Common Error: Phrases For Introductions

What phrases should these people use to say their names? (Image)

Welcome to Mistake Monday! Today's Common Error is short, but it does cause problems. I used to work as an English teacher in a call center, and believe it or not, the phrase we'll look at today caused many communication problems between agents and callers:

Common Error: Phrases For Introductions
DON’T say this:	(Answering the phone): "Hello, I am Ryan." (Introducing someone): "She is Jenny. She's my sister." "Yesterday in class I introduced me."
WHY?	These phrases make sense if you translate them from other languages, but if you're introducing or presenting someone, normally we use different phrases. Normally, if you're answering the phone and want to identify yourself, say: "This is (your name)." If you say "I am (your name)," it sounds strange to many people, and even though it's good English, it can cause confusion. If you're introducing a person, it's most common to say: "This is (person's name)." Don't say "She/he is (name)," since it also sounds strange to many people. Finally, if you're introducing yourself, it's best to say: "My name is (your name)." If you use the phrase "I am ____," it's normally connected with professions or personal characteristics, but not names: "I am a teacher," "I am tall," "I am optimistic," OR "I am 31."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-(Answering the phone): "Hello, this is Ryan." -(Introducing a person): "This is Jenny. She's my sister." -"Yesterday in class I introduced myself."

How do you answer the phone or introduce people in your country or language?
Is it similar or different from English?

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

English Conditionals: 3rd Conditional

It's hard to find pictures to illustrate grammatical concepts, so here's a nice flower.

Hello, and welcome to "Fun Friday" on Sitzman ABC! Today we'll talk about the Third Conditional in English.

"Wait!" you're possibly thinking, "That doesn't sound like fun!" Good point. I know that grammar can be difficult and complicated, but it's also very important to learn how to use grammar correctly, especially if you want to be an advanced English speaker. So, I'll try to make this post interesting, at least, but you'll have to forgive me if you don't think it's fun.

You might remember that late last year we talked about the 1st and 2nd conditionals in English, and I had meant to write a post about the 3rd conditional immediately after those. However, I had trouble finding a song I liked that used the 3rd conditional. Some English sites mention that Taylor Swift's song "Should've Said No" is good, and it does have some examples of 3rd conditional, but it's not a good song. I just don't like it, so sorry (you can still check it out here if you want). A few songs by artists like Meat Loaf and Rancid use a little bit of third conditional, but Meat Loaf's song only uses it once, and Rancid's song is difficult to understand and a bit too vulgar for a "family" language site like Sitzman ABC.

But then I finally noticed a Journey song that uses the 3rd conditional! You can listen to the song here and read the lyrics below, or you can go to the video's YouTube page to see the lyrics.

So, where is the 3rd conditional in this song? We'll identify that in a moment, but first let's do a quick review about when we use the different conditionals:

1st Conditional: real, probable situations

Example: "If I still feel hungry after dinner, I'll order a piece of pie for dessert." 

(In this case, there's a definite possibility that I will feel hungry, so I can use the first conditional.)

2nd Conditional: unreal, improbable situations

Example: "If I were a cat, I would sleep all day."

(This is obviously an unreal situation: I'm not a cat, and I'm not going to be a cat unless a science experiment goes terribly wrong.)

Now, for the 3rd Conditional:

3rd Conditional: unreal situations in the past

Example: "If I hadn't missed the bus, I could have arrived to class on time."

(This is how we can speculate about past events that could have happened differently. In this sentence, I missed the bus, but I'm imagining a different past condition and result.) 

The 3rd conditional is structured very similarly to the 2nd conditional, except that the 2nd conditional talks about the present and the future, but the 3rd talks about a fictional past. It also has two parts:

1. The "if" part (also called the "if phrase," "if clause," or "condition")

2. The "fantasy" part (also called the "would clause" or "result")

Let's look at another example:

If I hadn't come to Costa Rica, I might never have learned Spanish.

I can say this sentence in the 3rd conditional because I'm speculating about the past. I did come to Costa Rica, obviously, but I'm just imagining what my life might be like if I hadn't come to Costa Rica. We can usually invert the two parts, like in the other conditional tenses:

I might never have learned Spanish if I hadn't come to Costa Rica.

Both sentences mean the same thing, and the condition and result are the same in both.

Forming sentences in 3rd Conditional:  

The structure of a 3rd conditional sentence is very similar to a 2nd conditional sentence, with one important difference:

In the third conditional, the condition is written in a past perfect tense ("had / hadn't" + past participle), and the result is written using would / could / might / should + "have" + past participle. 

Here are some more examples:

If Shelly had known Mike was a vegetarian, she wouldn't have cooked steaks.

If Jim hadn't traveled to India, he wouldn't have met his wife in Bangalore.

If Ryan had thought this would be so complicated to explain, he wouldn't have written this post.

No one would have believed it if Costa Rica had won the 2006 World Cup.

We might not have had transmission problems if we had changed the transmission fluid earlier.

They probably wouldn't have gotten hypothermia while camping if they had brought warmer clothes.

In other words:

If (had/hadn't) + (past participle), (would/could/might) + (have) + (past participle) 

Notice that in many cases, like in the Journey or Taylor Swift songs, we often only say the result, and the condition is often implied or not mentioned.

Can you complete the following phrases?

Roger might have gotten a better grade on his exam if ___________ .

Elaine would have felt happy yesterday if ___________ .

If Timothy had read his email, he ___________ .
If the baby hadn't spilled its juice in the car, the parents ___________ a new car seat.

(You can find many more 3rd conditional exercises here, here, here, and here.)

For more practice, listen to the song again and try to find some phrases that use the third conditional (remember that in this song, it only uses the result, and not the condition). Here are the lyrics (I'll put the third conditional phrases at the end of this post so you can check your answers):

Journey - "It Could Have Been You"

We were so close yet so far away
I'd reach out, you'd be gone
Moments that still take my breath away
There's so much more to life than loving you
You don't need me, no...

I can't wait all my life, on a street of broken dreams
It could have been you my love (where are you now)
Oh I still wonder if you remember the night
It could have been you

Time washes over memories
I can't look back no more
Change has forsaken our promises
There's someone else for you to hold again
So please stop your crying

I can't wait all my life, on a street of broken dreams
It could have been you my love (where are you now)
Oh I still wonder if you remember the night
It could have been you

Remember, remember, girl I remember
I can't wait all my life, on a street of broken dreams
It could have been you my love (where are you now)
Oh I still wonder if you remember the night
It could have been you (where are you now)
Should have been you my love (where are you now)
It could have been you my love (where are you now)
remember...remember...remember

Aah! An 80s pop song about heartbreak, regret, and lost love... the perfect place to use third conditional! Any time you talk about a past action that you wish you had done differently (a regret), then the third conditional can be your grammatical weapon of choice!

So, what phrases did you find in the 3rd conditional? Yep, they're basically "It could have been you" and "It should have been you." So as mentioned before, we often only use one half of the third conditional. 

That's about it for today-- maybe it wasn't "fun," but at least you got to listen to some Journey!

As usual, if you have any questions or feedback, please leave a comment below or contact me.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Yiddish Loanwords in English

A bus stop sign in English and Yiddish, in the U.S.A. (Image Credit)

Hello, and Happy Friday! Today I wanted to talk a little bit about loanwords. You might remember that a few months ago we talked about loanwords in English. Basically, a loanword is a word that starts in one language, and eventually is adopted into another language. Examples include words like:

*cotton, hashish, and sheikh (from Arabic)

*gung-ho, feng shui, and kung fu (from Chinese) 

*gulag, samovar, and babushka (from Russian) 

And there are many, many more examples of loanwords from many other languages. In this blog we looked at some examples of English loanwords from French, Spanish, and German, and today I want to talk about another interesting language that provided quite a few loanwords for English: Yiddish. 

Yiddish is a language that is closely related to German in many aspects, and it was originally spoken by Jewish people in central and eastern Europe. Immigration to the United States in the last 100 or more years also increased the number of people there who spoke Yiddish, and there are now a few hundred thousand people who speak Yiddish in the U.S.A. 

Yiddish loanwords are often found in entertainment like movies and TV shows, but there are also some words that many people use commonly, without knowing they're from Yiddish. When you say something is "schmaltzy," you mean that it's overly sentimental. If you call someone a "klutz," you mean that he or she is uncoordinated and clumsy. And if you eat a "bagel" with "lox," you're eating a type of round bread with some salmon inside. All the words in quotes came from Yiddish. Also, since Yiddish is closely related to German, it's possible to see similarities between the two languages (for example, "schmaltz" in Yiddish is "Schmalz" in German, and "lox" in Yiddish is "Lachs" in German).

A Yiddish sign in the U.S.A. from World War I. It tells people to not waste food. (Image Credit)

There are many Yiddish loanwords in English, but not all of them are very common. You can see lists here and here. Here are

Ryan's Top Five Favorite Yiddish Loanwords in English:

5. schmaltzy: As mentioned above, this means something is overly sentimental or "cheesy." "Schmaltz" actually refers to chicken fat used for cooking, so the word just seems gross in general. Example sentence: "I got my girlfriend a big bouquet of roses and a really schmaltzy card for Valentine's Day."

4. chutzpah: Apparently it's not very positive in Yiddish, but in English it generally means super-confidence or arrogance, but it's not always negative. Example sentence: "Jenny told her boss to her face that she didn't feel like working because it was Friday. She's really got a lot of chutzpah!"

3. klutz: As mentioned before, it's an uncoordinated or clumsy person. Example sentence: "I was a waiter but I got fired because I dropped four plates in a single week. I guess I'm just a big klutz."

2. schlock: Usually used to refer to something that is cheap or of bad quality. Example sentence: "My parents went to Paris and all they brought back was this schlocky plastic statue of the Eiffel Tower." 

1. schlep: This means to carry something heavy, annoying, big, or difficult over a long distance. Example sentence: "I thought I would need my laptop while I was on my trip, so I had to schlep that heavy piece of schlock all over the place with me."

Do you know of any other Yiddish loanwords in English, or in other languages? If so, feel free to leave a comment below.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Do German Words Have Sex??

Well, no, German words don't have sex, but the nouns do have gender. What does that mean, exactly?

In English, our nouns don't have gender, so this isn't really a problem. But it is a problem for people learning languages like Spanish or German, and it's something that I personally still have problems with in both of those languages.

Spanish is easier than German in this respect. For example, if a noun ends in the letter "o" in Spanish, like muchacho, libro, or carro, the word is usually masculine. Similarly, if it ends in the letter "a," as in casa, puerta, or chica, it's usually feminine. There are a few exceptions (like la mano, el idioma, or el planeta), and there are also nouns that don't end in -o or -a, which can cause problems. For some reason, I always forget if words like corazón (heart) and amor (love) are masculine or feminine, but generally it's not too difficult to just look in a dictionary or ask someone. 

German is a lot more difficult, though.

German has three genders, which a lot of people joke about. There is masculine, feminine, and what's usually called "neuter" or "neutral" in English. For some words, it's easy to determine if a word is masculine or feminine. For example, der Mann (the man) is masculine, and die Frau (the woman) is feminine. These make sense, since the noun gender matches the gender in real life. But there are definitely some weird ones, like das Mädchen (the girl); why is a girl neutral, while a boy (der Junge) isn't? And why do the words seem to end in all sorts of different letters? Isn't there a system?

In the 1990s the musician Prince changed his name to this symbol.
Maybe he was just trying to tell us that he's German. (Image Credit)

Not especially. There are some common patterns to German noun gender, and I'll include links to a site that's been highlighting those recently. But the sad truth is that if you are learning German, you simply have to learn the gender of every new noun when you learn vocabulary. This gender also affects adjectives; to compare with Spanish, you'd say "la casa blanca," not "la casa blanco," since blanca (white) needs to be feminine, since casa (house) is feminine. German is the same way, but it's more complicated, since the adjective endings change not only based on gender, but also depending on whether the noun is the subject, object, indirect object, or possessive actor in a sentence.

I won't go into much more detail here today, since other blogs focus a lot more on this (and most of my readers are here for English tips, not to learn about why German nouns are so depressing). If you are learning German, though, you should check out the Transparent Language German Blog. It's generally got good language and cultural information, and they've recently been doing a series on tips and patterns for determining German noun gender. At the moment they're on part 1 of the feminine nouns, but they've already posted a four-part series on German masculine nouns (click here for parts 1, 2, 3, and 4). It's got some really good information, so check it out!

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Vocabulary: Holidays and Vacations

August 2nd is a holiday in Costa Rica, so today I thought I'd mention a few good vocabulary words related to holidays.

First of all, today is a holiday, which means that it's a special day for some reason. It's also a holy day; "holy" is similar to "sacred," and it can be used to describe things related to religion. An example of a holy day is Easter (click here or here for more information). Some holidays aren't necessarily holy days, and some holy days aren't necessarily holidays. For example, many countries have bank holidays and national holidays such as Independence Day or Mother's Day, which aren't connected to the church. 

Today's holiday is a Saint's Day connected to the Virgin of Los Angeles. In many Catholic countries, there's basically a saint for every day of the year. The reason today is special in Costa Rica is because the Virgin of Los Angeles is the patron saint of Costa Rica. Many people go to the city of Cartago to visit the basilica (also called a cathedral or even simply a church) to see a statue of the saint. Those people are sometimes called pilgrims, and the event or their journey can be called a pilgrimage.

Sometimes English learners get confused about the differences between holiday and vacation. In American English, the word "holiday" is generally used to indicate a day when there's no school or work. "Vacation" can be used to indicate a trip (when you travel somewhere for business or tourism) or you can also say "vacation" to indicate when there's a longer period of time when schools are closed. For example, in the U.S.A. most schools have a summer vacation or a summer break, as well as a winter vacation/break and a spring break/vacation. As you can see, "break" can also mean "vacation" sometimes.

British English is a little bit different with some of this vocabulary. For example, Americans might go on vacation, but British people might go on holiday. Also, notice that in American English, "vacation" and "holiday" are almost always in the singular form; only say "vacations" if you are talking about more than one vacation.

That's probably enough vocabulary for today but before we go, let's take a look at a dialogue using some of these terms:

(The phone rings--John answers)

John: Hello? This is John.

Ana: Hi John! This is Ana. How are you doing?

John: Ana, hi! I'm great, thanks. How are you?

Ana: I'm fine. Hey, are you doing anything special today?

John: No, why?

Ana: Well, today's a holiday! It's the Saint's Day for the Virgin of Los Angeles!

John: Oh, you're right! I'm not from Costa Rica, so I forgot about that. Are you doing anything special?

Ana: Probably not. My sister and brother are making a pilgrimage to Cartago to visit the church. They're walking 10 hours to get to the basilica, but since I broke my foot on my last vacation, I can't walk that far.

John: You broke your foot?! That's terrible!

Ana: I guess I didn't tell you. Yes, last month we had a break from school, so I went with some friends to the beach. It was a great vacation, but on the last day I tripped and broke my foot while I was leaving the hotel!

John: Haha! I'm sorry to hear about your foot, but that's a little funny!

Ana: Actually, you're right. It was kind of stupid, but also a little funny. At least the rest of the trip was great. Hey, I've got to go now, but do you want to come over later for coffee?

John: Sure, that sounds great! Should I stop by your house at 3?

Ana: Excellent! I'll see you then. Bye!

So, that's all for now. If you have any comments, questions, corrections, or want to share more vocabulary, please leave a comment or contact me. Thanks for reading-- if you're in Costa Rica, have a great holiday, and if you're not, have a great day!

Two Recommended Websites For General English Practice

As I mentioned a while ago, I often have my students complete practice logs. It's a good way to encourage them to practice, and it's also a good way for me to find new language-learning resources that I can pass on to other students. 

This week my student Henry included two good websites in his practice log, and I wanted to mention them here. 

The first is apparently called Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab (although the URL is simply "esl-lab.com," which seems much easier). As the name indicates, it's got a lot of listening exercises with audio, partial scripts, quizzes, and vocabulary highlights. It's even got cultural tips in some of the sections, so the site is pretty great. The topics are very diverse, from pizza delivery to how to behave in a Japanese public bath. There seem to be between 200 and 300 different pages with different topics, and they're conveniently arranged according to difficulty. Check it out!

The second link my student visited was engvid.com. It's also got a self-explanatory name, as it's mainly focused on videos. If you scroll down on the home page, you'll see different topics like business English, grammar, pronunciation, and even my favorite, idioms. The grammar section alone has 105 videos, so there's plenty of material to keep you busy for a while! Check it out, and enjoy!

Thanks for reading, and if you have any additional suggestions for online practice, please leave a comment. Have a great day!

Common Errors: Confusing "Family" Words

Hello everyone, and welcome to Mistake Sunday (Monday is going to be busy, so I'm posting this Common Error a day early)! Today's error is common for most of my Spanish-speaking students, since Spanish--and probably other languages, too--has a tendency to group people together under a "masculine" word. For example, if someone says "Tengo cuatro hermanos" ("I have four 'brothers'"), it's unclear if the speaker is referring only to males, or to males and females together.

English did and still does this, too, but it's not as common these days. Consider the phrase from the Declaration of Independence, "all men are created equal." That was obviously written hundreds of years ago, and today would probably read, "all men and women" or "all people." Nevertheless, this error is easy to recognize and correct, with a couple of good vocabulary words. Let's take a look:

Common Error: Confusing "Family" Words
DON’T say this:	Clark Kent lived with his fathers, Jonathan and Martha, before he became Superman. I'm going to visit my uncles Peter, Paul, and Mary during the vacation. We are seven brothers in my family, and I am one of the three girls.
WHY?	-If you are talking about two dads (both males, obviously), then you can use the word "fathers." If not, use the word "parents," which indicates men and/or women. -Use "uncles" for men, but if you're including women, you have to use the phrase "aunt(s) and uncle(s)." -For brothers and sisters together, use the word "siblings," which indicates brothers and/or sisters together. -Finally, if you're talking about the number of people in your family, the phrase "we are" sounds strange. Instead, say something like "there are (3) of us" or "I have (2) siblings."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Clark Kent lived with his parents, Jonathan and Martha, before he became Superman." -"I'm going to visit my aunt Mary and my uncles Peter and Paul during the vacation." -"There are seven siblings in my family, and I'm one of three girls." OR -"My parents had seven children, including three girls."

So, I hope that was helpful! If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for future Common Errors, please leave a message in the Comments section or contact us. 

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

German and English: Similarities and Differences

A few weeks ago we were looking at loanwords from other languages, including German. I said that I wanted to mention some similarities and differences between German and English, since I teach both languages and I'm hoping to start teaching a German class soon. So, that's what this post is about. If you're not interested, that's OK; I'll try to put up another English-learning post later this week. So, here we go:

"March 18th Plaza," in Berlin.

SIMILARITIES: History, Vocabulary, and Verbs

Historically, German and English came from the same language family. In fact, English is considered a "Germanic" language (click here for a language map and here for a cool graphic with more information). That means that many common words are similar in both languages. Some quick, easy examples are house/Haus, man/Mann, here/hier, and good/gut. 

If you have a high level of vocabulary in English, you can also notice other similarities between the two languages. For example, the German word for "dog" is "Hund." That looks pretty different, but if you know that "hound" is another English word for "dog," then you can see the similarity. Similarly, "chair" is "Stuhl" in German; it looks very different, but it's pronounced quite similarly to "stool," a synonym for "chair." There are many more examples.

Another area where we notice both similarities and differences is grammar. In some ways, German grammar is horrible (trust me). Simply put, it's much more complicated than English grammar. Still, if you know that a verb is irregular in English, it's almost always irregular in German, too. For example, the English verb "to swim" is conjugated swim - swam - swum; in German, it's schwimmen - schwamm - geschwommen. That's obviously not exactly the same, but if you compare it to a Romance language like Spanish (nadar - nadé - nadado), then you can see English is quite a bit closer to German than Spanish.

Löschwassereinspeisung is a compound noun meaning "fire-fighting water feed-in."

DIFFERENCES: Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation

Before we look at the differences, I wanted to recommend a semi-famous article by Mark Twain called "The Awful German Language." It's a classic among German students, but even if you don't study German, it's pretty funny, and you can hopefully read it to appreciate the German language--while laughing a bit, also!

As you probably noticed, "vocabulary" was in the "similarities" category, too. That's because there are some similar words between English and German, but there are also many different words, as well as different word-forming patterns. As you can see in the picture above, German can sometimes have very long compound nouns. Some can get ridiculously long. Here's a fun one, since yesterday was Independence Day in the U.S.: Unabhängigkeitserklärung ("independence declaration"). Speaking of nouns, another characteristic of German is that the first letter in a noun is always capitalized; that's why Hund, Stuhl, and Unabhängigkeitserklärung are all written with a capital letter.

Another difference is definite and indefinite articles. These exist in English, but they're more complicated in German. The English definite article is "the," and the indefinite article is "a" or "an." But in German, the definite article can be der if the word is masculine, die if it's feminine, or das if it's "neuter." For example, Stuhl is masculine--don't ask me why, though!--so it's technically "der Stuhl," if the word is the subject of a sentence. If it's an object, it changes to den Stuhl. And it changes again if it's an indirect object and again if it's possessive. And that's just for the definite articles--the indefinite articles are a whole other problem! To make a long story short, there are between 6 and 12 ways to say the word "the" (depending on how you count).

And adjectives are even worse.

You're probably thinking, "Wow, that's horrible! Aren't there any good differences between German and English?" Yes, there is at least one area where German is generally considered easier than English: Pronunciation. English pronunciation is notoriously difficult to master, but German is much more phonetic, and if you can figure out how to read some of those ridiculously long words, you can also probably pronounce them without too many problems. German does have a few different sounds and letters (Ö, Ü, and Ä, plus the ß, which is basically the same as "ss"), but once you learn what they sound like, they always sound the same way, which is convenient. Then you just need to work on accent reduction!

So, I think that's all for now. I could talk a long time about all this stuff, so I hope it was interesting for anyone who's made it this far. I also hope I've not scared you away from German forever! It's difficult, but also sort of fun if you learn it with the right attitude. If you've got any questions about English, German, or anything else, please feel free to say hi in the comments section or contact me. 

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Some Sites for English Listening Practice

This weekend, "get a grip" on your English!

Over the last week or so I've come across a few sites that I thought would be helpful for my readers learning English. One is TOEIC-related, and the other two are more about current news.

The first, English-Test.net, has some good practice exercises and tests to prepare for the TOEIC or other similar, standardized tests, like the TOEFL. It seems to have a lot of information, so it's probably good to spend some time exploring it.

Next, I also came across the PBS site called NOW. PBS is the public broadcasting network in the US, and this site has longer reports and videos about current events (for example, here's one about natural gas drilling in the USA). 

Finally, here's another one from the VOA (Voice of America), which has podcasts that you can listen to. Some of them even have scripts that you can read while you listen, like this report about exercising.

So, check them out, and if you have any other links you've found lately, I'd love to hear from you in the comments section! Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

Common Error: "-ed" vs. "-ing" Endings

 Hello, and happy Friday! I'm still planning on talking more about other languages' influence on English, but it's been a while since we've had a common error, so I wanted to share this one. I've heard my students make mistakes with words like bored/boring, excited/exciting, amazed/amazing, and other similar word combinations.  Fortunately, this is an easy error to correct. Let's look:

Common Error: Bored vs. Boring, etc. (-ed vs. -ing)
DON’T say this:	I have been doing grammar exercises for an hour, so I'm very boring. The movie last night was very amazed. This Common Error is not very confused. Can you please play some relaxed music?
WHY?	For word pairs like these, just remember how to use the two endings: -Use -ing at the end of the word if the subject causes the emotion. For example, a movie can cause an emotion, but it can't experience an emotion (because it's not alive). So, we'd have to say: "The movie was boring/exciting/interesting/etc." -Use -ed at the end of the word if the subject experiences or feels the emotion. For example, a person can experience an emotion, so you could say: "John is bored/excited/confused/etc." -BUT, a person can also cause an emotion (if he or she makes someone else experience that emotion). So, you could also possibly say: "John is boring/exciting/confusing/etc." ...depending on what you want to express in your sentence. Other similar word pairs include: -annoyed/annoying -depressed/depressing -disappointed/disappointing -embarrassed/embarrassing -enchanted/enchanting -fascinated/fascinating -frightened/frightening -frustrated/frustrating -interested/interesting -pleased/pleasing -relaxed/relaxing -shocked/shocking -surprised/surprising -tired/tiring -worried/worrying Can you think of any others?
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"I have been doing grammar exercises for an hour, so I am very bored." -"The movie last night was very amazing." -"This Common Error is not very confusing." -"Can you please play some relaxing music?"

I hope that this Common Error isn't too confusing... and I also hope that you're not confused! If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Common Errors: "Know" vs. "Meet," "See," and "Visit"

Good evening, everyone! Welcome back to Mistake Monday. This week's Common Error is actually really common, but it's also very easy to fix. The four words we'll talk about --know, meet, see, and visit-- are used in similar ways, but they're not 100% interchangeable. Let's look:

Common Error: "Know" vs. "Meet," "See," and "Visit"
DON’T say this:	I want to travel to France to know the Eiffel Tower. I have never known New York, but I've heard it's an amazing city. The Spring Social Meeting is a great way to know new people.
WHY?	If you know someone or something, it means that you have knowledge or information about them. If you meet a person, you see him or her for the first time. This situation can be called an introduction, since you introduce one person to another person. If you visit a place or person, you interact with them in some way. If you see a person or place, it's similar to visit; normally you interact with them, but you may just observe them.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"I want to travel to France to see/visit the Eiffel Tower."  -"I have never visited/been to/gone to New York, but I've heard it's an amazing city." -"The Spring Social Meeting is a great way to meet new people." -"Do you know Paul? He's a really nice guy." OR "Have you met Paul?" -"I don't know French, but I do know German."

So, hopefully you'll know what to say now if you meet someone new or visit a new place. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Common Error: "Since" vs. "For"

Good evening, and welcome to Trouble Tuesday! We're back tonight with an error that many students make when talking about things that happened in the past. Let's take a look:

Common Error: "Since" vs. "For"
DON’T say this:	She's lived in San Jose since 15 years. I only have 5 months at my new job.
WHY?	For and Since can both be used to refer to activities that started in the past and continue today, but each word is used a little differently: -Use since if you mention when the activity started. -Use for if you mention the period of time that has passed or will pass. The second incorrect example above is wrong because you can generally not "have" time. In this case, you'd have to re-phrase the sentence (see below). Note: Both since and for can generally be used with any tense except the simple present tense.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"She has lived in San Jose for 15 years."  OR "She has lived in San Jose since 1997." -"I have only been working at my new job for 5 months." OR "I have only been working at my new job since December."

So, this error isn't actually that complicated to fix, right? If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave a comment or contact us. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Common Error: "Thank God" vs. "Thanks God"

Hello, and welcome again to Mistake Monday! Today's error is small and technically, it's not actually an error some of the time. Still, it could cause some confusion. For example, sometimes my students say, "Thanks God!" To which I just reply, "I'm not God."
Why do I say that? Well, because I'm not God. But there's also a grammatical reason. Let's take a look:

Common Error: "Thanks God" vs. "Thank God"
DON’T say this:	Thanks God that we weren't in that earthquake! "Thanks God!" said Pete when he realized that the quiz was canceled.
WHY?	-As I said above, "Thanks God" isn't actually an error, in the right context. If you're talking directly to God, you could say something like, "Thanks, God, that was great!" -However, most of the time when people use this phrase, it's more of an exhortation (like a command, almost), and in that case, "Thank God" is generally considered correct. -In the same way, people would say, "Praise God!"
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Thank God we weren't in that earthquake!" -"'Thank God!'" said Pete when he realized the quiz was canceled. -"At church, the pastor could be shouting 'Praise God! Praise God! Praise the Lord!' over and over." "'TGIF' means 'Thank God It's Friday!'" BUT: -"Sean thanks God every day for his health." (Here "thanks" is a third-person verb) -"Thanks, God, for my good health." (If praying, since you'd be talking to God)

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

Common Error: "Grow" vs. "Grow Up"

Hello, and welcome to Mistake Monday! Actually, I guess at this late hour, I'll have to call it "Mistake Monday Tuesday"! It's been a busy day and my schedule just changed, so please pardon the delay. In fact, I may have to start posting these common errors on Tuesdays, but we'll see. For now, let's look at a quick error. It's pretty small, but it's one I hear surprisingly frequently:

Common Error: Confusing "grow" and "grow up"
DON’T say this:	Those palm trees really grow up quickly, don't they? "When I grow I'm going to be a firefighter," said Jenny. I hope to grow up in my new job. My grandmother always grew up tomatoes in her garden.
WHY?	-Generally, the verb "grow" means to become larger, bigger, or to get more experience. -We can also use the verb grow when talking about agriculture; if you plant a seed, then you want it to grow. -On the other hand, "grow up" means to become older (to age). -Both verbs are irregular; the pattern is grow-grew-grown.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Those palm trees really grow quickly, don't they?" -"'When I grow up I'm going to be a firefighter,' said Jenny." -"I hope to grow in my new job." -"My grandmother always grew tomatoes in her garden."

So, that's it for the moment. If you have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact us. Thanks for reading!

Common Error: Using "Have" Incorrectly

Hello, and welcome again to Mistake Monday! I often hear my Spanish-speaking students make this mistake, but I've also heard native speakers of other languages saying these incorrect phrases, so it's a good idea to look at it:

Common Error: Using "have" incorrectly
DON’T say this:	I have 23 years. Tina has 10 months at her new job. I have hunger. This question has no sense.
WHY?	-Phrases like this may make sense in other languages, but in English we sometimes have to re-phrase them or use a different helping verb. -For example, in English a person doesn't "have" a number of years; instead, s/he is a number of years old: "John is 23 (years old)."* *Note: in this example, you can say "John is 23" or "John is 23 years old," but not "John is 23 years." -In the second incorrect example above, if you want to say how long something has been happening, generally you use a present perfect tense and the word for: "Tina has worked at her new job for 10 months" OR "Tina has been working at her new job for 10 months." -In the third example, we also need to use the verb "to be" as our helping verb: "I am hungry." (Notice that we change hunger to hungry, since "hungry" is an adjective). We generally use the verb "to be" with other temporary emotions like: (TO BE + __ ): hungry, thirsty, awake, asleep, tired, hot, cold, bored, annoyed, happy, etc. -Finally, in some languages things can "have" sense, but in English if something is logical we say "it makes sense," and if it's illogical or confusing, "it doesn't make sense."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"I am 23 (years old)." -"Tina has worked at her new job for 5 months." OR "Tina has been working at her new job for 5 months." -"I am hungry/thirsty/bored/excited." -"This question makes no sense." OR, more naturally: "This question doesn't make sense."

Well, that's it for this week--I hope it all makes sense! If you are confused or have questions or comments, please leave a comment or contact us. Thanks for reading!

Common Error: Incorrect Plurals

Happy Valentine's Day, but more importantly, Happy Mistake Monday! We're back tonight with a common error that happens more times than you might imagine. It involves nouns with irregular plurals. Let's take a look:

Common Error: Incorrect Plurals (man, woman, child, person)
DON’T say this:	Many beautiful womans live in Costa Rica. This taxi can only carry four persons. My wife and I want to have two childs.
WHY?	-Some nouns in English have irregular plurals. Most plurals in English are formed by adding an "-s" or "-es" to the end of a word, but with irregular plurals, you need to change the word in a different way. For example, in plural: -man becomes men -woman becomes women -child becomes children -and person generally becomes people*  *(The words "persons" and "people" do exist, but they're generally used in a legal or administrative context)
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Many beautiful women live in Costa Rica." -"This taxi can only carry four people." -"My wife and I want to have two children." -"There are many differences between women and men." -"People are strange." (Remember that "people" is plural in English!)

What other irregular plurals have you come across while learning English? Which ones cause you the most trouble? Be sure to join in the conversation in the comments section!

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

Common Error: Confusing "too," "so," and "very"

Good evening, and happy Mistake Monday! In our previous post we mentioned a good reference for advanced English learners, so now let's take a look at a mistake that students of all levels sometimes make: confusing the words "too," "so," and "very."

I especially notice this problem with my students who speak Spanish, and sometimes they make this mistake even when they're in advanced classes. Here are some tips:

Common Error: Confusing "too," "so," and "very"
DON’T say this:	I like too much that TV show. He's too excited about going to the concert. She likes pizza too much.
WHY?	-All three of these words can add emphasis, but we use them differently in English and Spanish. -"Too" expresses a large degree, but it also generally indicates that something is excessive and not possible: "The T-shirt was too big for me. I had to get a different one." OR: "It was too dark to see who committed the crime." -The words "so" and "very" also express a large degree, but they're used differently than "too": -Use "very" to intensify: "It's very hot in Panama today." OR: "It was very nice of her to help the sick puppy." -Use "so" if you want to show cause and effect, and usually include the word "that": "He ate so many chicken wings that he got sick." OR: "Jane made Mark so mad that he left the meeting."
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"She is very beautiful." -"She likes pizza very much." -(OR, more commonly: "She likes pizza a lot.") -"She was so hungry that she ate a whole pizza by herself!" -"She is now too poor to go to the movies. She spent all her money on pizza."

That's it for today. If you have questions or comments related to this common error or the blog in general, please leave a comment or contact us. Thanks for reading!

Common Error: Use of third-person verbs

It's "Mistake Monday" again, so let's look at another common error! This one is definitely common; in fact, it's probably one of the top three most common errors I notice with my Spanish-speaking students.

The technical name for this type of error would be "forgetting to conjugate third-person verbs," but if that's too nerdy for you, just remember that this problem comes up when you have "he," "she," "it," or a name as the subject of your sentence. Let's take a look:

Common Error: Use of third-person verbs
DON’T say this:	Costa Rica have many nice places to visit. She go to her mother's house every Sunday. Every time he see her, he bring her flowers.
WHY?	-This is a very common error, but just because it's common, doesn't mean it's OK. You have to add an "-s" or "-es" to the end of third-person verbs. -When you change a verb, you conjugate it. If you don't conjugate your verbs, people will probably understand you, but they'll know you're not a fluent speaker.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-“Costa Rica has many nice places to visit.” -“She goes to her mother's house every Sunday.” -“Every time he sees her, he brings her flowers."

So, today's common error was very easy to correct, wasn't it? If you have any comments, questions, or other suggestions for common errors, please leave a comment below or fill out the contact form. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

HOW TO Start Your Own Blog!

Welcome to Part 2 of 2 in our "Start a Blog" series! If you're motivated to get blogging but you're not sure where or how to begin, then this post is for you. If you already have a blog, or if you're good with computers and technology in general, you can probably skip this post. If there's anything I can do to make the process easier to understand, please tell me.

There are quite a few different blogging services available on the internet, but today we'll focus on how to work with Blogger. Other sites such as WordPress can also be a great option if you want to start blogging, but to be honest, I'm simply not as familiar with how they work. The other advantage to working with Blogger is its integration with Google. If you have a Gmail account (or any Google account, for that matter), then starting your blog is even easier!

Step 1: Go to Blogger.com

Step 2: "Get Started" or "Sign In"

If you don't have a Google or Gmail account, then you'll want to click on the orange "Get started" button and move to Step 3.

If you do already have a Google account (like if you use Gmail, for example), then this process will be even quicker. In the circled box on the right, just enter your email address and password connected to your Google account and click "Sign in."

Step 2B: If you do have a Google or Gmail account, just follow the directions to add Blogger to your account

The process should be very quick and painless, but you can skip to step 4 if you're having troubles.

Step 3: If you don't have a Google account, fill out the form

This shouldn't be too complicated. You'll need an email address, but it can come from another service (I still use my Yahoo address to sign in to Google, for example). 

Most of the other information on the form is pretty basic, like creating a password (be sure to make it strong), providing your birthday, and choosing a display name.

It also gives you an option to receive Email Notifications, which you probably don't need.

After you finish the form, it will probably send a confirmation email to the address that you just provided. I've also had a few experiences with my students where it asked for their cell phone number to confirm that the person applying for an account was real. This may sound suspicious, but from what we experienced, the code was sent to their phone very quickly, and it was legitimate. Either way, if you go to the email account you provided while registering and click on the link in the email, it should take you to the following page, where you actually start setting up your blog:

Step 4: Name your blog and choose an address

The first thing you'll have to do is choose a name for your blog. (Sorry the picture is in Spanish, but since I live in Costa Rica, it stayed in Spanish. Don't worry, though, it's the same in English.)

In this screen, you'll give your blog a title and choose the blog address. For the address, try something that's short and easy to remember.

Step 5: Choose a design--but don't worry, you can always change it later

This screen will allow you to choose a basic design for your blog. Most of the designs have many variations and once you start blogging, you can easily change almost any element of the design. 

So, just choose the least ugly one for the moment, and remember that you can adjust or even completely change it later.

Step 6: Start Blogging!

When you get to this confirmation screen, click "Start Publishing," and you'll officially have a blog! Congratulations!

A Few Tips:

Once you have a blog, adding new entries to your blog is easy. Just click on "New Post," and you'll see a screen like this:

It's pretty straightforward from here. Give your post a "Title," and then just start typing in the big blank space. You can upload pictures or videos using their respective icons. Just play around with it a bit and don't worry; you can always delete or change things. When you've finished writing, click "Publish Post."

Another Tip: Use the "Dashboard" and "Design" Buttons

As you see from the circle at the top of the picture, almost anywhere in your blog you can click on "Dashboard" and you'll see a screen similar to the one on the left. You can see a preview of your blog, start new posts, change profile information, or adjust the blog's "Settings" and "Design." The "Settings" menu is more related to the way you and other people access and interact with your blog, and the "Design" menu is more about its visual aspects.

When you click on "Design," you'll see a screen similar to this one. You can make a LOT of aesthetic changes here, and you can also add different elements  to your blog's page ("Add a Gadget"). 

Once again, just play around with it a bit so you can see the possibilities. You can't really break anything.

A Quick Tip for Teachers:

If you're a teacher, a blog can be a great tool to keep in touch with your students. You can assign homework, post notes, provide links for additional practice, and help your students connect with each other.

The image above shows a blog that I created for one of my classes last year. It was a good way for me to remind students of homework and to post links, but even better, it allowed my students to express themselves in a new way. 

As you see in the red circle on the right, each student started his/her own blog. Each week, I would give them a blog homework assignment. Normally, they had to do some research, respond to a few questions, or write a few paragraphs about the week's class topic. Often, they also were in small groups of 3 or 4 students, where group members would read each others' blogs and respond to their partners' thoughts in the comment section. 

I got great feedback from my students about blogging in general, and I'm sure that you can find even more new and interesting ways to use a blog to help your students learn. If you have any tips for ME, then please tell me!

So, that's it for now. Once again, if there's anything that I can do to make this post easier to follow or more understandable, please be sure to tell me either in the comments section or send me an email. 

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!