「somebody」と「some people」の違い

Somebody (one person) asked me the other day what the difference is between "somebody" and "some people".  The difference is simple: "somebody" is singular, but "some people" is plural.

• singular 単数形、単数 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
• plural 複数形、複数 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

I had to throw out some pants recently because they had become too big in the waist. They were falling off. Since moving from Taiwan over seven years ago, I've been riding a bicycle every day. I also haven't had access to the great vegetarian restaurants that they have in Taiwan, so I've been eating less. That means I've lost weight and fat over the years: 10 kg!

Some people might have thought I was already thin and be concerned, but actually I think I'm much healthier now. Somebody did tell me that they thought my face looked like a knife, though.

Some people might use a belt to make up the difference in the waist, but I didn't really want to do that. I wondered if somebody might want the pants (only one person could take the pair of pants), but the truth is those pants were 15 years old. I figured nobody would want them.

• make up the difference 差（額）を補う、必要な金額の残りを出す、差を穴埋めする (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

Some people might wonder why I'm showing you a picture that is basically a photo down my pants. I think some people can understand the story better with a photo!

I know some people reading this blog might have questions, like the "somebody" who asked me this question. Please send your questions to me!

「almost」の使い方

It was funny the other day. We were talking about sports in class. Of course, the World Baseball Classic is going on right now, and a lot of people are crazy about it. Somebody told me:

× Almost people like baseball.
○ Almost all people like baseball.

This was so funny, because the incorrect sentence means:

• Those who are almost people like baseball. In other words, those who like baseball are not human. 野球が好きな人々は、ギリギリ人間しか居ない。← maybe somebody can fix my bad Japanese sentence. If you can, please let me know!

The problem is that "almost" is typically followed by an adjective, since it means "very nearly" or "all but" (according to the Random House Dictionary).

I talked about this common mistake back in 2009. You might like to reread that old blog post, too:

http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.jp/2009/04/almost-all-of-these-are-wrong.html

I cooked these enchiladas back in January. I was thinking about food in Texas, and this is one the dishes that I used to eat a lot when I lived there.

• enchilada《メキシコ料理》エンチラーダ◆肉を詰めたトウモロコシパン。トマトチリソースで。(definition from Eijiro on the Web)

There are Tex-Mex restaurants all over the state. I suppose almost all, if not all, towns in Texas have at least one Tex-Mex restaurant. I often ate a plate meal just like this quite often. The difference is that back in those days, I ate chicken enchiladas. Since I'm a vegetarian now, I had to think of an alternative. These enchiladas are filled with strips of fried tofu instead. It turned out pretty good. I'll probably cook them again the next time I think of the food in Texas.

I think I can answer almost all of your questions about English. If you have some, let me know. Even better, think about coming to a class!