Simple English Composition

If you want to write well, you don't need to use many difficult words, but you do need to make  your sentences seem to belong together. One way to do this is by using related words to talk about a topic.

The composition below uses three groups of words:

(1) Words to Refer to a City Beijing, this city, the capital, there

(2) Words to Refer to Breathinga problem breathing, coughing, lungs, air pollution

(3) Words to Refer to Doctors and Medicinelung specialist, doctor, prescription, medicine, pharmacy, get well


Many people want to live in Beijing, but this city has a very serious problem with air pollution. Mr Wang had been living in the capital for ten years. Like many people there, he had a problem breathing.

Last year, Mr Wang was coughing so hard that he decided to get some help. He visited a famous lung specialist who told Mr Wang that his lungs were not working well. The doctor then wrote Mr Wang a prescription for some medicine. "This medicine will definitely help you," he said.

Mr Wang went to a nearby pharmacy. "Can you fill this prescription for me?" he asked. "No problem. This medicine is very popular. I hope you get well soon," said the pharmacist.

Mr Wang took the medicine home. The air was just as polluted as before, but Mr Wang trusted his doctor, so he was full of hope. Mr Wang took all of the medicine, but he still didn't get well. Finally, he decided to move to a small town in a remote area, with fresh air and clean water.

How do you say 食人族 in English? (syntax tree)

[Updated 25 April, 2017]
English vocabulary is often a problem for foreign students. Many college students worry if they can't say or write a word in English. They sometimes ask their teacher questions such as "How do you say 食人族 [ShyrRenTzwu (GR) ShiRenZu (Pinyin)] in English?"

Please stop worrying about such problems. Many years ago, you learned lots of useful words in junior high school. Now you can use these old words in new ways! Also remember that in English we like to put together pairs of nouns to make compound nouns, such as "English teacher" (somebody who teaches English) and "truck driver" (somebody who drives a truck). Now you can answer the 食人族 question by yourself:

How do you say 食? Eat.
How do you say 人? People.
So how do you say 食人族? People eater!

Yes, there is also a special word that means "people eater," but foreigners don't care if you use exactly the right word. If they know what you mean, that's usually enough, so STOP worrying about vocabulary! Try to make new words from old words.

Actually, there is a funny song that uses the compound noun "people eater." This is one of my favorite silly songs: The One Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater. Enjoy:

The singer says he is afraid of the purple people eater, but on line 11 the monster explains that he doesn't really eat all kinds of people, only purple people. In other words, the singer thinks that this monster is purple and it eats people 吃人肉的紫色怪物!("Uh, oh! Please don't eat me, Mr Monster!")

A people eater who is purple: [NP [ADJP [ADJ purple]] [NP [N people] [N eater]]]

The monster explains that he only eats purple people, so the singer is safe ("I only eat purple people, and you are white, so I don't want to eat you!") 放心！我不吃白色人種，我只吃紫色人種啊！

A monster that eats purple people: [NP [NP [ADJ purple] [N people]] [NP [N eater] ]]

[NP = Noun Phrase, a group of words with a noun as its most important word;

ADJP = Adjective Phrase, a group of words with an adjective as its most important word]

Some of the lyrics are explained below: