Jan. 16, 2023
What can a typical Smith family do to lead a sustainable lif
Could you please tell me if it is correct to use the name Smith to refer to an ordinary British family (like we do with the popular name Kowalski in Polish)?
Mrs Smith could grow vegetables and herbs on her balcony to help with the absorption of Co2 from the atmosphere.
She and her husband could take always the same, fabric bags to the shops and maybe do their shopping only once a week to minimise their output of plastic waste from plastic packaging.
Mrs Smith should use the vegetable offcuts to fertilise the plants on her balcony and her favourite rambling plants in the living room.
Every day of the working week Mr Smith could voluntarily carpool to help his kids and their friends get on time to school.
In order to conserve paper the Smith's daughter could draw on one side of a page and their son on the other one.
It would be advisable for Mr Smith to make a trip (by public transport) to a waste battery collection facility to deliver the batteries used by his family once a week.
Each member of the Smith family should reduce their shower or bath time to two minutes.
She and her husband could take always take the same, fabric bags to the shops and maybe do their shopping only once a week to minimise their output of plastic waste from plastic packaging.
"could take always" sounds awkward to my ear.
Jan. 19, 2023
Thank you for your help.
What can a typical Smith family do to lead a sustainable lif
You are right that 'Smith' is a good placeholder surname, but there isn't such an idiom as a "Smith family". So this makes it sound like a typical family with the surname 'Smith' (which doesn't make much sense).
Instead you might say: "What can a typical family, like the Smiths, do to lead a sustainable life?". You can be even more clear that 'the Smiths' are not real if you you italicise the name Smith.
Jan. 19, 2023
Thank you. That's lots of help.
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What can a typical Smith family do to lead a sustainable lif What can a typical Smith family do to lead a sustainable lif You are right that 'Smith' is a good placeholder surname, but there isn't such an idiom as a "Smith family". So this makes it sound like a typical family with the surname 'Smith' (which doesn't make much sense). Instead you might say: "What can a typical family, like the Smiths, do to lead a sustainable life?". You can be even more clear that 'the Smiths' are not real if you you italicise the name Smith. |
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Could you please tell me if it is correct to use the name Smith to refer to an ordinary British family (like we do with the popular name Kowalski in Polish)? |
|
Mrs Smith could grow vegetables and herbs on her balcony to help with the absorption of Co2 from the atmosphere. |
|
She and her husband could take always the same, fabric bags to the shops and maybe do their shopping only once a week to minimise their output of plastic waste from plastic packaging. She and her husband could "could take always" sounds awkward to my ear. |
|
Mrs Smith should use the vegetable offcuts to fertilise the plants on her balcony and her favourite rambling plants in the living room. |
|
Every day of the working week Mr Smith could voluntarily carpool to help his kids and their friends get on time to school. |
|
In order to conserve paper the Smith's daughter could draw on one side of a page and their son on the other one. |
|
It would be advisable for Mr Smith to make a trip (by public transport) to a waste battery collection facility to deliver the batteries used by his family once a week. |
|
Each member of the Smith family should reduce their shower or bath time to two minutes. |
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