Lerner's avatar
Lerner

Jan. 8, 2026

64
The Count of Monte Cristo

Beware of spoilers!
Imagine yourself being a young budding sailor in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Since your birth you've been dwelling in the oldest town of France, Marcellies. Your future seems more than auspicious, and despite the fact that you are merely nineteen years of age, you were already granted a promotion to become the captain in just a few months. Furthermore, you are in mutual love with a young Corsican and await to marry her in the nearest future. What could go wrong?
Well, on the very day of your wedding, you get arrested for being a Bonapartist. Everybody is utterly startled, for your innocence is clear as day. Why would anyone make such calumnious accusations? You do not have any foes, do you? Nevertheless, omitting any trials or explanations, you are being thrown into the most dreaded prison of France, Château d'If. You, not even acquainted with your supposed crimes, are put into a solitary cell intended for despicable criminals. Having spent there the most vigourous 14 years of your life and acquired an abnormally enormous fortune, you vow to avenge yourself. It would not satiate you to just dispatch the perpetrators, for what you have suffered exceeds that punishment immensly. Instead, you crave to annihilate everything they love so that they could feel at least the resemblance of your anguish.
This novel consists of more than 1300 paper pages and delves into topics like revenge, justice, love and redemption. Do not get intimidated by its size, for if you like the first 100 pages, you will absolutely adore the rest. Yesterday, after two and a half months of irregular perusal, I finally finished this doorstop. Needless to stay, I gave it five stars! The plot itself is quite intricate but engrossing, and the writing style is just fascinating. I have read it in English, so several hundred of new literary words are a pretty bonus.


Hey, here I am aiming for a more formal/literary stile. Thanks in advance!

Corrections

The Count of Monte Cristo

Beware of spoilers!

Imagine yourself being a young budding sailor in the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Since your birth you've been dwelling in the oldest town of France, Marcellies.

Your future seems more than auspicious, and despite the fact that you are merely nineteen years of age, you were already granted a promotion to become the captain in just a few months.

Furthermore, you are in mutual love with a young Corsican and await to marry her in the nearest future.

What could go wrong?

Well, on the very day of your wedding, you get arrested for being a Bonapartist.

Everybody is utterly startled, for your innocence is clear as day.

Why would anyone make such calumnious accusations?

You do not have any foes, do you?

Nevertheless, omitting any trials or explanations, you are being thrown into the most dreaded prison of France, Château d'If.

You, not even acquainted with your supposed crimes, are put into a solitary cell intended for despicable criminals.

Having spent there the most vigourous 14 years of your life and acquired an abnormally enormous fortune, you vow to avenge yourself.

It would not satiate you to just dispatch the perpetrators, for what you have suffered exceeds that punishment immensly.

Instead, you crave to annihilate everything they love so that they could feel at least the resemblance of your anguish.

This novel consists of more than 1300 paper pages and delves into topics like revenge, justice, love and redemption.

Do not get intimidated by its size, for if you like the first 100 pages, you will absolutely adore the rest.

Yesterday, after two and a half months of irregular perusal, I finally finished this doorstop.

Needless to stay, I gave it five stars!

The plot itself is quite intricate but engrossing, and the writing style is just fascinating.

I have read it in English, so several hundred of new literary words are a pretty bonus.

Imagine yourself beingas a young budding sailor inat the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Since your birth you've been dwelling in have lived in Marseille, the oldest town ofin France, Marcellies.

or "all your life"
in semi-formal writing you should probably omit contractions

Your future seems more than auspicious, and despite the fact that you are merely nineteen years of age, you were already granted a promotion to become the captain in just a few months.

merely + already = you don't need both

Furthermore, you are in mutual love with a young Corsican, and await to marry her in the nearest futurthe two of you are eager to marry as soon as possible.

"in mutual love" is not idiomatic English. It sounds odd.
"in the nearest future" is not idiomatic English either.

Everybody is utterly startlhocked, for your innocence is clear as day.

"startled" is for small surprises, like the unexpected sound of a phone ringing.
It does not pair well with "utterly" which is for big surprises

Why would anyone make such calumnious / slanderous accusations?

An extremely literary word "calumnious"

Nevertheless, omitting anywithout trials or explanations, you are being thrown into the most dreaded prison of France, Château d'If.

"omit" would be to forget or overlook something small imho

You, ntot even acquainted withally ignorant of your supposed crimes, are put into a solitary cell intended for despicable criminals.

Grammatically this is a stretch in English, placing so many words between "you" subject and "are" verb, but I think it's correct.
However "acquainted with" is too gentle for learning about crimes. I think the grammar police might prefer:
"You are put into a solitary cell intended for despicable criminals, without any idea of your supposed crimes."

Having spent thereAfter spending the most vigourous 14 years of your life andin prison, you acquired an abnormally enormous fortune, you and vow to avenge yourself.

This works if the fortune came all at once and precipitated the change.
If the fortune grew slowly over the years, you would need a different structure, such as
"Having spent the most vigorous 14 years of your life in prison, slowly acquiring an abnormally enormous fortune, you vow to avenge yourself."

It would not satiatesfy you to just dispatch the perpetrators, for what you have suffered exceeds that punishment immensely.

"satiate" is strongly associated with food and drink (at least for me). It sounds odd here.

Instead, you crave tohe annihilateion of everything they love, so that they couldwill feel at least the rea semblance of your anguish.

I can't explain, but "wish" would work in your sentence, but "crave" doesn't work the same way here

Do not get intimidated by its size, for if you like the first 100 pages, you will absolutely adore the rest.

"adore" is mostly for love of people, pets, passions--it feels a little over the top to say you adore a book.

The plot itself is quites intricate but engrossing, and the writing style is just fascinating.

I have read it in English, so several hundred of new literary words are a pretty{ } bonus.

"pretty" is too strongly associated with how something looks. Other words the internet suggests are "generous, hefty, welcome, pleasant" etc.

Feedback

Awesome job!
Keep up the good work ;)

Lerner's avatar
Lerner

Jan. 10, 2026

64

Thank you so much for taking time and answering my questions/correcting this essay. As always, your detailed explanations help immensly!
I find it hard to divide texts like this one, I feel like it would impossible without losing some of its meaning and flow. But barely getting any corrections and wasting more than an hour on writing isn't much of an approach either, so I'll try to pick a better topic and be less verbose next time.
Regarding German learning, I think it all boils down to how much time and effort you put it and how consistent you are. I've spent more than 650 hours studying this language in 2025, so I suppose my progress isn't that impressing at the end of the day. I've also read some of your texts, and it seems like you're making progress! It's quite beneficial to read other peoples' texts with corrections from natives in your TL, so I think you are on the right track here :D
Vielen Dank für die Korrekturen nochmal und ich wünsche dir viel Erfolg beim Deutschlernen!

Liag's avatar
Liag

Jan. 10, 2026

0

Vielen Dank!
I will correct your English texts from now on.
Thank you for the encouragement. It is inspiring that you are fluent in so many languages and that you studied German independently.
I agree about reading other people's corrections in your TL.
Bis bald!

Beware of the spoilers!

Imagine yourself beingas a young budding sailor inat the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Since your birth, you've been dwellliving in the oldest town ofin France, Marcellies.

Your future seems more than auspicious, and(luck?) despite the fact that you are mebarely nineteen years of age, you werld. You have already been granted a promotion to become the captain in just a few months.

Lerner's avatar
Lerner

Jan. 10, 2026

64

Thank you for your help, Hank!

Liag's avatar
Liag

Jan. 10, 2026

0

Lerner,
Aha! I see this one now. Here is my confession: the topic combined with the length dissuaded me from correcting it. However, the writing is really, really stellar, both the content and the style. So for me, it was the topic. I don't have the attention span to read books these days, so a book review, no matter how riveting, is not something I'm interested in. BUT! You are on my radar now.

The Count of Monte Cristo


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Furthermore, you are in mutual love with a young Corsican and await to marry her in the nearest future.


Furthermore, you are in mutual love with a young Corsican, and await to marry her in the nearest futurthe two of you are eager to marry as soon as possible.

"in mutual love" is not idiomatic English. It sounds odd. "in the nearest future" is not idiomatic English either.

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

What could go wrong?


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Well, on the very day of your wedding, you get arrested for being a Bonapartist.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Everybody is utterly startled, for your innocence is clear as day.


Everybody is utterly startlhocked, for your innocence is clear as day.

"startled" is for small surprises, like the unexpected sound of a phone ringing. It does not pair well with "utterly" which is for big surprises

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Why would anyone make such calumnious accusations?


Why would anyone make such calumnious / slanderous accusations?

An extremely literary word "calumnious"

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

You do not have any foes, do you?


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Nevertheless, omitting any trials or explanations, you are being thrown into the most dreaded prison of France, Château d'If.


Nevertheless, omitting anywithout trials or explanations, you are being thrown into the most dreaded prison of France, Château d'If.

"omit" would be to forget or overlook something small imho

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

You, not even acquainted with your supposed crimes, are put into a solitary cell intended for despicable criminals.


You, ntot even acquainted withally ignorant of your supposed crimes, are put into a solitary cell intended for despicable criminals.

Grammatically this is a stretch in English, placing so many words between "you" subject and "are" verb, but I think it's correct. However "acquainted with" is too gentle for learning about crimes. I think the grammar police might prefer: "You are put into a solitary cell intended for despicable criminals, without any idea of your supposed crimes."

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Having spent there the most vigourous 14 years of your life and acquired an abnormally enormous fortune, you vow to avenge yourself.


Having spent thereAfter spending the most vigourous 14 years of your life andin prison, you acquired an abnormally enormous fortune, you and vow to avenge yourself.

This works if the fortune came all at once and precipitated the change. If the fortune grew slowly over the years, you would need a different structure, such as "Having spent the most vigorous 14 years of your life in prison, slowly acquiring an abnormally enormous fortune, you vow to avenge yourself."

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

It would not satiate you to just dispatch the perpetrators, for what you have suffered exceeds that punishment immensly.


It would not satiatesfy you to just dispatch the perpetrators, for what you have suffered exceeds that punishment immensely.

"satiate" is strongly associated with food and drink (at least for me). It sounds odd here.

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Instead, you crave to annihilate everything they love so that they could feel at least the resemblance of your anguish.


Instead, you crave tohe annihilateion of everything they love, so that they couldwill feel at least the rea semblance of your anguish.

I can't explain, but "wish" would work in your sentence, but "crave" doesn't work the same way here

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

This novel consists of more than 1300 paper pages and delves into topics like revenge, justice, love and redemption.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Do not get intimidated by its size, for if you like the first 100 pages, you will absolutely adore the rest.


Do not get intimidated by its size, for if you like the first 100 pages, you will absolutely adore the rest.

"adore" is mostly for love of people, pets, passions--it feels a little over the top to say you adore a book.

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Yesterday, after two and a half months of irregular perusal, I finally finished this doorstop.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Needless to stay, I gave it five stars!


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

The plot itself is quite intricate but engrossing, and the writing style is just fascinating.


The plot itself is quites intricate but engrossing, and the writing style is just fascinating.

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

I have read it in English, so several hundred of new literary words are a pretty bonus.


I have read it in English, so several hundred of new literary words are a pretty{ } bonus.

"pretty" is too strongly associated with how something looks. Other words the internet suggests are "generous, hefty, welcome, pleasant" etc.

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Beware of spoilers!


Beware of the spoilers!

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Imagine yourself being a young budding sailor in the beginning of the nineteenth century.


Imagine yourself beingas a young budding sailor inat the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Imagine yourself beingas a young budding sailor inat the beginning of the nineteenth century.

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Since your birth you've been dwelling in the oldest town of France, Marcellies.


Since your birth, you've been dwellliving in the oldest town ofin France, Marcellies.

Since your birth you've been dwelling in have lived in Marseille, the oldest town ofin France, Marcellies.

or "all your life" in semi-formal writing you should probably omit contractions

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Your future seems more than auspicious, and despite the fact that you are merely nineteen years of age, you were already granted a promotion to become the captain in just a few months.


Your future seems more than auspicious, and(luck?) despite the fact that you are mebarely nineteen years of age, you werld. You have already been granted a promotion to become the captain in just a few months.

Your future seems more than auspicious, and despite the fact that you are merely nineteen years of age, you were already granted a promotion to become the captain in just a few months.

merely + already = you don't need both

This sentence has been marked as perfect!

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