Hello everyone! How is it going? Here we have another writing challenge so let’s write about food and eating which is an interesting subject I assume =)))
I want you to write me a paragraph or two in which you can also answer the questions below.
How often do you go out to eat?
When you eat out, do you go to restaurants? Cafés? Fast-food places? Food stands?
Do you have a favourite place to eat? Where is it? Why do you like it?
Dear daydream3r, thank you very much for your writing initiatives.
Another fun topic, let’s go:
Hate to be bummed out, but man I think last time I ate out was in Februray or something (before Corona). And there are a few (some obvious) reasons for that:
I personally prefer eating at home and cooking…I think it’s a cool activity and you can invite your friends over and do a little bit of socialization too. I have to say, I’m a huge foodie; I live to eat. But at the same time, I have to always watch what I eat and exercise, cuz otherwise thanks to my “interesting” metabolism/genes, I’m gonna put on some weights. Therefore, it’s much easier to more or less measure your food at home and know what goes inside your food. Also when I was studying my roommate and I were gym buddies, so I got into this habit of working out and then buying the groceries and cooking more or less healthy meals.
This is true about anywhere in the world (thanks to McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, etc), but even more so in Iran…it’s kinda hard to find a good restaurant that you trust they use healthy fresh real food in their meals. We have heard all these crazy stories of some restaurants that use crap to sell you something.
Well, specially at these pandemic days, and if you are a bit of germophobe like me, again hard to trust and not ask yourself “has this restaurant washed their dishes really good?” and questions as such. Otherwise, can be a bit of risk eating out these days.
Why do we eat out? Some other reasons could be the whole experience of just getting out, maybe driving a bit/or walking to that place, being outside, fresh air, etc. Sometimes I think this is a bit difficult in Tehran. Like the air quality is low. If you decide to walk outside, cars drive in a way as if they want to murder you and don’t stop before crosswalk, if you are driving, pedestrians don’t care and try to cross from wherever and whenever. And these days cuz of all the financial and political problems that our government and nation are facing, I think you can see a lot of tension in our people. Sometimes it doesn’t feel fun being around others outside. It’s a bit of tense situation. And then add the Corona to the equation, and voila, you might literally have hell
But let’s not be so negative too and go back a bit to the good ol’ days. I love Italian cuisine and Pizza for sure. One of the things that I’d love to eat outside to keep my cravings at bay is Pizza! Right now, I’m ordering from some random OK-ish pizza delivery place once a week. But couple years ago, my family and I used to go to this Pizza place in Molasadra in Tehran and eat out there. They had that Italian thin crust style of Pizza. Really delicious.
I always have to watch what I eat and I have to exercise.
I think it’s better to say so:
and if not, I will put on some weight thanks to my “interesting” metabolism
it’s much easier to measure your food at home more or less
I didn’t quite catch that mate. Can you clarify it please?
I can’t say it’s wrong to use “more or less” here as it’s right after the verb. but it would be much better if it was:
and cooking healthy meals more or less
Especially
again it’s hard to trust
Otherwise, it can be a bit of risk
But a couple of years ago
And that’s it all… Thank you dear Sajad for sharing your thoughts
Hello, Alireza!
Despite being in my early 30’s, I can count my eating-outs on the fingers of one hand. And mostly I had no choice (more or less). For example, a few years ago, when I was in the military service as a conscript, sometimes I would take a leave to go into the city with my friends and we would decide to go for eating something (to cleanse our palates from army food ). Or there was a few times at the university, when my friends and I would go out to eat and celebrate our achievements (It’s the thing we call it “شیرینی دادن”. Is there a word for it in English? ).
Anyway… It’s a couple of years since I’ve chosen a vegan lifestyle and I don’t eat meat and dairy. In spite of being a big fan of healthy food and being a vegan, I’ve never seen any place with vegan cuisine in my town. I reckon this gives me a good reason to always eat in and never out (and a great excuse to be weird and never accept people’s offers for food ). I’m also a good cook, but I’m not a fussy eater; I can just eat fruits and consider it as a complete and nutritious meal for the day (I don’t have to feed a family, so I’m not bothered [this means it’s not important for me ]).
Thank you for your corrections. To be honest with you, I don’t think users such as @Mashreghi and I are here to be corrected or to be correcting other people. We are more here to freely communicate with other people, regardless of their level of English.
I joined your topic, because it was a general writing topic. So, I was not particularly looking for any feedback, but merely to communicate with you and others commenting under this post. Had this been, for instance, an IELTS essay, then I’d have made sure to write everything in a formal manner, which I guess most of your corrections are based on.
Here in your corrected suggestion, “more or less” modifies the whole sentence…but the way that I meant to use “more or less” as a phrase was to only modify the act of measuring and not the whole sentence, meaning that you cannot measure perfectly, but more or less. The intent of any word in any given sentence is very important and can affect its place in the sentence. Please be careful and read a bit more patiently.
I just forgot to put a comma after studying, so this is a minor mistake, but still I’m surprised you could not understand what I meant.
Because if you thought, I meant: Also when I was studying my roommate…and I were gym buddies…“I were” doesn’t make sense since this is not a conditional sentence. So the verb is “were”, which is plural, and the subject cannot be “I” since it’s singular, then what can be the subject? “my roommate and I”.
Again, here I want the “more or less” to only modify “healthy”, which is adjective…so I don’t want the “more or less” to modify the whole sentence. It’s just the same as saying: “more healthy meals”, “less healthy meals”,…
I highly encourage you to please google “specially vs. especially” and read on their differences (or lack thereof) before trying to correct someone or suggest corrections.
Obviously, here “it is” has been omitted. Like I said, I thought this wasn’t an IELTS essay or “Please only write a formal essay” kind of topic, I just thought it was a friendly writing challenge that I could join to share my opinions. The problem is if we only learn the formal way that a language is spoken, then we are totally lost when we encounter other ways that a language can also be spoken. For instance, in spoken Farsi, we might say “اره بهش گفتم، گفت اوکی هست”
Which can be translated to: “Yeah, told him, said is fine”
Can you tell me in the Persian version where the subjects are? They have been omitted. And that’s the way that you can probably hear a language being spoken in movies, podcasts, etc. or in general informal situations.
And the problem is that, let’s say, we start teaching the beginners only the most formal ways to comprehend and communicate a language, and then those poor students are bloody lost when they watch a movie in English or listen to, let’s say, Joe Rogan’s podcasts (the most popular podcast in the world right now), and then because they don’t understand anything, they say “Oh I hate English, God I can’t even understand a single sentence in English!”. Let us be a bit more thorough in our ways that we teach English. Let us get rid of those old outdated methods, it’s 2020, for God’s sake.
Again, the same situation as the above.
But a couple of years ago= formal
But couple years ago= informal
My whole text is shouting informal as I’m using “cuz, btw,…” and then you only pick a few examples to tell me how to write formally? Please before you try to correct someone, read a bit on that matter that you are trying to correct, it’s so easy these days, all you have to do is to google that, it wouldn’t take more than 2-3 minutes.
Man, you really made me doubt my sentence right now. You know what I did? (which is the short informal way for saying “(Do) you know what I did?” before you try to correct me)…got on Google and googled “I have to always…”, this is one of the websites that it brought me:
Please please please, do your research and take your time for less than one minute before you share false information with others and misguide beginners that way! Thank you
I suggest everyone on these Zabanshenas forums to not blindly just accept any language advice or corrections from any instructor. Please, do your own research! In fact, this is exactly what I tell my own students after I offer them my opinions and suggestions. There is time and place for anything. This place is not just a “Oh lemme correct you and show you where you’re wrong” website, but also a forum for everyone to freely communicate with each other.
Hi everybody if you are in a Tehran it’s better to don’t bye anything to eat😂because every things are expansive
I’m joking
But usually I don’t bye anything to eat in out side but if I have to
I prefer to eat sandwich
I don’t like to seat on a table in a restaurant
inisted of that I like go to the park and start to eat
And I can enjoying nature
if you’re in Tehran, it’s better not to buy anything to eat
Because everything is expensive
(I know the word “everything” refers to more than one thing but words like “everything, everyone. everybody, nothing. nobody” take singular verbs)
I don’t have a problem that you want to help, matter of fact that’s awesome. Where I have problem is that you are not taking your job/position seriously and sharing incorrect and wrong information. Don’t you feel you have duty and responsibility as an instructor to do your homework and share correct information so that you are not misguiding beginners and other language learners?
Imagine a beginner would read this comment of yours:
And then he tries to learn to never say “I have to always do xyz…”. And then you have given him incorrect piece of advice and information!
Or:
He/she would read that and would always think a sentence like “Couple years ago I went to New York” is wrong. And then one day he travels and he hears that sentence from natives themselves and he is confused about your lesson.
First of all, I must say that I’m not a big fan of eating out. I prefer to eat simple home-cooked meals to seemingly delicious and colorful foods are cooked in commercial shops and places. Therefore, I can probably not suggest you a favorite place to eat. Only one sustainable and desirable option remains for me, in this regard. That option is cooking food for myself, at home and eat it, in the lap of nature (picnic) with my family.
Maybe, this way of thinking and point of view of mine, is strange or unjustifiable for you. In my opinion, eating out, isn’t a good or suitable option for us, at all. Foods are cooked in shops and commercial places, isn’t a healthy choice for our daily diet, and even worse than that, we don’t know how they have been prepared or cooked for us.
Nutritional health (or healthy diet) is very important to me. I’m definitely obsessed with nutrition. But this, had worked very well for me. Tow of the good results of this obsession and importance of mine for healthy foods are that I am, now, in ideal body condition based on my age, gender and height (tall). I can say about another result that I have no problems with blood pressure, blood lipids, blood sugar and so on. I suggest you always try to eat healthy foods and don’t eat every thing. At least, try to keep this important point in mind that “How to reduce the risk of coronavirus (COVID-19) for yourself, while you’re eating out”.
In the end, I hope I made the least amount of mistakes in this writing of mine. Also, thank you for creating this excellent challenge and for taking the time on my writing.
Hello to you dear Ms.Velayati
Thanks for joining us in this topic. well, I think homemade food is the healthiest one. However, Fast-food places and restaurants are a kind of gift to us because the world is growing fast and people have to work 24/7 and that’s becoming a lifestyle. to work and eat something at the cafeteria in your company, or a fast-food restaurant across the street. I think we should have a balance in this case and have both types of food. And totally yes I agree with you. But I’m not “against” eating out
By the way! would you mind if I check your text again and give you a feedback on your writing?
You’re absolutely wright and maintaining balance in these cases, is the best option. But I’m obsessed with these subjects and again, this, comes from my OCD problem!
I would be very happy and thankful, if you could give me a feedback on my writing. I just hope I didn’t make too many mistakes in this writing of mine.
If it’s possible, you always give feedback on my writings and I’ll never get upset about that.
I didn’t care much for the pause before your “fruit”. I’m sensing I look like a hippie to you now. (kidding )
In fact, fruits are the tastiest and most delicious foods for human, but warm main meals are just more satisfying (at least that’s what I think ).
My pleasure!
Just until your next shopping? God bless you for that!
But joking apart,
Thanks to the price of meat (that I’m not even sure how much it is now ), a lot of people are converting to Veganism (but personally I don’t think it’s a bad thing; sorry! ).
How is it going? 
Here we have another writing challenge 
so let’s write about food and eating which is an interesting subject I assume =)))
I’m checking your text
).
), a lot of people are converting to Veganism (but personally I don’t think it’s a bad thing; sorry!