Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[hela]

Hello everyone,

Would please correct my English?

To palliate/alleviate/mitigate the distress (?) caused by detention, the writer endeavours to follow a personal routine that is not imposed by the custodial XXX (I mean the management), which might ① give him a sense of freedom / ② make him feel as if he were not imprisoned but rather leading a normal life.

Many thanks,
Hela

[Jacob K.]

"To mitigate the distress caused by detention, the writer endeavours to follow a personal routine that is not imposed by the administration, which might make him feel as if he were not imprisoned but rather leading a normal life."

The reasons for my choices:

To "alleviate" often means reducing physical pain. Distress is psychological (mental), not physical. Also, from my experience, "palliate" is very uncommon in usage.

I do not advise using "XXX" as a means of substitution (use in place of a word you do not know). "XXX" most commonly refers to adult pornographic (naked bodies) material.

I replaced "XXX" with "administration" which means "the body which governs" and can refer to any authority figure in the context of the sentence.

I chose the second conclusion (ending) as it adds more descriptive (detailed) imagery (picture in your mind) to the sentence.

[hela]

Sorry about that , I didn't mean to be rude or offensive. Thank you for letting me know about the matter.

[hela]

Good morning everyone,

Here are other questions if you don't mind.

1) Help s.o. do sthg / help s.o. to do sthg: both correct?

2) to submit / object to + obeying / obey ?
Do I always have to use the gerund in this case or can I also use the infinitive ?
Would you please give me examples of verbs + preposition that are only followed by the -ing form and not the infinitive?

3) What noun can I use to name the time at which prisoners are shut in their cells:
a) the shutting off of the cell doors
b) the shutting up / away of prisoners ?
c) something else?

4) He makes his own routine to avoid feeling to pressed upon. Correct? What does it mean ?

Many thanks