5. BUSY

Typical problem sentences

A. Nowadays I'm very busy for writing my thesis.

B. My sister is busy to do her homework.

C. My professor is busy with preparing his lecture.

I. Busy --ing

Put no preposition between 'busy' and the --ing verb.

A1OK, B1OK, C1OK

II. busy with (noun)

The noun is sufficient to indicate the verbal action.

A2OK: Nowadays, I am very busy with my thesis.

B2OK, C2OK

=> We either use 'busy'+'--ing' with no preposition,

or we use 'busy' + 'with' + a NOUN.( the noun is sufficient

to convey the verbal action).

NOTE I: do not use an infinitive construction with busy.

(too busy to ----)

1. I'm sorry, but I'm busy too busy to help you.

2.

NOTE II: We can also use the adjective, 'busy', without indicating

the specific activity with which a person is busy.

3.-5.

BUSY can be used to refer to a certain period of time.

6.-8.

Busy can r efer to a certain place where a great deal of activity occurs.

9.-10.

6. Problems with collective nouns #1

A. Our company sent three staffs to London: Mr. Lee, Ms. Choi, and me.

B I discussed your offer with Mr. Yoon. He's a marketing staff of our company.

C. Many boys from poor families drop out of school and become gangs.

D. My brother-in-law is an English Literature faculty at Yonsei University.

E. How many families do you have?

F. All my families except my young sister live in Pusan.

Nouns such as 'staff', 'gang', 'faculty', and 'family' refer to GROUPS OF PEOPLE.

(Collective nouns).

=> A 'staff' is a group of persons working under the same manager, or performing the same function.

=> An individual worker can be described as being, 'on a staff', a 'member of a staff', or a 'staff member'.

I am a member of the teaching staff of Mokwon university.

A1OK, B1OK

1.-2.

A gang is a group of persons going about together, especially for criminal purposes.

Gang: 'in a gang', 'a member of a gang' or a 'gangster'.

C1OK, C2OK

We generally use the word 'gangster' for an individual involved in criminal activity of a fairly high level.

Lower level (street violence): 'hoodlum'

A faculty is a group of teachers employed by the same educational institution.

Faculty: 'on a faculty', a 'member of faculty', 'a faculty member'.

D1OK, D2OK

3.-5.

A family is a group of biologically related individuals.

Family: 'in a family', a 'member of a family', a 'family member'.

E1OK, F1OK, F2OK

NOTE II: My family members XXX

G, H. G1OK H1OK

Native speakers of English tend to speak of 'people' who are 'in a family' rather than of ' family members'.

G2OK H2OK

NOTE III

a) Whole group: singular form of the verb

That team competes in the regional championship every year, and last year it was the best team in its division.

b) Individuals in the group: plural form of the verb

That team dress in their own bedrooms, rather than in a locker room.(confusing)

-> The members of that team dress .....................

NOTE IV: 'everybody' and 'everyone' = singular pronouns.-> singular form of verb.

7. Problems with collective nouns #2:

A. Mr. Park knows a lot of English vocabularies, but his grammar is very weak.

B. Since I started studying French, I've learned twenty new vocabularies every day.

C. The English language uses twenty-six different alphabets.

"Vocabulary" and "Alphabet" are both collective nouns.

A "vocabulary" is a group composed of individual 'WORDS'.

A1OK

A2OK

B1Ok,  ...twenty new words...

B2OK, ...expanded [increased, enlarged] my vocabulary...

1-3.

Vocabulary:

- the group of words associated with a person or specialty

- the group of words which make up a language

An 'alphabet' is a group composed of individual "LETTERS".

(used in writing a language)

C1OK, C2OK

4., 5.

8. DESPITE/ IN SPITE OF (Frequent Errors: Grammatical)

A. Despite he studies for many hours, he doesn't do well on exams.

B. She isn't tired, despite that she dances for seven hours each day.

C. In spite the weather, we went on our picnic.

In English, the expressions, 'in spite of' and 'despite', are followed by noun expressions: nouns, noun phrases, gerunds, pronouns, etc.

A1OK, A2OK, B1OK, B2OK

[A few usual tricks.]

A. You can follow 'despite' or 'in spite of' with a clause if you insert the expression, 'the fact that...'

A3OK, B3OK

B. You can use the noun phrase, 'lack of ...', to replace many negative expressions following 'despite' and 'in spite of'.

1, 1a, 2, 2a

[WARNING: Be careful not to confuse the noun phrase, 'lack of' (‘My lack of money depresses me') with the verb, 'to lack', ('I lack money').=> p. 88.

C. You can use 'BEING...' to replace many descriptive expressions following 'despite' and 'in spite of'.

3, 3a, 4, 4a

3b, 5, 5a

[Several different ways to express the same idea flexibly]

6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e

NOTE: "in spite of"

'despite' and 'in spite of' are used interchangeably