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My two cats





Language level

Upper intermediate: B2


Dear teachers! I have a question abut this text:
One of the statements that in Mexico, the speaker made special changes to his garden to make sure the Misha and Masha didn’t get out. And part of the text in which he speaks about it is next: Then we moved to Mexico and we had a house with a garden so we had to build a special fence that kind of curled in on itself so that the cats would climb up and then feel that they were starting to fall down so they climbed back down again. I chose "False" answer because in my opinion there is not some information about preventing them to get out but only about giving them opportunity to entertain themselves. But my answer was wrong. Please explain to me why my answer was wrong and which mistake I made in understanding incorrectly?

Hello Evgeny N

You could be right, but when the speaker says 'we had a house with a garden so we had to build a special fence', to me it sounds as if they built the fence to prevent the cats from leaving the garden. Since that seems to be a more likely explanation for this action, we chose True as the correct answer for that question.

All the best


The LearnEnglish Team

Kirk! Thank you very much indeed!

If I ever want to keep a pet I definitely choose a cat. nothing is as cute as a cat , specially a kitten. Some people believe that dogs are better because they are more loyal, but they should know sometimes people should learn loyalty from cats. I know a man who left her cat after he changed his house. it really hurt the poor cat.

My brother has a big, old, cute cat. She is a bicolor cat , white and black. She is like a highborn cat. She ignore people and when my brother want to brush her fur or check her theeth she become angry and wanted to bite him. I love her but used to I just laugh at her.
I always watched her when my brother posted her pictures or we had video calls , but when my sister and I went to his house we understood that the cat is so much more lovly than we expected. she is just a like a member of family. Despite of our imagination she is kind.
She is really a miserable cat , she is so dependent to people . and she has arthritis. Her previous owner was an old woman. She really had a tough life. She afraid of every loud sound.when we were there every morning she woke up and came next to my sister's bed trying wake her up to feed her. My brother didn't let us to gave her much food because she is fat.
I was really embarressed when she came next to me and stared above into my eyes and saied meow, it meant : "feed me" and I didn't allowed to feed her.
Her name is Babe. I love her so much. we have been about one month in my brother's house and when we wanted to leave, she sat on our suitcases .It seemed she knew that we wanted to leave . It was so sad I really cried the night before leaving her, And the day I want to leave I didn't go to see her I knew I couldn't stop crying if I saw her. because I knew it might never happen to see her again.

It's honest to admit that I really want to work in another country, especially a developed country. Our country, which is following a communism system, is not very good for human development. The social, the environment, the education, the health care... etc are terrible with a lawless legislation, contaminated media, and a bribed government. Living in a better place where humanity and law are respected is always what I wish for.
People often say dogs are better than cats because their personality, "loyal and friendly". I agree with it. Our family used to bring up both some cats and dogs and now are raising a dog. The cats are very cuddly, charm, light and easy to cuddle whenever I want to, but they are indifferent and aloof. They are indifferent so anyone can be their owners even a theft, meanwhile in Vietnam we eat cat and dog meat. It is not easy to see a cat reaching to you with a happy face and a waving tail, because they are some kind of distant pets. The dogs differ from 2 traits above. They are always happy when approach me as they want to say 'hello', or when I stroke their bodies. In addition, they improve our house's security as well.
I love the dogs much more than the cats. In case I am supposed to get a pet, I would get a dog, especially a Vietnamese breed - Phu Quoc. However, it's hard to adopt a dog because I have little space for the dog wandering around. Unless the dog has got somewhere to roam, they will feel be squashed inside my tiny house.

I have some questions here. Would you mind correcting for me?
- There is no need "the" for social, environment, education and health care?
- The "are" here should be "is" because the nouns all are singular?
2. Using "the cats" or "the dogs" to say about cats and dogs in general was wrong?
Ex: "I love the dogs much more than the cats". Should be: "I love dogs much more than cats".
And there're many more same errors in my writing.
3. When we write 2 uncountable nouns go along each other, for example humanity and law, do we use "are" or "is"? Can you explain for me?
Thank you.

Hello QTN03

1. For most of these, 'the' isn't needed, but it's difficult to say more because I would recommend rephrasing part of this sentence. I understand it, but something like 'The social environment, education and health care are all terrible ...' would sound more natural. 'are' is correct since it was a list of several different things.

2. Yes, you are right -- the correct form is 'I like dogs much more than cats'. It sounds a little more natural to me to say 'like much more' than 'love much more' here, because 'love' sounds like a stronger form of 'like' in this context. In other words, you can like dogs, but if you really like dogs, you could say 'I love dogs'. Here it sounds as if you love dogs and tolerate cats (though I could have misunderstood).

3. 'where humanity and the law are respected' is correct.

All the best


The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you Kirk,
I appreciate your answers!

I am learning German now and dream to move to Berlin, fantastic city of art and great opportunities.
As for cats, they are amazing, and every cat is so unique. Too bad, dog people spread that lie about cats.
I prefer cats of course, a cat chooses a person not for food. Like if i come to a place with a dog and give the dog a treat, it is all done. I don't want a relationship that can be bought by food :) Cats are very complicated creatures. Cats also don't like noisy screaming people which is so typical of dog people. So, why would they expect cats to open to them? :D

I would like to work in Belgium because that is a really beautiful country and there live people of different nationalities, so you can know other cultures and make a lot of friends. Also, I would like to work in Denmark because the education level is very hight and in that country, there are several politics to improve your happiness level and the government is worry about the quality of life of their population.

I agree with the state said cats are "aloof and indifferent". For me, cats prefer to be alone and they aren't friendly or loving.
I had a dog when I was a child, she was so close to me and she always was waiting for me when I arrived to house from the school. We spent a really good time. If I had a pet, I would have a dog.