Un ensayo: "Una colega y galletas!"

Un ensayo: "Una colega y galletas!"
 

Mi primero ensayo práctica. Tengo que escribir sobre una experiencia personal. (Cuando estoy en Argentina, tengo que escribir sobre una experiencia personal que pasó en Argentina.) Tengo que incluir mi reacción emocional. Tengo que escribir al menos 125 palabras. ¡Las correciones son bienvenidos!

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Esta mañana tenía un cito con el médico. Era mi examen médico anual. Tomó la mañana libre del trabajo. Generalmente, me despierto acerca de cuatro y media y salgo a la escuela entre las seis y seis y media. Esta mañana, dormí un poco tarde. Me despierto acerca de seis menos cuarto. Me encantaba a dormir un poco tarde.

A las siete, estaba leyendo en la cama cuando sonó el teléfono. Era una de mis colegas. Ella había dormido demasiado tarde y se fue preocupada. Ella me quería tomar su primera clase si era tarde a trabajo. (Generalmente, estoy libre durante el período de la primera clase.) Ella sentía mal sobre llamarme temprano en mi mañana libre. No me importaba. Ya me estaba despertado.

Luego, en la escuela, la vi antes de almorzamos. ¡Ella tenía una tarjeta amable y galletas hechas en casa para mí! Ella es una cocinera buena. ¡Las galletas sabía muy pero muy bien!

Tengo dos colegas jóvenes quien son maestras excelentes y maravillosas personas. Me encanta trabajar con ellas. No es solamente sobre las galletas. Es sobre observar a maestras jóvenes y talentosas quien también son personas buenas.

Las galletas fueron comidas en pocos momentos.....

Good work! ...some hints given. :)

Some adjectives are better before the noun to make an emphasis on the characteristic you want to underline.

Thanks, Angelica!! I'll do the corrections and post again tonight. In the meantime, I don't know what a "pronomial" is...... :thinking:

You do. It's not the first time you've met the word.
A pronominal verb is the one built with a pronoun that agrees with the subject. Do things like "tomarse", "comerse" ring a bell?


Some recommendations:
- Take a look at previous corrections so previous mistakes can be avoided. (It will be also a lot harder for correctors if you repeat mistakes.)
- Dictionary is your friend: Checking your dictionaries should not be neglected "because you don't have time". It's an investment in learning.
It shall help you with grammar categories and to avoid mistakes like "acerca de" with expressions of time. Make an effort to actually check your Spanish-Spanish dictionary to make sure about the word you are going to use. ;)

Okay - so the issue is, then, that I don't seem to remember the difference between "pronomial" and "reflexive" - the way you've described it, they seem to be the same thing. What is the difference?

It's difficult to check previous corrections because I have so many !@#$ posts. I can't find what I've been corrected for previously ... and haven't been so wise or so organized as to keep some kind of list in a notebook somewhere.

I definitely checked a dictionary. It took me over an hour and a half to write this essay. I checked and checked and checked. Which things look like I didn't check a dictionary? If you point me out to those words, it will help me figure out how I misused the dictionary. (sigh....)

I'll let someone with more technical knowledge to correct this, but a reflexive verb is a particular case of a pronominal verb. Both carry a pronoun, but a reflexive verb expresses an action performed on the same subject.

As for examples on words to look up in the dictionary, a first idea on what pronominal/reflexive verbs are and on the use of some prepositions might be clearer if you check first.

But I didn't assume you didn't dedicate any attention to your writing; I just think some efforts can be focused differently. Take it easy and keep it up, you're doing a real good job! :)

That's a sufficient explanation on reflexive and pronomial. It was the word "pronomial" that I forgot.

I know you weren't implying lack of effort. I'm just surprised that it seemed like I wasn't using a dictionary. Not only did I use a dictionary, but I used MSWord to see what things were "underlined" as grammar/spelling flags and a translating software to see if it came up with something goofy...

Working on the corrections bit by bit......... I'll have it posted again by this evening...... THANK YOU!!

I agree with Angelica that a dictionary is your friend, you'll find different meanings of a word and examples that can help you a lot. You're doing well, keep on. ;)

Mi primer ensayo de práctica. Tengo que escribir sobre una experiencia personal. (Estoy practicando para un curso que tomaré en Argentina este verano/invierno.) Tengo que incluir mi reacción emocional. Tengo que escribir al menos 125 palabras. ¡Las correcciones son bienvenidas!

• What is the difference between "una cita" and "un cito"? :thinking:
• With the “encantar”, you said “past here”. Aren´t both preterit AND imperfect considered “past”? :?:
• Again, how do I know that it’s “amable tarjeta” and not “tarjeta amable”? “Buena concinera” and not “cocinera buena”? “Buenas personas” and not “personas buenas”? I simply do not understand when the adjective goes before vs. after the word being modified. :(
• The last sentence … I was trying to use colorful language there. In English, it would have been somewhat “tongue in cheek” to say that the cookies were gone in only a few moments. If I were to say “Comí las galletas en pocos momentos…” wouldn’t be at all colorful. What would be so?

Oh sorry. My correction was wrong. You mean you have one morning every week and you took that time for your medical check-up, right?
What I corrected says you took the morning off, but under normal conditions you would have had to work. :duh:
"Tomé mi mañana libre del trabajo" is the right expression.


"Hasta" doesn't let "un poco tarde" sound right (but "hasta muy tarde" sounds good). "Hasta tarde" or "hasta más tarde" (as it had been already suggested) is enough to say you didn't wake up so early.

• With the “encantar”, you said “past here”. Aren´t both preterit AND imperfect considered “past”? :?:
-- No, I didn't. I asked: <<Me encantaba a (no preposition and you "used to like to" or you like to?) dormir un poco tarde (same as before).>>
When assuming you do like waking up late whenever you can, the right conjugation is in present. If you only liked it this morning, then it needs a past, but that's not the right person to conjugate. You don't like yourself, but the fact of waking up late.
Yes, both express past actions, but sorry, I didn't have that much time and I expected "simple past" would be understood.



• Again, how do I know that it’s “amable tarjeta” and not “tarjeta amable”? “Buena concinera” and not “cocinera buena”? “Buenas personas” and not “personas buenas”? I simply do not understand when the adjective goes before vs. after the word being modified. :(
-- Adjectives like "bueno", "nuevo", "grande", etc., tend to take their place before the noun, maybe because they're short and it's more euphonic. And as I said, it's also for reasons of emphasis, because what you want to state clearly is that your colleagues are "good persons", "good cooks", etc.
As for "amable", it could have been placed after the noun, but emphasis is rather set on how kind the card was.
You'll get to know over time, so maybe you just have to get used to being told where adjectives sound better, until you start doing it automatically. ;)


• What is the difference between "una cita" and "un cito"? :thinking:
-- "Un cito" is not Spanish.


• The last sentence … I was trying to use colorful language there. In English, it would have been somewhat “tongue in cheek” to say that the cookies were gone in only a few moments. If I were to say “Comí las galletas en pocos momentos…” wouldn’t be at all colorful. What would be so?
-- I wonder about color, but "me comí las galletas en un momento" is not a dull sentence at all if that's what worries you. It's correct, it's clear and one knows you did like the cookies. :)

Quote:

Las galletas fueron comidas en pocos momentos..... :thinking:

The sentence structure is correct, but for a non-English speaker, the meaning can be unclear. Ugliness is that it's English disguised in Spanish words.
Many times it has been stated in these forums that this sort of passive voice in Spanish rarely sounds right, and we use it much less than English speakers do, whatever colourful it may be. :rolleyes:
If you want to make a sentence with the cookies as the subject, try verbs like "desaparecer", "irse", "volar", all of them suggesting they didn't last long. If the subject is you, "color" can be introduced with exaggerated verbs like "devorar", "acabar (con)", "liquidar"...

No, you were right. I don't normally have a morning off during the week. I had to take leave time on that particular day to have this doctor's appointment. It was quite out of the norm. So it would still be "me tomé", right?

Okay, so how do I distinguish? I wanted to say that I slept a little late. In contrast to my colleague who really, really overslept a LOT! "Hasta muy tarde" sounds like a lot of sleeping late to me. How would I paint that contrast?

Ooooh - okay, so I wanted to say that just on that one morning I enjoyed sleeping late. So I should have said "me encantó....", right? I also forgot which one you said "past" about. Doh! What is "simple past"? Is that "preterit"? None of the conjugation tables I use says "simple past".......

I hope so, because to say "adjectives like 'bueno', 'nuevo', 'grande', etc." doesn't help me associate certain adjectives with before and certain adjectives with after. I don't see how those particular ones tie together, yet others don't. I'll keep trying............

Ahah!! Okay - you've given me a couple of ideas. I'll do some finishing touches on this one tomorrow, and repost. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! :rose:

*phew!* Yes, it's still "me tomé" then. :)


You slept "hasta (más) tarde". -> "hasta tarde" is just late. Adding "más" compares with your regular habits.
She slept "hasta muy tarde". -> "muy" emphasizes the fact that it was very late (for anyone). :)


Right. :thumbsup:


I tried to use English equivalents, but yes, I guess it's preterite.
(In school I learnt different names than those English students learn for Spanish conjugations, and I always forget the names.) :)

I'm still working on that last sentence. You know you have to end strong. :)

Could it be any of the following?
- Las galletas desaparecieron en pocos momentos.
- Las galletas se fueron en pocos momentos.
- Las galletas volaron en pocos momentos.

:?::?:

All your sentences are right. :thumbsup:

I'm prejudiced against "pocos momentos" (it sounds inelegant to me), so I'd use "en un momento", but you can leave them the way they are. :)

Mi primer ensayo de práctica. Tengo que escribir sobre una experiencia personal. (Estoy practicando para un curso que tomaré en Argentina este verano/invierno.) Tengo que incluir mi reacción emocional. Tengo que escribir al menos 125 palabras. ¡Las correcciones son bienvenidas!

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How's that? :)

Mostly alright, but you ignored many of the corrections and comments. :grumble:

Oh, no!! Ack! I uploaded the wrong version!! SORRY!! I have several updates of this saved on my computer (at home) and must have hit the wrong one. As you can see I was posting quite late in the evening (for me). I re-upload (AGAIN!) this afternoon when I get home. Sheesh! I am SO sorry!! :(

Many? The only one that I missed changing was the "encanté/encantó". The other corrections you gave me, I changed. Or at least I thought I did........ :worried:

So I have a couple of questions:

:?:
First this was the original sentence:
"Ella me quería tomar su primera clase si era tarde a trabajo." - You said it was unclear meaning.

So I changed it to:
"Ella me preguntó tomar su primera clase si era tarde a trabajo." - But you're still :impatient:. :( I'm not sure how much more clear I can be. I wanted to say "She asked me to take her first class if she was late to work." (In the original sentence, I tried to say "She wanted me to take her first class if she was late to work." I need to avoid the subjunctive. Is there ANY way to express this thought without using the subjunctive?)

:?:
Is "pues" not a linking word? You asked for a linking word there....... :thinking:

:?:
You didn't correct this sentence the first time: "Ya me estaba despertado." What's wrong with it? Should it be "estuvo"?

:(

Please read thoroughly post #10

Ack! I am SO sorry!! :( I completely missed what you wrote in the "quoted" section. I thought it was a quote and didn't have changes, so I was focused on what you wrote outside the quotes (I probably read the post in an email, which doesn't include the quoted sections). I can't believe I missed that whole thing.

So, I apparently don't know enough about Spanish linking words to have any idea what word might have a "slight contradiction" like you recommend. I thought that "pues" was roughly like "well" in English, and that word would work perfectly in English. I have no idea there.......

I also don't understand how both of these can be correct: "Ya me había despertado" / "Ya estaba despierta". I thought that it had to be "despertarse". How can the second be correct without the pronoun? And my dictionary says that "despertarse" has two participles. How do I know which one to use?

Finally, I have absolutely NO idea what to use in lieu of "querer" or "preguntar" in that sentence: "Ella me ???? tomar su primera clase si llegó tarde al trabajo." It wouldn't be "pedir", would it?

Again, I'm really sorry. I think this is proof that I made a good decision to specialize in mathematics................................... :sad: