One Sentence EFL Writing Workshop

with Tim Newfields and Chang Yahui

The following sentences were written by Taiwanese EFL students. English comments were made by Tim Newfields and a Chinese version was made by Chang Yahui and published in The Mandarin Daily newspaper from April 1999 to Dec 2001.

1. GRAMMAR SEARCH ENGINE

Choose a GRAMMAR POINT, then click release your mouse: _______________________________________________ academic vs. non-academic writing styles actor vs. actress almost vs. most "all the time" a lot vs. very any vs. much of articles: a vs. the average vs. medium become interested vs. get interested better vs. pefect bored vs. boring catch vs. catch up causality and blame causality and time sequence cliche: in my memory . . . cliche: very confused vs. confusing contradiction and consistency court vs. sports ground destination vs. goal economic vs. economical economical vs. economics England vs. G.B./U.K. especially vs. specially euphemisms and derogatory terms fact vs. opinion family vs. families family vs. family members forever and never friend vs. girlfriend fun vs. funny hard vs. hardly high vs. tall help vs. let vs. make help vs. make help vs. make (cont'd.) grammar vs. grammatical "good enough personality" grow vs. grow up history vs. histories history vs. histories (cont'd.) humans vs. men individual vs. collective reference if vs. when impressed vs. impressive in vs. of like vs. suit vs. go well with lots of vs. many a male/female vs. man/woman marriage vs. marry metaphor vs. simile most of vs. most need vs. require overgeneralization overgeneralization (cont'd.) passive vs. active verbs raining vs. rainy recently rhetorical questions send off vs. see off sentence focus singular/plural Contrasts sometime vs. sometimes take off vs. get rid of time references retire vs. stop working think vs. feel tiredness vs. tiring trip vs. travel vacation vs. vocation what time vs. when word economy: basic principles

2. TOPIC SEARCH ENGINE

Choose a TOPIC, then click release your mouse: _______________________________________________ Culture: Chinese history Emotions: Bored vs. boring Emotions: Scared, fear, etc. Emotions: Thinking vs. feeling Emotions: Tiredness Entertainment: impressive movies Family: Family vs. families Family: Family vs. family members Family: Father vs. father vs. my father Family: Marriage and fighting Fashion: Describing Colors Fashion: Short Skirts Food: Mad with vs. mad about Friends: Beloved Pets Friends: Fun vs. funny Friends: Good enough personality Gender: Actor vs. Actress Gender: Collocation word order Gender: Female friends Gender: Friend vs. Girlfriend Gender: Housework Gender: Humans vs. men Holidays: Chinese New Year Holidays: Help vs. make (cont'd.) Holidays: On vacation vs. in vacation Holidays: Vacation vs. vocation Humor and contradiction Literature: Many a vs. lots of Politics: History, World views, and English Politics: Mayoral election Politics: Taiwan vs. Formosa vs. R.O.C. Politics: the United States School: Being busy vs. being content School: English education in China School: English language learning School: Class vs. classes School: Go to school vs. be at school School: Grammar vs. grammatical School: Sometime vs. sometimes late to school School: Summer vacations School: Teacher [name] very likes Society: Complaining about youth Sports: Baseball vs. basketball Sports: Basketball Sports: Destination vs. goal Sports: Exercise and body-shaping Sports: Help vs. let vs. make Sports: Need vs. require Sports: Volleyball court vs. sports ground Taiwan: Earthquakes Taiwan: Geographical references Taiwan: Famous scenery? Travel: Catch vs. catch up Travel: Destination vs. goal Travel: Economic vs. economical Travel: New York City vs. New York State Travel: Send off vs. see off Travel: London, England Travel: Taipei and Tokyo Travel: Trip vs. travel Weather: Raining a lot vs. very rainy Word Economy: basic principles Work: Retire vs. stop working Work: Retirement

3. LIST OF PROBLEMATIC SENTENCES

Choose a PROBLEMATIC SENTENCE, then release: _______________________________________________ * Although there were three candidates in the 1998 Taipei mayor election. . . * Are you boring? * Are you OK during the earthquake? * As we know, Taipei and Tokyo are two of top ten city in Asia. * Baseball in Taiwan is becoming worse and worse - everyone very likes . . . * Basketball can help me strength my physique or relax your mood. * China has over five thousand years histories. * Dog is human's best friend. * Do you really agree women should do all houseworks? * English is a tall wall that I can't climb and conquer forever. * Exercise keeps you in good condition and makes your figure perfect. * Father is thin and an average height man, while mother is . . . * How do you think about English education in Beijing? * I am tired from studying hardly; I need some rest to take off my tiring. * I believe my personality is good enough, so we must get along . . . * I believe my summer plans will make me have a wonderful summer vocation. * I born in Gwei-shan, but was grown in Taipei. * If you retire someday, what kind of thing do you want to do first? * I like to get together with my families on vacation. * I like to trip, but I seldom go since economical problems and time limits. * I'm scared all the time after the earthquake. * In my memory, I always went to school early when I was in elementary school. * In New York, you need to spend a few months to visit everything. * I oversleep sometime, then late to school. ? I'm quite fine these days, but still a little busy at school. * I was upset, my school work didn't do well. * Last night I met some girl friends and talked a lot. It was a funny evening. * London, the capital of England, has 7 million populations. * Male and female can't avoid to argue after marry. * Many a person mad with chocolate, especially females. * My destination for the future is to go to America to study. * Most of female actresses retire by 35 years old. * My family is four people, consists of my parents, young sister, and me. * One day after classes, I went shopping with my classmates. * Play badminton can lose your weight and let your body strong. * Recently there was an impressive movie in Taiwan named "A Bug's Life". * Since men start their history, dogs play an important role. * Sorry I got to send off Tom to the airport, he must catch up . . . * Sue and Mariah like to give helping hands. * Taipei has been raining a lot these days. * Taiwan is a beautiful place where there are a lot of scenes in. * Taiwan is famous for its scenery and a miracle of economics. * Teacher Tim very likes to do grammatical tests. * The Chinese are almost modest. * There is a fashion in Taiwan for wearing short skirt. * This summer I don't have special vacation since I have summer school's classes. * This year Chinese New year is Feb. 16. * Today's kids are premature... they are totally confusing. * Travel broadens the mind. * United States is a very big country of the world. * Volleyball need twelve players on the sports ground. * What colors do you suit? I go well with red, but not pink. . . * What time did you first interested in English and why did you? * When I studied in junior high school, I made the decision in my mind to . . .

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