Writing prompt
What is it like to have a vacation with your friends? Where did you travel, and what did you do?Vacation in San Vito
Open to any feedback
In 2021, my group decided to do a vacation of 3 days to San Vito. San Vito is a small touristic town placed between Trapani and Palermo, which are two city of Sicily, in Italy. In summer there are a lot of people who arrive from all the world in order to see one of the most wonderful beach. We rented an enormous house with 10 room for sleeping. Near the beach there is two field, one for playing basketball and one to organize football match with other people. A few feet from here, there is a famous discoteque, where people used to drink, dancing. There is also a lot of ice cream shop with various flavors like strawberry, watermelon, pistachio etc.
We are used to ride a bike to move to the city centre.
I remeber with love this moments because nowdays we have not 18yo. Some friends started the university and we have few time to organize a new vacation. Every year I have tried to plan a new summer trip, although my friends have some exam to make for september session.
I graduated last March and I’m going to Padua for studying Electronic Engineering.
In 2021, my group decided to do a three day vacation of 3 days to San Vito.
In this sentence because you are using ‘three days’ to describe the vacation it becomes an adjective. There are a few important points to remember… 1) In English we almost always put the adjective in front of the noun. So, ‘three-day’ must move to the front of ‘vacation’ 2) Adjectives are never plural in English. They are always singular, so ‘three-days’ becomes ‘three day’. 3) There is a third rule, but it isn’t relevant here.
San Vito is a small touristictourist town placedlocated between Trapani and Palermo, which are two city of Sicily,cities in Sicily (Italy).
1) We do not use the word ‘touristic’, instead we use either ‘tourist town’ or ‘touristy town’. Be careful with ‘touristy’ as we often use it negatively, it is used to talk about a town that is overcrowded or full of cheap souvenir shops. 2) We are more likely to use ‘located’ here
In summer there are a lot of people who arrive from all the world in order to see one of the most wonderful beachbeaches (where?).
1) We use plural ‘beaches’ here because if we are talking about the beach being ‘one of the’ it indicates that there is a group you are choosing from. 2) Here I would specify where the most beautiful beach is. For example… “..one of the most wonderful beaches in Italy”.
We rented an enormous house with 10 roomrooms for sleeping.
We have ten rooms, so we must use the plural. You could also say “…an enormous house that slept 10”. This is an idiomatic phrase that uses the verb ‘To sleep [number]’. You will see/hear this phrase when talking about rentals, hotels and real estate. For example… -This room sleeps six people. -Our university house had four bedrooms, but slept eight.
Near the beach there isare two fieldfields, one for playing basketball and one to organizefor playing football match with other people.
1) One field = there is a field Two + fields= there are [number] fields Remember to add the -s onto the end of the noun to make it plural. 2) We English are quite lazy, so we would probably say ‘for playing football’ here.
A few feet from herethe field, there is a famous discotequeclub/nightclub, where people used to drink, dancing.
1) Discoteque feels incredibly dated now. We are more likely to say ‘a club’ / ‘a nightclub’. If you use ‘discoteque’ it makes us think of the 1970’s (think, disco balls🕺).
There isare also a lot of ice cream shopshops with various flavorsflavours like strawberry, watermelon, pistachio etc.
1) We are talking about many ice cream shops so we have to use plurals here. 2) Excellent use of etc. here 👏
We are used to ride a bikeour bikes to moveget to the city centre.
1) We used to = Something that we used to do (imperfetto). We are used to [gerund] = Something that you are familiar with because you do it all the time. For example: “I am used to the sound of crying, because my neighbours have a new baby”. This means that you are familiar with the sound of a baby crying because you neighbours have a young child. 2) Because you used ‘we’ at the start of your sentence it is implied that there were multiple people (and multiple bikes) so we need to use the plural here.
I remeberremember these moments with love this moments because nowdaysnowadays we haveare not 18yo18 anymore.
1) We need to use the plural ‘these’ here because we are talking about ‘moments’ (plural). 2) In English we have to use ‘To be’ when we are talking about how old we are. For example: ‘I am 20’ or ‘he is 60’ this is different to Romance languages where you use ‘To have’. 3) The structure “we have not [noun]” is quite old fashioned. Your options are… -We are no longer [age] - We aren’t [age] anymore.
Some friends started the university and we have fewlittle time to organize a neworganise our next vacation.
1) In English we do not use ‘started the’ when talking about attending a place of education. 2) ‘Time’ is not countable in English, so we cannot say ‘few time’ instead we must say ‘little time’. It’s a little bit like when we say “il tuo capello è bellissimo” instead of “i tuoi capelli sono bellissimi”.
Every year I have triedtry to plan a new summer trip every year, althoughbut my friends always have some examexams to make for september sessiontake in September.
1) ‘I try’ works well here because you are talking about a regular, ongoing habit. 2) If we want to talk about exams (plural) we will often use ‘exams’ on its own. 3) In English, we do not use ‘to make’ with an exam. Students either ‘take an exam’ or ‘sit an exam’. 4) Saying ‘in September’ is more natural here.
I graduated last March and I’m going to go to Padua for studyingto study Electronic Engineering.
When you use ‘I’m going’ it sounds like you are going immediately.
Overall feedback
Firstly, I’d like to say that you have a great vocabulary and are doing an excellent job of getting your ideas across clearly. I did notice a few issues related to common ‘traps’ between our two languages (the same issues you will see in my texts) such as describing uncountable vs countable nouns, verb tenses and plurals. Keep up the great work-paying attention to these small issues will help you improve your English massively👍
In 2021, my group decided to do a three-day vacation of 3 days to San Vito.
For three days I would be more likely to say "decided to take a short break in San Vito".
San Vito is a small touristictourist town placed between Trapani and Palermo, which are two city ofcities in Sicily, in Italy.
In summer there are a lot of people who arrivecome from all over the world in order to see one of the most wonderful beachbeaches in Italy.
Most of these corrections are to make it sound more natural. Apart from missing the plural on beaches the rest of it was grammatically correct, just not a very native-like way of saying it.
We rented an enormous house with 10 room for sleepingten bedrooms.
NearThere are two fields near the beach there is two field, one for playing basketball and one to organizefor informal football match with other peoplematches.
The grammatically correct way to end your sentence is "one for organising football matches with other people" but that is an unusual phrasing in English so I tried to come up with something that might be what you meant.
A few feet from herethere, there is a famous discoteque,club where people used to drink, and go dancing.
In English "a disco" is more associated with events for kids at schools. Adults tend to "go clubbing" or "go to a club".
There isare also a lot of ice cream shopshops with various flavors like strawberry, watermelon, and pistachio etc.
We are used to ride a bikecycle to move to the city centre.
I remeber with love this moments because nowdays we have not 18yofond memories of that trip now that I am older.
In English you say "we are not eighteen", not "we have not eighteen". However this whole sentence wasn't a very native way to express the idea so I have suggested an alternative.
Some of my friends started theare at university now and we don't have few timemany opportunities to organize a newanother vacation.
Every year since then I have tried to plan a newanother summer trip, althoughbut my friends have some examexams to make for september sessiondo before the September term.
I graduated last March and I’m going to Padua for studyingto study Electronic Engineering.
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