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Mon 12 Nov, 2007 10:10 am
Hi
Could someone please go through this short passage meant for Grade 3 students and edit it for me. Many thanks.
The biggest problem for most animals in the winter is finding enough food. If the animal's main source of food is very scarce in the winter, it may solve this problem by hibernating. This deep sleep allows them to conserve energy, and survive the winter with little or no food.
Animals, such as bears, bats frogs and turtles sleep all winter because they cannot find food then. When they are asleep, their body temperature drops, and their heartbeat and breathing slow down. It uses very little energy. These animals eat a lot before winter comes and grow fat. They live all winter on the fat stored in their bodies. When spring comes, they awake because they feel warm and are hungry.
Other animals, such as the snakes, hibernate ot escape the cold weather. When the temperature is low, these animals slow down and can hardly move at all. It they stayed outside, they would freeze. So they spend the winter hibernating in a protected place.
In this section:
Quote:If the animal's main source of food is very scarce in the winter, it may solve this problem by hibernating. This deep sleep allows them to conserve energy, and survive the winter with little or no food.
"It" and "them" (bolded) do not agree. You can fix this by saying:
Quote:If an animal's main source of food is very scarce in the winter, it may solve this problem by hibernating. This deep sleep allows the animal to conserve energy, and survive the winter with little or no food.
or
Quote:If an animal's main source of food is very scarce in the winter, it may solve this problem by hibernating. This deep sleep allows animals to conserve energy, and survive the winter with little or no food.
Same problem later, too. ("they" -> "it.")
Also a typo -- "hibernate TO escape the cold weather."
It required very little....just a movement of an apostrophe - making animal's (singular) to animals' (plural); changing "it" to they to agree with the plural "animals" and one typo "ot" which should be "to"; a comma after a list of animals; also, Their bodies use.....instead of "it uses"; If they stayed outside...rather than "It they stayed outside...;
Proofing is what you wanted, right? Or did you want a complete editing and rewrite? I can do that too, if you want.
The biggest problem for most animals in the winter is finding enough food. If the animals' main source of food is very scarce in the winter, they may solve this problem by hibernating. This deep sleep allows them to conserve energy, and survive the winter with little or no food.
Animals, such as bears, bats, frogs and turtles sleep all winter because they cannot find food then. When they are asleep, their body temperature drops, and their heartbeat and breathing slow down. Their bodies use very little energy. These animals eat a lot before winter comes and grow fat. They live all winter on the fat stored in their bodies. When spring comes, they awake because they feel warm and are hungry.
Other animals, such as the snakes, hibernate to escape the cold weather. When the temperature is low, these animals slow down and can hardly move at all. If they stayed outside, they would freeze. So they spend the winter hibernating in a protected place.
Hi Herema
I need someone improve on the passage. A detailed editing is not required, just as Sozobe has done. Thanks, Sozobe, for your effort.
Quote: Animals, such as bears, bats, frogs and turtles sleep all winter because they cannot find food. then When they are asleep, their body temperature drops, and their heartbeat and breathing slow down.
ItHibernating animals use very little energy. These animals eat a lot before winter comes and grow fat. They live all winter on the fat stored in their bodies. When spring comes, they awake (wake or awaken) because they feel warm and are hungry.
Other animals, such as the snakes, hibernate to escape the cold weather. When the temperature is low, these animals slow down and can hardly move at all. If they stayed outside, they would freeze, so they spend the winter hibernating in a protected place.
Heres something interesting:
Hibernating animals USE very little energy. Plural of animals singular of use.
A hibernating animal USES very little food. Singular of animal plural(?) of use.
In addition, "An" is often used in front of a word beginning with H. I think this is very proper British. This usage appears to be in decline.
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Additional information:
During hot summers and periods of drought they
(some frogs)
Thanks. everybody. for your help.
Hi Herema
On second thoughts, you may rewrite my passage if you want to.
Thanks in advance.
When winter comes and temperatures get colder, some animals head for warmer climates. Others grow thicker fur to stay warm, and some animals head underground for a long winter's nap. This is called hibernation.
Hibernation is a time when animals "sleep" through winter months to survive the cold weather. Winter is a difficult time for most animals to find food and to stay warm. Some animals hibernate during the cold months by going into a deep sleep. This sleep is not like regular sleep. With normal sleep, an animal moves a little and can wake up quickly.
There are different kinds of hibernation. Some animals that hibernate store food in their caves and burrows. These do not need to sleep straight through the winter. They will wake up from time to time and walk around a little, and eat before going back to sleep. Bears, skunks, raccoons and opossums are called, "light sleepers" because they do not sleep soundly through the winter.
With "true" hibernation, animals appear to be dead. They do not move and it takes a long time for them to wake up. Woodchucks, ground squirrels and bats are "true" hibernators.
During the fall, hibernating animals eat more food than usual to gain more fat. Their bodies will live off their body fat during hibernation without losing any muscle. In spring they will be thin and very hungry, but still strong.
While in hibernation, their bodies use very little energy. When they are asleep, their body temperature drops, and their heartbeat and breathing slow down. Their stored fat lasts longer because their bodies are slowed down so much that they do not need as much energy.
Yoong Liat.....hope this helps. I could have written much more, but I sometimes get carried away.
Hi Herema
It certainly helps. Thank you very much for your great effort.
Regards