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Would you proofread my sentences?

hirashin

Sempai
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8 Apr 2004
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Dear native English speakers
I made some sentences. Would you please check them?

1 Fred is really kind, but on the other hand he is very lazy.

2 In Japan today, there are a large number of people who suffer from cancer.

3 In developed countries, a lot of people have health problems caused by overeating.

4 The Internet didn't exist half a century ago.

5 He talks as if the problem of poverty doesn't exist in this country.

6 There is a large imbalance between the two countries.

7(a) In this country, a large number of people suffer from poverty.
(b) A large number of people suffer from poverty in this country.

8 We know that a lot of water exists on the moon.

9 More than seven billion people exist on the earth.

10 Overeating causes many kinds of diseases.

11 He is known as a baseball player.

12 She is trying to solve all these problems in a day.

Thanks in advance.

Hirashin
 
8 We know that a lot of water exists on the moon.

9 More than seven billion people exist on the earth.
"Earth" is a proper noun, so it needs to be capitalized:

More than seven billion people exist on the Earth.

Also, note that "the" is optional, since "Earth" is the proper name of the planet. In fact I'd say that "the Earth" is falling out of favor over time. So this is also correct:

More than seven billion people exist on Earth.

"The Moon" is a bit different, as is "the Sun". In both of these cases, when referring to Luna and Sol respectively (as you usually are), both capitalization and the use of "the" are required. Exactly why this is the case is complicated and kind of fascinating, but all that you really need to know is that these are special exceptions. "The Moon" and "the Sun" are both proper nouns.

So #8 should be:

We know that a lot of water exists on the Moon.

Everything else is perfect as far as I can tell.
 
Dear native English speakers
I made some sentences. Would you please check them?
I think they are all fine. Even the earth and moon one. But it would probably be easier if you follow the rules that JuliM told you. That seems to be the general trend.

Some notes:
Dictionary.com:
It is acceptable to leave earth lowercase and use the with earth if you are talking about it as the planet we live on: The earth rotates on its axis.

AP Style Guide.
Capitalize historical ages, periods or events (the Bronze Age, World War II) … monuments (Lincoln Memorial, Statue of Liberty) … the names of planets, stars, constellations (The comet passed Mars and headed toward Earth. … But lowercase sun, moon. Also, lowercase earth in: down to earth, salt of the earth).

A guy bitching about this:
moon vs. Moon: A Study in Arrant Pedantry | Daily Planet | Air & Space Magazine

NASA's style guide:
Astronomical Bodies:
Capitalize the names of planets (e.g. Earth, Mars, Jupiter). Capitalize moon when referring to Earth's Moon, otherwise lowercase moon (e.g. the Moon orbits the Earth, Jupiter's moons). Do not capitalize solar system and universe.

I personally don't like Earth's Moon example. To me it feels like saying "Jack's Mom" which is incorrect.
 
Thank you for your help, Julimaruchan and mdchachi.

When I was in junior high, I was told to write "the earth" and "the moon". But these days, I see (the) Earth and Moon more often. I suppose I should use capitalized ones.
 
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