Mistakes Corrected

Things may be different as you thought.
--Should be, "Things may be different from what you thought" (or "from what you expected")

My brother has married and they have two children so far.
--"My brother" is the subject; you can't change the subject to "my brother and his wife," so to be correct, "they have" should be replaced with "he has". You can make it into two sentences, too: "My brother is married. So far, he and his wife have two children." (Notice we use "to be" for "married," not "to have".)

To my expect,...
--Should be, "According to my expectations..." or (and better), "As I would expect..."

--Note the difference between brave/bravery

personality of humor
--should be, "humorous personality"

Most of them are abuse.
--Should be, "Most of them are abused," or you could write, "Most of them have been abused." The latter is probably better.

--Note the difference between universal/universality

The article elicits three studies...
--This should be, "The article mentions" or "The article delineates...."


--Note the difference between stressful/stressed

It is Lisa who takes over the housework when Margie is hospitalized. However, Homer and Bart do nothing but lying on the couch watching television.
--"However" is not needed here because there's no conflict. Compare: "He studied hard. However, he still failed the test." <--In this example, there's conflict between expectation and result.

to be "American born Chinese" is inevitable to face the problem of racial discrimination
--The quote marks are fine because the author is quoting the idea of a Chinese person born in America; he isn't talking about the book title (which should be underlined). However, it should be, "if one is 'American born Chinese,' one inevitably has to face the problem of racial discrimination".

Some More Sentence Structures

Object-First pattern:

Down the street walked the depressed student.

Even more significant have been the vocabulary words studied from the Simpsons episodes.

Paired Constructions

Not only..., but also.

[Don't mistake a dependent clause-independent clause construction for a paired construction. It's a common mistake among my students.]

Kerry Wood and Greg Maddux are the favorite pitchers. The former is a power pitcher, the latter is a precise pitcher.

Contrast Pairs

Citizenship is a privilege, not a right.

Dependent Clause as Part of an Independent-Clause Sentence
--The DC can be a subject or object

How he got into TaiDa is a mystery. (Subject=DC "How he got into Taida")

I don't understand why baseball players make so much money. (Object="why baseball players...")

Absolute Construction

Compare an "absolute construction" to a dependent clause.

Dependent clause in italics:
"Because she failed to make the volleyball team, she was sad for the rest of the day."

Absolute Construction in italics:
"Her efforts to make the volleyball team a failure, she was sad for the rest of the day."

DC in italics:
Because her swimming goggles fell to the bottom of the pool, she cried out to her teacher.

AC in italics:
Her goggles having fallen to the bottom of the pool, she cried out to her teacher.

Other AC examples:
Ralph, his attempt to publish a novel a total failure, decided to give up writing.

Mistakes Corrected

working class; universality
--If we are talking about a group with characteristics that are the same everywhere, we would use "universal". "There are universal characteristics of the working class all over the world."

The life of university
--Should be, "University life" if you mean what it is like to be a college student. "The life of the University" means the way that a school functions as a school.

It is thought that it is a fairly proud act to actively saying words to teacher and classmates.
--Could be more clear. Perhaps, "People believe that speaking to teachers and classmates requires a great deal of pride." The problem here is that "pride" can sometimes be a positive and sometimes be a negative characteristic. We can't tell if this observation reflects a stereotype that those who speak are good people or bad people.

However, Andy Warhol has ever said 'In the future, everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.' It is important to express ourselves or we may be easily neglected.
--Should be, "Andy Warhol said"; also, there's no connection between what Warhol said and our need to express ourselves. Warhold is talking about celebrity culture; he's not talking about our need to assert ourselves.


Note the difference between: resolute/resolve

Note the difference between: stressful/stressed

The article elicits three studies
--"elicits" isn't used correctly. "The article mentions three studies." "examines" also works.

...To my expect...
--Should be, "In accordance with my expectations" (e.g., "Things happened the way I thought they would happen")

This kind of stereotype implies that women should do the housework....
--Could be more clear with, "This stereotype implies that housework is women's work."

However, Homer and Bart do nothin but lying on the couch....
--Should be, "do nothing be lie on the couch"; watch for misused -ing verbs

Easy as words on the surface, they might mean deeply with the use of metaphors.
--Hard to understand. Perhaps this means, "Words have simple meanings, but they can have deeper meanings through the use of metaphors.

Note the difference between: easy/easily

There were three papers researched about...
--Should be, "There were three research papers..." "researched about" is unnecessary: "researched" is fine.

So, it is necessary [for me] to adjust my lifestyle.
--Note that I add "for me" to the sentence, "it is necessary to adjust my lifestyle".

Note the differences between: serious/seriously; lesser/fewer

The only thing we assure is that
--Should be, "The only thing we can be assured of..." This means, "The only thing we can know for certain."

...put my shoes in theirs
--Should be, "Put myself is their shoes." 'Shoes' are a metaphor for 'perspective'. The mistake is that we are putting shoes inside other shoes, which is a bit confusing (and often difficult).

Having the shadow of fearing be hurt, Jin avoided expressing himself...
--The metaphor of "shadow" is confusingly used here. We can eliminate the metaphor, "Fearing that he will be hurt, Jin avoids expressing himself..." (Remember, when summarizing a story, we can use the present tense--"avoids" instead of "avoided")

Note the difference between: acceptations/expectations ("acceptations" not a word)

Because he bumped into they, when they were closing. However, Bart eventually propagated it.
--This is a response to "Grade School Confidential". I think it means, "Bart bumped into them when they were kissing." The next problem is a "However" problem. "However" sets up a contrast between expectation and result. Example: "She seemed to like him. However, she rejected his request to become his girlfriend." There's no contrast between these two sentences; it just describes two events in sequence: "Bart sees Skinner and Krabbapel kiss. Eventually, he tells everyone about it." There's no need for "however".

The topic talks about a serious topic--to fit in.
--"fitting in" works better as a subject because the "ing" ending makes it more clearly a verbal (a verb turned into a noun). Also, there's no need to use "topic" twice; in fact, it looks strange. "The novel examines a serious topic: fitting in." Some might object to the idea of a book "talking".

"As far as I'm concered"
--This is a phrase used in speech; there's no need to use it in writing. It's also used unnecessarily. If you state an opinion, you can just state it correctly; the introductory phrase, "As far as I'm concerned" really doesn't add anything to the sentence.

Corrections

As to inflatable swimming tube I mentioned, is a metaphor with viewing image.
--Should be, "The inflatable swimming tube metaphor is a visual image."

So the usage of metaphors must be worthy of being highly looked at.
--Should be, "The use of metaphors is highly worth looking at."

Even though it is only a general cleaning we do have a good time toghether and has an impressive memory.
--Should be, "Even though it is only a general cleaning, we do have a good time together. I remember these cleanings fondly."


Japanese one is always with the tragedy opeining and being optimistic and finally succeeds to attach the goal.
--Should be, "Japanese soap opera always have tragic openings. The tragic character is always optimistic, however. Eventually, the tragic character succeeds."

Note the difference between characterize/characterization


Time magagement is my stress where came from, too.
--Should be, "Time management is where my stress comes from, too."

Looked like me to say that why the game appeal to people.
--I'm not sure what this means. Perhaps, "This is my observation as to why the game appeals to people."


Note the difference between emphasis/emphasizing

To manage stress wisely can avoid the feeling of frustration.
--Should be, "Managing stress wisely can help us avoid the feeling of frustration."
(Turn the verb "to manage" into the verbal [noun] "managing".)

We live in rich lives, which indirectluy causes us have less ability to finish the hard work by ourselves because most of us still rely on our parents too much, including me.
--Should be, "We live comfortable lives. This indirectly causes us to have less ability to finish hard work by ourselves because most of us still rely on our parents too much, myself included."

("rich" sometimes means "fulfilling"; "we live rich lives" means "we live good lives," not "we are rich". Also, note the usage "myself incuded": this means, "I include myself in this observation.")

Using animals as metaphors are intuitively.
--Should be, "The use of animal metaphors is intuitive."

One way that you could understand my corrections more easily is to identify the sentence structures (subject, verb, object, dependent clause(s) and independent clause(s)) and the parts of speech for each word. You can look at my corrections as examples of idiomatic English; perhaps noticing the mistakes made in the original sentences will help your understanding as well. Notice in some examples that the writer tries to express too many ideas in one independent clause or sentence.

Simpsons Stamps Released in US

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/art/arts/2009/05/09/207491/Simpsons-get.htm

I Love Lucy clip parodied in This Week's Episode

The opening Itchy and Scratchy sketch is a parody of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wp3m1vg06Q