Common Error: "Earn," "Win," and "Beat"

Good afternoon, and welcome again to Mistake Monday! I've been busy traveling the last few months, but I'm back in Costa Rica now, so I'll try to update the blog more frequently again. Today I want to look at another Common Error. If you're not sure what kinds of errors I'm talking about, look here for a list of previous errors we've looked at on the blog.

Monopoly (or "Monopolio," as it's called here in Costa Rica) is one of my favorite board games. I don't always win, but I often am able to beat my opponents by buying as many properties as possible. (Photo by Ryan Sitzman)

Today's error is found often when talking about sports or other types of contests. It's also confusing for Spanish speakers because one Spanish word (ganar) can mean all three of the English words. Let's have a closer look:

Common Error: Earn, Win, and Beat
DON’T say this:	"She wins a lot of money in her job." "Saprissa won La Liga in last night's soccer game."
WHY?	-Earn refers to the money a person receives for doing work or a job. For example, you can say: "Pablo earns 5,000 Colones per hour working for the phone company." "I'd like a job where I can earn enough money to support my family." In most cases, you can also use the word make instead of earn. ("Pablo makes 5,000 Colones..."). -Win (past tense: won) means that one person or team defeats or conquers another person or team. The opposite is lose (past tense: lost). When you use these words, you usually mention the competition or contest, but not the opponent: "Jenny was the winner of the poker tournament. She won $50,000!" "Spain won the World Cup in 2010." The team with the highest score is the winner, and the team with the lowest score is the loser. Also, you can win a contest or competition unexpectedly (like the lottery or a raffle, for example): "I hope I win a free car in the supermarket raffle!" -Beat: Finally, beat is similar to win, but it's used a little differently in a sentence. You have to indicate both the winner and the loser (opponent) when you use the word beat: "Terry beat Tommy in the video game, but Tommy beat Terry playing soccer."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"She earns a lot of money in her job." -"Saprissa beat La Liga in last night's soccer game." OR -"Saprissa won last night's soccer game."

Hopefully you understand. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Senses: Touch and Feel

Hello, and welcome again to Mistake Monday! It's been a few weeks since we looked at a Common Error. Today's is actually not very common, but I still wanted to mention it briefly.

I've never seen this game before, but somehow it still reminds me of my childhood.
Image by Axel Tregoning, used through Creative Commons license.

Remember that we were talking about the Five Senses, and that we still had one more to talk about: touch. When we experience this action, we also often use the word feel. This can get complicated, so we'll look at more vocabulary words related to these topics on Wednesday. For today, let's see quickly how to use these words:

Not-Very-Common Error: Touch and Feel
DON’T say this:	"She feels herself bad." "I want to learn to touch the guitar."
WHY?	Hey, I admitted that the errors weren't that common. Anyhow, here are a few tips: -Touch usually means to use your hands or fingers to make physical contact with an object or other person: The crazy man on the bus screamed, "Don't touch me, you aliens!" "Can you close your eyes and touch your nose? If not, you may be drunk." As you can see, touch is normally used as a verb, but there are also cases when you can use it as a noun. -Feel (past tense: felt) is closely related to touch. In fact, you can normally say that a person who touches "does" the action, and the person who feels "receives" the action: "Did you feel that tremor? It wasn't an earthquake, but I still felt the room shake a bit." "I went to the dentist and they gave me anesthesia. I can't feel my tongue when I touch it." -Feel is also commonly used with temporary physical states and emotions (but it's not reflexive like in Spanish or some other languages): "I feel really hot-- do you think you could open the window or turn on a fan or something?" "I felt really sad when my cat died." As you can see, feel is a verb. The noun form is feeling. BONUS: -Touch is not used with musical instruments (unless you only want to touch it... but most people prefer to play an instrument): "In the past I could play some songs on the piano and the saxophone, but I've forgotten how to play them."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"She feels bad." -"I want to learn to play the guitar."

Do you have any questions? Remember that on Wednesday we'll look at more vocabulary related to this sense. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Common Error: Taste, Try, Test, and Prove

This is a picture of me sampling (tasting/trying) different batches of coffee at a tasting room in Palmares. This is my dream job! (Picture by Angela Jimenez) 

Good afternoon! Today is Mistake Monday, so I wanted to continue with our senses theme. This week's sense is taste. Today's Common Error is actually a series of confusing words and errors. Most of them are related to the Spanish verb probar, which can be translated into a few English words. Have a look:

Common Error: Taste, Try, Test, and Prove
DON’T say this:	"I haven't proved your tacos. Can I have a test?" "Tomorrow we will prove five different types of coffee."
WHY?	Basically, all of these words can be expressed with the verb "probar" in Spanish. But there are different uses for each in English: -Taste is to put something into your mouth to experience its flavor (saborear in Spanish): "This pizza tastes wonderful!" "I am sick and have a stuffy nose so I can't taste very well." -Try can also be similar to "taste" if you're talking about food, but it can also mean to attempt to do something (like intentar in Spanish): "Would you like to try a piece of this cake I made?" "I will try to come to class on time." -Test can also mean to "try," but we don't normally use it with food. It's more commonly used to see if something functions correctly, or with evaluations and exams (similar to evaluar in Spanish): "Our teacher is going to test us on our new vocabulary." "I took my DVD player to the repair shop, but when they tested it they couldn't find the problem." -Prove means to demonstrate that something is true or real. It's often used in science and math: "Isaac Newton did experiments to prove that gravity exists." "The suspect proved to the police that he was innocent."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"I haven't tried/tasted your tacos. Can I have a taste?" -"Tomorrow we'll try/taste five different types of coffee."

I hope my explanations make sense. If you try to use them in different situations, please tell me how it goes! On Wednesday we'll look at more vocabulary related to these words, especially taste. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Common Error: "Hear" vs. "Sound"

"Behind the Scenes at Sitzman ABC": Sitzman ABC has a dedicated team of sound mixing technicians that spend hours and hours getting the sound perfect for each post on our site.

Just kidding. This is just a picture of a guy at a sound board, probably in a recording studio. (Image)

Hello! It's Mistake Monday again, and we're continuing with our series about senses in English. This week I want to talk about the sense of smell, but I don't have a Common Error related to smell. So, for today I decided to do one more post related to last week's topic, hearing. Then, for Word Wednesday we'll continue with vocabulary related to smell. 

How does that sound?

I hope it sounds good, because that's how it's going to be, haha! In fact, that's today's Common Error: 

Common Error: Hear vs. Sound
DON’T say this:	"The music hears excellent." "Celine Dion sound herself very bad."
WHY?	-Remember that last week we talked about the difference between hear and listen. Those are two verbs that we can use when we receive and process sound in our ears. -Sound is used to describe when we produce sounds. It's a bit complicated because "sound" can be a verb ("sonar" in Spanish) or a noun ("sónido" in Spanish). -As a verb: "This music sounds great! What exactly are you listening to?" -As a noun: "It was so quiet in the house that you couldn't hear a sound." Note: It's also common to use "sound" to express your opinion about an idea or some general information, and is often followed by "like": -"That sounds like a great idea!" -"Based on your description, Rodrigo sounds like a very nice person."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"The music sounds excellent." -"Celine Dion sounds very bad."

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!

Senses: Hearing, Part 1

A chart showing the way our bodies hear sounds. (Image)

Hello, and welcome to Mistake Monday! Last week we looked at different words related to the sense of sight, and this week we'll examine the next sense: hearing. This is the sense that you do with your ears; it's also referred to as "listening," but what's the difference between the words "hear" and "listen"? That's a good question, and it's actually a common error that I notice in my classes. So, here is a re-posting of one of our first Common Errors to help explain the difference:

Common Error: Confusing "listen" and "hear"
DON’T say this:	I'm sorry, but I wasn't hearing to you. Hear! I think I listen a car coming! Did you listen that noise just now?
WHY?	Much like the difference between "watch," "see," and "look," the difference between "listen" and "hear" has a lot to do with intention: -You naturally hear things; "to hear" is to perceive sounds that reach your ears by using your sense of hearing. You normally don't plan to hear: it's spontaneous. -To hear of/about something means to have knowledge related to that thing. -If you listen, you carefully or continuously hear something. You have to pay attention to listen to something. If you have an object that follows the word "listen," be sure to add the word "to." -Additionally, "listen" can be used as an interjection, but "hear" generally can't.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Listen to this CD. It's great!" -"Sorry, but I didn't hear what you said. I wasn't listening." -"Have you heard about Pete? He got fired for always coming to work late!"

Many people, especially as they become older, have trouble hearing and need to use hearing aids to help them hear. (Image)

So, I hope that helps a bit. On Wednesday we'll look at more words related to the sense of hearing. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Senses: Sight, Part 1

Be sure to put on your glasses (or get your eyes checked) before you read this post. (Image)

As I mentioned last Friday, for the next series of posts I'd like to talk about the 5 senses. To start off, we'll look at the eyes this week. The name of the sense that your eyes perceive is usually called sight or vision. We'll look at more related words on Wednesday for Word Wednesday but for today I wanted to re-post one of the first Common Errors I put up, from back in 2010. It explains when to use the words "look," "see," and "watch." I did make a few small changes based on a recommendation by a coworker earlier today. Have a look:

Common Error: Confusing "see," "look (at)," and "watch"
DON’T say this:	See! There's a giant snake over there! Let's go to the mall and look a movie. I like to see the show "Smallville"
WHY?	This is a difficult problem because the differences between these words are subtle: -“See” means to perceive something by using your eyes (vision). You normally don’t plan to see, you just do it naturally or spontaneously: "It's very dark in this room--I can't see a thing!" One exception is if you're making plans to do something that involves your eyes (like going to a movie or visiting a family member): "I'm going to go see/visit my grandma this weekend, and we may even go see/watch a movie." -When you look at something, you generally move your eyes to see it. This is an action that you plan to do, and you look at something for a reason. Both “look” and “see” could be used as interjections, but “look” is much more common: "Look at this backpack; do you think it would hold all my books and my laptop?" -The word “watch” is similar to “look (at),” but it generally indicates a longer period of time. If you watch, you are carefully or continuously observing something. This is the most common verb to use with TV or movies. Things that you watch are generally moving or involve movement: "I spent the whole afternoon babysitting, watching my neighbor's kids. But it was easy since we just watched a movie on TV."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-“Look! There's a giant snake over there!” -“Let's go to the mall and see/watch a movie.” -"I like to watch the TV show 'Smallville.'" -“I was watching the soccer game, but when the lights went out in the stadium, it was too dark to see anything.” -“I want to exchange my Dollars for Euros, so I’ve been watching the currency exchange rate closely.

"Then again, John MAY just be really dull." (Image)

So, I hope that is clear. What are your favorite activities that you like to do using each of these verbs? Please feel free to leave a comment below if you'd like. 

Thanks for reading and looking at my website. Be sure to watch the Internet on Wednesday for another post with more vocabulary involving sight. Have a nice week, and I'll see you again on Wednesday!

Common Error: "News"

"Breaking News" refers to a news story that is urgent or developing at the moment. The particular piece of news in the picture was the death of Michael Jackson. (Image by David McKelvey)

Welcome again to Mistake Monday! We actually talked about today's Common Error a few times in my class last week, so I thought it would be appropriate to mention it here. It's also easy to correct:

Common Error: Use of the word "news"
DON’T say this:	"Did you hear the new? Joan is pregnant!" "That's a very sad new." "That's a very sad news."
WHY?	-This is confusing because noticias in Spanish is usually translated as "news" in English. And that's correct, but only when it's plural. -"the news" is an idea or a concept (not something physical), and we treat it like a plural noun in English. For example: "I got some good news at work today--they're going to give me a raise!" "I watch the news on TV and read the newspaper every day." -If we need to make this idea singular, we can't count "news" since it's an abstract idea. Instead, we can add the phrase "a piece of": "I got an annoying piece of news from the bank: my account is overdrawn." But even in this case, it's still more common to treat the world as a plural and use the word "some": "I got some annoying news from the bank: my account is overdrawn."  BONUS TIP! The word "new" exists in English, of course, but it's only used as an adjective (descriptive word) that means the opposite of "old" or "used."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Did you hear the news? Joan is pregnant!" -"That's some very sad news." OR -"That's a very sad piece of news."

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!

Common Error: "Sense"

A sign using the Cyrillic alphabet, which is used in parts of Europe and Asia. I can't read or understand this sign, so it doesn't make sense to me. (Image)

Welcome to Mistake Monday! My Spanish-speaking students sometimes say "have sense," but that's generally not correct. Let's see why:

Common Error: "Have Sense" vs. "Make Sense"
DON’T say this:	"This question doesn't have sense." "It just doesn't have any sense! Why would she run away and not tell anyone?"
WHY?	-This is a fast correction, generally. The Spanish phrase "no tiene sentido" is generally translated as: "It doesn't make sense." The difference is obviously the verb. In Spanish, things "have" sense, but in English, they "make" sense. That's the most common way to use the word "sense" in English, but you can also find it in phrases like... "Use your common sense" ...which means that you should think rationally and notice things that are obvious.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"This question doesn't make sense." -"It just doesn't make any sense! Why would she run away and not tell anyone?"

Speaking of senses, on Wednesday I think we'll look at the five senses, so be sure to check back then.

If something doesn't make sense, you can sometimes say it's "nonsense," but be careful! "Nonsense" often refers to things that are stupid and pointless, also! (Image)

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