A new year, a new start

One of the first things I read today was an e-mail from a friend wishing me a happy New Year. She wrote:

"And remember, the best resolution you can make is to be even more awesome than all of you were this year. Happy New Year!"

I thought that was a good one and added it to the list of resolutions I had made the day before:

• to work less
• to do more sport
• to try to make a lemon meringue pie — as a reward for doing more sport, and also because I like a challenge
• to do my tax regularly
• to be braver about going to the dentist
• to try to learn to play the ukulele

Sometimes it does make a difference to start a new year with a few clear goals. When you resolve to do something, there are various structures you can use.

Going to is one of them:
• "I'm going to spend more time making hats."
• "I'm not going to spend time with people I don't like."

When we use going to, it makes the resolution sound definite. You have decided to do something, and it sounds like you are going to stick to it.

As most of us know, it's not easy to stick to your resolutions, so often we express our resolve more tentatively. And we can do this either by using should:
• "I should take better care of the garden."
• "I shouldn't put off doing things I don't like.

...or want to or would like:
• "I'd like to learn to play the ukulele this year."
• "I want to see my friends more."

Now practise using the structures we use for resolutions on the next page.

Dagmar Taylor