The dinosaurs

[wayfarer]

Often I look for informations about what the Earth was like millions of years ago, and about how life has evolved up to man. I find it very interesting. Now I’m writing something about the history of dinosaurs, and about its relationship with mammals’ evolution. Corrections are welcome.

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About 220 millions of years ago, the first dinosaurs began to appear on the Earth. They were reptilians that evolved more than others and became able to stand up on their toes. Since on the Earth there wasn’t any stronger species at that time, over the millennia the dinosaurs evolved and differentiated at a relatively fast rate. Through the fossils that have been found here and there around the world, a big variety of dinosaurs’ species have been discovered. Some of them were very big. The largest one weighed as much as ten elephants!! Since they were very exposed to predation by dinosaurs, mammals evolved at a quite slow rate during the dinosaurs’ era. Up to 65 millions of years ago, they were mostly tiny mouse-like animals that lived on trees and fed themselves with insects.

65 millions of years ago the Earth must have been struck by a catastrophic event that annihilated almost all the dinosaurs, because after that time there is no longer evidence of them populating the Earth. Various hypotesis have been made, the most common asserts that a big asteroid impacted the Earth. As a consequence of that impact, the air became polluted to such an extent that all terrestrial dinosaurs died. Only those who were able to fly survived, the ancestors of the current birds.

After the dinosaurs disappaered, mammals became much less exposed to predation, and they began to evolve and differentiate at a much faster rate. A large variety of species began to spread all over the world. In particular, the mouse-like animals that lived on the trees evoluted first into monkeys, then into hominids, and finally into the current man. Weren’t the dinosaurs killed by an asteroid or by a similar event 65 millions of years ago, we surely wouldn’t be there.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by wayfarer

Often I look for informations about what the Earth was like millions of years ago, and about how life has evolved up to man. I find it very interesting. Now I’m writing something about the history of dinosaurs, and about its relationship with mammals’ evolution. Corrections are welcome.

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About 220 million(s) (of) years ago, the first dinosaurs began to appear on the Earth. They were reptilians that evolved more than others and became able to stand up on their toes. Since on the Earth there wasn’t any stronger species at that time, over the millennia the dinosaurs evolved and differentiated at a relatively fast rate. Through (the) fossils that have been found here and there around the world, a big variety of dinosaurs’ species have been discovered. Some of them were very big. The largest one weighed as much as ten elephants!! Since they were very exposed to predation by dinosaurs, mammals evolved at a quite slow rate during the dinosaurs’ era. Up to 65 million(s) (of) years ago, they were mostly tiny mouse-like animals that lived (on) in trees and fed themselves with insects.

65 millions of years ago the Earth must have been struck by a catastrophic event that annihilated almost all the dinosaurs, because after that time there is no longer evidence of them populating the Earth. Various hypotesis have been made, the most common asserts that a big asteroid impacted the Earth. As a consequence of that impact, the air became polluted to such an extent that all terrestrial dinosaurs died. Only those who were able to fly survived, the ancestors of the current birds.

After the dinosaurs disappaered, mammals became much less exposed to predation, and they began to evolve and differentiate at a much faster rate. A large variety of species began to spread all over the world. In particular, the mouse-like animals that lived (on) in the trees evoluted first into monkeys, then into hominids, and finally into the current man. Weren’t the dinosaurs killed by an asteroid or by a similar event 65 millions of years ago, we surely wouldn’t be there.

Very interesting way. A very nice essay. I'll look it over better later. Right off the bat though: About 220 million years ago. Take out the word of and the letter s of millions.

Weren't the dinosaurs killed by an asteroid or by a similar event 65 milions of years ago, we surely wouldn't be there. (we surely wouldn't have been there.)

Weren't the dinosaurs killed by an asteroid or by a similar event 65 million years ago, we surely wouldn't have been there. (?)

Use this:

Weren't the dinosaurs killed by an asteroid or by a similar event 65 million years ago? We surely wouldn't have been there.

__________________________________________________ _______________________________________________

Although there are a few exceptions, as a general rule a definite article is used in Spanish whenever "the" is used in English. But Spanish/Italian also use a definite article in many cases where English does not.

With abstract nouns and nouns used in a general sense: In English, the article is often omitted with abstract nouns and nouns that refer more to a concept than a tangible item. But it still is needed in Spanish. A few examples might help clarify: La ciencia es importante. (Science is important.) Creo en la justicia. (I believe in justice.) Estudio la literatura. (I study literature.) La primavera es bella. (Spring is beautiful.)

Through (the) fossils that have been found here and there around the world, a big variety of dinosaurs’ species have been discovered.

(the) trees

A native English speaker just seems to know when and when not to use the word "the".

In Spanish we always say for example: el muchacho, la muchacha, el perro,
la casa, la calle, el libro, el lápiz, la isla, la montaña, el carro, el telefono...

Apparently in Spanish you have to put the article before the nouns. In English no.

A similar list of words in English would be: boy, girl, dog, house, street, book, pencil, island,
mountain, car, telephone...

[wayfarer]

Thank you for the kind corrections Villa, and in particular for the comparison between Spanish/Italian and English. You don't find very often this kind of comparison in books or websites. I know that in English the article is used differently than in Spanish and Italian, and I'm often uncertain when to use it.

I noticed one mistake in my essay that you have overseen: in the first paragraph I correctly wrote "evolved", but in the last paragraph I erroneously wrote "evoluted". I know the correct form of this verb, but always forget about it, because I'm misleaded by the word "evolution"!

[Villa]

Originally Posted by wayfarer

Thank you for the kind corrections Villa, and in particular for the comparison between Spanish/Italian and English. You don't find very often this kind of comparison in books or websites. I know that in English the article is used differently than in Spanish and Italian, and I'm often uncertain when to use it.

I noticed one mistake in my essay that you have overseen: in the first paragraph I correctly wrote "evolved", but in the last paragraph I erroneously wrote "evoluted". I know the correct form of this verb, but always forget about it, because I'm misleaded by the word "evolution"!

Right wayfarer. I did notice that and then forgot to mention it.
We call that a typo. Have you heard of a typo?

A proposito Way, vado in Italia May 2nd. Ci vediamo.