Murphy's Law

Do you find yourself lucky or unlucky? For me, I’ve never thought of it in my life until last month. It was horrible, that is the only way I can describe it. I even thought somebody was casting a spell on me. I underwent a really tough time in July, and the experience reminded me of “Murphy’s Law”.

 I learned about t“Murphy's Law” in my class. As far as I understand, the definition of Murphy’s Law is something like this: something bad happens to you, even though you think it is unlikely to occur. My July wasnothing less than proof of Murphy’s Law. One day, for instance, my agent called me about my future plan. Theytold me that the business school which I wanted to go to was going to close their course due to a lack of participants. It was absolutely out of the blue for me, because I had been planning to take the course for almost 2 monthsand I had even taken the entrance test for it. 

After the unexpected news, my friend advised me to do something fun to blow off the steam, so I decided to goto watch a film. Even worse, in the middle of the movie, an alarm started to ring all of sudden, and the entire audience was forced to leave the theatre. We were unable to watch the end of story. Needless to say, I was in quite a terrible mood. This is just one of the examples. If I had a better command of English, I would write every single event I experienced last month. 

Compared to July, things are much better in August. However, I’m still in the midst of misfortune. I guess what I can do is to believe that good things come after bad ones. 

English note

最近CAEケンブリッジコースを受けているけど、全然合格する気がしません。。。特に問題なのがreadingとuse of English。知らない表現が多すぎる。でも不満を言ったところでどうにもならないので、今日も間違えやすい所をnoteしておこうと思います。

only if ≠ if only = wish
only if は if を強調しています。さらにめんどくさいことに、後のmain clauseではSubjectとmodel verbの語順が入れ替わります。
Only if you study, wil you pass the test.
If you study, you will pass the test.

あと未来形についてもメモ。

• to be in for + noun: to express a prediction.
• to be on the point of something/Ving: to refer to the very next moment. 
• to be to V: to expres an arrangement or a plan that has been formally organized
• will soon V: to indicate a previously scheduled time.
• to be due to V: to express something which is already scheduled. 

Friends or Family?

AS a language learner, I’m often asked the same questions: “Which is more important for you, your friends or family?” There are no exact answer to his question, which makes me feel uncomfortable to talke about. Therefore. I’ve already prepared an answer for it. “For me, my friends are more important than my parents”. That’s my opinion. But the most important part comes after this: ”Why???”. As a matter of fact, most of my teachers or classmates usually object to or question my idea since they value their parents rather than their friendships. Okay, fair enough, I’ll present my point of view in respect to relationships.

The first thing that comes to mind is the fact you cannot choose your parents. Whereas, with friends, you can find someone who has something in common with and build a great relationship. In termes of the benefits we can receive, I’m sure nobody thinks about this topic as it’s kind of an arrogant idea, but there are many things to learn from being on good terms with your fellows. I also believe that this is also necessary to survive in our stressful society. 

In addition, you parents will most likely pass away before you do. If you rely too much on your parents, not only can you not be independent from your parents, but also the loneliness of losing them will be devastating. Apparently what you need is friends who can back you up. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it’s okay to treat our parents halfheartedly, like how many teenagers do during their adolescence. More precisely, we ought to care for our parents for sure, but they are no nearly as important as friends for those reasons I have mentioned above. The point is that you can’t choose your life, but you can choose your companions for life.  

Hypothetical meaning - wish

今日はwishの復習。
一般的には仮定法の一部扱いとして紹介されているけど、結構おくが深いので注目!!

1 I wish my dad wouldn't always be so cross with me.
We use wish + would to talk about other people's irritating habits, not our own.

2 I wish I had an old brother.
We use wish + simple past to express a wish that is not true in the present. We also use is to express wishes that might come true in the future.

3 If only I could spend more time with my grandparents!
If only is used with the same as verb form as wish, but can be used when your feelings are stronger.

4 Would you rather I called back later?
I'd rather is used with the past simple when we say what we want to happen in the present or future.

5 It's definite time the children went to bed.
It's time or it's high time is used with the past simple to talk about the present or the future.

6 Don't  you wish you has spend more time with your great-grandmother?
We use wish + past perfect to refer to things we are sorry about in the past or that     we regret.

7 I wish I could stop eating chocolate!
We use wish + could to talk about our own irritating habits.

8 Suppose nobody came to the party - I'd be really disappointed!
Suppose means what if? We use it to describe something that may possibly happen or that may have happened.

9 I really wish I would play the guitar!
We use wish + could to talk about an ability we would like to have.