Word Wednesday: "Sibling"

Good evening! Today's vocabulary tip is fast. The word is sibling. Basically, siblings means "brothers and sisters." I chose this word for today since my brother Paul is visiting us here in Costa Rica.

My brother Paul in Sarchi earlier today. I have two siblings, and Paul is the youngest of the three of us. Our sister Diana is the middle sibling.

For example, I have two siblings: one sister and one brother. In Spanish, I could say "Tengo dos hermanos," but that doesn't work in English, since "brother" only refers to males, and "sister" only refers to females. That's why we say the word "siblings."

If you want a more detailed explanation, including words for your mother and father, then check out this post that I wrote a while ago.

Thanks for reading, and have a great night!

Mistake Monday: Top 5 Mistakes

Hello, and welcome to Mistake Monday! We've been looking at a lot of Common Errors over the last year or so, and I thought it would be a good idea to review a few of them. So, here is my "Top 5 Mistakes" list. This list is subjective, but these are the errors that I notice most in my classes. Some are related to grammar and some are related to vocabulary. All of the items contain links to an explanation on Sitzman ABC.

Sitzman ABC's Top 5 Most Common English Errors:

1. Question Word Order 

This is about question formation, and the way to order the words correctly.

2. Third-person verbs 

"Third person" refers to sentences with he, she, or it as the subject.

3. Using "have" incorrectly 

This talks about using "have" as both a helping verb and a main verb, and when to use the verb "to be" instead.

4. Use of say, tell, and speak

This post describes how to use these three words correctly. If you ever say things like "say me," "explain me," or "describe me," then this post is for you!

5. Incorrect Plurals

This talks about common irregular plurals, like man-->men, child-->children, etc.

What about you? Which errors do you find yourself making most commonly? If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please join in the conversation by leaving a comment.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Fun Friday: "Big Me"

Since we were talking about "big" words on Monday and Wednesday of this week, I thought I'd put up a video of a "big" song today for Fun Friday.

The song is called "Big Me," by the Foo Fighters. The lyrics aren't very complex, but I really like the video. The video is a parody that makes fun of a series of 1990s commercials for Mentos mints. You can see some examples of the original commercials here (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), but be careful! If you watch them more than one time, you may actually become stupider!

Anyhow, this Foo Fighters video captures the essence of the commercials. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

P.S. - Thanks to my brother Paul for the song suggestion!

More "Big" Words

The London Skyline. On the right is the clock tower in the Palace of Westminster. The bell, and sometimes the whole clock tower, is called "Big Ben." (Image Credit)

Hello, and welcome to Word Wednesday! On Monday we talked about the difference between tall and high, and when we can use both of those words. So today I thought we could look at a few more words related to SIZE. Today we'll look at "big" words, and next Wednesday we'll look at "small" words.

HEIGHT

A diagram comparing the heights of some of New York's tallest and most famous buildings. (Image)

To review, as we saw on Monday, tall and high both describe height. We usually measure height (click for pronunciation) in centimeters and meters (and in inches and feet in the USA). The opposite of tall is generally short; the opposite of high can also be short, but more often is low.

Here are some examples:

"The Empire State Building is a very famous tall building in New York City. However, the new World Trade Center tower will be taller than the Empire State Building."

"I'm about 6 feet, 1 inch tall. That's around 186 centimeters. I wasn't especially short or tall as a child, although now I am taller than many people in Costa Rica."

(Giving instructions while hanging a painting): "OK, move it a little higher... higher... that's too much, move it just a little bit lower, a little bit lower...perfect!"

GENERAL SIZE

I took this picture of the Grand Canyon in January. Yep, it's big!

The most common word to describe size in English is big; its opposites are little and small. Today we'll look at "big" words, and next week we'll look at "little" words. 

Other words that mean "big" include:

-large: often used for general descriptions, but especially common with clothing

-grand or great: these two words are not as common in modern English; both of them can also mean "amazing" or "excellent," as in "The Grand Canyon" or "The Great Wall of China"

-huge, gigantic, enormous, humongous, gargantuan, massive, etc.: all of these words are extreme forms; they all describe something that's very big; click on any of the words to hear their pronunciation

Can you think of any other words to describe size? There are certainly more synonyms, but these words seem to me like the most common ones. 

Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for words related to "small" and "little"! Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Common Error: "High" vs. "Tall"

Welcome again to Mistake Monday! Today we'll talk about when to say "high" and when to say "tall." Today's Common Error can actually be funny sometimes, but that's a good reason to be careful when saying these words. 

The Burj Khalifa skyscraper (formerly known as the Burj Dubai). Should you say it's the tallest or the highest building in the world? Read on to find out! Image by Leandro Ciuffo

Common Error: High vs. Tall
DON’T say this:	"Shelly is a very high girl." "When I was a boy, I wasn't high enough to ride the roller coaster." "The airplane is very tall in the sky."
WHY?	-High and tall are essentially synonyms, but they're used for different cases. They both can describe the height of someone or something. The opposite is short. -High is generally used with objects, and it indicates a vertical distance that is far away. Common examples are: "The father put the cookie jar on top of the refrigerator so that it would be too high for the children to reach." "When space tourism starts, passengers will fly high in the atmosphere." -Tall can be used with objects OR people. The word indicates a lot of height: "The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building in the world." "I don't think I'm very tall, but I'm taller than most of my students." -CAREFUL! If you use the word "high" to describe a person, you're generally indicating that he or she is on drugs! "The musician was so high that he couldn't even play his guitar for the concert."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Shelly is a very tall girl." -"When I was a boy, I wasn't tall enough to ride the roller coaster." OR -"When I was a boy, I was too short to ride the roller coaster." -"The airplane is very high in the sky."

This dog may be short, but he still looks suspiciously high (on drugs!) Image by Cissurz

That's it for now! If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Fun Friday: Stomachs and Bellies

As you may know, I'm taking a Chinese class here in Costa Rica, so I've been following a blog about Chinese culture and language. There was a funny and interesting article yesterday about men in China who expose their bellies (stomachs) when it's hot. The post included the picture to the right, which I'll include in case you don't understand what I'm talking about.

Anyhow, the Chinese phrase for this action is "bǎngyé," which means "exposing grandfathers." If you want to read more, the article really is interesting, so check it out. Also, it got me thinking, since lots of men here in Costa Rica also roll up their shirts and stick out their bellies when it's hot. I think it's pretty funny, since it's usually men with gigantic bellies who do this. So, all of this inspired me to talk about a few vocabulary words and phrases related to stomach and bellies.

IMPORTANT BELLY/STOMACH VOCABULARY

First of all, stomach is another general word for the area between your chest and your waist. "Stomach" can also refer to your main digestive organ. If you feel pain because of indigestion, you can say that you have a stomachache or that your stomach hurts.

The words "tummy" and "belly" often refer to the outside part of your stomach, but sometimes they can refer to the digestive organ (these words are especially common when talking about or with children). For example, a child may say, "Dad/Mom, my tummy/belly hurts."

Belly dancing is a type of dance that's popular in some parts of the world. (Image)

Another word to describe your stomach area is "gut" or "guts," but this can also be used to refer to the inner organs in general. If you remove the inner organs from a fish, for example, you "gut it." You can also use the word gut in some idiomatic expressions; for example, if someone has a suspicion about something, he or she can say she has a "gut feeling." Also, if someone is brave (courageous), you can say that he or she "has a lot of guts" or that they are "gutsy."

A diagram of a human's inner organs or "guts." (Image)

If you're talking about the muscles in that part of the body, they're generally called the abdominal muscles or simply the "abs." A common exercise to tone the abdominal muscles is called "sit-ups." When people do a lot of these exercises, they get very strong abs, and you can say that he or she "has a 6-pack," since the muscles look like a 6-pack of beer or pop cans.

A group of students doing sit-ups to tone their abs. (Image)

Pretty soon, the girls doing sit-ups will have 6-pack abs like this guy. (Image)

Finally, when a woman is pregnant, her baby has an umbilical cord, which is a cord that provides nutrients from the mother to the growing baby. After the baby is born, the umbilical cord is cut, and later a little "hole" is formed in a person's stomach. That's called a "belly button," although the more "scientific" term is a "navel."

A woman with a pierced belly button. (Image)

So, to review, can you explain what each of these words means? 

Can you use them in sentences?

SELECTED BODY PARTS:

-Stomach

-Chest

-Waist

-Tummy

-Belly

-Abs

-Belly Botton

OTHER VOCABULARY:

-Gut(s)

-Gut Feeling

-Have Guts

-Gutsy

-Sit-ups

-6-pack

-To Tone

-Umbilical Cord

-To Be Born

If you read this far, here is your "secret bonus":

I'm not sure if this video is supposed to be funny, but it definitely made me laugh!

Thanks for reading --have a great weekend, free of bellyaches!

Word Wednesday: Trash

A row of containers for trash and different types of recyclables. (Image)

Hello! Welcome to Word Wednesday, where we look at new and important vocabulary words. Since we talked about pollution and contamination on Monday, I wanted to mention a few related words today.

First of all, specific little "bits" or "pieces" of pollution are often called trash, especially in American English. Normally the word "trash" is a non-count noun; in other words, I can't say a trash; if I want to count trash, I can say a piece of trash or some trash. The place where you're supposed to throw away your trash is called a trashcan. If something is not clean, you can call it trashy or dirty. You can also use these words with people but be careful, since it can be offensive! Finally, if a room or place is unorganized (but not necessarily dirty), you can also describe it as messy.

If you're in the United Kingdom or a place that speaks British English, they often call trash rubbish. A trash can is also sometimes called a rubbish bin. Another word for general trash or rubbish is waste, but waste can also mean "excess," or something that's not used.

An anti-littering sign in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The fee for littering there is 50 pounds, the currency in the UK. (Image)

If you do not put your trash in a trash can, and instead just throw it on the ground, then you are littering. It is often a crime to litter in many countries and if you throw your litter on the ground, you may have to pay a fine (pay money as a punishment).

So, to review, can you explain what each of these words and phrases means, and use them in a sentence?

a piece of trash

some trash

trashcan

trashy

dirty

messy

rubbish

rubbish bin

littering

throw away

a fine

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

This sign is similar to the one above, but this one is in Ohio. $500 is a lot of money, so don't litter in Ohio, people! (Image)

Common Error: "Contamination" vs. "Pollution"

Welcome again to Mistake Monday! Today we'll at a Common Error that's easy to correct. We'll examine when to say "contamination" and when to say "pollution."

Is this river contaminated or polluted? Or is it both? Read on to find the answer! (Image)

Common Error: Contamination vs. Pollution
DON’T say this:	"There is a lot of contamination in the streets of San José." "Don't contaminate! Put your trash in the trash cans!" "I wasn't wearing rubber gloves in Biology lab, so I may have polluted our experiments."
WHY?	Contaminate is often used in a technical sense. For example, if you're in a Chemistry class, you may talk about a sample of a liquid being contaminated. In this case, contaminated means impure, and is often used to describe liquids or things that are not clean, but the effects are often invisible: "I need to go to the doctor to give another blood sample. The first one got contaminated in the lab." "The water in some countries is not potable; That means it is contaminated, and you need to boil water or drink bottled water." "The passengers on the cruise ship got food poisoning. They got sick when they ate contaminated steaks." If there are visible substances in liquid, or even if there is just trash in an area, it's more common to say that it's polluted. The verb is pollute, and the noun is pollution. It's similar to contamination, but when something is polluted the effects are usually visible: "We really need to stop polluting so much before the trash problem in this city gets out of control." "The tire factory emits a lot of pollution into the air." "Yuck! Look at all those plastic trash bags and other trash in the river --it's really polluted!"
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"There's a lot of pollution in the streets of San José." -"Don't pollute! Put your trash in the trash cans!" -"I wasn't wearing rubber gloves in our Biology lab, so I may have contaminated our experiments."

What about you and where you live:
Is there a lot of pollution in your town or city?
Can you think of any examples of types of pollution?
Does your country have more air pollution or general trash?
What is the most polluted place you've been to?
Is the water where you live potable, or is it contaminated?

Please feel free to answer any of these questions in the comments section below!

A photo of the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, taken from the town of Pripyat. In 1986 there was a meltdown at the power plant, which spread radiation over the town of Pripyat and over many thousands of kilometers. Today Pripyat is an abandoned city, and still dangerous due to radiation. Radiation is one of the most dangerous kinds of contamination (radiation could also be considered "pollution," but since it's invisible, "contamination" is a more appropriate word). For more information about Chernybyl, click here. (Image)

So, that's it for today. If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

A "Berlin" Song

The 1980s band Berlin. Just look at them!

As I mentioned a while ago, I live in Costa Rica in a little town called Berlín. The town may be named after the German capital, but it's completely different, believe me.

Anyhow, "Berlin" is also the name of a pop band from the early 1980s, so I thought I'd share one of their videos with you. It's from the song "No More Words." I'll let you decide what you think of it, but for me it's pretty strange. It takes place in the Great Depression, and the band members are apparently part of a gang that needs to rob and steal to survive.

Here are the lyrics to the song. As you noticed, there is also an "introduction" to the story at the beginning of the video. Can you think of synonyms or definitions in English for the following words?

misery

poverty

homeless 

ragged

hobo

I'd also like to know what you think of the video, so if you'd like, please leave a comment. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Verb Exercise Answers

Hello! Today I want to go over the answers from the Bryan Adams song on Monday (and last Friday, too!). I'll divide the verbs into two parts, regular and irregular. I'll also include:

1-the infinitive ("basic") form of the verb in simple present 

2-the simple past form of the verb 

3-the past participle

Remember that for regular verbs, 2 and 3 are the same (that's why they're called regular). For now, don't worry too much about the past participles. The song uses almost exclusively simple past verbs, and we'll focus on the participles and how to use them another day. 

So, here are the verbs from the song (in the order they appear in the song):

Regular Verbs:

play - played - played

try - tried - tried

look - looked - looked

seem - seemed - seemed

last - lasted - lasted

want - wanted - wanted

complain - complained - complained

wait - waited - waited

kill - killed - killed

need - needed - needed

guess - guessed - guessed

change - changed - changed

wonder - wondered - wondered

Irregular Verbs:

get - got - gotten/got*

buy - bought - bought

bleed - bled - bled

(to be) - was/were - been

have - had - had

quit - quit - quit

know - knew - known

do - did - done

spend - spent - spent

meet - met - met

stand - stood - stood

tell - told - told

hold - held - held

unwind - unwound - unwound

come - came - come

go - went - gone

think - thought - thought

Well, that's it for today! On Friday I'd like to continue talking about verbs, but I may do something different. Or I suppose I can make it a surprise, and you'll have to check back on Sitzman ABC on Friday to see!

Thanks for reading, and have a great night!

*As a past participle for the verb get, "gotten" is more common in American English, and "got" is more common in British English.

Regular and Irregular Verbs

Hello! Instead of a normal "Mistake Monday" post today, I wanted to continue the song activity from last Friday. If you remember, we looked at Bryan Adams' song "Summer of '69" and tried to find as many verbs as possible. Today we'll put the verbs into two categories: regular verbs and irregular verbs. But first, what are regular and irregular verbs?

To understand the difference between a regular and an irregular verb in English, you need to compare the verb's present tense with its past tense:

Regular Verbs 

To form the past tense of a regular verb, you simply add "-ed" to the end of the verb (or in some instances "-ied" or just "-d"). For example, the verb cook in the present becomes cooked in the past. Similarly, watch becomes watched, play --> played, change --> changed and try --> tried. Regular verbs are generally easy for most students to learn. Here is a BIG list of regular verbs, along with their Spanish equivalents.

Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs change from the present to the past form. Normally it's a small change in spelling, but it can also be a change in pronunciation or even a word that looks very different. For example, the past of sit is sat. When changing to the past tense, the verb write becomes wrote, eat --> ate, see --> saw, and drink --> drank. Some words change drastically (I am --> I was, but You are --> You were; and I go changes to I went), but others don't change at all (cut is the same in the past and the present).

Irregular verbs are obviously more difficult to learn, since the changes are unpredictable. Additionally, some of the most common verbs in English are irregular verbs. Unfortunately, they are difficult, but very necessary to learn and practice. Here is a list of irregular verbs, and here is a page with exercises to practice irregular verbs.

If you started to think that English past tense verbs were difficult, just look at this chart for a reminder that it's not that bad! And it doesn't even include the pretérito imperfecto forms, like corría, corrías, corría, corríamos, etc... (Image)

So, when you see a verb in English, how do you know if it is regular or irregular? Unfortunately, the answer is basically this: You don't know. That is, you need to basically practice and memorize the regular verbs, and when you recognize that a verb is irregular, you also need to memorize the past form of that verb. That sounds difficult, but don't worry; with some practice, you'll be OK!

Well, let's practice now!

Yes, that's Bryan Adams. Yes, I'm sorry. (Image)

Look at the Bryan Adams song again (you can go back to the post here, or follow the lyrics below). In the lyrics below, I'll put the verbs in bold print so you can see them more easily. Are the verbs in the present or past tense? Then, decide if each verb is regular or irregular and put them into two categories (you can use the links above for help). If the verbs are irregular, determine what the present and past form of each verb is.

For example, the first two verbs are got (the past of get) and bought (the past of buy); both of these verbs are definitely irregular. But the third verb, played (the past of play) is regular. So, do that with all the verbs. We'll check your answers on Wednesday.
(Note: there are a few grammatical constructions that are a bit difficult for this lesson, like "should have known," so for today, don't worry about them. Just focus on the past and present verbs.)

SUMMER OF '69 - BRYAN ADAMS

I got my first real six-string

Bought it at the five-and-dime

Played it 'til my fingers bled

It was the summer of ‘69

Me and some guys from school

Had a band and we tried real hard

Jimmy quit and Joey got married

Should have known we'd never get far

Oh when I look back now

That summer seemed to last forever

And if I had the choice

Yeah - I'd always want to be there

Those were the best days of my life

Ain't no use in complainin'

When you’ve got a job to do

Spent my evenings down at the drive-in

And that's when I met you yeah

Standin' on your Mama's porch

You told me that you'd wait forever

Oh and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

Those were the best days of my life

Back in the summer of ‘69

Man we were killin' time

We were young and restless

We needed to unwind

I guess nothin' can last forever - forever 

And now the times are changin'

Look at everything that's come and gone

Sometimes when I play that old six-string

I think about you, wonder what went wrong

(repeat chorus)

WOW! Lots of verbs! Remember, a few of them are difficult, and a few of them (like "were killin") aren't actually in the simple present or simple past form. Again, don't worry too much, just try to determine if the verbs are regular or irregular.

We'll check your answers on Wednesday. Until then, thanks for reading, and have a nice week!

Song and Exercise: "Summer of '69"

I was going to put up a video related to our "downtown" topic from Monday and Wednesday, but the only songs I could think of were Prince's "Uptown" and Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl." I like both songs (although Prince's is much better), but Prince's song doesn't seem to have a video, and the video for "Uptown Girl" is objectively one of the stupidest music videos ever. So I was stuck. What to do?

After much debate, I finally decided I'd put up Bryan Adam's song "Summer of '69." I'm doing this for two reasons:

-Celine Dion is my arch-nemesis, so if I put up a Bryan Adams video, it should prove I don't hate Celine Dion because she's Canadian (I hate her because her music is awful).

-The song is filled with verbs, both in the simple present and simple past tenses. I actually used this song in a class activity earlier last week, so it's also convenient for me!

Here's the video, followed by the lyrics with an activity.

Lyrics Activity:

Instructions: 
Circle (or at least identify) all the verbs you can find in the song. 
How many verbs are there? 
Are the verbs in the simple present or the simple past tense? 
Divide them into two columns.

SUMMER OF '69 - BRYAN ADAMS

I got my first real six-string

Bought it at the five-and-dime

Played it 'til my fingers bled

It was the summer of ‘69

Me and some guys from school

Had a band and we tried real hard

Jimmy quit and Joey got married

Should have known we'd never get far

Oh when I look back now

That summer seemed to last forever

And if I had the choice

Yeah - I'd always want to be there

Those were the best days of my life

Ain't no use in complainin'

When you’ve got a job to do

Spent my evenings down at the drive-in

And that's when I met you yeah

Standin' on your Mama's porch

You told me that you'd wait forever

Oh and when you held my hand

I knew that it was now or never

Those were the best days of my life

Back in the summer of ‘69

Man we were killin' time

We were young and restless

We needed to unwind

I guess nothin' can last forever - forever 

And now the times are changin'

Look at everything that's come and gone

Sometimes when I play that old six-string

I think about you, wonder what went wrong

(repeat chorus)

So, when you've identified the verbs, you're done --you can go home and enjoy the weekend! Next week we'll look at this song and its verbs again, and we'll do a few activities with them. Until then, have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!

Song and Exercise: "Downtown"

Bikers in downtown Fort Collins, the city I come from. Over 140,000 people live in Fort Collins, so it's probably big enough to have an area referred to as "downtown." The downtown area in Fort Collins is normally called "Old Town" since it's the historical center of the city. (Image Credit) (More information about Fort Collins)

Hello, and welcome to Word Wednesday! Today we're going to listen to a song.

But wait, that almost sounds... fun? Well, not really fun, but not boring. Right?

Hopefully! Since we were talking about how to use words like downtown on Monday, I thought I'd put up a song called "Downtown." Petula Clark sang the song in 1965, so it's not very new. It's also not very "cool," but the lyrics are clear and I still like it. So I hope you do, too!

Below is the video, and after the video I'll include an activity that you can complete with the lyrics (you don't actually need to watch the video; it's got very little action, trust me).

Lyrics Activity:

Instructions: Fill in the missing words in the blank spaces. After the lyrics, you'll find hints for each missing word.

DOWNTOWN – PETULA CLARK

When you're (1)_______ and life is making you (2)_______
You can always go - downtown
When you've got (3)_______, all the noise and the hurry
Seems to help, I know - downtown
Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city
Linger on the (4)_______ where the neon signs are pretty
How can you (5)_______?

The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares
So go downtown, things'll be great when you're
Downtown - no finer place, for sure
Downtown - everything's waiting for you

Don't (6)_______ and let your problems surround you
There are movie shows - downtown
Maybe you know some little places to go to
Where they never (7)_______- downtown
Just listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossa nova
You'll be (8)_______ with him too before the night is over
Happy again

The lights are much brighter there
You can forget all your (9)_______, forget all your (10)_______
So go downtown, where all the lights are bright
Downtown - waiting for you tonight
Downtown - you're gonna be all right now

[Instrumental break]

And you may find somebody kind to help and understand you
Someone who is just like you and needs a (11)_______ hand to
Guide them along

So maybe I'll see you there
(repeat chorus)

HINTS FOR MISSING VOCABULARY WORDS:

1. This is a word that means to be isolated physically.

2. This is a word that means to feel isolated emotionally.

3. This word describes things that cause you stress.

4. In British English, this thing is usually called a pavement.

5. This word can be the opposite of "conquer."

6. This is a (2 word) phrasal verb that means "to stay in one place."

7. A synonym for this word is "shut."

8. This is an activity that you can do in a nightclub.

9. This word rhymes with bubbles.

10. This word rhymes with stairs.

11. This word means "soft and careful."

So, I hope you were able to complete the lyrics! I'll include the answers to this activity on Friday, so if you missed any, be sure to check back then. 

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!


[Update, May 4, 2012]
Here are the missing words for this activity:
1. alone
2. lonely
3. worries
4. sidewalk
5. lose
6. hang around
7. close
8. dancing
9. troubles
10. cares
11. gentle


If you have any questions or comments about this activity, please leave a comment below. Thanks!