Another word choice mistake I have seen from Korean students is the term "criticize that"; for example, "he criticized that she had been unfaithful." However, "criticize that" is not correct. The word "criticize" means to speak badly of someone's actions - the focus being on the fact that they did the bad action. While you can't "criticize that" someone did a certain thing, you can "criticize/blame them for doing it", "accuse them of doing it", or "assert that they did it". These all have different meanings:
- Pyeongyang's Naval command criticized that South Korea’s “reckless military provocation” was an attempt to maintain the Northern Limit Line(NLL). (x - does not make sense)
- Pyeongyang's Naval command asserted that South Korea’s “reckless military provocation” was an attempt to maintain the Northern Limit Line(NLL). (o - this means that North Korea is arguing that the provocation was an attempt to maintain the NLL)
- Pyeongyang's Naval command accused South Korea of “reckless military provocation”, in an attempt to maintain the Northern Limit Line(NLL). (o - this means that North Korea accused South Korea of taking provocative actions on purpose, in order to further the goal of maintaining the NLL)
- Pyeongyang's Naval command criticized South Korea’s “reckless military provocation” as an attempt to maintain the Northern Limit Line(NLL). (o - this means that the North sees the South's "provocation" as a bad thing, and interpreted it to be an attempt to maintain the NLL)
