Spotlight - 13.2019

74 Spotlight 13/2019 FEEDBACK

Dear Spotlight

I love and enjoy Spotlight very much — the

diversity, with topics from all areas and

many countries. The proof of my satis-

faction: I’ve been a Spotlight subscriber for

over a quarter of a century.

I have a grammar question about one

of the sentences the “Grammar Queen”

said (9/19, page 45): “I lived there from

age two to about age four, so I spoke Ger-

man as a kid. ... And I would go back for

six weeks every summer and two weeks

at Christmas...” Why does the author use

“would” when she is talking about the

past, about long ago? Thanks in advance.

Best regards

Martina Angela Kutta, by e -mail

Dear Ms Kutta

Thanks for your e-mail and for being such

a loyal reader. We hope you will continue

to enjoy Spotlight for many years to come.

The sentence you have pointed out is

an example of how you can use “would”

to describe repeated actions in the past —

actions that do not occur any more. You

can use “would” to talk about past habits

and, in many cases, to help you tell stories

about the past. In this case, Ellen Jovin

tells us about a past habit of hers: return-

ing time and again to a foreign country.

Yo u c a n u s e “u s e d t o ” i n t h e s a m e w a y.

For example, to describe a past habit,

you could say, “When my brothers and

I were small, we loved to go swimming

in the ocean. We would go down to the

beach with our father and play in the

waves.” You could also say, “We used to go

down to the beach...” You can use “would”

or “used to” in this context — either is

fine. In issue 4/19 (page 61), you’ll find a

more detailed explanation of how to use

“used to” and “would”

Kind regards

Claudine Weber-Hof, deputy editor

Dear Ms Sharp

The short story “Inside-out man” in issue

10/19 ends rather abruptly. Is it to be con-

tinued?

Regards

Lynne Fritsch, by e -mail

Dear Ms Fritsch

Thank you very much for your e-mail. The

short story is supposed to end as it does.

It is up to each reader to decide how it

continues. If you have an idea of how you

think the story continues or ends, please

let us know. We would be happy to pub-

lish this on the Feedback page. Perhaps a

few other readers will have suggestions,

too. In the meantime, I hope you continue

to read and enjoy Spotlight.

Kind regards

Inez Sharp, editor-in-chief

“Sharenting,” a combination of “sharing”

and “parenting,” came into widespread

use around 2012, when The Wall Street Jour-

nal used it in an article entitled “The Face-

book-free baby.” Child advocates link put-

ting lots of personal information about

kids’ lives online to privacy concerns and

to risks connected to data brokers — firms

that collect information online and sell it

to advertisers.

Still, posting photos of children online

is mostly harmless, and social media helps

families stay in touch. Yet some caution

is advised. Recently, The New York Times

reported that, by 2030, sharenting will be

involved in an estimated “two-thirds of

identity fraud cases facing the young gen-

eration.” The article also cites a UK study

which found that, by the average child’s

fifth birthday, nearly 1,500 photos of him

or her had been posted online.

Example:

“Kids — and some grown-ups too — are

over the days of ‘sharenting.’”

— from an article in The Atlantic magazine

This informal word means the

online oversharing of photos and

information about children by

parents or other guardians.

MEDIUM US

sharenting

FEEDBACK

WORDPLAY

by Claudine Weber-Hof

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guardian [(gA:rdiEn]

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EINFACH BESSER ENGLISCH

Deutschland €

8,50

CH sfr 13,90A·E ·I ·L · SK: € 9,60

(^11) — 19

• CRIME
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TIME - CRIME TIME

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TIME

EINFACH BESSER ENGLISCH

Deutschland € 8,50CH sfr 13,90A·E ·I ·L · SK: € 9,60

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