2016-02-05 Core: 5 project and postcards

Greg Malivuk
[email protected]
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - notes from all classes
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Homework: p. 163 practice 2, and write some more unusual or creative problems that a person could have while traveling
2 A has raised (the $10,000 is finished)
  B has been walking
3 A have been coming / have come
  B has increased / has been increasing
4 A hasn’t been traveling (he is traveling now, but he didn’t start a long time ago)
  B has seen (the sights he has seen are finished)
5 A have completed
  B did you train (because now it’s completed)

The number of tourists has increased.
A number of tourists have visited.

I’ve been reading lots of amazing books. (I’m in the middle of reading amazing books.)
*I’ve been reading lots of amazing books already. (This doesn’t make sense, because what’s surprising about being in the middle “already”?)

I’ve been living here for three years already. (This is okay, because I’m still living here, but it’s surprising that I have been living here for so long already.)
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If you walk outside and the street is wet, you can say, “It has been raining,” even though now it’s not still raining.
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Possible travel problems:
4 - You are checking in at the airport and you realize you forgot your wallet at home.
4 - You arrive at your destination and realize you bought a ticket to the wrong city.
1 - You sleep through the stop where you’re supposed to transfer to another bus.
3 - There’s a gate change and you have to go all the way to the other side of the airport.
1 - You’re on the plane with a serial killer.
3 - You arrive in an airport with a strange rule (like you can’t wear shorts).
5 - You make a joke in the security line about having a weapon or a bomb.
2 - Your suitcase is too heavy so you need to find another way to bring all of your things.

Choose the four problems you think would be interesting to solve.
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What is the worst way to respond to these situations?
With your partner, come up with a (somewhat detailed) BAD “solution” to these four problems.

hitchhike = wait by the highway for a car to give you a ride toward your destination
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BREAK
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p. 65 - read the postcard from Lynne
bc = because (informal)
ps = post script (can be formal or informal, for something you add at the end of a letter or postcard)
part 1 - answer the questions
Why do you think it’s written to friends? - If it were to family, the uncle in Brisbane would be named.

How do you know it’s informal?
part 2a - find each of these informal things in the postcard
abbreviations: bc = because, ps = post script (if we write it as P.S. it’s not so informal)
comments in parentheses: (fell off every time), (wow!)
contractions: haven’t
exclamation marks: Hi!, Under!, Bangkok!!!, time!, wow!, summer!
informal expressions: Hi, Down Under, out of this world, wow, new pics
listing items: “been surfing, seen the Opera House, been on a boat trip”
leaving out words: (I) finally made it after (an) 18-hour delay, (The) weather here (is) glorious, (the) beaches (are) out of this world, So far (I) have, (I) haven’t been out of the city, (I got a) text from my uncle in Brisbane -- (he) has found me a job there for the summer., (There are) new pics up on Flickr.

Down Under = Australia (because it’s “upside-down”, on the opposite side of the planet from Europe)

The reader knows “I” (= Lynne) is writing everything, so it’s okay (informally) to remove that word as well as some helping verbs and articles that are unnecessary to understand the meaning.
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Postcards use abbreviations and omit some words because the space is limited. What more common ways of communicating nowadays also have very limited space?
- SMS messages (SMS = “short messaging service”) - 160 characters
- Twitter - 140
- other chat and comment applications might be limited (or at least people usually leave short comments)
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Other common abbreviations of regular speech:
omg = Oh my God. (1917- earliest known use of “omg” in a letter)
lol = laughing out loud
wtf = what the f**k? (also wth = what the hell)
u = you
2 = two/too/to
r = are
b = be
asap = as soon as possible (also old)
cuz = bc = because
w/ = with
w/o = without
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Other languages also do this (Spanish: xq = por que, q+ = que mas; Thai: 555 = hahaha)
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part 2d - rewrite the sentences in a more informal way
1 Weather sunny and very hot.
2 Been touring all the typical places -- exhausting!
3 People very kind and helped me a lot.
4 Took some koala photos -- so cute!
5 Haven’t heard from Suri.
6 Taking a bus to Brisbane bc flying (is) too expensive.
  Taking bus 2 Brisb. b/c flying 2 expensive
  Bus 2 brisb bc flying 2 expensive
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How well does the person know you? How well can they predict what you’re trying to say? Do they use the same abbreviations you want to use?
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Homework: write a postcard about an imagined trip when you had one of the problems we solved today

(or another problem: zombies in the airport, werewolves on the plane and it’s a full moon, everyone’s going to a cat show and bringing their cats on the plane and you’re allergic, snakes on a plane, etc.)

You can (but don’t have to) buy a postcard, but your writing should be condensed enough to fit on one.