Everyday Grammar Video: Ramen, A Popular Food in Japan

Hi, Dr. Jill. Hi, John. What's on your mind today?

We received a lot of messages from our audience around the world. One unnamed BOA learning English fan sent us a message from Japan.

Most popular food in Japan is ramen. I think because ramen has huge kinds of taste.

The message is clear and to the point. I lived in Japan for many years and loved ramen as well.

We do have a couple of suggestions to improve the writing.

We need to pay special attention to short words such as articles and remove a few other words.

For example, we need to include the word the at the beginning of the message, as in the most popular food in Japan is ramen.

The reason we need to include the word the is because we often use articles to introduce a noun phrase.

English speakers expect a noun phrase to start with an article or other determiner.

These short words are like sign posts. They tell us what is coming or approaching. A few words about huge kinds of taste.

While its meaning is understandable, English speakers might instead use different structures to express the same idea.

For example, English speakers might say that the taste is complex, bold or rich.

So, we might update the message so that it goes like this.

The most popular food in Japan is ramen because it has a rich, complex taste.

And that's every day grammar.