Question

1) I find it difficult to describe activities people normally do when working on the computer (on "Microsoft Word", for example). Can you help me? (For example: I switch on the computer, then I click on the icon "word" and wait for it to open. I type in my paragraph, I save a copy on my USB stick (flash drive is the same?) or in a folder called "English".
2) What can you do when writing a document using "Word"? Modify the lay-out, enlarge the characters, select "italics, bold, block capitals??, underline words or phrases, insert tables, charts or image.
3) Can you say "you type data into your computer by tapping/hitting the keys(?) of your keyboard. For example, you can tap the spacebar key, the tab key, the capital letter key (the control key)or a letter key. Can you help me name the most important keys in English, please?


1) Yesterday I went to a friend’s house to use her computer because I wanted to send a photo by e-mail to my uncle, who lives in the USA.
2) Unfortunately, her computer is rather old and slow, so when I turned it on it took ages to boot up. 3) Eventually the computer asked for her windows password, so I asked her to type it in for me.
4) Her scanner is quite old too, but it works well, so I scan in my photo and after another long wait it was ready.
5) I wanted to write a long e-mail to my uncle, but I had to go to the shops before they closed and I was running out time, so I just wrote a short message, attached the photo and clicked ‘send’.
6) Then I logged off and waited for the computer to shut down.
7) I have high-speed internet connection now. There is no need to dial up to the server anymore.
8) I need to install an anti-virus program on my computer since advertisements pop up every 10 minutes.

A printer

Answer 1

1) I find it difficult to describe activities people normally do when working on the computer (on "Microsoft Word", for example). Can you help me? (For example: I switch on the computer, then I click on the icon "word" and wait for it to open. I type in my paragraph, I save a copy on my USB stick (flash drive is the same?) or in a folder called "English". <b>Yes, USB stick, memory stick, flash drive, thumb drive -- all mean the same thing.</b>

2) What can you do when writing a document using "Word"? Modify the lay-out, enlarge the characters, select "italics, bold, block capitals??, underline words or phrases, insert tables, charts or image. <b>I'd use "font" instead of "characters" and "images" at the end.</b>

3) Can you say "you type data into your computer by tapping/hitting the keys(?) of your keyboard. For example, you can tap the spacebar key, the tab key, the capital letter key (the control key)or a letter key. Can you help me name the most important keys in English, please?
<b>Yes, tapping, hitting, striking all work fine. On my keyboard, I have letter keys, number keys, tab, caps lock, shift, ctrl, alt, option, spacebar, function, arrow, home, end, delete, page up, page down, insert, print screen, pause/break, and at the right side I have a number pad (all ten numbers plus / * - + . and Enter.</b>

1) OK

2) OK

3) OK

4) Her scanner is quite old too, but it works well, so I scanned in my photo, and after another long wait, it was ready.

5) I wanted to write a long e-mail to my uncle, but I had to go shopping before the stores closed, and I was running out time, so I just wrote a short message, attached the photo, and clicked ‘send’.

6) OK

7) OK

8) OK