Need help with a longer piece

[jimmypop]

I am taking a spanish course and we are writing compositions. I have done this assignment three times. Each time, getting slightly better results. But I am at my wits end... I am told it needs improvement, but nothing more. What is wrong with it? I have attached both what I am trying to say in English and the Spanish version. The assignment is over now and this Draft got me a low "B". Can anyone help?

[Rusty]

Welcome to the forum!!!


In order to improve your grade, you'll need to use some grammatical structures and set phrases differently. There are mistakes in the majority of the sentences you wrote.

For instance, 'to take a photo of someone/something' is 'sacarle|tomarle|hacerle foto a alguien/algo'. Notice the use of the indirect object pronoun 'le'. That means an indirect object should be included in the structure. In other words, you're taking a picture (verb + direct object) of someone or something (indirect object), and you don't use the preposition 'de'. The correct preposition is 'a'. So, 'I took pictures of everything I could' is 'Le tomaba fotos a todo lo que podía'. I used the imperfect tense because taking photos of everything you could describes an ongoing process, not a one-time event that started and ended in the past.

To say 'he liked them', you should say 'le gustaron (a él)'. 'Gustar' is a tricky verb. The sentence structure seems backward to us English speakers until we remember that the verb means 'to be pleasing'. What is pleasing (the photos) becomes the subject. To whom they are pleasing (to him) becomes the indirect object. The verb is conjugated to agree in number with the subject, and it often follows the verb. The indirect object pronoun always precedes the verb. The indirect object itself, if needed for clarity, is preceded with the preposition 'a', and can precede the IOP or follow the verb. The preterite tense is used because this event started and ended in the past.

'To know someone' is 'conocer a alguien'. No conozco a muchas personas.

Since this composition is a homework assignment, it should be placed in the 'Practice & Homework' forum so hints can be given to you. (We try to not do your homework for you in that forum.) So, I'll move the thread there.