So, it is a very functional book, and get’s straight down to business. It’s split into five sections, which are:

1.Focus on coherence
2.Focus on cohesion
3.Writing letters
4.Correcting written English
5.Punctuation

Each of the above are broken up into easily digestible pieces which are a series of exercises that double up as chapters that general have a paragraph of introduction and then dive straight into a task. Most of the sections begin with tasks that make you think about what you’re trying to achieve, rather than simply lexical/word-related tasks.

This is an interesting approach, and can be rather difficult to follow at times, as well as sometimes it being difficult to see the reason for some of the questions involved. I have been teaching for more than 12 years and am still unsure if the following are conjunctions or adverbs:

however, whatever, besides, consequently

and yet I am asked, at one point, to decide. My point is, does it matter?

Section 1 deals exclusively with essays, which is a shame, as it could easily be transferred to reports and proposals (I have to admit that it would make it easier for me too, as majority of my clients are already working in London and so don’t have to write essays too often).

I most use section 2, 4 & 5, which I find to be very well laid out and really quite challenging in places. They have been brilliant with my clients for getting them to think about the language in different ways, what differences there are between ways of using the language, some of which I still have trouble explaining.

Lastly, and one of the best parts of the book is the key. It takes up the last 30% of the pages, with detailed explanations of each exercise. This is a trait that all books should follow, and not enough do. If a book is to be used for both self-study and reference at a later date (as this can be), then it is less important that a student knows whether they are correct than that they know WHY they were wrong.

Overall this is a useful addition to the books on offer in the ELT sector. It is simple and unfussy, and has aimed to fill a gap in the market. It mostly succeeds, though I think that sometimes it covers what isn’t necessary for a good grasp of the language. For teachers, this is a great book to have on hand, as there are many parts that are excellent. For the student this would be a good supplement to other coursework.

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.

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!

• present continuous – future plan
  • Jim’s coming in an hour for my class
  • I’m flying at 1800 on 24^th November

  • I’m having dinner at a Chinese restaurant this evening (I have booked a table)

• be going to + inf – intention

  • I’m going to play table tennis at the weekend

  • I’m going to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant this evening (I haven’t booked a table)

• will (shall) + inf – predicition & making a decision at the time of speaking

  • “What are you doing at the weekend?” “Oh, I don’t know, I think I’ll go shopping.”

  • I think I’ll come back to the UK on 10^th January

• present simple – timetable

  • The plane leaves at 1800

  • The film starts at 2040

• may / should / might / could + inf – modal future

  • We should leave in an hour

  • We might go shopping at the weekend

• The present simple is rarely used to describe the present, instead it has three major uses:
  • Habit – I take the underground to work
  • State – The earth goes around the sun
  • Future timetabled events – On Sunday my flight leaves at 1810

Many apologies for not posting for such a long time, but I now have a child, a baby girl born on 20th September. I figure that the more practical approach to keeping up with posting here is to post a more polished version of the notes I prepare for my clients when a particular question pops up.

Any comments gratefully received.

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.

When used as a preposition, As usually expresses the meaning of the verb be,

As a manager he had certain responsibilities.

Whereas Like when used as a preposition usually means ’similar to’,

Dressed in his suit, he looked like a manager.

As

As a preposition As has two main uses

1. It expresses comparison  He behaved as cool as a cucumber.
   In this use, as comes before a noun phrase. As you can see, this is idiomatic; there are many other phrases that are similar in this way:
   as hard as nails as brave as a lion as white as snow

2. It also expresses the meaning of the verb be (this is where much of the confusion with like occurs):
   As a doctor, I have certain responsibilities. (= being a doctor)
   He acted as a guide and showed them the sights of the old city. (= his role/job in that situation was that of a guide)

Like

Like, when used as a preposition, means ’similar to’ (not ‘being’ as above). Like here is used as a comparison.

In many ways, London is like New York.

The mountains in the UK look nothing like the Alps.

So what’s the confusion, then?

Take the examples above and replace like for as, and as for like:

As a doctor, I have certain responsibilities. (= being a doctor)

Like a doctor, I have certain responsibilities. This makes sense, but the meaning is different. It doesn’t mean that the person speaking is a doctor but that they are acting in the way that a doctor would, in other words similar to.

He acted as a guide and showed them the sights of the old city. (= his role/job in that situation was that of a guide)

He acted like a guide and showed them the sights of the old city. In this case, the two are very similar, so the meaning here is almost the same.

In many ways, London is like New York.

In many ways, London is as New York. This makes no sense at all because London cannot ‘be’ New York, they are two different places. They can only be similar.

The mountains in the UK look nothing like the Alps.

The mountains in the UK look nothing as the Alps. The same is true here as above.

Have a look at these examples:

He’s a great swimmer, he swims like a fish. (NOT He swims as a fish. Because he is not a fish, he’s a person!)

Mother works like a slave. (NOT She works as a slave. Because she’s not a slave, she’s a mother!)

*And another thing…

Be careful when using like instead of as if. You can do this, but it is an informal usage.

It looks like it’s going to be sunny again.

It looks as if it’s going to be sunny again.

Here Like is being used as a conjunction (followed by a clause) not as a preposition (followed by a noun or noun phrase). It’s better, I think, to stick to it’s use as a preposition and be careful about using it as a conjunction, because many English speakers consider this to be incorrect.

In Summary

Like and As are often confused in their use as prepositions.

When used in this way, these are their meanings:

Like = ‘being’

As = ’similar to’

Confusion with As and Like.

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 03/07/09.

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 …

… and then the company get bankrupt …

… I hope he makes a lot of money of that …

… you are in high risk …

… yes, we did this a couple of weeks before …

… in a year Vauxhall isn’t existing …

… I think it’s calling Mayflower or something …

… I had no time to miss somebody …

… at the same time I’m a bit scared about that …

… what have I said …

… and the planned with the worst case …

… I’m sorry, then I’m very national …

… they had to apologise to the Israelis because of their critic …

… when he really loves her it’s normal that he’s doing that …

… he always told about his daughter …

… I told my husband he hasn’t to phone up at three …

… because with my hair I’m really a bit strange …

You can download this article, with answers, here – Can you see the mistakes 03/07/09.

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-watch.

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?”