False Friend: Profesor vs. Professor

Is the man in the white lab coat a teacher or a professor? (Image)

Hello! Today we have another False Friend. If you're not sure what a False Friend is, check out this introductory post. Today we'll look at the difference between profesor in Spanish and professor in English. We'll look at the word "teacher" next Monday, since this topic comes up in almost every class I teach.

False Friend: profesor vs. professor
This SPANISH word...	Looks like this ENGLISH word...	...but they are DIFFERENT because...
profesor	professor	In Spanish, at least in Costa Rica, profesor/a can be used for any kind of teacher or instructor: "La profesora de cuarto grado habló con sus alumnos." ("The fourth grade teacher spoke with her students.") In English, professor (note the spelling) refers to a person who has a PhD (doctorate of philosophy) degree from a university. Normally a person becomes a professor after studying in the university for at least 7 years total. The word can be used for a man or a woman, and it can also be used as a personal title: "I got bad grades in my university Chemistry classes, but at least my professor was good. She was always helpful and patient." OR "Professor Smith will be giving a lecture on tropical ecosystems." You can refer to any instructor or teacher who isn't a professor as a "teacher," but "teacher" is just a job description and generally not a title. We'll look more at this on Monday.

So, in the picture above, is the person in the white lab coat a teacher or a professor? Possibly both. He's definitely a teacher, but if he has a PhD, then he's also a professor. In this case, the picture information says his name is Professor Hellmuth Stachel --we capitalize "professor" since it's his title. Because he has a doctorate degree, we can also call him "Doctor Hellmuth Stachel," but in academia it's more common to say "professor" instead of "doctor," since "doctor" can cause confusion with medical doctors.

If you don't understand this, you can ask me or your normal English teacher or professor. But remember that I'm  not a professor, because I only have an M.A., not a PhD. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions for other False Friends or Common Errors, please tell me.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

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!

Confusing Capitals

Get ready to use your brain.

POP QUIZ!

Answer the following questions-- you have 3 minutes, and you can't use the internet.

1. What is the capital of The United States of America?

2. How many capitals does South Africa have, and why?

3. What's the capital of Canada?

4. How many states are there in the USA?

5. What's the largest city in New Zealand?

6. How many provinces and territories are there in Canada?

7. What's the capital of California?

8. Fill in the blank: Toronto is the capital of ______ . 

9. Fill in the blank: Sydney is the capital of ______ .

10. What's the largest city in British Columbia?

OK, time's up! Pencils down! You can read this post to find the answers to the quiz.

Today we're obviously going to talk about capitals. I know that this topic is technically geography, not language, but geography is related to culture, and culture is related to language. Plus, I really like capitals, for some reason. I guess I'm just a nerd.

I wanted to talk about this because many English-speaking places have "strange" or unexpected capitals. This isn't the case in many countries. In lots of places, the largest city is also the capital: think of Berlin, Germany; Paris, France; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bangkok, Thailand; San José, Costa Rica; and many other examples. Today we'll look at a capitals in English-speaking areas, including many places where the largest city isn't the capital. Next Friday we'll continue this topic and look at the British Isles, since they're a lot more complicated than the countries we'll look at today. 

I'm from the U.S.A., so we'll start there.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The largest city in the U.S. is New York City, New York, followed by Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, none of these cities is the capital of the country, and none of them is the capital of their state, either! In fact, the capital of the U.S. is only the 24th largest city in the country.

Washington, D.C., with the Washington Monument and the White House. (Image)

If you've been studying English for a while, then you probably know that the capital of the U.S. is Washington, D.C. ("District of Columbia"). Washington, D.C. is a city, not a state, but people often confuse it with Washington state. Washington, D.C. is on the east coast between the states of Virginia and Maryland, and Washington state is on the west coast, between Oregon and Canada. Washington, D.C. is home to the federal government, and it's where there executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government have their main offices.

STATE CAPITALS

Casa Bonita restaurant in Denver, Colorado. This isn't the official capitol building, but it should be.

In addition to having a national capital, each of the United States' 50 states also has a state capital. For example, I used to live in the state of Colorado, and the capital of Colorado is Denver. Denver is also the largest city in Colorado, but in many states (33 to be exact), the largest city isn't the capital. You can look at the lists in the links above to find more information about each state. By the way, I mentioned the country's five largest cities above, and said that they weren't state capitals. The capitals of each of those states are Albany, New York; Sacramento, California; Springfield, Illinois; Austin, Texas; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

A panoramic view of Sacramento, the capital of California (Image)

AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

These two countries are often grouped together because they are close geographically, but don't forget that they're two separate countries!

Australia's national capital is also commonly mistaken. Many people think it's Sydney or Melbourne (Australia's two biggest cities), but it's actually Canberra. Australia is made up of 6 states and two territories, and each state and territory also has a capital. The biggest difference here is that in each of the states and territories, the capital city is also the largest city in that area.

New Zealand's capital is Wellington, but its largest city is Auckland.

A view of Wellington, New Zealand. (Image)

SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa is a very interesting case, since it technically has three capitals. The largest city in the country is Johannesburg, but it's not one of the capitals. Instead, each of the three capital cities houses a specific branch of the government. Cape Town is the home of the South African parliament, and is therefore the legislative capital. The judicial capital is a city called Bloemfontein. Finally, the executive branch is in Pretoria, which also makes the city the de facto national capital.

CANADA

Oh, there's Ottawa! It's even got the little star and everything!

Canada, the world's second-biggest country in terms of area, is made up of ten provinces and three territories. The three largest cities in the country are Toronto, Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; and Vancouver, British Columbia; but the national capital is actually Ottawa, the fourth-largest city in the country. Of these four cities, only one is a provincial capital: Toronto. The capitals of Quebec and British Columbia are Quebec City and Victoria, respectively. You can check out the list of other provincial capitals and the largest cities. In most other provinces and territories, the largest city is also the capital.

This is a picture of me in Vancouver. It's the largest city in British Columbia,

but not the capital. That would be Victoria.

So, that's it for now. I hope this post was interesting for you. I'm personally a big geography fan so if you ever want to talk about capitals and countries, send me an email!

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend! 

Clothing Vocabulary: "A Pair Of..."

Finally! A man who knows how to wear a pair of pants with style! (Image)

Good afternoon, and welcome to Word Wednesday! On Monday we looked at a common word we say when we talk about clothing: "wear." Today I wanted to talk about a vocabulary point that is different in English and other languages:

Common Vocabulary Error: "a pair of..."
DON’T say this:	Today I am wearing a jeans and boots, and she is wearing a short and tennis. I need to wash my clothes; I don't have a single clean underwear. She always wore a glasses.
WHY?	All of the following words are considered plural in English, and can be "counted" with the phrase "a pair of...": -a pair of glasses / sunglasses / reading glasses / etc. -a pair of ski goggles / swimming goggles / etc. -a pair of ear muffs -a pair of headphones / earphones -a pair of underwear / boxer shorts / briefs / panties / etc. -a pair of jeans / pants / trousers / slacks / dress pants / etc. -a pair of shorts / swimming trunks / board shorts / hot pants / etc. -a pair of leggings / tights / pantyhose / etc. In some languages (like Spanish and German) many of these can be singular. For example, in Spanish you can say "un pantalón," and in German "eine Hose"; in English, both of these are "a pair of pants" (or "a pair of trousers" in British English). But why do we say "a pair" if it's only one piece of clothing? That's a good question. Notice that most of these words are for clothing related to your legs, ears, or eyes. I normally tell my students to count the number of legs, ears, or eyes to remember that certain pieces of clothing are always plural in English. If that's too complicated, remember that in many cases, we can even eliminate the phrase "a pair of," as long as we say the clothing in plural: "She's wearing shorts and tennis shoes." OR "He wears goggles and swimming trunks when he goes to the pool." Obviously, if you're talking about clothing that has two parts (like shoes, gloves, boots, etc.), then those are also going to be considered plural.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Today I am wearing a pair of jeans and a pair of boots, and she is wearing a pair of shorts and a pair of tennis shoes." OR -"Today I am wearing jeans and boots, and she is wearing shorts and tennis shoes." -"I need to wash my clothes; I don't have a single clean pair of underwear." -"She always wore a pair of glasses." OR -"She always wore glasses."

Hopefully that makes sense. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below.

If you're reading this in Costa Rica, hopefully you can enjoy the beautiful day-- go for a nice walk, but be sure to wear a pair of shorts and a pair of sunglasses!

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

Common Error: "use" vs. "wear"

What are these mannequins wearing? (Image Credit)

Hello again, and welcome to Mistake Monday! Today's post is technically related to vocabulary, but since it's still a common problem for my students, I decided to include it in the Common Errors section. Last week we talked about using the phrase "used to" for customs, as in "I used to be a little boy" or "I am used to waking up late." There is another problem that is related to the word "use," and I mainly notice the problem when people are describing clothing. Take a look:

Common Error: "use" vs. "wear"
DON’T say this:	Today I am using a jeans, a shirt color blue, and tennis. He's easy to find in a group of people because he always uses a big hat.
WHY?	-Remember that we can say the word "use" if we're utilizing an object for a specific purpose. The word "use" is normally combined with tools and other types of equipment, as in: "Use the key to open the door." OR "I use a special pan to make pancakes." BUT, we don't normally say "use" with clothing. There is a specific verb for clothes, and that verb is "wear." The past of wear is wore, and the past participle is has/have worn. Here are a few examples: "To prevent sunburns, you should wear a hat and sunscreen while working outside." "The mean dog was wearing a collar with spikes, so we decided not to pet it." "The girl was used to wearing pants, and she had never worn a nice dress before she went to the formal dance." Notice that we use wear even with things like sunscreen, makeup, shoes, and protective clothing. Basically, you can use the word wear for anything that you can put on your body. On Wednesday and next Monday I'll focus more on special words and phrases for clothing, such as plurals and descriptions of clothes.
INSTEAD, SAY THIS:	-"Today I am wearing a pair of jeans, a blue shirt, and a pair of tennis shoes." -"He's easy to find in a group of people because he always wears a big hat."

Some common questions related to these words are:
-What do you usually wear?
-What are you wearing today?
-What do you wear to exercise / to go to work / to go out?

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!