[Kerin]

Hi @lucia (Happy new year!)

Thank you for this piece of writing. I personally find the painting both stunning and disturbing, which unsettles me somewhat! I think your piece is incredibly insightful and as I was reading it I was thinking “I could never express myself in this way in a second language!” Well done.

I only need to highlight a few things to help you improve:

> is full of light’s and colour’s contrasts should be is full of light and colour contrasts

> I think that in considering the meaning of the artwork cannot be neglected what it really is:

it is better to use the active voice here and because it is a fairly long sentence, a comma will help the flow: I think that in considering the meaning of the artwork, we cannot neglect what it really is:

> like Romanticism or Neoclassicism ones > delete ‘ones’ (not necessary. When we use ism noun, the meaning is explicit)

> the nature – delete ‘the’ (these bloody articles 😂)

> This is coherent with the Courbet figure, since HE was (probably just a typo!)

🙌

[Kerin]

Great Job @Paolo 👏

Watch out for this:

> word order: England lost bloody 4-1 to Germany > England bloody lost

> a few sandwiches out of a picnic > a few sandwiches SHORT of a picnic

[Kerin]

Thank you for your task @sabri & Happy New Year!!!

If you have time (and voglia!) I would like you to try and re-write it, having a look at these notes.

1. new is an adjective whereas news is an uncountable noun. That means we don’t use ‘a news’ and it is considered third person (the news is, not the news are)

2. wrong word: suspect is a noun or verb. The word you need here is suspicion

3. This sentence should be: decide not to give them to their children

4. better to use people than persons

5. verb agreement

6. This sentence should be: The only method to check the trustworthiness of a piece of news is to consider and evaluate the origin, the source, and not give importance to pseudoscientific journals.

7. wrong word: warranty > guarantee

[Kerin]

Thank you for sharing @Paolo

You are 100% right – it’s part of ‘every day life’ language (Therefore I consider it an extremely important part of learning if you really want to understand native speakers). I understand your disappointment, but ‘piano piano!’ a little at a time. Start actively noting down new slang – if you realise you start hearing it a few times, it means it is high frequency – therefore, worth learning. 👍

Please have a look at the corrections. I have sent you the writing code in the messages. Please try to correct what you can using the code.

[Kerin]

Well-expressed @onorati66 and some nice use of vocabulary – it was a pleasure to read. (I think you could be right about the school programme being Eurocentric). I completely agree with you – I think he caught the anguish of normal people in a post-war world – universal emotions.

Let’s have a look at some corrections:

> harduous – spelling > arduous ✅

> art’s history – we use this as a compound noun > art history ✅

> Neither have I happened to see his paintings in ANY museum or art exhibition

(You must use present perfect here – do you know why?)

❌ he stayed clinged to the painting as a figurative art

⚠️ Cling is an irregular verb: cling, clang, clung

✅You can either say: he stayed clinging to …. or he clang to ….

He swimmed against the tide? – great expression. But swim is also irregular:

Swim swam swum

Good piece Roberto 👍

[Kerin]

Nice use of the new vocabulary @sabri

Have a look please at the corrections. Please ask if anything isn’t clear:

Some time ago I was abroad and I started to be hungry. I walked all day and I HAD with me only a fiver because I LEFT my wallet in THE hotel with all my credit cards…. I tried to go in a bakery to find someTHING to eat but I saw that all the things were more expensive THAN my money so I WAS gutted and came back to my hotel to GET the wallet but I was knackered and decided to go bed without any meal. In the hotel I found the freezer with someTHING to drink so and at the end I was hungry and pissed.

The morning after this terrible night I considered MYSELF TO BE two sandwiches short of a picnic. I had to speak in a meeting and surprisingly I was the bee’s knees.

BY CHANCE, THE buffet was fit for me and I could calm my needing of food.

[Kerin]

Top marks on this @Antonella , well done:

✅ you used your own words

✅ you identified the main idea

✅ you found relevant ideas & omitted irrelevant details

✅ you kept the meaning the same

✅ you used attributive tags

✅ you kept your opinion out of it

Let’s have a look at some corrections:

> when we use this phrase: one of the most the subject needs to be in the plural form:

one of the most talented painterS/ one of the best restaurantS in Milan etc

> favorite and favor – this is not incorrect, but be aware that it is the American spelling. So if you decide to go with the American spelling, make sure you consistently use it.

Can you try and correct the following for me:

1. wrong word appreciate is a verb – can you fix it?

2. wrong word behave is also a verb – what’s the noun?

3. missing word – can you guess?

4. wrong word – clue (people!)

Have a go at correcting and of course ask me if you get stuck or need anything clarified!

[Kerin]

Morning @Lu_Corde I enjoyed reading your discussion very much and I especially appreciate your ideas on the title On the Pleasures of Sadness.

From the English point of view, you’ve done a great job expressing these complex thoughts and there are hardly any mistakes. 👏 There is just one thing we can change to make it sound more like a native speaker:

> How it can maybe be guessed from my previous statements, I agree with …

> As one can probably tell/guess/imagine/from my previous statements, I agree with …

(Here I’ve used ‘one’ because the writing style is fairly formal. In general conversation or in a less formal writing piece, you can say: as you can probably tell/ guess / imagine ….)

ps. tiny mistake!: they have not the empathy for human condition ❌

[Kerin]

Oh, thanks so much for saying that @Wanda -that means a lot! 😊

okay – yes, ahaha! These false friends… let me think… maybe one of these could be good:

Little-known …

Not widely distributed/used …

Uncommon …

👍 (That was a toughie!)

[Kerin]

Yes, that’s exactly right for the present perfect!

(irregular verbs … they are a pain indeed! Good you are paying attention to them!)

[Kerin]

Not so many @Antonella (you should see my Italian homework 😳 !!!)

You got it! 👍

ps. behavior (US) behaviour (UK) > just so you are aware, this isn’t a correction 🙌

[Kerin]

You too @sabri

Have a lovely xmas (the best we can manage this year!) xxx

[Kerin]

Yes, but also the negative form is wrong.

So this:

they have not the empathy for human condition

should be:

they don’t have the empathy for the human condition

👍😉

[Kerin]

It’s a little mistake, that’s probably why you can’t see it:

> they have not ❌

and you are missing an article!

Tell me if you can’t get it! It is Friday after all 😂

[Kerin]

Ah sorry! I wanted you to try and correct it! Can you have a go? 😉 @Lu_Corde