His brother bought land last winter, but sold it to the neighbor when the economy crashed. John loves fishing, but longs to be more successful. When he was feeling down, he painted his boat, “Troubled Waters,” blue and shined it up. John asked his brother what he thought of the new look, but his brother just laughed and said, “You’re always fishing for compliments.”
If John had had more energy, he might have argued with his brother, but instead, he began making more nets, with the hopes of increasing his catch the next day.
THE TRANSFORMATION
John wanted to be a farmer but he did not have the money to buy land.
His brother bought land last winter, but he sold it to a neighbor when the economy crashed. John loves to fish but he wishes he was more successful. When he felt down, he painted his boat, “Troubled Waters”, blue and shined it up. John asked his brother what he thought of the new look. He brother laughed and said “you’re always wishing for compliments”.
John did not argue with his brother. He made more nets instead. He hoped to increase his future catch.
ANALYSIS: I think that this story sounds awkward even from the perspective of a native speaker. The conditional and future tense are used often where a simple present tense would suffice. I don’t think that the “you’re always fishing for compliments” line would be well understood by an ELL either. The statement involves a pun that is obvious to a native speaker but is likely too subtle for an ELL to detect, thus the statement taken out of context does not make sense. The word catch in the final sentence is also likely to cause confusion because it is being used as a noun instead of a verb. Students are likely most familiar with the verb “to catch” and not the noun which symbolize the quantity of the fish that a fisherman caught on a particular day.
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