Jack's avatar
Jack

Sept. 9, 2025

1
Raising Sows

When I was a child living in a small village, living conditions were very poor. People in the village relied on farming for a living and had little money.

My father worked for the local township government, which helped him learn some ways to earn money. Thus, my family raised sows as a way to earn money.

To get a sow pregnant, we needed to take it to a nearby town to breed with a boar and then bring it back home. Of course, we had to pay for the breeding.

When a sow was about to give birth, we needed to care for her very carefully. We had to determine when she would give birth and then stay with her throughout the entire birthing process.

I still remember one night when we hung a barn lantern in the sty while waiting for her to give birth. She didn’t give birth until late at night.

When she began giving birth, it happened quickly, but she needed to rest briefly between each piglet.

We couldn’t leave even after she finished giving birth because we still needed to care for the newborn piglets; otherwise, they might be accidentally crushed by their mother, as the sow was too exhausted to notice.

When the piglets reached a certain age, we had the male piglets castrated to help them grow faster and stronger. In the countryside, some people made a living by castrating male piglets.

The piglets were usually black. Before they were taken to market, they were healthy, strong, and their coats were shiny, making them look very beautiful.

Although my family raised several sows, it didn’t significantly improve our financial situation. From what I overheard in my parents’ conversations, we were still short of money.

Corrections

People in the village relisubsisted on farming for a living and had little money.

This sentence is grammatically correct as is. But this sounds a bit more natural.

To get a sow pregnant, we needed to take ither to a nearby town to breed with a boar and then bring ither back home.

Nothing wrong with using "it" for an animal, but you do refer to the sow as a "her" later.

When a sow was about to give birth, we needed to care for her very carefullye had to tend to a sow carefully when it was about time for one to give birth.

Nothing wrong with your original sentence! But there's a repeating pattern of "dependent clause, main clause" throughout the paragraph so far that would be good to break. Plus it sounds nicer when you don't repeat things like "we needed to."

WhenOnce she began giving birth, it happened quickly, but she needed to rest briefly between each piglet.

"Once" at the start of a clause has a more specific, sequential connotation vs "where."

When the pigletsy reached a certain age, we had the male piglets castrated to help them grow faster and stronger.

Fine to use a pronoun here as you're alredy specifying who "they" are later in the sentence. Could swap to:

When the male piglets reached a certain age, we had them...
or
When they reached a certain age, we had the males...

In the countryside, some people madke a living by castrating male piglets.

Do people still make a living this way? Might be clearer to highlight when people made a living this way if you're going to use "made."

Back then, some people made...

Before they were taken to market, they were healthy, strong, and their coats were shiny, makinghad shiny coats that made them look very beautiful.

This is a comma splice. My suggestion is to rewrite the sentence a bit to specify that their shiny coats were the reason they looked beautiful.

Removing "very" as it weakens the sentence. Overuse of words like "very" or "really" is common among native speakers, but it's considered a bad habit and not good writing.

Feedback

I really enjoyed your story! I'm originally from Tennessee in the US. While my family never raised animals for money, a lot of people I grew up with did. My father-in-law still raises cows!

Jack's avatar
Jack

Sept. 10, 2025

1

Thank you very much for the corrections and the detailed explanations. Raising pigs for money was popular, but now, people in my village no longer do that as they have other better means.

Raising Sows

When I was a child living in a small village, our living conditions were very poorsqualid.

People in the village relied on farming for a living and had little money.

My father worked for the local township government, which helped him learn some ways to earn money.

Thus, my family raised sows as a way to earn money.

To get a sow pregnant, we needed to take it to a nearby town to breed it with a boar and then bring it back home.

Of course, we had to pay for the breeding.

When a sow was about to give birth, we needed to care for her very carefully.

We had to determine when she would give birth and then stay with her throughout the entire birthing processr pregnancy.

I still remember one night when we hung a barn lantern in the sty while waiting for her to give birth.

听起来耶稣的出生故事

She didn’t give birth until late at night.

When she began giving birth, it happened quickly, but she needed to rest briefly between each piglet.

We couldn’t leave even after she finished giving birth because we still needed to care for the newborn piglets; otherwise, they might be accidentally crushed by their mother, as the sow was too exhausted to noticepay attention.

When the piglets reached a certain age, we had the male piglets castrated to help them grow faster and stronger.

In the countryside, some people made a living by castrating male piglets.

The piglets were usually black.

Before they were taken to market, they were healthy, strong, and their coats were shiny, making them look very beautiful.

Although my family raised several sows, it didn’t significantly improve our financial situation significantly.

in some contexts, adverbs are placed at the end

From what I overheard in my parents’ conversations, we were still short of moneypoor.

or broke (same as poor) in informal english

Jack's avatar
Jack

Sept. 9, 2025

1

I checked the words “squalid” and “pregnancy”, and I don’t think they fit where you placed them. “Squalid” means “肮脏的”, but what I mean is “贫困的”. As for “pregnancy”, it means “怀孕、孕期”, but what I mean is “分娩、生产”.

Raising Sows


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

When I was a child living in a small village, living conditions were very poor.


When I was a child living in a small village, our living conditions were very poorsqualid.

People in the village relied on farming for a living and had little money.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

People in the village relisubsisted on farming for a living and had little money.

This sentence is grammatically correct as is. But this sounds a bit more natural.

My father worked for the local township government, which helped him learn some ways to earn money.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Thus, my family raised sows as a way to earn money.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

To get a sow pregnant, we needed to take it to a nearby town to breed with a boar and then bring it back home.


To get a sow pregnant, we needed to take it to a nearby town to breed it with a boar and then bring it back home.

To get a sow pregnant, we needed to take ither to a nearby town to breed with a boar and then bring ither back home.

Nothing wrong with using "it" for an animal, but you do refer to the sow as a "her" later.

Of course, we had to pay for the breeding.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

When a sow was about to give birth, we needed to care for her very carefully.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

When a sow was about to give birth, we needed to care for her very carefullye had to tend to a sow carefully when it was about time for one to give birth.

Nothing wrong with your original sentence! But there's a repeating pattern of "dependent clause, main clause" throughout the paragraph so far that would be good to break. Plus it sounds nicer when you don't repeat things like "we needed to."

We had to determine when she would give birth and then stay with her throughout the entire birthing process.


We had to determine when she would give birth and then stay with her throughout the entire birthing processr pregnancy.

I still remember one night when we hung a barn lantern in the sty while waiting for her to give birth.


I still remember one night when we hung a barn lantern in the sty while waiting for her to give birth.

听起来耶稣的出生故事

She didn’t give birth until late at night.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

When she began giving birth, it happened quickly, but she needed to rest briefly between each piglet.


When she began giving birth, it happened quickly, but she needed to rest briefly between each piglet.

WhenOnce she began giving birth, it happened quickly, but she needed to rest briefly between each piglet.

"Once" at the start of a clause has a more specific, sequential connotation vs "where."

We couldn’t leave even after she finished giving birth because we still needed to care for the newborn piglets; otherwise, they might be accidentally crushed by their mother, as the sow was too exhausted to notice.


We couldn’t leave even after she finished giving birth because we still needed to care for the newborn piglets; otherwise, they might be accidentally crushed by their mother, as the sow was too exhausted to noticepay attention.

When the piglets reached a certain age, we had the male piglets castrated to help them grow faster and stronger.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

When the pigletsy reached a certain age, we had the male piglets castrated to help them grow faster and stronger.

Fine to use a pronoun here as you're alredy specifying who "they" are later in the sentence. Could swap to: When the male piglets reached a certain age, we had them... or When they reached a certain age, we had the males...

In the countryside, some people made a living by castrating male piglets.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

In the countryside, some people madke a living by castrating male piglets.

Do people still make a living this way? Might be clearer to highlight when people made a living this way if you're going to use "made." Back then, some people made...

The piglets were usually black.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Before they were taken to market, they were healthy, strong, and their coats were shiny, making them look very beautiful.


This sentence has been marked as perfect!

Before they were taken to market, they were healthy, strong, and their coats were shiny, makinghad shiny coats that made them look very beautiful.

This is a comma splice. My suggestion is to rewrite the sentence a bit to specify that their shiny coats were the reason they looked beautiful. Removing "very" as it weakens the sentence. Overuse of words like "very" or "really" is common among native speakers, but it's considered a bad habit and not good writing.

Although my family raised several sows, it didn’t significantly improve our financial situation.


Although my family raised several sows, it didn’t significantly improve our financial situation significantly.

in some contexts, adverbs are placed at the end

From what I overheard in my parents’ conversations, we were still short of money.


From what I overheard in my parents’ conversations, we were still short of moneypoor.

or broke (same as poor) in informal english

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