ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

A correlative conjunction always shows up in pairs, linking sentence elements of the same kind.  Remember parallelism with correlative conjunctions.  Use matching grammatical forms on the words which follow the correlative conjunctions to ensure parallelism.

相關連接詞是由兩個或多個字組成的連接詞。相關連接詞兩邊的文法關係必須對稱 - 所連接的部份是同等關係。

This is a fictional story, initially inspired by a recent event that occurred right after Halloween.  I am bad at writing a fictional story.  I am not a creative person.  It is hard for me to invent something out of the blue.  I didn’t have a plot outline when I started writing this story.  However, like most people, I hate a story started without an ending.  Hopefully, my desire to bring a closure to the story did not make it an abrupt ending.  By the way, I have not proof-read the story, so you might see more edits, revisions and corrections to the story when I get to it.           

If you only have a split second to make a wish when you see a shooting star, what would you wish for?  My son wishes that it snows every day.  I cannot imagine where he can get more snow than Minnesota. Like I said earlier, he is a winter boy.  My daughter wishes to become a puppy and climbs up the tree.  I don’t know why she wants to climb up the tree.  She likes dogs and often thinks of herself as a puppy because puppies are cute and she thinks that she is extremely cute.  My husband wishes to have a hundred wishes.  Wow!  I never thought about that.  Isn’t that brainy!  This way, he can take his time to think about what to wish for.  In addition, he will have 100 wishes to wish for.  Why didn’t I think of that?  I am not agile at all.  I wish that everyone in my family is happy and healthy all the time.  What is your wish?

Yesterday, we woke up with ground covered with ice, so we stayed home all day.  Our driveway entrance is right at the cul-de-sac's inlet with the wide expanse of the tarmac circle right in front of our house.  If you follow the street without turning onto another street, you will head into our driveway and into our garage. 

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that since we live on a cul-de-sac, we are able to see everything that happens in our neighborhood on the street that leads to our house right in front of us as we sit on our sofa in our living room.  That day, we saw a young couple, who moved in earlier this year, sitting their toddlers on the sleds and sliding down the street all the way onto our driveway.  There was only one car on the road.  The driver was delivering the newspaper.  He was pretty late since it was really slippery on the road.  Though it might seem fun, it was somewhat risky to slide on the road where cars might skid onto the kids.  My son wanted to go out and play but I discouraged him. I am not a daredevil to try stunts like that.  A couple hours later, I saw another neighbor with four kids riding on two snow sleds on the street again.  They stopped short in front of our driveway. 

This article is my reflection of a cyberspace event which happened to some people whom I encountered.  It is sometimes amusing to watch things that went on the cyberspace.  Watching it is like watching a soap opera unfolding in front of my eyes.  By the way, I don’t watch soap opera.  I consider it a waste of my time.  So why would I spend my precious time watching a cyber soap opera.  Oh, it is just to get ideas for my articles and sometimes to interact with others.  Do I interact with people online?  Yes, to the extent that I feel comfortable and have time since most stuff to me is trivial.  If you get to my age and when you have a family of your own, you would understand how I feel about priority.       

On Truth

Something Fun

These are some of the Halloween jokes my son told me. I thought that I would share with you to light up your day since it is Friday.  They are pretty funny though.  To reveal the answers, just move your cursor over on the space below each question. 

What happens to basic courtesy?

Did I truly ask for nothing in return when answering strangers’ requests?  Not entirely.  I do feel that it is basic courtesy that people at least thank for the time I spent answering their questions without asking for any monetary rewards.  What happens to basic courtesy?  Don’t take it for granted that it is my duty to answer your questions and within a certain timeline.  Please appreciate the time I spent clarifying your confusion.  Please remember to be polite and say please when you ask a question.   Please remember to say thank you when you get my answer.  Please remember the most important thing, "basic courtesy".    

On our way to school, a poster sign of a movie caught our attention.  I believe that the property owner whose house faces our school’s main entrance, on the opposite side of the road, put up the sign to make a mockery of the public schools.  

Stirring up controversy, “Waiting for Superman” is an intriguing documentary, which expresses the importance of good teachers in cultivating the young minds who shape our future, and at the same time talks about the failing school system in the US by following five families through their public school experiences.  This film delivers an emphatically powerful and upsetting message about the bureaucracies in our educational system, the teachers’ unions such as the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers.  These unions are a hinder to public school reforms, in addition to creating the ferociously labyrinthine union contract that cossets non-performing teachers and prohibits incompetent tenured teachers from getting fired for poor teaching performance.

I am emotionally drained after attending a funeral service.  I was caught up in waves of grief even though I barely know the deceased.  I need to find something to cheer myself up.  This sadness is not good to my health.  This is why I was contemplating whether to go to the funeral or not.  It is hard for me to face death, be it mine or others’.  I would probably collapse if someone close to me dies.

When my father-in-law passed away, I was surprised at the calmness that his family showed.  Today, I saw the same calmness in the face of the family of the deceased.  How did they manage to stay so calm?  I would break down and crumble to pieces.