[Kerin]

Thank you @Lu_Corde that was entertaining!

(I haven’t seen Boris – I’ll need to check it out!)

Have a look at the feedback below.

>1 it would sound more natural like this: since so many genres exist, …

>2 there is a missing word. Can you get it?

>3, 4 and 5 the verb tense is wrong. Can you try and fix it?

Let me know if you have any questions about the feedback!

Good job 👍👍👍

[Kerin]

This is a fascinating account @Elena – thank you for sharing this experience.

Essay feedback: introduction is perfect, well done. You sum up the argument and introduce your topic. Structure, word choice and content – all spot on 🌸

Here are some suggestions:

Think that in such a vast country as Russia – this doesn’t sound very natural (I fear there is some ‘Italian interference’ going on here 😂 .. Pensa che ….)

‘despite’ – please read this:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/in-spite-of-and-despite

Here are some ways you could word it:

It’s incredible to believe that in such a vast country as Russia, there are no dialects, despite THE FACT THAT groups of THE population are cut off from each other by thousands of kilometers of taiga forest.

If we consider, for example, a vast country such as Russia; there are no dialects, despite groups of THE population BEING cut off from each other by thousands of kilometers of taiga forest.

> As for Italy, dialects change FROM one TO another every thirty kilometers.

> misguiding advice – misleading advice

Excellent work Elena 👏

More on despite: See here: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/in-spite-of-despite-although-even-though-and-though

[Kerin]

Very well written @victorpereira – structures and vocabulary solid 👍

I would have preferred to send you a photo with corrcetions, but I left my apple pen in Florence by mistake, so you can see my feedback in bold.

> Watch some of your prepositions (have a look below). Make a note of them

> time, in this context is uncountable, so we don’t need the article ‘a’

> using commas more frequently will help your writing flow better

Give me a shout if you have any questions

👇

What would happen to you if YOU SPENT ALL YOUR Sundays only WATCHING TV? Some people would jump TO conclusions stating that it is useless, but they are forgetting that (DELETE a) free time to refresh their heads and being in a passive state is a great strategy to keep doing a good work in their useful days. Binge-watching is totally fine, if you don’t overdo it.

Undoubtedly(COMMA), (DELETE a) free time is strategically good for your productivity. According to MyImagination studies, it has been shown that having a day off through the week improves productivity drastically, the reason behind it is that your brain (COMMA), taking a break (COMMA), will absorb new information and focus more easily when you come back to work.

On the other hand, if done AT the wrong pace you can damage other parts of your life. The most heavy users of Netflix have been stuck in their lives for a long period of time. According to MyImagination research, those who spend more than 40h a week watching Netflix has been in the same job position and didn’t get a raise since they started with such an intense TV agenda.

Entertainment has been always good AT fulfilling us with different emotions, having a day just for experiencing those is a good way to shape a balance in our lives. If we manage to not fall into the trap of letting it control our lives (COMMA), we can have a really enjoyable and healthy life.

[Kerin]

Ahahaha! Typical bloke!
So, you could phrase it like this:
“Bob, nudged him and gave him an encouraging blink” – it sounds neater. Like?

[Kerin]

@onorati66 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 Perfect!

[Kerin]

Love this @victorpereira (how does it end?!)

Vocab use spot on. Have a look at the corrections – give me a shout if you have any questions 👍

[Kerin]

@luke I’m replying here to your essay from the Destroys or Helps lesson so that you can see the corrections by photo.

I’m impressed with the writing effort here (especially thinking towards IELTS – the structure, flow and use of vocabulary are very strong.)

Let’s take a look at what we can improve:

> Can you try and correct #1 and #2 for me?

> phrasal verb push back versus push someone/something back https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/push+him+back

If it’s not clear, let me know and if you have any other questions about the corrections I’ve highlighted, just let me know

[Kerin]

@victorpereira when you say ‘acid’ – do you mean black comedy? Dark humour? I have to admit, I’m a big fan of The Office, but the American one. (I’m a traitor!) The British one is too similar to real life, makes me cringe 😂😂😂😂

We have a Peaky Blinders fan in the house! @olatz Check out what she wrote: https://hub.englishdigitalacademy.com/forums/topic/peaky-blinders/

(note: series – is alway plural: a series)

Peaky Blinders

[Kerin]

Oh it’s such a pity, so many places closing down. It’s heartbreaking actually.

I was a big fan of Golden Girls – I used to watch it every Friday night with my mum and dad when I was little. It’s actually pretty current given how long ago it was made. (And I couldn’t agree more, a good glass of wine and a TV show is a great way to unwind!)

Some rich vocab and structures used here (in green) – great 👍

Some notes:

>’closed its doorS‘ – this expression need the plural

> the last (indicates past time) —- we should use the past simple to conclude the phrase e.g. the last film I saw was ….

(note, we don’t need to repeat the pronoun ‘it’ like we do in Italian. Same thing with if the actor’s accents it’s … – we don’t need to use ‘it’)

>’Rather‘ needs the modal verb ‘would‘ to state a preference > I’d rather watch TV ….. or you can use I prefer watching TV ….

👍 great work @luke

[Kerin]

It’s the third time this week someone has mentioned ‘Call the Midwife!’… I may have to check it out. I know what you mean about becoming absorbed in a show – this happened to me with The Handmaid’s Tale and Homeland!

Wonderful, rich vocab @Elena (I especially appreciate the words highlighted in green.)

Watch out when using ‘very’ > Adjectives like irrelevant are what we call ‘Absolute Adjectives’. This means that is generally not capable of being intensified or compared. Therefore we don’t use ‘very’ with these kinds of adjective.

You could say ‘largely irrelvant’

You might find this interesting: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/course/eiam/unit-1/session-47

[Kerin]

@MonicaS Ahahah! Love this story (and ‘numpty’ is totally one of my favourite words)

See corrections below.

ps ‘cash’ in British English we say ‘cash register’ or more commonly: ’till’

and in American English they say ‘ cash desk’ or ‘check-out’

[Kerin]

You raise good points @onorati66 thanks for sharing.

Would you recommend reading “The perfect dictatorship”?

Watch out with the use of articles:

you need ‘the’ here: … the Chinese education system and also I do not like the Chinese system at all

and you need ‘a’ here: … I have the impression that in a few years

I suggest you check out these lessons to revise this grammar point:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/course/lower-intermediate/unit-8/tab/grammar

https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/course/upper-intermediate/unit-9/session-1

[Kerin]

‘Is fake news a problem?’ – excellent @vale. Truly! No mistakes

In the first paragraph, can you try and correct the following?

> A fake news is a news not based on …….. or supported by scientific datas …… (clue – countable?)

> reported by earing (clue – spelling)

[Kerin]

Got you!

> … an unrecognised genius who knows his stuff!

[Kerin]

Fab! I shall add it to my reading list!