Tips to help you speak better English. Practice makes perfect, so use it or lose it!
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: We will be announcing another exciting news soon.
News is an uncountable noun and it takes a singular verb. We cannot say ‘another’ news.
Correction: We will be announcing more exciting news soon.
More exciting news to follow soon.
More exciting news coming soon.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: I have worked by Aldi for 5 years.
This is totally understandable but the preposition is wrong. When talking about where we work we use the preposition ‘at’.
Correction: I have worked at Aldi for 5 years.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: I have a new boss. She is in the department since the beginning of September.
Since is the keyword in this sentence and tells us which tense we need: Present perfect tense and not present tense (as in the example above.)
Correction: I have a new boss. She has been in the department since the beginning of September.
As an alternative we can remove the word ‘since’ and use the past simple tense.
Alternatively: I have a new boss. She started in the department at the beginning of September.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: We need to discuss about the project.
The problem here is with the verb to discuss. This verb means to talk about something. Therefore, the word ‘about’ is not needed in the sentence as the meaning is already covered by the verb.
Correction: We need to discuss the project.
Alternatively we can say: We need to talk about the project.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: I thought on you.
The problem here is with the preposition. ‘On’ is not the correct word here.
Correction: I thought of you.
If the sentence is then extended to talk about what you were thinking of doing we need an _ing on the verb
E.g. I thought of calling you but then realised I didn’t have your new number.
E.g. I thought of inviting you to the presentation but there was not enough time.
E.g. He thought of applying for the job but it was too late. He’d missed the deadline.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: She’s getting a baby.
She got a baby.
The problem here is with the verb. In English we don’t ‘get’ a baby, we ‘have’ a baby.
Correction: She’s having a baby.
She had a baby last week.
She’s just had a baby.
Alternatively we can say: She’s expecting a baby.
Her baby is due in October.
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: Do you have found the document?
This is totally understandable to native speakers but it is incorrect. There are too many verbs in the sentence.
We are using the present perfect tense here so we do not need the word ‘do’.
Correction: Have you found the document?
Further examples:
Have you met the new team member?
Have you seen the boss today?
Have you visited the new office?
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: What means . . . in English?
This is totally understandable to native speakers but it is incorrect.
Remember because this is a question (in the present tense) we need the words ‘do’ or ‘does’.
Correction: What does . . . mean in English?
Alternatively we can say: How do you say . . . in English?
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: Does anyone has an idea?
Remember: He, she, it das ‘S’ muss mit! The problem here though is that the letter ‘s’ appears too often in the sentence.
The letter ‘s’ is correct in the question word ‘does’ so we don’t need it again on the verb (have).
Correction: Does anyone have an idea?
Further examples:
Does he live (not ‘lives’) in Bonn?
Does she work (not ‘works’) in your department?
Does the meeting usually start (not ‘starts’) late?
Have fun learning English!
Louise
I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.
They say: The workshop today has the topic Mentoring.
This is totally understandable to native speakers but it doesn’t sound very natural.
Correction: The topic of today’s workshop is Mentoring.
Alternatively: Today we are going to talk about / discuss . . .
Today’s workshop deals with / looks at / focuses on . . . .
Have fun learning English!
Louise