The report contains of 22 integrated recommendations under four themes.
This is partly understandable. Our writer has seen consists + of, and has assumed that contain also requires the preposition of. It does not! Continue reading
collocation
The potential that ‘potential’ has
A program like this is potential to be implemented in Indonesia.
Is this by any chance an Indonesian writer attempting to translate ‘berpotensi untuk..’? Continue reading
Effort or efforts?
Public-private collaboration in policy making requires a lot of efforts.
For Indonesians, effort is a word that often requires effort! This post will help you with your translations of upaya and usaha! Continue reading
Let’s discuss ‘discuss about’
A variety of arguments have been put forward to discuss about the difference between a linear economy and a circular economy.
Let’s see what netspeak.org has to say about discuss and talk:
As you can see, talk is often followed by about, but discuss is never followed by about!
- Today I’m going to discuss about unemployment.
- Today I’m going to talk about unemployment.
- Today I’m going to discuss unemployment.
Hope that helps!
A problem has arisen
The involvement of government in indigenous governance has arisen a variety of arguments.
Here there is a vocabulary problem AND a grammar problem!
First the grammar problem..
In other languages ( ‘memunculkan’) the verb ‘arise’ can be transitive (can take an object), but in English it cannot. However, there do exist alternatives that allow you to keep the object (obj – ‘a variety of arguments’): Continue reading
When ‘risk’ is risky
40% of people living with HIV have risk to develop tuberculosis.
Yes. ‘Risk’ can be a ‘risky’ word in English!
We can assume that if there’s a risk, then there is some kind of ‘bad thing’ causing the risk, for example ‘developing tuberculosis’. Continue reading
Reconstructing Chomsky on Language
Recently in class Chomsky’s name came up in discussion as the most widely cited author, but not many students knew his name or why he is so well-known.
The following video outlines Chomsky’s ground-breaking theory of language.
Before you watch the video, discuss with a friend the following questions.
- What makes human language different from animal language?
- Is language learned, or are we born with it?
- How is it possible that small children learn languages so quickly?
Watch the video and then attempt the text reconstruction activity at the bottom of the page.
Market(s) and ‘the market’
It is important to test products on animals before releasing them commercially to markets.
The problem here is that there are two kinds of market – physical and virtual – and in this example, markets (plural) suggests more than one physical market, while releasing them commercially suggests more than one virtual market. Let’s take a look at some examples. Continue reading
Complete with ‘with’
Mobile phones are completed by advanced features.
Completed by
OK let’s look at some examples of ‘completed by’:
- The questionnaires are completed by women aged 15–49.
- A complete site overhaul was completed by our editorial staff.
- The detailed project report has been completed by the consultants.
In all three examples we have to be + completed by + agent (the person doing the completing). In our opening example that would make ‘advanced features’ the agent, which is of course impossible. Continue reading
Use wear carry
A song that demonstrates verb noun collocations relating to using, wearing and carrying all kinds of things!
Why not try the gapfill activity before listening? (See lyrics below..) Continue reading