Category: Vocabulary

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 ‘bazaar’ and ‘bizarre’.

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

 

Bazaar is a noun and describes a marketplace or shopping area particularly in the Middle East.

E.g.  The bazaar is the main trading place for people in the city.

 

Bizarre is an adjective and is used to describe something or someone that/who is odd, strange or unusual.

E.g.  The film we watched yesterday was really bizarre.  We couldn’t understand the ending at all.

 

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 ‘weather’ and ‘whether’.  These words sound the same but have different meanings.

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

 

Weather as a noun refers to meteorological conditions on a days-to-day basis.  It includes things such as temperature and rainfall.

E.g.  The weather is warm and sunny today so let’s go out for a walk.

Weather as a verb means to come through problems, trouble, challenges etc.

E.g.  The company is in financial trouble.  Do you think they will weather the storm and be able to carry on?

 

Whether is a conjunction in English.

E.g.  I don’t know whether he is in the office today or whether he is on a business trip.

 

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 ‘aloud’ and ‘allowed’.  These words sound the same but have different meanings.

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

Aloud is an adverb and refers to the spoken voice rather than something being done mentally.

E.g.  He read parts of the report aloud so that everyone in the room could hear.

Allowed is from the verb to allow.  It can mean to give permission to someone to do something or for something to happen.  (Alternatively you can use the word permit.)

E.g.  The teacher allowed the children to play outside ten minutes longer than normal.

It can also be used to talk about the amount of time that has been allocated for a certain thing.

E.g.  4 months were allowed to complete the project.

 

Have fun learning English!

Louise

I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.

They say:  I’m interested in more informations.

I want more informations.

 

Remember the word information never has an ‘s’ in English and it never has an article.  (We cannot say ‘an information’.)

Corrections:  I’m interested in more information.

I would like more / further information.  (Remember ‘would like’ is more polite than ‘want’.)

 

Have fun learning English!

Louise

I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.

They say:  I am on the row.

This makes no sense in English and is a mistranslation of “Ich bin an der Reihe”.

Correction:  It’s my turn.

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 ‘personal’ and ‘personnel’.

 

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

 

Personal is an adjective and describes relating to or belonging to someone.

E.g.  When leaving the train please ensure you take all your personal belongings with you.

It can also be used to talk about the private areas of someone’s life and can include their feelings and relationships.

E.g.  He is stressed at the moment due to several personal problems.

It is also used to describe objects which are designed to be used by just one person.  For example we can talk about a personal computer.

It can also be used to talk about your body and looking after your body in the sense of personal hygiene.

 

Personnel is a noun and is used to describe the people who work for or are employed by an organisation.

 

In a company the people responsible for finding new employees, maintaining records about the employees and perhaps organising training for the employees are members of the Personnel Department.  This department is also sometimes called HR (Human Resources).

 

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 ‘look at’ and ‘watch’.

 

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

 

To look at is a verb.  When we look at someone or something we are interested in the appearance (or the look) of that thing or person.  We usually use this with things that are static.

 

E.g.  Look at this diagram for further details.

He went to the museum to look at the exhibition of modern art.

Look at him.  What is he wearing?!

 

To watch is a verb.  When we watch someone or something we want to see how things develop or change.  We are interested in what happens.  We usually use it with things that move or change state.

 

E.g.  He watches television most evenings.

I enjoy watching live sport.

Let’s watch this short film and then I will take any questions.

 

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 ‘lay down’ and ‘lie down’.

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

 

To lay down has different meanings.

 

If you lay down your weapons, you stop fighting.

E.g.  The soldiers laid down their weapons and surrendered.

 

If you lay something down you establish rules, laws or instructions or the way in which something should be done officially.

E.g.  The rule book lays down what should happen in such a situation.

We should lay down some ground rules before we start.

Please adhere to the rules as laid down by our administrator.

 

To lie down means to move to a position where your body is flat.

E.g.  If you are tired, lie down and get some rest.

 

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 ‘break’ and ‘brake’.  These words have the same sound but a different spelling.

 

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

 

To break is a verb (break, broke, broken) and it means to separate or split a whole thing into several parts.

E.g.  When I dropped the plate it broke into several pieces.

 

Break can also be a noun and refers to the act or action of breaking.

E.g.  We’ve been working hard all morning.  Shall we take a break?

 

To brake is verb and is used to describe the action of stopping or slowing something down.

E.g.  When approaching a red light you should brake gradually.

 

Brake as a nouns refers to the mechanism used to stop or slow something down.

When the horse ran into the road she hit the brakes hard.

 

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 ‘much’ and ‘many’.

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things clearer for you.

 

Remember in English we differentiate between countable and uncountable nouns.

Many is used with countable nouns.  Much is used with uncountable nouns.

 

E.g.  How much money do you have?  (Money is uncountable.)

How many Euros do you have?  (Euros are countable.)

 

How much work does he have today?  (Work is uncountable.)

How many tasks does he have today?  (Tasks are countable.)

 

How much time does she have to work on the project?  (Time is uncountable.)

How many hours / days / weeks / months does she have to work on the project?  (Hours, days, weeks and months are all countable.)

 

Have fun learning English!

Louise