grammar

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Would

November 25, 2009 in grammar | No comments

Would has various different uses:

  • politeness

    • Would you like to have a coffee?

    • Would you mind introducing customer information to us?

  • Past, to talk about repeated events

    • When I was young I would go swimming every Saturday.

    • When I was head of department I would have meetings every day.

  • Hypothetical situations

    • What would you say if you met Barack Obama?

    • I think it would be helpful to the treasury department.

    • If I lived in New York, I would have much more chance of meeting famous people.

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Verb + -ing & inf. with a change in meaning

November 19, 2009 in grammar | No comments

This is something I covered with a client the other day, something which causes problems at all levels of ability. When it comes to verbs that take BOTH -ing AND inf. after them, but with a change in meaning, the following four are perhaps the most important.

  • Remember
    • I remember swimming in the Thames when I was a boy.
    • Didn’t you remember to buy milk, I asked you twice!
  • Forget
    • Damn! I forgot to take my library books back.
    • I can’t believe you can remember that! I’d completely forgotten bumping into Tony Blair last year.
  • Try
    • I tried to pass my driving test last year. = I attempted to and therefore failed
    • I tried cooking her dinner, but still failed to impress her.
  • Stop
    • Can we stop (the car) to take some photos, the view is magnificent!
    • Will you stop talking with your mouth full, it’s disgusting to watch!
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Confusion with As and Like

July 3, 2009 in grammar | 2 comments

There is often quite a bit of confusion with As and Like, in one of their uses they both seem to mean ’similar’ or ‘the same’. I’ve written this with the intention of trying to make this a little clearer so that less mistakes will be made.

Both As and Like can be used as conjunctions and prepositions, whilst As is also sometimes an adverb and Like also a verb. Here’s an example of each:

As as an adverb – Alice is as intelligent as her brother.

As as a conjunction – As prices rise, so people find it more difficult to maintain their standard of living.

As as a preposition – As your manager, you are expected to do what I tell you.

Like as a verb – He didn’t like her very much.

Like as a conjunction – It looks like it’s going to be hot today. (informal – see below*)

Like as a preposition – John is like his father.

The confusion between these two words is when they are used as prepositions.

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Can you see the mistakes 03/07/09

July 3, 2009 in blog | No comments

Each class I have with a client I document their mistakes as they speak. The following session I print out the mistakes and ask the client to correct them. I thought it would be useful to put together a collection of these on a weekly basis and publish them, so others can try and correct them. I have collected them by first language, because each language group makes it’s own mistakes.

So, the following are all WRONG, if you want to download this as a document, with answers, you can do that here – Can you see the mistakes 03/07/09pdficon_large.

Spanish Speakers

… and coming to a so complicated system …

… just to get adapted to the crisis …

German Speakers

… why you haven’t mentioned it yesterday …

… he worked for Lehman Brothers. So I don’t have to comment this …

… last month I wrote him because …

… I’ll leave it on, I’ll see if he’s reacting …

… if I do such a work …

… it depends on what message you want to transfer …

… after his social year he hasn’t found any job …

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What’s the difference between look (at), watch and see?

June 17, 2009 in grammar | No comments

All these verbs are related to sight and vision

  1. See is the most common of the three verbs and is usually followed by an OBJECT:
    They’ve seen MANY PEOPLE wearing hats.
    John     saw ANDREA at the party.
    But it doesn’t always have an OBJECT:
    I can’t see well, so I need to wear glasses.
    See (meaning vision – there are other meanings of see) doesn’t usually take the progressive form, but look (at) can:
    We’ve been looking at churches all day!
    We’ve been seeing churches all day!
  2. Watch is used when animals or people look at something (or something happening) over a period of time:
    I’ve been watching the cricket, what have you been doing?
    Last night we watched a film.
  3. Look (at) means ‘using eyes for a particular reason.’
    “I want you to     look straight into my eyes.”
    He     wasn’t looking where he was going.
    Look also refers to appearance when what you are looking at is the SUBJECT:
    SHE looks great in that red dress.
    THE HOUSE     has been looking awful for the last few months.

So in summary I’d say that see is the most common option while look (at) and watch are both similar to each other, except that watch is used when describing actions that take place over a longer period of time.

look-see-watchpdficon_large.

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If someone says “Couldn’t have gone much better” what does that mean?

June 13, 2009 in blog | No comments

Just thought it might be worth posting this. An old client of mine emailed me this question and here’s what I thought.

QUESTION
If someone says “Couldn’t have gone much better” what does that mean?
Is it , “it was great”?
I understand “Couldn’t be better” but the sentence above is using the third conditional.

MY ANSWER
“Couldn’t have gone much better” means that of all the expectations you had of a particular event, it was the almost the best expectation that happened.

For eg. if you were taking an exam and you had a range of expectations, perhaps scores of 45% 55% 65% 75% 85% and after taking the exam and getting your score back you got 83%, you could say “Couldn’t have gone much better”

We also say this after interviews etc., if the interview went well and in response to the question “How did it go?”

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Can you see the mistakes 11/06/09

June 11, 2009 in blog | 1 comment

Each class I have with a client I document their mistakes as they speak. The following session I print out the mistakes and ask the client to correct them. I thought it would be useful to put together a collection of these on a weekly basis and publish them, so others can try and correct them. I have collected them by first language, because each language group makes it’s own mistakes.

So, the following are all WRONG, if you want to download this as a document, with answers, you can do that here – Can you see the mistakes 11/06/09pdficon_large.

Spanish Speakers

… even though I’m understanding almost everything …

… I am always using the word …

… well, let me explain you one problem …

… or to take every single requirement from customers …

… they want to see how good the service is running …

… first of all you need 24 by 7 people …

… you never know people in the end …

… when I hear people on the call centre …

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Can you see the mistakes 06/05/09

May 8, 2009 in blog | 1 comment

Each class I have with a client I document their mistakes as they speak. The following session I print out the mistakes and ask the client to correct them. I thought it would be useful to put together a collection of these on a weekly basis and publish them, so others can try and correct them. I have collected them by first language, because each language group makes it’s own mistakes.

So, the following are all WRONG, if you want to download this as a document, with answers, you can do that here – Can you see the mistakes 06/05/09pdficon_large.

Telegu Speakers

… something I tried to do it …
… she was not letting him to say anything …

French Speakers

… and I walk on the bridge between the museum …
… and they invite for three or four days …
… it was the tenth economy in the world …
… they had no good food, no good education …
… I make always this mistake …

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Few / A few

March 27, 2009 in blog | No comments

wait-await One of my clients recently said something like “I’ve been to the park few times before.”

I told him he was incorrect, and then asked him the difference between

a. There are a few examples of this behaviour.

and

b. There are few examples of this behaviour.

In a. a few is simply describing the amount, the quantity, in this case it means not many or some. In b. few suggests that there are not enough, that the speaker was or is expecting more.

The MDO says that few is

used for emphasizing that a number of people or things is very small, especially when the number is smaller than you would like or expect

while a few is defined as

some, but not many

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Wait / Await

March 27, 2009 in grammar | No comments

wait-awaitQuestion last week, “What’s the difference between waiting and awaiting?”

The examples given were something like

What are you waiting for?
He’s awaiting promotion.

The verb wait has several meanings, but in the context here the MDO defines it as

to stay in one place because you expect or hope that something will happen

while await is defined as

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