I couldn't go to see him because I was up to my neck in work.
"How was the race today?"
I asked him after we came home.
"I finished in 26th place."
He answered.
I was surprised to hear that and said:
"26th? Of the 30 male students? What place were you in last year? I recall you were the 16th place, weren't you?"
"Yeah. I got tired while running."
He told me regretfully.
"I think it is meaningless to compare with your friends. It is important whether you improved your personal best. How was your result? Could you run faster than last year?"
I asked him.
"My result was as same as last year's."
He answered and I said:
"It is maybe because you always play the DS(game) and you don't try to play outside recently. You need to practice running more."
"I have come up with a good idea! I want to practice running! Let's go together starting from today!"
He suddenly said.
"Really? It is very cold tonight. Do you really want to run?"
I was surprised and asked him.
"Absolutely!"
That said, my children and I started night running from Tuesday night.
I chose the running course which we run around the neighborhood.
The distance is about 700m.
On the first day, my 6-year-old daughter couldn't run all-out to the finish, so we walked on our way to the finish.
My son's result was 5 minutes 55 seconds.
On the second day, my 6-year-old daughter also walked on her way to the finish.
My son finished in 5 minutes 45 seconds.
We ran again last night.
My daughter finally could run all-out to the finish!
And my son finished in 4 minutes 45 seconds!
I was out of breath and said:
"How fast you were! I can't follow you!"
My son looked proudly and said:
"But my friend who won the first place ran within 4 minutes. I want to catch up with him!"
My daughter said:
"I hate to lose. I want to get in first place!"
Night running is a happy time for me, because I haven't had time to exercise and we can enjoy the precious family time to reach each goal.
Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
Hello Kumi-san,
ReplyDeleteI was glad to read that you were able to get back in to the routine of doing exercise. 700 meters is a very respectable distance to run. It is very impressive that your Son and Daughter were able to complete such a distance. At the rate your Son is improving his times, I think that he will soon get to his goal.
Here is a list of some of the other issues found in the rest of the post:
Part 1:
This line:
The long-distance running race was held on last Tuesday at my son's elementary school.
Should be:
The long-distance running race was held last Tuesday at my son's elementary school.
Reason: "on" was not needed.
This line:
"How was the today's race?"
Should be:
"How was today's race?"
Or:
"How was the race today?"
This line:
"I was the 26th place."
Should be:
"I finished in 26th place."
This line:
"26th? Of the 30 boys students? What place were you in last year? I recall you were the 16th place, weren't you?"
Should be:
"26th? Of the 30 other boys? What place were you last year? I recall you were in 16th place, weren't you?"
Or:
"26th? Of the 30 other (students/male students)? What place were you last year? I recall you were in 16th place, weren't you?"
This line:
"I think it is meaningless to compare with your friends. It is important that whether you could beat yourself. How was your result? Could you run faster than last year?"
Should be:
"I think it is meaningless to compare with your friends. It is important whether you improved your personal best. How was your result? Could you run faster than last year?"
This line:
"Maybe you always play the DS(game) and you don't try to play outside recently. You need to practice running more."
Should be:
"It is maybe because you always play the DS(game) and you don't try to play outside recently. You need to practice running more."
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteThis line:
"I have come up with a good idea! I want to practice running! Let's go together from today!"
Should be:
"I have come up with a good idea! I want to practice running! Let's go together starting from today!"
This line:
"Really? It was very cold tonight. Do you really want to run?"
Should be:
"Really? It is very cold tonight. Do you really want to run?"
This line:
The distance was about 700m.
Should be:
The distance is about 700m.
Reason: The distance is fixed and so "is" is used. You would use "was" if you changed the running route and the distance was longer or shorter.
Example:
The route I used to run was 2km. But recently I have been out of shape and decided to only run 1km. So now that my new route is 1km I feel much more able to complete the distance.
This line:
My son finished in 5minutes 45 minites.
Should be:
My son finished in 5 minutes 45 seconds.
Reason: Corrected spelling and changed minites to seconds as the format is HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS. Also when describing time durations you can generally use abbreviations for Hours, Minutes and Seconds (Hrs/H:Min/Mins/M:Sec/Secs/S). When the abbreviated form is used you can often omit the space between the unit of time and the value:
Example:
I ran for 3Hrs 45Mins 53Secs.
If you use the unabbreviated form then you must add spaces:
I ran for 3 Hours 45 Minutes 53 Seconds.
This line:
And my son finished in 4minutes 45seconds!
Should be:
And my son finished in 4 minutes 45 seconds!
This line:
"I hate to lose. I want to get the first place!"
Should be:
"I hate to lose. I want to (get in/be in) first place!"
This line:
Night running is the happy time for me, because I didn't have time to exercise and we can enjoy the precious family time to aim each goal.
Should be:
Night running is a happy time for me, because I have not had time to exercise and we can enjoy precious family time and (aim/reach) for our goals.
Hi Terry. How are you?
DeleteThank you for your help.
I will sometimes write my blog from now on!
Hello Kumi-san,
DeleteI am good. Still progressing slowly with my Japanese studies. Verb conjugations, particles, Kanji and learning as many vocabulary words as possible. These are my current goals at the moment. I am also trying to read very basic Japanese sentences.
Which all seem to be going well but it is hard to be sure.
I have been spending some time on a website called HiNative. Which is a language site where you are able to ask questions about Japanese and English (and other languages). I have been trying to convert Japanese sentences on that site into English. I have also been helping Japanese users convert their Japanese into natural English. Though my Japanese is still too basic to deal with anything more than toddler levels of Japanese.
On HiNative there is a Japanese person who writes a diary in English and I try to help him make it sound a little more natural. He is not as advanced in the use of the English language as you are though. Although his English is much better than my Japanese.
I have come to think that although learning Kanji is a big task, it does not seem to be the hardest thing. Grammar and word orders seem harder in the Japanese language.
It will I think be a very long time before anyone ever says:
頭がいいですね!, when talking about my Japanese skills or lack of ☺. I am more likely to hear the exact reverse as things stand at the moment 😈.
How are your studies with English progressing, do you have any plans? Also how are the piano lessons going. Are you and your Daughter enjoying learning to play? 🎶🎹🎼
I hope you are well and that you are still enjoying your night running. I have managed to get my body weight back to normal, as I ate more than I normally would over the Christmas period and put on a little weight. Though I think it was worth it because chocolate rum cake is very enjoyable 🎄🍰🍮🐖🐖💯👍.
Thank you for the reply!
DeleteI know "HiNative".
I haven't posted on it yet but I have refered to it.
People whom you taught must be happy to get your corrections.
You know I passed the Eiken Grade Pre-first last year, but my result of speaking test was worst of all.
http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/07/the-result-of-eiken-and-my-next.html
I am really busy for my work recently, but I try to make time to take a online English lesson twice a week.
I want to improve my speaking skill.
Yes, we enjoy practicing piano very much.
It is also hard to make time to practice it, but I usually finish having dinner quickly and practice piano after dinner.
I think showing my piano practice to my daughter would give a good influence to my daughter.
I hope your Japanese studies will be going well.
I understand Kanji would be difficult, but keep practicing each other!
If you would like, I will help you(^^)
Hello Kumi-san,
DeleteYour practise speaking online twice a week, is the most effective and quickest way to learn English. I am sure that it will not be too long before you are speaking fluent English using that technique.
Thankyou for your kind offer to help me with my studies. Though I feel that my Japanese language skills are so basic at the moment that it would be a waste of your valuable time. Hopefully if I am able to become more skilled then I will try and ask basic Japanese grammar and kanji questions.
Also if you do decide to become active on HiNative then my username is:
terrywallwork
If you have English questions you want answered you can direct message me and I will try to answer them. Though lots of people answer English questions very quickly on HiNative. And they often have a better understanding of English grammar than I do.
Unfortunately my speaking voice has a heavy northern English accent and is not appropriate for learning spoken English from. Though there many English speakers on HiNative the has excellent spoken English.
Also facebook messenger lets you quickly record voice messages which could be useful for learning English.
My facebook username is Terry Wallwork
ReplyDeleteMy facebook messenger Info is:
m.me/terry.wallwork
If you ever want to record your English sentences and need them checked for naturalness, messenger is useful because the recorded message will be stored until I am online.