CHI201 midterm composition

[ondistantshores]

我不大给家和朋友打个电话。 每星期我打我爸爸和姐姐因为他们住远方。 我不打错因为电话号码在我的手机。 我喜欢一边打电话一边开车因为 我开车去上班要四十分钟。 姐姐打我得比我爸爸常常。 我姐姐说话大约二十分钟，但是我爸爸说话大约两小时。我通常打我爸爸，我又问问题又告诉他我想他。 他常常接电话，哪怕我打深夜。 我姐姐说话关于工作。 她是老师在小学。

Comments

[tianzhu]

I added the sentence corrections after the numbers unless otherwise noted?

1. 我不经常给大家和朋友打个电话。

I think you forgot 经常 after the 不 to mean "not often".

For calling someone, it's like you "give" someone a call, hence why you need 给 in there. (Subject "gives" object phone call.)

If you say you 打 someone, then it means you literally hit/strike them.

2a. 每星期我给我爸爸和姐姐打电话因为他们住在远方的地方。

2b. 每星期我给我爸爸和姐姐打电话因为他们住在很远的地方。

2c. 每星期我给我爸爸和姐姐打电话因为他们住在的地方很远。

In this case, I'd add a 在 after a verb like 住 to indicate where/at. Like you "live AT" a specific place.

For "far", you can use the one you used which is 远方 or just simply 很远 since 远 means "far" in itself.

For 2a and 2b, this is just me and I could be wrong, and I'm sorry. ;o; But I'd add 的地方 (possessive + dìfang, the word for "place") after your choice of "far" to indicate a noun being modified by said adjective. It's just me though since I'm not sure how adjectives can float on their own without a noun in this case. In English we know what "they live far away" implies, like they have to be living in a specific place some distance away from you. But here for Chinese I think you need to say that they "live at a place that is far."

Or like in 2c, you could say that "the place that they live is far away." Either way should work? I'm not native, but I'm guessing you could be placing emphasis on either where they live or the far part. Uh, does that make sense?

Watch her correct all of this back to what you wrote, lol, I am so sorry. XD

3. 我不会打错的电话号码因为他们的电话号码在我的手机。

This is similar to the adding a noun after an adjective thing? I would say "I won't dial a number that is wrong / I won't dial a wrong number"? I'd add in 会 (huì) to make it more like "will not" instead of "do not"? Hm.

I think you can also write: 我不会打错了因为他们的电话号码在我的手机。

Like "I won't call incorrectly because their number is in my phone." 打错了 in this case is more idiomatic for dialing wrong numbers.

4. 我喜欢一边打电话一边开车因为我开车去上班要四十分钟。

I think that's right...? Hm. You can add 得 like this: 因为我得开车 to mean that you "must drive" since 得 (with pronunciation děi means "must" or "have to"). Like you have to drive / it requires 40 minutes to drive.

Just to put the time period first since that usually happens, you could say: 我喜欢一边打电话一边开车因为我开车四十分钟去上班。 I think?

Or for a weirder construction with 开车 being separated into 开 and then 的车 with the time period in the middle: 我喜欢一边打电话一边开车因为我开四十分钟的车去上班。 I actually think this is the most correct way to say it from what I've searched? I know I learned it, but I hardly use it because I always get myself out of using this construction. XD

Honestly, this one is giving me the most trouble. What am grammar. XD

5. 姐姐打我得比我爸爸常常。

Are you saying that your sister calls you more often than your father does? This one's hard for me. :( My best guess which is probably wrong would be:

我姐姐给我打电话的时间比我爸爸给我打的时间多.

So like... "The time my sister gives me a call versus the time my father gives me a call is more." I haven't yet figured out how to compare two people doing the same action more often; I usually end up switching to noun forms for "easier" (read: familiar grammar construction) comparison.

6. 我姐姐说话大约二十分钟，但是我爸爸说话大约两小时。

平常我和我姐姐打电话打了差不多二十分钟, 但是我和我爸爸打电话打了两个小时。

I stuck in 平常 (píngcháng) for "usually" so it's like "usually my sister and I talk for approximately 20 minutes, but my father and I talk for about 2 hours." I usually use 差不多 (chàbuduō) for "approximately" instead of 大约, but up to you! I don't know if you learned that in class or not.

I used 我和我姐姐 for "my sister and I" and then the verb construction for talking on the phone for a certain period of time (verb+noun/noun phrase + repeated verb + 了 + time period ). I hope that's right?

7. 我通常给我爸爸打电话，我又问问题又告诉他我想他。

I usually (pun, lol) use 平常 for "usually" or "ordinarily," but up to you! Don't forget you need to say that you "give" your father a call or else you're striking him.

Did you want to say "when you're on the phone with him that you ask him questions and stuff" or something like that? You could use the "when " construction here? Like:

我通常给我爸爸打电话的時候, 我又问问题又告诉他我想他。

Is that familiar at all?

8. 虽然很晚, 但是他还接电话。

This is like "even though it is late, [but] he still answers the phone." I'm not sure if this is right, but I would write it this way if I had to word it myself?

The pattern is 虽然 (suīrán) ... 但是/可是 (dànshì / kěshì) . It's like "although... but..." In English, we'd just say "Although..." and then give the opposing clause, but we wouldn't start it with "but".

9. 我姐姐告诉我她工作的事。

I would say it this way? Like she's telling you about things related to her work? I think that's okay.

10. 她是老师, 在小学工作。

I get that you want to say "she's a teacher at an elementary school", but I would word it so that it's like "she's a teacher, [she] works at an elementary school" instead. I'm not sure, it's like you need an extra verb ("work") to describe what else she does as a teacher? That's the best explanation I can give so far.

[ondistantshores]

我不经常给朋友打电话。 每星期我给我爸爸和姐姐打电话，因为他们住在远方。 我不会打错电话号码，因为他们的电话号码在我的手机上。 我喜欢一边打电话一边开车，因为我得开车去上班，要四十分钟。 我姐姐给我打电话的时间比我爸爸给我打的时间少。 平常我和我姐姐打电话，每次打了差不多二十分钟, 但是我和我爸爸打电话要打两个小时。 我通常给我爸爸打电话的時候, 我又问问题又告诉他我想他。 虽然很晚, 但是他还接电话。 我姐姐告诉我她工作的事。 她是老师, 在小学工作。

Sentence 2, concerning "的地方": "Redundant. You can alternatively say 住在很远的地方."

Sentence 5, concerning "少": "Based on the explanation followed this line, this is the correct word since your sister only talks 20 minutes while your dad talks 2 hours."