Two questions about this exercise

Question

Hola Inma,1. "hacen diferentes actividades [como]" ...The translation offered was "different activities such as ....": I wrote tal como for "such as" and was marked incorrect. My dictionary gives tal como as "such as / for instance" and this seems to be correct for the sentence. My dictionary gives como as "such as" as well, but with the meaning "similar to."  Would a better translation have been "different activities like ......."?2. This is about the use of "preocuparse de." The translation offered is "since they look after them at all times." I understood that the use of " preocuparse de" indicates that you worry about something in the way of occupying your mind / concerning yourself, while "preocuparse por" indicates that you may be worried about something or someone. The more research I do on this the more confusing it becomes because "ocuparse de" also seems to mean look after someone, and that seems to be closer to the translation. Either way my suggestion of preocuparse por was marked incorrect. It would be great to have some guidance on this.Saludos. John

Accepted Answer

Hola John,1. your answer using tal como would have also been right but you need to use "tales como" to agree with "actividades", plural. The use of "como" is also correct as "such as" as well as "like", which in this context I would say are synonyms. I will add "tales como" to the other possible answers. (Bear in mind that there are often discussions about using tal como, instead of tales como not following agreement, but in my opinion there should be agreement with the noun; but don't get surprised if you hear or see something like "hacen actividades interesantes tal como excursiones y juegos...")2. Preocuparse de algo/alguien can mean (more of a literal translation) to worry about something or someone, as in "me preocupo mucho de ti" ( I worry about you a lot), but it can also have a more of a wide meaning, something like: paying attention to someone/looking after someone/ looking after someone; this is what it is conveying here in this exercise, saying that the workers there deal with the elderly by looking after them, making sure they are alright, paying attention to them (probably also worrying about them as they may be vulnerable). Other similar verbs with more or less the same meaning could be: encargarse de alguien, ocuparse de alguien...If we had used "preocuparse por..." then this is more of a direct translation for "to worry about...". I think it was very difficult to find the exact word in the English to convey that, that's why we are giving the hint "use preocuparse de"SaludosInma

Answer

Sorry John, I just realised that the hint was actually saying "use preocuparse por", so I changed it to "use preocuparse de". I hope I didn't confuse you.Inma