When we went out by the car, a digger was digging up the road in front of our house.
I wondered whether we were able to drive though there by car, I asked the man I talked to earlier:
"Excuse me, but we would like to get the car out of our house."
"Oh, sure! Please wait a minute."
He smiled at us and gave directions to the driver of the digger.
The digger was moved by the driver, and the man guided us out of our parking space.
We felt sorry for them because they would have to move their vehicle whenever we go out by car.
So we decided to go where we were scheduled to go yesterday in one go.
This meant, they would be required one movement of their vehilcle once.
We came home in the afternoon.
"Welcome back!"
One of them who was tall and wore a helmet smiled at my daughter waving his hand.
She also waved her hand to him.
I told my children:
"Look! You can see a gas pipe. We rarely have such an opportunity. The gas which is used when you turn on the gas stove and I cook with comes to our house through them. I am surprised that the gas pipe is in such a deep place! Maybe it is at the depth you could be buried."
"Wow! How deep! They are yellow!"
They looked into the big hole in front of our house.
One of the gas plumbers told my husband:
"The material of gas pipes have been changed from iron to polyethylene. If a big earthquake occurs, an iron pipe would break easily but a polyethylene gas pipe would be able to endure it because it can bend."
"Really? I didn't know that."
We waved our hands to them and entered our house.
I was impressed to hear this.
Earthquakes often occur here in Japan and Japanese people have suffered from serious damages.
But they learned from the many severe experiences and they tried to improve many things to prevent damages.
This is one way to live in this country which is often suffered from natural disasters.
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Hello Kumi-san,
ReplyDeleteI wish our road works people were as polite and understanding as the ones you have in Japan. I hope the road works were completed quickly and with little fuss.
I am surprised that they still have iron/metal pipes in Japan especially when Japan has such frequent earthquakes. I know that buildings in Japan are built to very high standards to avoid/minimize/prevent damage from earthquakes. So it seems strange to still have metal pipes which carry gas.
Interesting article, here are a list of some of the issues found with the post:
Part 1:
This line:
When we went out by the car, a digger was digging the road in front of our house.
Should be:
When we went out by the car, a digger was digging (up/in) the road in front of our house.
This line:
I wondered whether we were able to go though there by car, I asked the man I talked earlier:
Should be:
I wondered whether we were able to drive though there by car, I asked the man I talked to earlier:
This line:
He smiled at us and gave the direction to the driver of the digging.
Should be:
He smiled at us and gave (directions/instructions) to the (driver/operator) of the (digger/earth mover/backhoe/excavator/JCB).
This line:
The digging was moved by him, and the man guided us out of our parking.
Should be:
The (digger/earth mover/backhoe/excavator/JCB) was moved by the (driver/operator), and the man guided us out of our (parking space/drive space).
This line:
We felt sorry about them because they would have to move their vehicle whenever we go out by car.
Should be:
We felt sorry for them because they would have to move their vehicle whenever we go out by car.
This line:
If so, they would require only one movement of their vehilcle.
Should be:
This meant , they would only be required to move their vehicle once.
This line:
One of them who was tall and wore a helmet smiled at my daughter shaking his hand.
Should be:
One of them who was tall and wore a helmet smiled at my daughter waving his hand.
Reason: I changed shaking to waving because I am assuming that he did not grasp your daughters hand and shake it. Rather he moved his hand back and forth as a sign of acknowledgment/recognition (waving) . I know that in Japan you generally greet people by bowing or using set phrases. In England we also use set phrases, and when meeting someone formally for the first time usually in a business setting we will grasp each others hand and shake it, we call this "shaking hands" or "handshake". So if you read in an English article:
"He gave me a handshake" or "He shook my hand" or "We exchanged handshakes"
We are saying we grasped each others hand and shook them up or down. If someone wants you to shake their hand they will generally put their open hand towards you and you will usually shake it. This is sometimes called "offering a handshake"
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteThis line:
She also shook her hand to him.
Should be:
She also waved her hand at him.
Or:
She waved her hand to him.
This line:
"Look! You can see a gas pipe. We rarely have such an opportunity. The gas which is used when you turn on the gas stove and I cook comes to our house through there. I am surprised that the gas pipe is such a deep place! Maybe it is the height you can be buried."
"Wow! How deep! They are yellow!"
Should be:
"Look! You can see a gas pipe. We rarely have such an opportunity. The gas which is used when you turn on the gas stove and I cook with comes to our house through them. I am surprised that the gas pipe is in such a deep place! Maybe it is at the depth you could be buried."
This line:
"The material of gas pipes have been changed from iron to polyethylene. If a big earthquake occur, an iron pipe would break easily but a polyethylene gas pipe would be able to endure it because it can bend."
Should be:
"The material of the gas pipes have been changed from iron to polyethylene. If a big earthquake occurs, an iron pipe would (break easily/fracture) but a polyethylene gas pipe would be able to endure it because it can bend."
This line:
We shook our hands to them and entered our house.
Should be:
We waved our hands at them and entered our house.
Or:
We waved (at/to) them and entered our house
This line:
I was impressed to hear it.
Should be:
I was (glad/impressed) to hear this.
This line:
But they learned from severe experiences and they tried to improve many things to prevent damages.
Should be:
But we learned from (the many/multiple) severe experiences and have tried to improve many things to prevent damages.
This line:
That might be a way to live in this country which is often suffered from a lot of natural disasters.
Should be:
This is one way to live in this country which often suffers from natural disasters.
Reason: Since you use the word often you do not then need to say a lot of natural disasters. The word "often" makes clear the natural disasters are frequent. Removing often gets rid of repetition/redundancy.
Hello Terry.
DeleteThank you for a lot of corrections.
This article was also difficult for me to write.
The diffetence between shake and wave are really interesting!
It is related to the cultural difference.
Thank you so much!