Tips to help you speak better English. Practice makes perfect, so use it or lose it!
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: The workshop today has the topic Mentoring.
This is totally understandable to native speakers but it doesn’t sound very natural.
Correction: The topic of today’s workshop is Mentoring.
Alternatively: Today we are going to talk about / discuss . . .
Today’s workshop deals with / looks at / focuses on . . . .
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘make’ and ‘do’. Often (but not always) it is because the German word ‘machen’ is mistranslated.
There are many phrases and expressions that exist in English where there is no real rule to help you remember the difference between ‘make’ and ‘do’. You just have to learn them. Sorry!
Take a look at the examples below. Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.
Do time. ( = to be in prison.)
E.g. He was caught by the police after robbing a bank and now he is doing time.
Make a decision.
E.g. I’ve finally made my decision. I’m going to take the job in London.
Make an error.
E.g. She made several errors in the report so her boss told her to write it again.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: She’s a good friend from me.
This is totally understandable and everyone would know what you meant if you said this. However, it is not a correct sentence in English and is a mistranslation of the original sentence in German.
Correction: She’s a good friend of mine.
Further examples:
They are good friends of ours.
We are good friends of theirs.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words and phrases or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘interval’, ‘break’ and ‘pause’.
Interval is used to talk about the break in a theatre performance or an opera. (It can also be called an intermission although this is less common.)
E.g. The will be an interval of 15 minutes after the first part of the performance.
Break is used to talk about the gap between lessons or sessions at school, in a meeting or when we stop doing something for a short while before resuming it again at a later time or date.
E.g. We’ve made some good progress. Let’s take a break and resume our discussions after lunch.
Pause is used when we are talking about a gap in speaking or talking.
E.g. He paused to think very carefully about what he wanted to say next.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: How is it like (working at that company)?
The problem here is with the word ‘how’. It is the wrong question word for this sentence. Instead of ‘how’ we need the word ‘what’.
Correction: What’s it like working at that company?
Further examples:
What’s it like living in London?
What’s it like working abroad?
What’s it like having a job interview in English?
Don’t forget we need the _ing on the verb in all of these sentences.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words and phrases or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the phrases ‘to be ready’ and ‘to be finished’.
Take a look at the examples below. Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.
We use ‘to be ready’ after we have spent time preparing for something but before we do it.
E.g. We can leave now. I’m ready. ( = The person has spent some time preparing to leave and is now ready to go.)
E.g. Are you ready for the test? ( = Do you feel prepared for the test? The test has not started yet.)
We use ‘to be finished’ after an event has taken place.
E.g. It was a long project lasting several months but it’s finally finished. ( = The project is over.)
E.g. Three hours were allotted for the test but I was finished after 2 and a half hours.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘make’ and ‘do’. Often (but not always) it is because the German word ‘machen’ is mistranslated.
There are many phrases and expressions that exist in English where there is no real rule to help you remember the difference between ‘make’ and ‘do’. You just have to learn them. Sorry!
Take a look at the examples below. Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.
Do the laundry / the washing.
E.g. He cleaned the bathroom and did the laundry.
Do the ironing.
E.g. I don’t like doing the ironing. It’s so boring!
Make dinner.
E.g. I’ve done the housework so you can make dinner.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: In former times I lived in Berlin.
This is totally understandable but it sounds a little strange to native speakers to use the words ‘in former times’ here.
Instead we use the construction ‘used to’. This describes an action that was true in the past but is no longer true now.
Correction: I used to live in Berlin. ( = I don’t live in Berlin now.)
Further examples:
They used to work together. ( = They don’t work together now.)
He used to smoke. ( = He doesn’t smoke now.)
She used to travel to work by train. ( = She doesn’t travel to work by train now.)
Have fun learning English!
Louise
Let’s be honest, sometimes English can be confusing. Sometimes when learning English it is easy to mix up words or be unsure when to use them.
I often hear German speakers who are learning English make mistakes with the words ‘make’ and ‘do’. Often (but not always) it is because the German word ‘machen’ is mistranslated.
There are many phrases and expressions that exist in English where there is no real rule to help you remember the difference between ‘make’ and ‘do’. You just have to learn them. Sorry!
Take a look at the examples below. Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.
Make amends.
E.g. I’m very sorry that what I said upset you so much. How can I make amends?
Make a journey.
E.g. Please do not make any journeys that are not absolutely essential. The snow is really deep and the weather is getting worse.
Do damage.
E.g. She was okay after the car accident but a lot of damage was done to her car.
Have fun learning English!
Louise