng nǐmen qù bèi de.
And what about the sheet I sent out before summer vacation? It had the most commonly seen groupings of prepositions for you to learn by heart.
B: 啊,对啊,对啊!张老师,我分词也一直搞不清楚。什么时候用“ing”,什么时候用“ed”。
ā, duìa, duìa! Zhāng lǎoshī, wǒ fēncí yě yīzhí gǎo bu qīngchu. shénme shíhou yòng" ing”, shénme shíhou yòng" ed”.
Oh, right, right! Teacher Zhang, I still don't fully understand participles - when you use “ing” and when you use “ed”.
A: 你看这一题“People invited to the conference are all Chinese”。这里动词是are,所以“invite”肯定不是动词,而是个分词。这里因为是“被邀请”,所以要用“ed”。
nǐ kàn zhè yī tí" People invited to the conference are all Chinese”. zhèlǐ dòngcí shì are, suǒyǐ" invite” kěndìng bùshì dòngcí, érshì gè fēncí. zhèlǐ yīnwèi shì" bèi yāoqǐng”, suǒyǐ yào yòng" ed”.
Look at this example: “People invited to the conference are all Chinese”. Here the verb is “are”, so “invite” can't be a verb. Therefore, it's a participle. Here because it's someone ”being invited“ you use an "ed".
B: 还是有点糊涂,看来要多做点练习。
háishì yǒudiǎnr hútu, kànlai yào duō zuò diǎnr liànxí.
I'm still a bit confused. It seems like I need some more practice.
A: 这学期要开始学习从句,定语从句、主语从句都是高考的考点。你连分词都搞不清,怎么学从句啊!回去先做十张语法卷子,要是下次还不及格,就把你爸爸叫来!
zhè xuéqī yào kāishǐ xuéxí cóngjù, dìngyǔcóngjù、 zhǔyǔcóngjù dōu shì gāokǎo de kǎodiǎn. nǐ lián fēncí dōu gǎobùqīng, zěnme xué cóngjù a! huíqu xiān zuò shí zhāng yǔfǎ juànzi, yàoshì xiàcì hái bùjígé, jiù bǎ nǐ bàba jiào lái!
This semester we are going to start studying subordinate clauses, attributive clauses and subject clauses. These are all topics on the gaokao. If you aren't even clear on participles, how can you study subordinate clauses? Go back and do 10 grammar worksheets. Next time, if you still don't pass, then I'm going to call your father!
B: 啊哟!
āyō!
Oh no!

Key Vocabulary

惨了 cǎn le tragic
摸底 mōdǐ assessment
而且 érqiě moreover
粗心 cūxīn careless
一般现在时 yībānxiànzàishí simple present tense
第三人称 dìsānrénchēng third person
单数 dānshù singular
不止 bùzhǐ not limited to
时态 shítài tense
介词 jiècí preposition
另外 lìngwài additionally
表格 biǎogé chart
搭配 dāpèi grouping, collocation
分词 fēncí participle
邀请 yāoqǐng to be invited
糊涂 hútu confused
定语从句 dìngyǔcóngjù attributive clause
主语从句 zhǔyǔcóngjù subject clause
考点 kǎodiǎn test point
搞不清 gǎobùqīng to be unclear on something

Supplementary Vocabulary

将来时 jiāngláishí future tense
完成时 wánchéngshí perfect tense
停止 tíngzhǐ to stop
不只 bùzhǐ not only
组合 zǔhé combination
跟从 gēncóng to follow

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