December 30th, 2013 in Common Mistakes
When you replace a vital word in a standard phrase with another word or expression that has very similar pronunciation, what you get is an altogether new phrase that is either unintelligible or has an altogether different meaning. There are several such phrases in English.
December 9th, 2013 in Common Mistakes
Among / between
The words among and between are often confused. They have very similar meanings, but they are not usually interchangeable.
Between is used to show position between two or more well-defined objects.
April 15th, 2013 in Common Mistakes
The phrases amount of and number of have slightly different meanings.
Amount of is used with uncountable singular nouns. Uncountable nouns are those nouns that refer to things you cannot measure or count. Examples are: hate, beauty, respect, information etc.
April 8th, 2013 in Common Mistakes
These words are often confused by ESL students. Although they are both forms of the primary auxiliary verb be, they are used in different grammatical structures. The word been is the past participle form of be. It is used after have.
February 11th, 2013 in Common Mistakes
ESL students often find it difficult to use tenses correctly. The present perfect and past perfect tenses are particularly confusing.
February 7th, 2013 in Common Mistakes
ESL learners have invented many words and expressions that native speakers of the language are unlikely to understand. In this article we will take a look at some of these curious expressions that are quite popular among ESL learners in Asia and Latin America.
February 6th, 2013 in Common Mistakes
The word very is commonly used before an adjective or adverb.
- She is very beautiful.
- Thank you very much.