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Lesson 2 Universal Design Part 3 Practice 1

hirashin

Sempai
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8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers,
would you please check my sentences? Would all the sentences sound right?
1 次の英文を和訳しなさい。
① He is a wise person with an international perspective. (wise = 賢い perspective = 視点,視野)


② I find this dictionary very useful. [find+N+A の文型]


③ When we visited the museum with our baby, I found the rest rooms easy to use.


④ As for me, I like Math the best of all the subjects.


⑤ Textbooks for people with vision problems are written in Braille.


⑥ Mike, one of my best friends, has problems with his ears.


⑦ You can get a guide map for tourists at every train station.


⑧ He is really good at French as well as English.


⑨ There was a fire near my house last night.


⑩ It has been raining on and off for the last three days.


⑪ We're going to leave here at seven o'clock tomorrow so that we'll arrive in Kyoto before noon.


⑫ When the fire alarm went off, we were eating lunch in a restaurant in the building.


⑬ In which year did World War II break out? In 1939.


2 ( )の条件に従って次の文を英訳しなさい。
①そのおじいさん(お年寄りの男性)は、歩くのが困難だ。(elderly, difficultyを用いて7語で)

The elderly man has difficulty with walking.

②もし、ここで火事が起きたら、(複数の)火災警報器が鳴ります。(break, go を用いて)

If a fire breaks out here, fire alarms go off.
If a fire breaks out here, fire alarms will go off.
If a fire breaks out here, the fire alarms go off.
If a fire breaks out here, the fire alarms will go off.


③私たちは、障害を持ったお年寄りの世話をしています。(look, disabledを用いて6語)

We look after disabled elderly people.

④私は、これらの機械がとても役に立つと思っています。(findを用いて6語)

I find these machines very useful.

⑤車いすの人たちは、その図書館を使いやすいと思っている。(find, in, toを用いて9語)

People in wheelchairs find the library easy to use.

⑥植木鉢にもっと日が当たるように動かしなさい。(flowerpot, so that, will getを用いて10語)

Move the flowerpot so that it will get more sun/sunlight/sunshine.



Thanks in advance.
Hirashin
 
Wow that's a lot of stuff. I skimmed through:
④ As for me, I like Math the best [of all the subjects].
There's some punctuation missing here if you want to keep the part I've identified. I'd simply do without as it's redundant:
"As for me, I like Math the best."
The elderly man has difficulty with walking.
I'd remove "with" here.
"The elderly man has difficulty walking."
The "with" doesn't belong there.
 
Thanks for the help, Zizka.
I have a further question. In what case would "have difficulty with" be used?
How about these?
(a) I have a lot of difficulty with my work.
(b) The main difficulty with your report is that it is not written in proper English.
(c) Do you have any difficulty with the enrollment procedures?
 
(b) The main difficulty with your report is that it is not written in proper English.
I wouldn't say this, it's not colloquial. The main problem or issue perhaps.

(a) I have a lot of difficulty with my work.
(c) Do you have any difficulty with the enrollment procedures?

While grammatically speaking they're ok, I wouldn't say either. I'd say trouble for both. This being said, (c) sounds ok to me in a very formal setting. I can only justify my answers based on colloquialism however. I don't know if there are any inherent reasons since this comes sort of naturally to me.

If a fire breaks out here, fire alarms go off.
If a fire breaks out here, fire alarms will go off.
If a fire breaks out here, the fire alarms go off.
If a fire breaks out here, the fire alarms will go off.

They all mean the same thing and are all ok.

The rest all read ok to me by the way (referring to your original post).
 
- 'restroom' is normally written as one word

- 'Math' and 'Braille' are not normally capitalized (the name 'Braille' originates from a person's family name, but is not normally capitalized when used the way you are using it). Among school subjects, foreign languages are capitalized, but most other subjects are not.

- ⑥ Mike, one of my best friends, has problems with his ears.
If the specific problem has to do with his ability to hear, we would normally use 'hearing' instead of 'ears', and express it with a phrase such as 'has problems with his hearing', 'has problems hearing', 'has trouble hearing', etc..
What you wrote is OK, though.

- ⑦ You can get a guide map for tourists at every train station.
This is OK, but 'at any train station' is slightly more natural.
 
Thanks for the help, zizka and joadbres.
- 'restroom' is normally written as one word

Really? My spellcheckers judge it as incorrect and I can't find 'restroom' in my dictionaries.
So I thought it should be two words.

- 'Math' and 'Braille' are not normally capitalized (the name 'Braille' originates from a person's family name, but is not normally capitalized when used the way you are using it). Among school subjects, foreign languages are capitalized, but most other subjects are not.
As to 'Math', I had thought that you could use either "Math" or "math". So you use math, science, history, physical education, geography etc... for school subjects.

As to "Braille", the textbook uses "Braille" and one of my dictionaries says "Often used as Braille". But it doesn't seem to be right. I believe joadbres.

- ⑥ Mike, one of my best friends, has problems with his ears.
If the specific problem has to do with his ability to hear, we would normally use 'hearing' instead of 'ears', and express it with a phrase such as 'has problems with his hearing', 'has problems hearing', 'has trouble hearing', etc..
What you wrote is OK, though.
OK. I wanted the sentence to mean that Mike doesn't hear well. So I'll change it into :
Mike, one of my best friends, has problems with his hearing.


- ⑦ You can get a guide map for tourists at every train station.
This is OK, but 'at any train station' is slightly more natural.

OK. I'll change it as you suggest.

Thank you very much. I'm really grateful to you.
 
Yes, I think rest room would mean a room, in the literal sense, to have a rest in, like "the break room at work", whereas restroom would mean a toilet, as it does. It wouldn't make sense to use an adjective before a noun that didn't use the exact meaning of the adjective, only if it became a word itself, like restorrom has.

Also I think "a guide map" is nonsensical. You would just say "a map", or in this case "a tourist map", instead of "a guide map for tourists".
 
I have a further question. In what case would "have difficulty with" be used?
How about these?
(a) I have a lot of difficulty with my work.
(b) The main difficulty with your report is that it is not written in proper English.
(c) Do you have any difficulty with the enrollment procedures?
>> The elderly man has difficulty walking.

I don't think this was answered. But @hirashin --I've put your original sentence (as corrected) next to these three, and it should be easy enough to see what's going on.
 
Wow, johnnyG. I'm glad I can see your posts again. And thanks for the help, zizka,joadbres, and Michael2.
Hmm... There seem to be too many things I have to reconsider.

About "rest room":
According to Longman online dictionary,which I often use,
rest room noun [countable] (American English) a room with a toilet in a place such as a restaurant or cinema <SYN> toilet (British English)

The article doesn't show "restroom".
 
Wow, johnnyG. I'm glad I can see your posts again. And thanks for the help, zizka,joadbres, and Michael2.
Hmm... There seem to be too many things I have to reconsider.

About "rest room":
According to Longman online dictionary, which I often use,
rest room noun [countable] (American English) a room with a toilet in a place such as a restaurant or cinema <SYN> toilet (British English)

The article doesn't show "restroom".
But now I've found "restroom" in other dictionaries.

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Restroom - Definition for English-Language Learners from Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary
: a room in a public place with a sink and toilet

Does a restroom usually have a sink? Does it mean a place where you can wash your hands?

JohnnyG, do you think my original sentence " The elderly man has difficulty with walking" would be all right?
How about "a guide map for tourists"? Would it sound unnatural?
 
Does a restroom usually have a sink? Does it mean a place where you can wash your hands?

"Restroom" is basically a euphemism for toilet, i.e., a more dignified way to mention the toilet without using the word 'toilet'. At a minimum, therefore, a restroom has a toilet. Most also have sinks.

JohnnyG, do you think my original sentence " The elderly man has difficulty with walking" would be all right?
How about "a guide map for tourists"? Would it sound unnatural?

You didn't ask me, but I'll answer anyway.
"The elderly man has difficulty with walking" is OK, but "The elderly man has difficulty walking" sounds more natural. In the first of these, "walking" is a gerund, and in the second, it is a verb. (Well, I think so - I am never totally certain when it comes to grammar!) In sentences where it is possible to use a verb form, doing so is more natural, in general, I think. In the three example sentences you gave earlier (a, b, c), there is no verb at all, so "difficulty with" is appropriate.

"a guide map for tourists" sounds totally fine to me.
 
Whatever it says in one dictionary, which after all are descriptive not prescriptive, logically restroom should be one word. Like I said before it doesn't mean literally a room of rest anymore, it means as joadbres said, toilet, euphemistically. Compare it to bathroom, which is also one word and can mean literally the room with a bath in but also the toilet, a room with a bath and a toilet.

I still don't think "guide map" is used often enough yet to be considered normal English. Maps don't actually guide you anywhere, they have an overview of an area but they don't indicate routes. A quick google shows things like "guide and map", "maps and guides of New York" etc, from native English speaking countries. The only ones that say guide map are from Okayama and Stavanger.
 
@hirashin :
Just as a peripheral opinion/suggestion:
I think the whole restroom/rest room debate is interesting from a linguist perspective. If that's something you're into (I know I like to talk about things like this), I think it's fun to ponder about this spelling.

If your objective is to learn the language however, I personally think it's not something which'll make you better at English. It's a non-issue.
Something more "fundamental" (I'm using quotes here because it really is a minor thing) is a sentence like:
...difficulty with walking.
That shows that you have a bit more trouble from the colloquial side of things. Judging from your sentences, the only thing you're missing is colloquialism. You seem to have a really good theoretical understanding of grammar and how to write the sentences correctly. Again, in my opinion, you're just missing that extra real life practice element which'd tell you right way that difficulty with walking or problem with his ears don't sound quite right. But even then people would instantly understand what you're trying to say (maybe a bit less with problem with ears which might require some clarification on your part).

At your current level, exposure to the language would do wonders. I'm not saying you're not doing that of course but I think you'd likely benefit a lot more language-wise from reading a books than really focusing a grammatical details. You'd unconsciously pick up that little edge on how things will sound natural which grammatical analysis won't teach you, no matter how much you approach it from a theoretical angle.

I'm saying this from checking the sentences you've been writing which are 99.5% of the time just fine from a communication perspective. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the last 0.5% won't come from analyzing why it's restroom and not rest room.

Language is very flexible and beautiful in that you can express one thing in a multitude of ways. Have you considered writing in English (producing the language as opposed to analyzing it)? Like writing a blog or diary or articles or whatever. Same thing with reading books, magazines or articles. I honestly think it'd really, really teach you a lot at this point.

This of course comes from someone who firmly believes that languages are meant for communication. If you enjoy analyzing sentences know yourself out! I know I'll keep helping when I can.

Just sharing my opinion here, feel free to disagree!
 
Zizka said:
Something more "fundamental" (I'm using quotes here because it really is a minor thing) is a sentence like:
...difficulty with walking.
That shows that you have a bit more trouble from the colloquial side of things. Judging from your sentences, the only thing you're missing is colloquialism.
Just for clarification, hirashinさん is an English teacher who typically asks his questions here in the context of what would or wouldn't be appropriate or acceptable phrases to teach his students (or mark as correct vs. incorrect on tests, etc.).

He's not necessarily posting here to improve the colloquialism or fluency of his own use of the English language.

(Just thought I'd point this out, since newer users of the forum tend to misunderstand this and post comments that, while helpful in a larger sense, are probably outside the scope of what the OP is looking for.)
 
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@hirashin

This would seem to be the "rule", tho as with most rules, it's not too hard to find counter-examples:

difficulty with + NP
difficulty + V-ing

This is what I was pointing out, above, hoping that you would see it like this, there.
 
@joadbres
I still don't think it's a normal phrase. A "guide map for tourists" is a "tourist map". I have never personally said and have never heard anyone else say "we need a guide map", "have you got a guide map?" or other such phrases. The word "guide" is redundant.
 
Thanks for the help, everyone. Thanks for the clarification, jt_ san.

I guess the term "guide map" is used in the U.S. but not in Britain.
Our textbook, which the publisher says is written by a native speaker, uses the term.
 
I guess the term "guide map" is used in the U.S. but not in Britain. Our textbook, which the publisher says is written by a native speaker, uses the term.
I'm a native speaker of American English. "Guide map" is certainly understandable, and I doubt I'd bat an eyelash if I saw it used "in the wild" (like in joadbresさん's links), though just for clarity I'd point out that those examples include a map from Northern Ireland (in the UK) and one from Canada (which also appears to be quite old), so it's unlikely to be a simple British/American divide.

That said, the vast majority of Google hits for it are English versions of Japanese sites. My impression is that it is often being used as an English translation of the Japanese 案内図 or 案内地図, and probably would not be the idiomatic first choice for most native English speakers. That said, it is certainly a valid combination of words, and the meaning is easily understood.

In the end, since it's simply a question of how colloquial the phrase is or isn't, it's probably not worth seriously worrying about for your purposes.
 
Yes, I certainly agree it's not really something to worry too much about :emoji_relaxed: And yes, the links were a mix of American and British links, and interestingly there were a lot of older style maps with the term in. Personally, as I said, I feel it's redundant as what is is a map if it is not a guide? A map, by definition, gives information about an area, so saying "guide map" is repeating a definition of the property of the noun, which is non-sensical and poor English. Also if you look up most major cities in the US or England, i.e "Los Angeles guide map", I've seen none that use the term in major publications. It's all "...... city guide", "........ city map", "............ travel guide", "maps and guides", "dining guide", "city guide and street map" etc, which is why I say it warrants changing:emoji_v:
 
A map, by definition, gives information about an area, so saying "guide map" is repeating a definition of the property of the noun, which is non-sensical and poor English.

A guide map typically provides more information than would be found on a simple map, such as admission prices or expected travel times. Of course, these kinds of things can also be found on an item simply called a "map", but "guide map" implies that guidance information is also included. As such, it is not redundant.

In this term, "guide" is not being used as a noun, but as an adjective, in the same way as it is used in words/terms such as "guideline", "guide book" / "guidebook", and "guide dog".

While it is admittedly not such a commonly-used term, it is a term that has been in use for a long time by native English speakers from a variety of countries. A simple check of the term on the google n-gram viewer for English, followed up with a browsing through the sources which contributed to that data, shows that it has been in regular use for over one hundred years, albeit at a low frequency. This result clearly refutes your claim that it is non-sensical or poor English.

Just because it is a term that is unfamiliar to you, or sounds awkward to you, does not mean that it is bad English.
 
Well if it sounds awkward to me then of course I am going to think it's poor English, especially in an exam, but that is an irrelevant aside. It is poor English because any map could be a guide as much as any other, so specifying a guidemap to mean a tourist map is illogical, and adding information such as bus times would be in addition to the map, not as part of it, hence the current favoured term, "Map and Guide" or "Tourist Map" and such-like. If you google the name of any major NA or UK city and "guidemap" all the results give you Tourist Map, Visitor Guide, Maps and Guides etc, apart from one company called "mapeasy" that has produced a series of them, but one anomaly by someone still using an archaic expression doesn't make it a common term.
 
Well if it sounds awkward to me then of course I am going to think it's poor English, especially in an exam, but that is an irrelevant aside.

You are addressing something I didn't write. I wrote that just because it sounds awkward to you does not mean that it IS poor English. Or, put another way, just because you think it is poor English doesn't mean that it is poor English.


It is poor English because any map could be a guide as much as any other

Earlier in this thread, you wrote:

Maps don't actually guide you anywhere

I'll abstain from refuting your point here, as you have already done a satisfactory job of that yourself.


specifying a guidemap to mean a tourist map is illogical, and adding information such as bus times would be in addition to the map, not as part of it

You could add information either way: as a separate page, or with, for example, little boxes that are directly added onto the map image itself. In the latter case, the object itself is primarily a map, with the guidance information supplementary. Hence the term 'guide map'.


one anomaly by someone still using an archaic expression doesn't make it a common term

I've already clearly acknowledged that it is not a common term. Once again, you are addressing a point I didn't make.
 
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