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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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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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Can you see the mistakes? 27/03/09

March 26, 2009 in grammar | 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? 27/03/09pdficon_large.

French Speakers

… yes and it don’t sound correct to me …

… they thought the crisis was going to be bad, but not so much …

… but I think it’s not helpful …

… there is a lot of value destruction which is not taking into account in the market price …

… I’ll just take my glasses …

… obviously the market has not a strong view on …

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English Grammar in Use

March 23, 2009 in reviews | 2 comments

real_english_grammarI’ve been teaching for more than ten years, and if ever there was a book that I could guarantee a student had used, if not actually owned, it was this. There are a couple of others in the series, the ‘Essential’ (elementary) and the Advanced, but this is the one that most people know.

I don’t like it, and never really have. I think that when it was first published (in 1985?), it must have been quite ground breaking, but I think over the years it has been overtaken by much better grammar books, and the revisions of the 1985 edition in 1994 and 2004 have been largely cosmetic. I think it looks a bit tired.

It’s not to say it’s not useful, or that students can’t learn from it, but that there are much better out there. I think it would be better to think of this as a reference book with some exercises, and not a book which students can use to practice, learn and develop.

And that’s the basic problem. The explanations are good, and the appendices useful, but there are not enough exercises and what there are are frequently unclear. What learners need is practice, and lots of it, a single page of practice at this level (at the very low end of intermediate to First Certificate level) is not enough.

The biggest crime, which fewer and fewer grammar books now commit, is to have numbered exercises in which each question is independent of the last, which means that there is no, or not enough, context for the student to work with. In the real world everything is in context, in many cases little could be understood without it. The most effective grammar practice is achieved with exercises in which each set of questions is based around a single situation, accompanied by an explanatory picture; this sets the scene and will help a student ‘feel’ they are there (Real English Grammar, for example, does this).

It has been five years since the last edition, perhaps a new, and improved, version is on the cards.

ISBN-10: 0521532892

ISBN-13: 978-0521532891

Buy this book

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