Hi everyone, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Nadia Arianna Hutabarat, people usually call me Nadia for short. But because there is someone else in the class with the name Nadya, you can call me Arianna if you prefer. I actually live in South Tangerang but I usually say I’m from Jakarta because people usually don’t know where South Tangerang is. I graduated from Labschool Kebayoran High School and a little fun fact, this school is actually 17 kilometers away from where I live. My daily commute to school usually takes around an hour but it was reduced to forty-five minutes once the MRT was finished. Why? I don’t really know for sure, I guess some of the people that usually commute with me switched their transportation option to MRT. My commute is also the reason why for the past three years I woke up everyday by four in the morning and leave my house by five-thirty, so that I can arrive at school on time. If it ever cross your mind as to what would I do if I was ever late to school, the answer would be simple. I will simply be absent that day, because I would rather be absent the whole day than to face the punishment of being late by sitting in the parking lot of my school for six hours under the hot scorching sun of Jakarta. Perhaps that is all I can say about myself for now, looking forward getting to know you as well!
“My daily commute to school usually takes around an hour but it was reduced to forty-five minutes once the MRT was finished.”
It’s a small matter, but seeing as you are no longer commuting to Labschool Kebayoran High School (which, by the way, sounds to me like a rather strange name for a school… it’s as if the word order is wrong and then the word ‘school’ is repeated! Nevermind, I disgress…). Where was I? Ah yes, right. Seeing as you are no longer commuting to school (now that you are an undergraduate), perhaps you ought to talk about the commute using the past tense: “My daily commute to school usually took around an hour…”.
You wrote:
“I would rather be absent the whole day than to face the punishment of being late by sitting in the parking lot of my school for six hours under the hot scorching sun of Jakarta.”
I won’t pretend that I didn’t understand exactly what you meant here, but you can make it a bit clearer with some different words choices. Compare your to mine:
“I would rather be absent the whole day than to face the punishment for being late which was having to sit in the parking lot of my school for six hours under the hot scorching sun of Jakarta.”
Note that “for” replaces “of” (kind of important), and “which was having to sit” replaces “by sitting”.
My name is Bramantyo Anandaru Suyadi, but you can call me Daru. I am from Bandung and I was born on 12 April 2002. I am from the management study program of the Faculty of Economic and Business in University of Gadjah Mada.I graduated from Labschool Kebayoran Highschool in 2020th of May. Although I was born in Bandung, I have lived most of my life in Jakarta for approximately 12 years. My father was from Yogyakarta and my mother was from Bandung. I also have a big brother who was born on 27 January 2000 in Bandung. I am currently staying in Bandung right now to avoid the risk of getting covid-19, because in Jakarta the infection rate was a lot higher compared to Bandung. Of course, there will be chances that I could potentially be affected by the virus, but it’s safe to assume that in Bandung the risks are lower compared to Jakarta. This was my introduction, thank you for your attention and stay safe.
“I am from the management study program of the Faculty of Economic and Business in University of Gadjah Mada.”
Gadjah Mada University should not be written as “University of Gadjah Mada” in English as that is not its official international name (in English). Meanwhile, the official English name of Universitas Indonesia is “University Of Indonesia”.
Also, “economic” is an adjective. The word in the name of this faculty is plural “Economics” (and capitalized) but if it is the name of an academic subject it is treated as singular (and not capitalized) even though it ends with an S. Look at these:
“I gave up geography in year 10 because it was too hard. Unfortunately, economics is difficult as well.” (Treated as singular.)
“The economics of the government’s anti-pandemic policies are causing concern to some experts.” (Treated as plural.)
I apologize on behalf of the English language for this kind of stuff!
You wrote:
“My father was from Yogyakarta and my mother was from Bandung.”
This makes it sound as if they have both passed away. If that is the case, Daru, then you have my condolences.
Hello sir and my classmate, today I would like to introduce myself. My name is Rafter Yang Dharmawan Njata and my friend usually call me Rafter. I live in Semarang with my mom, dad, and also twin brother. My hobby is playing badminton and hanging out with friends. Badminton is like a part of my life because I was introduced it by my father when I was child and I do it regularly until now. For me, hanging out with friends is the hobby that I love the most. However, during this pandemic situation, I was forced to stop meeting them directly. Although, we can still chat or call each other using online application. I graduated from Karangturi National High School. Since I graduated earlier, I had a lot of spare time to read books and play game before I enrolled to UGM. I decided to join international program at UGM so I can learn many things especially english writing skill. That’s all the introduction from me. See you guys soon!
“Hello sir and my classmate, today I would like to introduce myself. My name is Rafter Yang Dharmawan Njata and my friend usually call me Rafter.”
Be careful withn your plurals. You have more than one “classmate”. And I think it’s fair to say you don’t have only one “friends”. Later you do refer to “friends”!
You wrote:
“Badminton is like a part of my life because I was introduced it by my father when I was child and I do it regularly until now.”
[1] The word “like” is not necessary. It is very conversational but it should not occur in writing.
[2] Next: “I was introduced it” has a missing preposition. It should be “I was introduced to it”. Examples: “Adrian was introduced to the music of the Arctic Monkeys by Zhafirah” (passive voice). Alternatively, “Zhafirah introduced Adrian to the music of the Arctic Monkeys” (active voice).
[3] “I do it regularly until now” is OK, but “I play it regularly until now” is better. “Play” is a more appropriate verb.
You wrote:
“For me, hanging out with friends is the hobby that I love the most.”
There is no problem with the grammar or word choice here. However, I think you may be stretching the conventional definition of “hobby” by including “hanging out with friends”! I think “hanging out with friends” is something we do INSTEAD of engaging in hobbies!
Hello everyone name is Farrell Lesmana Agung. You can call me Farrell. I’m 18 years old and I’m from Surabaya. I have one older brother and he is 19 years old. I am still living with parents. My parents raised me as a Surabayans. Surabayans tends to speak louder than others. So pardon me if I’m a little bit harsh and loud. I’m hoping that I can move to Jogja really soon, because I really want to live on my own and manage my own stuff. I choose IUP FEB UGM because I’m in love with Jogja and I think that this program fits me best. People in Jogja have different way of talking compared to people that lives in Surabaya. They are very polite people.
I really love playing basketball. I started playing basketball when I was 8 years old. In middle school I tore my left Lateral Meniscus. I couldn’t walk properly for almost 6 months. I gain 40 kilos in that 6 Months. But that doesn’t stop me from playing basketball. In high school I the tenth grade I start exercising more and. I lost about 45 kilos in roughly 5 months. And maybe that’s all about me. Here is my Instagram : @farrelllesmana. Feel free to contact me through DM. Hope to see you guys really soon!
“I really love playing basketball. I started playing basketball when I was 8 years old.”
[1] “Eight”, not “8”.
[2] After the mention of “basketball” in the first sentence, there is no need to mention it again in the second one. The second sentence could instead be:
(a) “I started playing it when I was eight years old.” However, the word “it” sounds redundant. So, the whole thing…
(b) “I really love playing basketball. I started playing when I was eight years old.” Smooth!
You wrote:
“I choose IUP FEB UGM because I’m in love with Jogja and I think that this program fits me best. People in Jogja have different way of talking compared to people that lives in Surabaya. They are very polite people.”
A few interventions:
[1] “Chose” (past tense) and not “choose” (present tense).
[2] The word “fits” is fine. Maybe “suits” is better, though.
[3] “People in Jogja have different way of talking”. The word “way” is a countable noun, so if it is singular, you cannot have it in a sentence without an article – “the” or “a” – unless it is plural or there is a number in front of it – e.g. “They have one way of doing things” or “There are nine ways to skin a cat.”
[4] “…people that lives in Surabaya” should be “…people who live in Surabaya.”
[5] The problem with “They are very polite people” is that the reader cannot be certain whether “they” refers to Yogya people or to Surabaya people. Compare yours to mine:
“People in Yogyakarta, who are very polite people, have a different way of talking compared to people who live in Surabaya.”
Hello everyone, my name is Muhammad Faeyzadanish Shagufta and you can call me Danish. Although my nick name is Danish, doesn’t mean that i come from Denmark! The fact, I come from Yogyakarta. I was an alumni of SMA Negeri 1 Yogyakarta, one of many public schools on Yogyakarta. Since in high school, I knew my self as an active student which followed not only academic courses on the school, but also followed nonacademic activities like organization and participating as an event organizer on an event called Festival Pelajar. Joining various activities help me to learn about time management and also about how to priotize things. Right now on the stage of life as a university student, I really want to explore new things especially on my major, economic. I also want to learn about stock market which in the few next years, I wish I could have my own private investment business. I also have an excitement to make my own culinary business, because I really like to taste various foods! As I realize that I have many dreams, I really believe that it is important to make collaborations on the purpose of growing together and making my dream come true! Hopefully joining this class with Mr. Adrian and all of you guys is a part of my life journey on growing, collaborating, and making our dream come true.
The expression you are looking for is “In fact, I come from Yogyakarta.”
You wrote:
“Although my nick name is Danish, doesn’t mean that i come from Denmark!”
[1] The word is “nickname”.
[2] After “Danish” and the comma, you need to insert the word “it”.
[3] Aaagghhh. “i” must always be capitalized!
You wrote:
“Hopefully joining this class with Mr. Adrian and all of you guys is a part of my life journey on growing, collaborating, and making our dream come true.”
[1] You mention a “dream” at the end of your sentence. I am pretty sure that you and I and the “guys” in this class have more than just one dream, right?
[2] About saying or writing “Mr. Adrian”. First of all, it’s OK to call me Adrian. If you want to be more formal, the correct way to do it is to call me Mr Coen (or Mr. Coen, with a full stop after “Mr”, in American English). “Mister” goes with the family name: in this case, “Coen”. No native English speaker (at least not from my own country) would connect “Mister/Mr” to my first name (“Adrian”). And, whatever you do, you don’t call someone just “Mister” in English because, while it is an understandable mistake, it does noy sound nice, and if I ever called another British person (just) “Mister” without their family name, it would sound unfriendly or hostile.
Hello everyone, and hello Mr Adrian. It’s a pleasure for me to meet with you in this first small class on this evening. First of all, let me introduce my self, my name is Muhammad Ridho Fitrianto, people call me Ridho. I was born in Jakarta on 12th of December 2002, since my parents are working in Jakarta starting from a long time ago, so all of my siblings were born in Jakarta too. I think, I am going to tell a funny story about my origin city. So, it’s a tiny dilemma for me, when someone asks me where do I come from. Because, actually my parents and my big family were coming from Yogyakarta, but I was born in Jakarta and spent 13 years living there, however now I live in Yogyakarta since 2016 for my senior high school and now in 2020 for my college. When I ask to my parents where should I belong to (Jakarta or Yogyakarta), my parents always says “ It’s up to you since you’re an Indonesian.” Thank you.
“Because, actually my parents and my big family were coming from Yogyakarta, but I was born in Jakarta and spent 13 years living there, however now I live in Yogyakarta since 2016 for my senior high school and now in 2020 for my college.”
[1] Starting a sentence with “because” can be OK, but you have got to make sure you do not end up with a clause that is not an independent clause (and/or a complete sentence). In this case, to connect this sentence with the previous one, you should start with “This is because…”
[2] There needs to be a comma after “actually”.
[3] The term “big family” is an example of what is called ‘mother tongue interference’. “Big family” is a translation of how you would say it in your native tongue (Indonesian). In English, the term you are looking for is “extended family”.
[4] The sentence above would benefit from being broken up into two or three sentences. Perhaps like this (note any other edits I make too):
“This is because, actually, my parents and my extended family came from Yogyakarta, but I was born in Jakarta and spent 13 years living there. However, now I have lived in Yogyakarta since 2016 in order to attend senior high school and now, in 2020, I amk here for college.”
See if you can see all the edits I made and figure out why I made each one.
Hi everyone! My name is Natanael Kevin Adiyatma Wibawa and you can just call me Kevin. I was born on the 5th of June 2002 in the beautiful city of Surakarta. Little fun fact about where I live is that the current president house is actually near mine! I usually ride my bike around his complex and often see guards glaring at me. I graduated from SMA Negeri 4 Surakarta in 2020 and now study Management in Gadjah Mada University. My father comes from Gemolong and my mother from Magelang. So in a sense my family is quite traditional. Meaning we uphold values of old such as using proper javanese social ethic in everyday life. I am the oldest and only son of 4 siblings and because of that the expectation on me is quite high. As a person I’m quite relaxed and the type that easily forgive and move on. I suppose that is all I have to say about me. Can’t wait to see you eye to eye offline!
“Little fun fact about where I live is that the current president house is actually near mine!”
Apologies for being trivial, but “fact” is a countable noun. So this sentence needs to begin with the indefinite article “a”. (Capitalized of course.)
You wrote:
“My father comes from Gemolong and my mother from Magelang.”
Omitting the word “comes” after “mother” is fine and perhaps even prefferable because the sentence works just as well without it. Even if you just forgot to type “comes”, let’s assume it was omitted on purpose. Well done.
You wrote:
“So in a sense my family is quite traditional.”
Not every English speaker will agree with me (I am a fan of commas) but I would say this sentence would be enhanced by instering a comma after “so” and another one before “my”.
You wrote:
“I am the oldest and only son of four siblings.” (Note that I have changed the “4” to “four”.)
This is interesting. It’s maybe not the most important edit in the world.
There’s a kind of clash between the word “son” and the word “sibling”. You being a “son” is a connection to your parents and not your siblings. Meanwhile, the word “siblings” refers to your brothers and sisters. It’s just a subtle thing, but take a look at these two alternatives:
““I am the oldest and only boy out of four siblings.”
“I am the oldest and only son out of four children.”
Hello everyone, my name is Nadya and people just call me by that name. When I talk to people, i often have to emphasize the “y” in my name because I guess Indonesian people are used to writing nadya with an “i” somehow. Other than that, I’m an 18 year old girl who just graduated from High School and is currently stepping into this whole new college world. I was born in Bandung, but raised in Saudi Arabia for and then came back to Jakarta, specifically Bekasi, to continue my senior High school. Living abroad would make people think that I’m an extrovert, but I actually consider myself as a very socially awkward person as I tend to always blank out when talking to new people and strangers. Thus, this whole pandemic and online classes has taken my anti-social side to a whole new level. Nonetheless, I’m very friendly and bubbly once u get to know me! Also, other than studying, I love listening to music during my leisure times, so I am open to any new song recommendations if you have some. I guess that is it from me and I look forward to knowing more about you all ! Always stay safe and healthy.
“I’m an 18 year old girl who just graduated from High School and is currently stepping into this whole new college world.”
This is a good sentence but “high school” is not capitalized unless you are giving the official name of a school and “High School” is part of that name.
You wrote:
“I was born in Bandung, but raised in Saudi Arabia and then came back to Jakarta, specifically Bekasi, to continue my senior High school.”
[1] You cannot have a comma after “Bandung” because “but raised in Saudi Arabia” is not an independent clause.
[2] By the time you get to “then came back to Jakarta” you probably need to insert “I” like this: “I was born in Bandung but raised in Saudi Arabia, and then I came back to Jakarta.”
[3] “my senior High school”… ouch.
You wrote:
“Thus, this whole pandemic and online classes has taken my anti-social side to a whole new level. Nonetheless, I’m very friendly and bubbly once u get to know me!”
I think this would sound better as “this pandemic” and then you change “has” to “have”. This avoids the repetition of the word “whole” and the expression “whole new level” is a striking one so you don’t want to lose it.
Hello everyone! I, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal Arifin (Iqbal), am here to introduce myself and everything you might want to hear about me. I am an 18 year old Management undergraduate at Universitas Gadjah Mada. I graduated from SMAN 1 Mataram in a small island of Lombok from a natural science class, and yes it is the opposite of my major in College. Interestingly enough, I have attended 3 different high schools for four years. No, I was not held back in high school, that is in fact the amount of years there are for highschoolers to go through in the United States. I moved to Arizona in 6th grade and spent some time there, having to also move cities several times. Until recently moving back again to Indonesia by the beginning of last year, I have learned a lot from all types of experience that I’ve had. I am very much looking forward to learning even more experiences and knowledge in this class.
“Interestingly enough, I have attended 3 different high schools for four years.”
The clause “I have attended three different high schools” somewhat suggests that you are still attending high school; indeed, it suggests that you are currently attending the third of them. But then you say “for fours years” (well done for writing “4” as the word “four”, by the way) – which probably is clearer in meaning if you say “in four years” rather than “for four years” – plus the fact that we know you are now an undergraduate and no longer a high school students, so the present perfect tense doesn’t work well and your sentence would be better if you use the simple past tense. Compare yours to mine:
“Interestingly enough, I attended three different high schools in just four years.”
I even added the word “just” because it sounds a tiny bit more ‘exciting’!
You wrote:
“I am very much looking forward to learning even more experiences and knowledge in this class.”
We don’t ‘learn experiences’, we have them. If “experience” is treated as an uncountable noun, then we “gain experience”.
Look at this (everybody, not just Iqbal):
“Experience can be used as an uncountable noun. You use it when you're talking about knowledge or skill which is obtained from doing, seeing or feeling things. ... Experience(s) is also a countable noun, but when you use it the countable form you are talking about a particular incident or incidents that affect you.”
Taken from https://tinyurl.com/y5tyguf8
(I used https://tinyurl.com; good, isn’t it?)
More stuff about your sentence:
“Learning more” = “getting more knowledge” so the way you expressed the idea seems to be kind of repetitious. Compare yours to mine:
“I am very much looking forward to learning even more and having more experiences in this class.”
Hi everyone! My name is Larasati Titania Amalia, but I usually go as laras. I am currently taking the Economics program (like some of you are). I love to read in my spare time and happened to grow up by reading books from many genres; historical fiction, fantasy, classic literature, psychological fiction, and bildungsroman. But don't get me wrong, I am not that lame and antisocial! I like to spend time with my cat Goldie and cuddle with her in bed while we watch many movies and TV shows. My all time favorite movies are The Parent Trap and Before Midnight. Normally, I could never commit to TV shows because they're too much to keep up with! However since the quarantine has caused a lot of boredom, I managed to watch at least 6 different TV shows. Goldie and I like to also dance in my room while jamming to really good songs (the band Cigarettes After S*x, The Marias, Anna of the North, ABBA). I also like to go out for brunch with my friends during the weekend and go see a movie too! Alright I guess that's all I have to say about myself, I am looking forward to a productive and fun time with all of you!
“I love to read in my spare time and happened to grow up by reading books from many genres; historical fiction, fantasy, classic literature, psychological fiction, and bildungsroman.”
I had to look up “bildungsroman” because I did not know what it means. For those like me, here is how it is defined: “a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education.”
You live and you learn. Thank you Laras.
Different point:
You wrote: “I love to read in my spare time and happened to grow up by reading books from many genres”.
The “happened to grew up” bit sounds a bit unnecessary and sounds clumsy, especially with the unwanted preposition “by” inserted in there too. I suggest something much more straightforward:
“I love to read in my spare time and grew up reading books from many genres”.
Nore carefully the edits I made. When you delete something from you own writing where you think it is redundant or repetitious, the question to ask yourself is: has any important information or meaning been lost because of the deletion? In this case, I’d say no.
You wrote:
“I like to spend time with my cat Goldie and cuddle with her in bed while we watch many movies and TV shows. My all time favorite movies are…”
Never mind what your “all time favorite movies are”, we want to know what Goldie’s “all time favorite movies are”!
Hello everybody, my name is Julian Saputra. Im 17 years old and come from Jakarta.I graduated from Sekolah Dian Harapan Daan Mogot which actually isn’t much of a famous school in Indonesia or Jakarta. I don’t have many hobbies but when i find a hobby that i really like i tend to focus on it, an example of one of my hobbies is swimming. I consider myself as an avid swimmer as i used to swim everyday and try to enter some competitions, eventually i finally managed to reach the Jakarta providential level. In my opinion the Jakarta providential level is one of the toughest swimming scenes out there considering all the under 18 athletes train at GBK and other similar areas. Aside from swimming i usually just like travelling around indonesia and Jakarta, in my opinion traveling by car around Indonesia or atleast Java is a must. There is just something different about road trips then when you fly in a plane, in a car you really see what Java is really like. Coming from Jakarta you only see the best part of modern Indonesia and can't really see the different economies and cultures around Indonesia, and once you really see what Indonesia is it really opens your eyes. Anyway that's a bit about me, I hope you found this interesting and i’ll see you next time.
“I don’t have many hobbies but when i find a hobby that i really like i tend to focus on it, an example of one of my hobbies is swimming.”
Avoiding the repetition of words is one way of making your writing smoother and more effective. In just one sentence above, you use the word “hobbies” twice and also the word “hobby” once. This can be avoided easily. Look at my version of your sentence:
“I don’t have many hobbies but when I find one that i really like, I tend to focus on it; an example of this is swimming.”
Now, hobbies/hobby only occurs once in the sentence which makes it punchier rather than kind of slack.
Also not carefully the changes to the punctuation that I made.
You wrote:
“In my opinion the Jakarta providential level is one of the toughest swimming scenes out there considering all the under 18 athletes train at GBK and other similar areas.”
[1] There should be a comma after “opnion”.
[2] I assume by “providential”, you meant “provincial”.
[3] No matter how famous “GBK” is (or how ignorant I am), the first time you mention something in a piece of writing, you should write it out in full and then put the abbreviation or acronym in parentheses after it. In this case you do not need to refer to Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium again, so there is no need to write “GBK” at all.
[4] GBK is not an "area", I think. It's a location or a facility.
Note: always capitalize the pronoun “i”. See my comment addressed to Shafa (below).
Hey everyone! My name is Maalique Pasha, but everyone I know calls me Pasha. I am 18 years old and I was born and raised in Jakarta. I live with both my parents and my younger brother who is 2 years younger than me. Here in UGM, I take the Management program which I've heard to be one of the (if not, the) best programs in this country. I graduated from Mentari Intercultural School Jakarta this year. I've spent my entire school life there, therefore most of my friends are in some ways related to that school. What I like to do in my free time is either watch netflix or play different kinds of games. If you find me chatting with my friends, you will probably notice that we often talk about football, as that being a big interest of mine too. Anyway guys, that's a bit of background info about me, I hope that I can learn more about you guys in the future and hopefully vice versa.
“…my younger brother who is 2 years younger than me.”
Numbers below ten should be written as words.
You wrote:
“If you find me chatting with my friends, you will probably notice that we often talk about football, as that being a big interest of mine too.”
There is an interesting tiny error here which, in fact, demonstrates that you are almost finding the correct turn of phrase but, on this occasion, you are mixing two ways of expressing the idea. Compare my two versions to your version:
“If you find me chatting with my friends, you will probably notice that we often talk about football, as that is a big interest of mine too.”
Or…
“If you find me chatting with my friends, you will probably notice that we often talk about football, that being a big interest of mine too.”
Do you notice the subtle difference in the syntax?
“…my younger brother who is 2 years younger than me.”
I've just noticed that the first time you use the word "younger" in this sentence, it is redundant. Take it out, and you lose no information; added to which, without the repetition of the word, the sentence reads more smoothly.
Hello everyone! my full name is Shafa Haliza Raihanah Sofwan but you can just call me Shafa and i just graduated from SMA Negeri 70 Jakarta. I am the second child of a three siblings, i have big brother and little brother. I live in Jakarta but was born in Makassar, South Sulawesi on 6th April 2002 because of my father's job. My father is a Sundanese, he is from Bandung and my mother came from West Sumatera. My hobby is listening to some music but sometimes i get too bored of them then read some books. I'm actually more of a comic person but since pandemic, i've been reading novel because i also get too bored with comics. I hope that with this new hobby, i can elevate my literacy skills and my interest in novels. That is all i can say for my backround, hope to see you guys offline!
“i” six times, uncapitalized, when it was the first person singular pronoun! Insert HORRIFIED emoticon here.
You wrote:
“My father is a Sundanese, he is from Bandung and my mother came from West Sumatera.”
These are two separate independent clauses and so cannot be joined by a comma. They need to be separated by a full stop or you need to combine them. Compare mine to yours:
“My father is Sundanese and comes from Bandung, while my mother comes from West Sumatera.”
Note the other edits I made.
You wrote:
“Since pandemic, I've been reading novel because I also get too bored with comics.”
Two edits:
Firstly, “pandemic” is a countable noun so you need to write “the pandemic”. (You would only write “a pandemic” if it was not clear which one you were talking about which isn’t the case here.)
Hi everyone, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Nadia Arianna Hutabarat, people usually call me Nadia for short. But because there is someone else in the class with the name Nadya, you can call me Arianna if you prefer. I actually live in South Tangerang but I usually say I’m from Jakarta because people usually don’t know where South Tangerang is. I graduated from Labschool Kebayoran High School and a little fun fact, this school is actually 17 kilometers away from where I live. My daily commute to school usually takes around an hour but it was reduced to forty-five minutes once the MRT was finished. Why? I don’t really know for sure, I guess some of the people that usually commute with me switched their transportation option to MRT. My commute is also the reason why for the past three years I woke up everyday by four in the morning and leave my house by five-thirty, so that I can arrive at school on time. If it ever cross your mind as to what would I do if I was ever late to school, the answer would be simple. I will simply be absent that day, because I would rather be absent the whole day than to face the punishment of being late by sitting in the parking lot of my school for six hours under the hot scorching sun of Jakarta. Perhaps that is all I can say about myself for now, looking forward getting to know you as well!
ReplyDeleteArianna wrote:
Delete“My daily commute to school usually takes around an hour but it was reduced to forty-five minutes once the MRT was finished.”
It’s a small matter, but seeing as you are no longer commuting to Labschool Kebayoran High School (which, by the way, sounds to me like a rather strange name for a school… it’s as if the word order is wrong and then the word ‘school’ is repeated! Nevermind, I disgress…). Where was I? Ah yes, right. Seeing as you are no longer commuting to school (now that you are an undergraduate), perhaps you ought to talk about the commute using the past tense: “My daily commute to school usually took around an hour…”.
You wrote:
“I would rather be absent the whole day than to face the punishment of being late by sitting in the parking lot of my school for six hours under the hot scorching sun of Jakarta.”
I won’t pretend that I didn’t understand exactly what you meant here, but you can make it a bit clearer with some different words choices. Compare your to mine:
“I would rather be absent the whole day than to face the punishment for being late which was having to sit in the parking lot of my school for six hours under the hot scorching sun of Jakarta.”
Note that “for” replaces “of” (kind of important), and “which was having to sit” replaces “by sitting”.
My name is Bramantyo Anandaru Suyadi, but you can call me Daru. I am from Bandung and I was born on 12 April 2002. I am from the management study program of the Faculty of Economic and Business in University of Gadjah Mada.I graduated from Labschool Kebayoran Highschool in 2020th of May. Although I was born in Bandung, I have lived most of my life in Jakarta for approximately 12 years. My father was from Yogyakarta and my mother was from Bandung. I also have a big brother who was born on 27 January 2000 in Bandung. I am currently staying in Bandung right now to avoid the risk of getting covid-19, because in Jakarta the infection rate was a lot higher compared to Bandung. Of course, there will be chances that I could potentially be affected by the virus, but it’s safe to assume that in Bandung the risks are lower compared to Jakarta. This was my introduction, thank you for your attention and stay safe.
ReplyDeleteDaru wrote:
Delete“I am from the management study program of the Faculty of Economic and Business in University of Gadjah Mada.”
Gadjah Mada University should not be written as “University of Gadjah Mada” in English as that is not its official international name (in English). Meanwhile, the official English name of Universitas Indonesia is “University Of Indonesia”.
Also, “economic” is an adjective. The word in the name of this faculty is plural “Economics” (and capitalized) but if it is the name of an academic subject it is treated as singular (and not capitalized) even though it ends with an S. Look at these:
“I gave up geography in year 10 because it was too hard. Unfortunately, economics is difficult as well.” (Treated as singular.)
“The economics of the government’s anti-pandemic policies are causing concern to some experts.” (Treated as plural.)
I apologize on behalf of the English language for this kind of stuff!
You wrote:
“My father was from Yogyakarta and my mother was from Bandung.”
This makes it sound as if they have both passed away. If that is the case, Daru, then you have my condolences.
Hello sir and my classmate, today I would like to introduce myself. My name is Rafter Yang Dharmawan Njata and my friend usually call me Rafter. I live in Semarang with my mom, dad, and also twin brother. My hobby is playing badminton and hanging out with friends. Badminton is like a part of my life because I was introduced it by my father when I was child and I do it regularly until now. For me, hanging out with friends is the hobby that I love the most. However, during this pandemic situation, I was forced to stop meeting them directly. Although, we can still chat or call each other using online application. I graduated from Karangturi National High School. Since I graduated earlier, I had a lot of spare time to read books and play game before I enrolled to UGM. I decided to join international program at UGM so I can learn many things especially english writing skill. That’s all the introduction from me. See you guys soon!
ReplyDeleteRafter wrote:
Delete“Hello sir and my classmate, today I would like to introduce myself. My name is Rafter Yang Dharmawan Njata and my friend usually call me Rafter.”
Be careful withn your plurals. You have more than one “classmate”. And I think it’s fair to say you don’t have only one “friends”. Later you do refer to “friends”!
You wrote:
“Badminton is like a part of my life because I was introduced it by my father when I was child and I do it regularly until now.”
[1] The word “like” is not necessary. It is very conversational but it should not occur in writing.
[2] Next: “I was introduced it” has a missing preposition. It should be “I was introduced to it”. Examples: “Adrian was introduced to the music of the Arctic Monkeys by Zhafirah” (passive voice). Alternatively, “Zhafirah introduced Adrian to the music of the Arctic Monkeys” (active voice).
[3] “I do it regularly until now” is OK, but “I play it regularly until now” is better. “Play” is a more appropriate verb.
You wrote:
“For me, hanging out with friends is the hobby that I love the most.”
There is no problem with the grammar or word choice here. However, I think you may be stretching the conventional definition of “hobby” by including “hanging out with friends”! I think “hanging out with friends” is something we do INSTEAD of engaging in hobbies!
Hello everyone name is Farrell Lesmana Agung. You can call me Farrell. I’m 18 years old and I’m from Surabaya. I have one older brother and he is 19 years old. I am still living with parents. My parents raised me as a Surabayans. Surabayans tends to speak louder than others. So pardon me if I’m a little bit harsh and loud. I’m hoping that I can move to Jogja really soon, because I really want to live on my own and manage my own stuff. I choose IUP FEB UGM because I’m in love with Jogja and I think that this program fits me best. People in Jogja have different way of talking compared to people that lives in Surabaya. They are very polite people.
ReplyDeleteI really love playing basketball. I started playing basketball when I was 8 years old. In middle school I tore my left Lateral Meniscus. I couldn’t walk properly for almost 6 months. I gain 40 kilos in that 6 Months. But that doesn’t stop me from playing basketball. In high school I the tenth grade I start exercising more and. I lost about 45 kilos in roughly 5 months. And maybe that’s all about me. Here is my Instagram : @farrelllesmana. Feel free to contact me through DM. Hope to see you guys really soon!
Farrell wrote:
Delete“I really love playing basketball. I started playing basketball when I was 8 years old.”
[1] “Eight”, not “8”.
[2] After the mention of “basketball” in the first sentence, there is no need to mention it again in the second one. The second sentence could instead be:
(a) “I started playing it when I was eight years old.” However, the word “it” sounds redundant. So, the whole thing…
(b) “I really love playing basketball. I started playing when I was eight years old.” Smooth!
You wrote:
“I choose IUP FEB UGM because I’m in love with Jogja and I think that this program fits me best. People in Jogja have different way of talking compared to people that lives in Surabaya. They are very polite people.”
A few interventions:
[1] “Chose” (past tense) and not “choose” (present tense).
[2] The word “fits” is fine. Maybe “suits” is better, though.
[3] “People in Jogja have different way of talking”. The word “way” is a countable noun, so if it is singular, you cannot have it in a sentence without an article – “the” or “a” – unless it is plural or there is a number in front of it – e.g. “They have one way of doing things” or “There are nine ways to skin a cat.”
[4] “…people that lives in Surabaya” should be “…people who live in Surabaya.”
[5] The problem with “They are very polite people” is that the reader cannot be certain whether “they” refers to Yogya people or to Surabaya people. Compare yours to mine:
“People in Yogyakarta, who are very polite people, have a different way of talking compared to people who live in Surabaya.”
Hello everyone, my name is Muhammad Faeyzadanish Shagufta and you can call me Danish. Although my nick name is Danish, doesn’t mean that i come from Denmark! The fact, I come from Yogyakarta. I was an alumni of SMA Negeri 1 Yogyakarta, one of many public schools on Yogyakarta.
ReplyDeleteSince in high school, I knew my self as an active student which followed not only academic courses on the school, but also followed nonacademic activities like organization and participating as an event organizer on an event called Festival Pelajar. Joining various activities help me to learn about time management and also about how to priotize things.
Right now on the stage of life as a university student, I really want to explore new things especially on my major, economic. I also want to learn about stock market which in the few next years, I wish I could have my own private investment business. I also have an excitement to make my own culinary business, because I really like to taste various foods!
As I realize that I have many dreams, I really believe that it is important to make collaborations on the purpose of growing together and making my dream come true! Hopefully joining this class with Mr. Adrian and all of you guys is a part of my life journey on growing, collaborating, and making our dream come true.
Danish wrote:
Delete“The fact, I come from Yogyakarta.”
The expression you are looking for is “In fact, I come from Yogyakarta.”
You wrote:
“Although my nick name is Danish, doesn’t mean that i come from Denmark!”
[1] The word is “nickname”.
[2] After “Danish” and the comma, you need to insert the word “it”.
[3] Aaagghhh. “i” must always be capitalized!
You wrote:
“Hopefully joining this class with Mr. Adrian and all of you guys is a part of my life journey on growing, collaborating, and making our dream come true.”
[1] You mention a “dream” at the end of your sentence. I am pretty sure that you and I and the “guys” in this class have more than just one dream, right?
[2] About saying or writing “Mr. Adrian”. First of all, it’s OK to call me Adrian. If you want to be more formal, the correct way to do it is to call me Mr Coen (or Mr. Coen, with a full stop after “Mr”, in American English). “Mister” goes with the family name: in this case, “Coen”. No native English speaker (at least not from my own country) would connect “Mister/Mr” to my first name (“Adrian”). And, whatever you do, you don’t call someone just “Mister” in English because, while it is an understandable mistake, it does noy sound nice, and if I ever called another British person (just) “Mister” without their family name, it would sound unfriendly or hostile.
Hello everyone, and hello Mr Adrian. It’s a pleasure for me to meet with you in this first small class on this evening. First of all, let me introduce my self, my name is Muhammad Ridho Fitrianto, people call me Ridho. I was born in Jakarta on 12th of December 2002, since my parents are working in Jakarta starting from a long time ago, so all of my siblings were born in Jakarta too. I think, I am going to tell a funny story about my origin city. So, it’s a tiny dilemma for me, when someone asks me where do I come from. Because, actually my parents and my big family were coming from Yogyakarta, but I was born in Jakarta and spent 13 years living there, however now I live in Yogyakarta since 2016 for my senior high school and now in 2020 for my college. When I ask to my parents where should I belong to (Jakarta or Yogyakarta), my parents always says “ It’s up to you since you’re an Indonesian.” Thank you.
ReplyDeleteRidho wrote:
Delete“Mr Adrian”
Take a look at what I said to Danish.
You wrote:
“Because, actually my parents and my big family were coming from Yogyakarta, but I was born in Jakarta and spent 13 years living there, however now I live in Yogyakarta since 2016 for my senior high school and now in 2020 for my college.”
[1] Starting a sentence with “because” can be OK, but you have got to make sure you do not end up with a clause that is not an independent clause (and/or a complete sentence). In this case, to connect this sentence with the previous one, you should start with “This is because…”
[2] There needs to be a comma after “actually”.
[3] The term “big family” is an example of what is called ‘mother tongue interference’. “Big family” is a translation of how you would say it in your native tongue (Indonesian). In English, the term you are looking for is “extended family”.
[4] The sentence above would benefit from being broken up into two or three sentences. Perhaps like this (note any other edits I make too):
“This is because, actually, my parents and my extended family came from Yogyakarta, but I was born in Jakarta and spent 13 years living there. However, now I have lived in Yogyakarta since 2016 in order to attend senior high school and now, in 2020, I amk here for college.”
See if you can see all the edits I made and figure out why I made each one.
Hi everyone!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Natanael Kevin Adiyatma Wibawa and you can just call me Kevin. I was born on the 5th of June 2002 in the beautiful city of Surakarta. Little fun fact about where I live is that the current president house is actually near mine! I usually ride my bike around his complex and often see guards glaring at me. I graduated from SMA Negeri 4 Surakarta in 2020 and now study Management in Gadjah Mada University. My father comes from Gemolong and my mother from Magelang. So in a sense my family is quite traditional. Meaning we uphold values of old such as using proper javanese social ethic in everyday life. I am the oldest and only son of 4 siblings and because of that the expectation on me is quite high. As a person I’m quite relaxed and the type that easily forgive and move on. I suppose that is all I have to say about me. Can’t wait to see you eye to eye offline!
Kevin wrote:
Delete“Little fun fact about where I live is that the current president house is actually near mine!”
Apologies for being trivial, but “fact” is a countable noun. So this sentence needs to begin with the indefinite article “a”. (Capitalized of course.)
You wrote:
“My father comes from Gemolong and my mother from Magelang.”
Omitting the word “comes” after “mother” is fine and perhaps even prefferable because the sentence works just as well without it. Even if you just forgot to type “comes”, let’s assume it was omitted on purpose. Well done.
You wrote:
“So in a sense my family is quite traditional.”
Not every English speaker will agree with me (I am a fan of commas) but I would say this sentence would be enhanced by instering a comma after “so” and another one before “my”.
You wrote:
“I am the oldest and only son of four siblings.” (Note that I have changed the “4” to “four”.)
This is interesting. It’s maybe not the most important edit in the world.
There’s a kind of clash between the word “son” and the word “sibling”. You being a “son” is a connection to your parents and not your siblings. Meanwhile, the word “siblings” refers to your brothers and sisters. It’s just a subtle thing, but take a look at these two alternatives:
““I am the oldest and only boy out of four siblings.”
“I am the oldest and only son out of four children.”
Hello everyone, my name is Nadya and people just call me by that name. When I talk to people, i often have to emphasize the “y” in my name because I guess Indonesian people are used to writing nadya with an “i” somehow. Other than that, I’m an 18 year old girl who just graduated from High School and is currently stepping into this whole new college world. I was born in Bandung, but raised in Saudi Arabia for and then came back to Jakarta, specifically Bekasi, to continue my senior High school. Living abroad would make people think that I’m an extrovert, but I actually consider myself as a very socially awkward person as I tend to always blank out when talking to new people and strangers. Thus, this whole pandemic and online classes has taken my anti-social side to a whole new level. Nonetheless, I’m very friendly and bubbly once u get to know me! Also, other than studying, I love listening to music during my leisure times, so I am open to any new song recommendations if you have some. I guess that is it from me and I look forward to knowing more about you all ! Always stay safe and healthy.
ReplyDeletebut raised in Saudi Arabia* ( without for)
DeleteNadya wrote:
Delete“I’m an 18 year old girl who just graduated from High School and is currently stepping into this whole new college world.”
This is a good sentence but “high school” is not capitalized unless you are giving the official name of a school and “High School” is part of that name.
You wrote:
“I was born in Bandung, but raised in Saudi Arabia and then came back to Jakarta, specifically Bekasi, to continue my senior High school.”
[1] You cannot have a comma after “Bandung” because “but raised in Saudi Arabia” is not an independent clause.
[2] By the time you get to “then came back to Jakarta” you probably need to insert “I” like this: “I was born in Bandung but raised in Saudi Arabia, and then I came back to Jakarta.”
[3] “my senior High school”… ouch.
You wrote:
“Thus, this whole pandemic and online classes has taken my anti-social side to a whole new level. Nonetheless, I’m very friendly and bubbly once u get to know me!”
I think this would sound better as “this pandemic” and then you change “has” to “have”. This avoids the repetition of the word “whole” and the expression “whole new level” is a striking one so you don’t want to lose it.
“Once u get to know me.” Hah? “U”? No!
Hello everyone! I, Lalu Muhammad Iqbal Arifin (Iqbal), am here to introduce myself and everything you might want to hear about me. I am an 18 year old Management undergraduate at Universitas Gadjah Mada. I graduated from SMAN 1 Mataram in a small island of Lombok from a natural science class, and yes it is the opposite of my major in College. Interestingly enough, I have attended 3 different high schools for four years. No, I was not held back in high school, that is in fact the amount of years there are for highschoolers to go through in the United States. I moved to Arizona in 6th grade and spent some time there, having to also move cities several times. Until recently moving back again to Indonesia by the beginning of last year, I have learned a lot from all types of experience that I’ve had. I am very much looking forward to learning even more experiences and knowledge in this class.
ReplyDeleteIqbal wrote:
Delete“Interestingly enough, I have attended 3 different high schools for four years.”
The clause “I have attended three different high schools” somewhat suggests that you are still attending high school; indeed, it suggests that you are currently attending the third of them. But then you say “for fours years” (well done for writing “4” as the word “four”, by the way) – which probably is clearer in meaning if you say “in four years” rather than “for four years” – plus the fact that we know you are now an undergraduate and no longer a high school students, so the present perfect tense doesn’t work well and your sentence would be better if you use the simple past tense. Compare yours to mine:
“Interestingly enough, I attended three different high schools in just four years.”
I even added the word “just” because it sounds a tiny bit more ‘exciting’!
You wrote:
“I am very much looking forward to learning even more experiences and knowledge in this class.”
We don’t ‘learn experiences’, we have them. If “experience” is treated as an uncountable noun, then we “gain experience”.
Look at this (everybody, not just Iqbal):
“Experience can be used as an uncountable noun. You use it when you're talking about knowledge or skill which is obtained from doing, seeing or feeling things. ... Experience(s) is also a countable noun, but when you use it the countable form you are talking about a particular incident or incidents that affect you.”
Taken from https://tinyurl.com/y5tyguf8
(I used https://tinyurl.com; good, isn’t it?)
More stuff about your sentence:
“Learning more” = “getting more knowledge” so the way you expressed the idea seems to be kind of repetitious. Compare yours to mine:
“I am very much looking forward to learning even more and having more experiences in this class.”
Hi everyone! My name is Larasati Titania Amalia, but I usually go as laras. I am currently taking the Economics program (like some of you are). I love to read in my spare time and happened to grow up by reading books from many genres; historical fiction, fantasy, classic literature, psychological fiction, and bildungsroman. But don't get me wrong, I am not that lame and antisocial! I like to spend time with my cat Goldie and cuddle with her in bed while we watch many movies and TV shows. My all time favorite movies are The Parent Trap and Before Midnight. Normally, I could never commit to TV shows because they're too much to keep up with! However since the quarantine has caused a lot of boredom, I managed to watch at least 6 different TV shows. Goldie and I like to also dance in my room while jamming to really good songs (the band Cigarettes After S*x, The Marias, Anna of the North, ABBA). I also like to go out for brunch with my friends during the weekend and go see a movie too! Alright I guess that's all I have to say about myself, I am looking forward to a productive and fun time with all of you!
ReplyDeleteLaras wrote:
Delete“I love to read in my spare time and happened to grow up by reading books from many genres; historical fiction, fantasy, classic literature, psychological fiction, and bildungsroman.”
I had to look up “bildungsroman” because I did not know what it means. For those like me, here is how it is defined: “a novel dealing with one person's formative years or spiritual education.”
You live and you learn. Thank you Laras.
Different point:
You wrote: “I love to read in my spare time and happened to grow up by reading books from many genres”.
The “happened to grew up” bit sounds a bit unnecessary and sounds clumsy, especially with the unwanted preposition “by” inserted in there too. I suggest something much more straightforward:
“I love to read in my spare time and grew up reading books from many genres”.
Nore carefully the edits I made. When you delete something from you own writing where you think it is redundant or repetitious, the question to ask yourself is: has any important information or meaning been lost because of the deletion? In this case, I’d say no.
You wrote:
“I like to spend time with my cat Goldie and cuddle with her in bed while we watch many movies and TV shows. My all time favorite movies are…”
Never mind what your “all time favorite movies are”, we want to know what Goldie’s “all time favorite movies are”!
Hello everybody, my name is Julian Saputra. Im 17 years old and come from Jakarta.I graduated from Sekolah Dian Harapan Daan Mogot which actually isn’t much of a famous school in Indonesia or Jakarta. I don’t have many hobbies but when i find a hobby that i really like i tend to focus on it, an example of one of my hobbies is swimming. I consider myself as an avid swimmer as i used to swim everyday and try to enter some competitions, eventually i finally managed to reach the Jakarta providential level. In my opinion the Jakarta providential level is one of the toughest swimming scenes out there considering all the under 18 athletes train at GBK and other similar areas. Aside from swimming i usually just like travelling around indonesia and Jakarta, in my opinion traveling by car around Indonesia or atleast Java is a must. There is just something different about road trips then when you fly in a plane, in a car you really see what Java is really like. Coming from Jakarta you only see the best part of modern Indonesia and can't really see the different economies and cultures around Indonesia, and once you really see what Indonesia is it really opens your eyes. Anyway that's a bit about me, I hope you found this interesting and i’ll see you next time.
ReplyDeleteJulian wrote:
Delete“I don’t have many hobbies but when i find a hobby that i really like i tend to focus on it, an example of one of my hobbies is swimming.”
Avoiding the repetition of words is one way of making your writing smoother and more effective. In just one sentence above, you use the word “hobbies” twice and also the word “hobby” once. This can be avoided easily. Look at my version of your sentence:
“I don’t have many hobbies but when I find one that i really like, I tend to focus on it; an example of this is swimming.”
Now, hobbies/hobby only occurs once in the sentence which makes it punchier rather than kind of slack.
Also not carefully the changes to the punctuation that I made.
You wrote:
“In my opinion the Jakarta providential level is one of the toughest swimming scenes out there considering all the under 18 athletes train at GBK and other similar areas.”
[1] There should be a comma after “opnion”.
[2] I assume by “providential”, you meant “provincial”.
[3] No matter how famous “GBK” is (or how ignorant I am), the first time you mention something in a piece of writing, you should write it out in full and then put the abbreviation or acronym in parentheses after it. In this case you do not need to refer to Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium again, so there is no need to write “GBK” at all.
[4] GBK is not an "area", I think. It's a location or a facility.
Note: always capitalize the pronoun “i”. See my comment addressed to Shafa (below).
Hey everyone! My name is Maalique Pasha, but everyone I know calls me Pasha. I am 18 years old and I was born and raised in Jakarta. I live with both my parents and my younger brother who is 2 years younger than me. Here in UGM, I take the Management program which I've heard to be one of the (if not, the) best programs in this country. I graduated from Mentari Intercultural School Jakarta this year. I've spent my entire school life there, therefore most of my friends are in some ways related to that school. What I like to do in my free time is either watch netflix or play different kinds of games. If you find me chatting with my friends, you will probably notice that we often talk about football, as that being a big interest of mine too. Anyway guys, that's a bit of background info about me, I hope that I can learn more about you guys in the future and hopefully vice versa.
ReplyDeletePasha wrote:
Delete“…my younger brother who is 2 years younger than me.”
Numbers below ten should be written as words.
You wrote:
“If you find me chatting with my friends, you will probably notice that we often talk about football, as that being a big interest of mine too.”
There is an interesting tiny error here which, in fact, demonstrates that you are almost finding the correct turn of phrase but, on this occasion, you are mixing two ways of expressing the idea. Compare my two versions to your version:
“If you find me chatting with my friends, you will probably notice that we often talk about football, as that is a big interest of mine too.”
Or…
“If you find me chatting with my friends, you will probably notice that we often talk about football, that being a big interest of mine too.”
Do you notice the subtle difference in the syntax?
You wrote:
Delete“…my younger brother who is 2 years younger than me.”
I've just noticed that the first time you use the word "younger" in this sentence, it is redundant. Take it out, and you lose no information; added to which, without the repetition of the word, the sentence reads more smoothly.
Hello everyone! my full name is Shafa Haliza Raihanah Sofwan but you can just call me Shafa and i just graduated from SMA Negeri 70 Jakarta. I am the second child of a three siblings, i have big brother and little brother. I live in Jakarta but was born in Makassar, South Sulawesi on 6th April 2002 because of my father's job. My father is a Sundanese, he is from Bandung and my mother came from West Sumatera. My hobby is listening to some music but sometimes i get too bored of them then read some books. I'm actually more of a comic person but since pandemic, i've been reading novel because i also get too bored with comics. I hope that with this new hobby, i can elevate my literacy skills and my interest in novels. That is all i can say for my backround, hope to see you guys offline!
ReplyDeleteShafa wrote:
Delete“i” six times, uncapitalized, when it was the first person singular pronoun! Insert HORRIFIED emoticon here.
You wrote:
“My father is a Sundanese, he is from Bandung and my mother came from West Sumatera.”
These are two separate independent clauses and so cannot be joined by a comma. They need to be separated by a full stop or you need to combine them. Compare mine to yours:
“My father is Sundanese and comes from Bandung, while my mother comes from West Sumatera.”
Note the other edits I made.
You wrote:
“Since pandemic, I've been reading novel because I also get too bored with comics.”
Two edits:
Firstly, “pandemic” is a countable noun so you need to write “the pandemic”. (You would only write “a pandemic” if it was not clear which one you were talking about which isn’t the case here.)
Secondly: it ought to be “novels” (plural).
Ok sir, thank you for the correction.
ReplyDelete