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Common Mistakes in Speaking and Writing 

Here are three errors that I regularly encounter inside and outside the classroom. Do you make these mistakes? Listen to yourself, and check your writing. These are some errors that are not deadly or fatal because native speakers usually understand what you mean. Because of that, they will rarely correct you. Nevertheless, these mistakes mark you as not quite as advanced or proficient in English as you may think you are.

Common Mistake 1

At lunchtime, I often hear students asking each other if they want to go outside and eat together.

INCORRECT:
A: “Do you like to eat lunch with us today?”
B: “Yeah, sure. Where do you go?”

What’s wrong with this dialog? To ask someone to join you for lunch, we would say,

CORRECT: 
A: ” Would you like to eat lunch with us today?” OR “Do you want to eat lunch with us today?” (more informal)
B: “Yeah, sure. Where are you going/are you going to go?”

EXPLANATION:
In English, the present simple using ‘do you like to…’ is not a request form. Also, B’s response asking for more information using the simple present sounds odd because the speakers are talking about ‘right now.’ Thus, the appropriate question asking for more information about the plan for lunch would be “Where are you going/are you going to go?” (present continuous/future plan)

Common Mistake 2

Another common error especially in speaking for the Cambridge or for the iBT (TOEFL) test is

INCORRECT:
”I would prefer to study by my own rather than study with others.”

CORRECT:
”I would prefer to study on my own/by myself rather than study with others.”

EXPLANATION:
Prepositions are such a pain in the you-know-what, aren’t they? I always tell advanced level students that prepositions are the last thing to master in English. These little words (in, on, at, by, for, to, and so on) quickly mark people – even those who have lived in the U.S. for decades – as foreign-born  (including British English speakers, e.g., ‘on the weekend’ vs. ‘at the weekend’). 😉

Common Mistake 3

Students need to be able to express their opinions. Of course, the easiest way to start off your sentence is to say, “In my opinion, …..” However, there are other ways to begin a discourse about your personal views.

INCORRECT:
”In my point of view, we should raise taxes on gasoline.”

CORRECT:
”From my point of view, we should raise taxes on gasoline.”
”In my view, we should raise taxes on gasoline.”

To try to give a visual image of how to use these last two expressions correctly, I often draw a mountain peak with a little person standing on top. From that point, the person can see a lot, but (s)he is not in that point.

I hope this helps you to improve your speech so that you sound more native.

Confusing WordsVocabulary

LINDA’S PROFILE

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Oxford Comma

It’s just a comma! Or is it?
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I’ve had a lot of questions recently about punctuation and the role it plays in English. So is punctuation important when you speak English? I think so. Let’s look at the simple comma.
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Some people say that commas can help you put pauses in a sentence, to help you speak with clarity and definition. I agree. I think that they help you to deliver a message clearly. Yet others insist there are rules for when you use a comma or not, although they do help you to translate written words into effective verbal communication, with the correct significance.
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In truth, there is a lot of discussion about it. There is a comma, known as the Oxford comma, which the rules of American English do not see as important but the rules of British English insist you use correctly. This is the comma used before the coordinating conjunction (e.g. and, or, etc.) at the end of a list.
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For example,
‘I booked the comedians, Laurel and Hardy.’ This could signify that you booked some comedians for your celebration and they were called Laurel and Hardy. Yet if you write, ‘I booked the comedians, Laurel, and Hardy.’ This signifies that both Laurel and Hardy were booked for the event, as well as some comedians.
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I like the idea of using the Oxford comma, but what do you think?

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the article ‘the’

The article the can be confusing at times as when or when not to omit.

It is the same for all genders in singular and in plural; the cat, the dog, the computers.

 

First, determine if the is being used indefinitely or definitely. Life is great. (indefinite) I’ve read the book about the life of Bill Clinton.  (definite)

 

Names of countries in the singular; summits of mountains; continents; towns;

Germany, France, Mount Whitney, Mount McKinley, Africa, Europe, Cairo, New York

 

Names of countries in the plural; mountain ranges; regions;

the United States of America, the Netherlands, the Highlands, the Rocky Mountains, the Alps, the Middle East.

 

Single island; Corfu, Bermuda, Sicily

Groups of islands; the Bahamas, the British Isles, the Canaries

 

Parks; lakes; streets;

Central Park, Hyde Park, Lake Michigan, Loch Ness, 42nd Street, Oxford Street

 

Name with of-phrase; oceans; seas; rivers;

the Statue of Liberty, the Tower (of London), the Isle of Wight,

the Atlantic (Ocean), the Mediterranean (Sea), the Nile, the Rhine, the Suez Canal

 

Months, days of the week (indefinite)

The weekend is over on Monday morning.

July and August are the most popular months for holidays.

 

Months, days of the week (definite)

I always remember the Monday when I had an accident.

The August of 2001 was hot and dry.

 

Seasons (spring, summer, autumn, winter) can be used with or without the definite article;

In summer or in the summer

* The American English word for autumn >fall< is always used with the definite article.

LINDA’S PROFILE

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Much and Many

“Much” and “many” are used so many times in English! It takes much effort to learn the difference between them. Students should spend a lot of time studying if they want to speak fluent English.

There are many great websites that help with this subject. Here are some resources that you can use to learn more:

http://englishlanguagehelp.info/esl/much-vs-many/

http://stickyball.net/esl-grammar.html?id=394

And here is a quiz for practice.

Do you feel confident with using “much” and “many?” Try to describe the following words using either “much” or “many” for practice:

_______ cars
_______ books
_______ rain
_______ snow
_______ love
_______ coffee
_______ people
_______ groups
_______ time
_______ English!

How did you do? If you are still having trouble, try the websites to learn more. I wish you much luck and many good answers!

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ADVERB placement

Student: Why is the first one correct and not the second?

The kids work well at school.
The kids work at school well.

Teacher:  The first one is correct because there is a ‘rule of order’ of words in a sentence.  Basic English sentences, until you are at an advanced level of English, is: Subject, Verb, Object.
Then, we usually, put the modifying adjectives, before the noun they are talking about.  The kids (subject)   Or the smart (adjective) kids… AND THE ADVERB comes after the verb…work well….we put the adverb right after the verb to avoid misunderstanding as to which word the adverb is modifying.

Here’s another example…
The dog barked loudly at the postman.
If you move ‘loudly’ to the end of the sentence, you are actually putting the most emphasis on the fact that the dog barked at the postman.  By putting ‘loudly’ at the end…it is almost as if you were saying something as an ‘afterthought.’  When in fact, what you really want to say, is that the dog BARKED LOUDLY…not just barked…so the location of the adverb gives more emphasis.

JANET’S PROFILE

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Frequently Confused Words #2 Make or Do?

Another difficult area, for many non native speakers, is working out when to use make or do. The problem is that they have very similar meanings, but they do have very different uses.
Do is used when we are talking about general and daily activities and when no physical object is produced.

What are you doing? I’m doing the housework.

I really hate doing the ironing.

I wish I didn’t have to do it.

Examples: Do the washing up

Do my homework

Do our jobs

We also often use do with, nothing, everything, anything, something.

It’s my day off tomorrow, would you like to do something?

Does anything really matter?

I’ve done everything you asked me to do

Make, on the other hand, is very often used when we are talking about creating, building or constructing something that we can actually touch or see.

I am making breakfast/lunch/supper                                                                          

He made a really beautiful box in his woodwork class

My grandmother used to make her own clothes.

 

Do and make are also used with a large number of set expressions, (collocations) the problem is (rather like a lot of things in English!!!) there are no rules to help you decide and so these just have to be learnt.

Follow this link to see a list of set expressions and to try out some exercises.

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Adjectives

St

udent:   I can't understand it. What's the grammar rule ?

Screen shot 2013-04-17 at 12.31.23 PM

Teacher:  You are treating these words as verbs, but they are adjectives in these sentences.  They are describing the feelings of the subject.    A few simple examples:  I am annoyed.  She is excited to go on vacation.  The dog was tired.  Marathons are exhausting.

Think of emoticons (from skype) when you are trying to decide if a word is an adjective…  neutral I am bored.  

Here is a 'text book' explanation from http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/adjectives.htm

Adjectives that are really Participles, verb forms with -ing and -ed endings, can be troublesome for some students. It is one thing to be a frightened child; it is an altogether different matter to be a frightening child. Do you want to go up to your professor after class and say that you are confused or that you are confusing? Generally, the -ed ending means that the noun so described (“you”) has apassive relationship with something — something (the subject matter, the presentation) has bewildered you and you are confused. The -ing ending means that the noun described has a more active role — you are not making any sense so you are confusing (to others, including your professor).

The -ed ending modifiers are often accompanied by prepositions (these are not the only choices):

  • We were amazed at all the circus animals.
  • We were amused by the clowns.
  • We were annoyed by the elephants.
  • We were bored by the ringmaster.
  • We were confused by the noise.
  • We were disappointed by the motorcycle daredevils.
  • We were disappointed in their performance.
  • We were embarrassed by my brother.
  • We were exhausted from all the excitement.
  • We were excited by the lion-tamer.
  • We were excited about the high-wire act, too.
  • We were frightened by the lions.
  • We were introduced to the ringmaster.
  • We were interested in the tent.
  • We were irritated by the heat.
  • We were opposed to leaving early.
  • We were satisfied with the circus.
  • We were shocked at the level of noise under the big tent.
  • We were surprised by the fans' response.
  • We were surprised at their indifference.
  • We were tired of all the lights after a while.
  • We were worried about the traffic leaving the parking lot.

Do you have any questions?  Please!  Feel free to contact me with them

 

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Frequently Confused Words #1 Tell and Say

For my first post I want to try to help you to understand when and how to use tell and say . This is often a big problem for many English learners.

So, when to use tell? Tell is used for instructions and information and we usually say who is told (a personal object) as in this example:  I told Peter to finish his homework (instruction) and here’s another Please tell him I will be late (information).

We tell someone something.

Also, we tell the time, tell a story, tell a lie, tell the truth, tell a joke and tell the difference.

The teacher told a story to the class

I was telling a joke to Emma

If you tell the truth he will understand

 

Say is more often used in direct speech and to report someone’s words and is often used without a personal object, for example:he said it was my last chance.

What did you say? I  said the exam will take 2 hours.

When a personal object is used say is always followed by ‘to’: I said to him that we will be leaving at 9.00pm. & Please say to Tom; I’ll call him when I return

Say is used to ask about language: How do you say that in French?

Also, we say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, yes, no, Happy Birthday, congratulations.

Now why not follow this link to practice using say and tell?

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Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal Verbs. Yuck. A phrasal verb is a verb plus a preposition or adverb which creates a meaning different from the original verb. Basically, when some words are used together, they form a new “word” (they have a meaning that has NOTHING to do with the two words that are combined).

common phrasal verbs

UsingEnglish has a great way to practice common phrasal verbs>>

The verbs in the list below all have several different phrasal verbs associated with them. The number in brackets represents the number of phrasal verbs available containing that verb. Clicking on a verb will take you to a quiz of between 5 and 10 questions designed to test your understanding of the phrasal verbs in that group. If a group has more than 10 phrasal verbs in it a random selection of questions will be presented for that verb.

http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/phrasal-verbs/quizzes-verbs.html

 

You basically have to treat these as “new” vocabulary. Train your brain to recognize them together and then pull up that meaning. See, right there! Pull up. Do you know the meaning of pull+up? Sadly, some phrasal verbs have more than one meaning 🙁 So context is also very important. If you google it, you will see this:

pull up

Does that exercise (shown in the picture) fit with my sentence? Train your brain to recognize them together and then pull up that meaning.

What do you think?

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Prepositions of Place: at, in, on

I’ve seen many ways to help students understand prepositions and I have come to the conclusion that EnglishClub does it the best!

In general, we use:

  • at for a POINT
  • in for an ENCLOSED SPACE
  • on for a SURFACE
at in on
POINT ENCLOSED SPACE SURFACE
at the corner in the garden on the wall
at the bus stop in London on the ceiling
at the door in France on the door
at the top of the page in a box on the cover
at the end of the road in my pocket on the floor
at the entrance in my wallet on the carpet
at the crossroads in a building on the menu
at the front desk in a car on a page

Look at these examples:

  • Jane is waiting for you at the bus stop.
  • The shop is at the end of the street.
  • My plane stopped at Dubai and Hanoi and arrived in Bangkok two hours late.
  • When will you arrive at the office?
  • Do you work in an office?
  • I have a meeting in New York.
  • Do you live in Japan?
  • Jupiter is in the Solar System.
  • The author’s name is on the cover of the book.
  • There are no prices on this menu.
  • You are standing on my foot.
  • There was a “no smoking” sign on the wall.
  • I live on the 7th floor at 21 Oxford Street in London.

Notice the use of the prepositions of place at, in and on in these standard expressions:

at in on
at home in a car on a bus
at work in a taxi on a train
at school in a helicopter on a plane
at university in a boat on a ship
at college in a lift (elevator) on a bicycle, on a motorbike
at the top in the newspaper on a horse, on an elephant
at the bottom in the sky on the radio, on television
at the side in a row on the left, on the right
at reception in Oxford Street on the way

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/prepositions-at-in-on-place.htm

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