Need help with this ESL writing exercise

Question

I think the best way to handle anger is to face whatever or whoever that makes you angry. First, remain calm and try to find out how to resolve the situation. If it is about an broken item, find ways to repair or simply replace it. If it is caused by a person, talk to them about it candidly. It's very important to acknowledge and deal with the anger, and not let it devour you. If you can't keep calm for any reason, for instance, you might find you have no way to reach that person, try taking a walk, running, playing an instrument or a sport; whichever activities that are most  helpful to free your mind hence calm you down. This is the best way to resolve the anger, face it or let go of it.

Shi Aina · Accepted Answer

Hi Chiachen,
I fixed some grammar mistakes and reworded some parts to make it sound better, as seen below:

I think the best way to handle anger is to face whatever or whoever made you angry. First, remain calm and try to find out how to resolve the situation. If it is about an broken item, find a way to repair it or simply replace it. If it is caused by a person, talk to them about it candidly. It's very important to acknowledge and deal with the anger, and not let it destroy you. If you can't keep calm for any reason-- for instance, you might find you have no way to reach that person-- try taking a walk, running, playing an instrument or a sport. Do whatever activity that will be the most helpful in freeing your mind and hence calming you down.
This is the best way to resolve anger: face it or let go of it.

Chiachen · Answer

Dear Shi,  I am always appreciative of your helping me out, when no one else did, it really helps.  Also, I hope you don't mind my asking if you're a native AE speaker. No offense here, non whatsoever.  Just wondering, for it seems you are brilliant in correcting the grammar, but somehow you would not help fix some unnatural ways of speaking in the writing exercises.  But if you are, please feel free to change/rearrange any parts of the writing to make it more an AE writing model.  Thank you again!

Shawn79 · Answer

I think the best way to handle anger is to face whatever or whoever makes you angry. First, remain calm and try to find out how to resolve the situation. If it is about a broken item, find ways to repair or simply replace it. If it is caused by a person, talk to them about it candidly. It's very important to acknowledge and deal with the anger, and not let it consume you. If you can't keep calm for some reason, for instance, you might find you have no way to reach that person, try taking a walk, running, playing an instrument or a sport; doing whichever activities are the most helpful to free your mind hence calm you down. This is the best way to resolve the anger: face it or let go of it.

I'm not negating any corrections made by others. I just wanted to quickly correct a couple things that caught my eye.

The word "makes" in the first sentence could be in the present or past. In the present it serves as general advice. As for "devour", you could say that, but it sounds too strong. More common synonyms are "consume" or "eat up." I inserted "doing" only because you have a few "ing" forms immediately prior to it following "try". It could probably be just "do".

Nice work, and great advice!

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Shawn79 · Answer

Shi AinaIt's very important to acknowledge and deal with the anger, and not let it destroy you. If you can't keep calm for any reason-- for instance, you might find you have no way to reach that person-- try taking a walk, running, playing an instrument or a sport. Do whatever activity that will be the most helpful in freeing your mind and hence calming you down.

It's a good suggestion to use dashes to set off the parenthetical thought. Nice!

Chiachen · Answer

Thank you, Shawn, So you find the way the writer try to convey is pretty good and considered a natural way of writing in English? One more question, may I? I wanted to ask this: Does lest it should consume you/eat you up and not let it consume you/eat you up mean the same or is there a difference?

Chiachen · Answer

I left out one: the most helpful in freeing your mind and hence calm you down, and thus calm you down are equally OK. Or Is it good writing? Any better way(s)? Are keep calm and stay calm the same?

Chiachen · Answer

I copied it wrong:  The most helpful to free your mind and hence calm you down.  Also, is it perfectly fine to use whatever, whoever and whichever the way written in this exercise?

Shawn79 · Answer

Yes, as an essay, it sounds pretty natural to me.

chiachenDoes lest it should consume you/eat you up and not let it consume you/eat you up mean the same or is there a difference?

Collins Dictionary defines "lest," a conjunction, as "so as to prevent any possibility that." To me "lest" in this case would be like saying: It's very important to acknowledge and deal with the anger so that it doesn't consume you. With "and not let" you don't have the same cause and effect relationship. You're saying in addition to dealing with anger, you must alsonot allow it to consume you. You might actually want the meaning of "lest" without the word itself. It sounds too literary, archaic, biblical... you get the idea.

The sentence in blue sounds good.

chiachenthe most helpful in freeing your mind and hence calm you down, and thuscalm you down are equally OK.

Both "hence" and "thus" mean the same in this sense, but they sound rather formal. You can also simply say "so that" as in this example: Do whatever things you enjoy that are the most helpful in distracting your mind so that you calm down.

chiachenAre keep calm and stay calm the same?

Yes, keep, stay and remain are synonyms in this sense.

chiachenAlso, is it perfectly fine to use whatever, whoever and whichever the way written in this exercise?

Yes, they seem fine.

Chiachen · Answer

Thank you so much. I'll write Do whatever things you enjoy that are the most helpful in distracting your mind so that you calm down. Instead then.

Shi Aina · Answer

Hi Chiachen,

Just to answer your question, I am a native English speaker, but I am often hesitant to change the unnatural parts of other's writing because I don't want them to feel I am trying to ruin their style.

Shawn,
Thanks so much for your encouragement. You're the first person to encourage me in all the different threads I've helped in. Thank you so much!

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