Category: Grammar

I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.

They say:  I was in London two times.

There are a couple of things wrong with this.

Firstly, we don’t say two times, we say twice.  (Remember: once, twice, three times, four times, five times, one hundred times etc.)

Secondly, to native speakers it sounds like an incomplete sentence.  I’m waiting for the ‘when’.  When were you in London?

So, the correct sentence is:

I was in London twice last week / last month / last year.

(Alternatively you can say “I went to London twice last week / last month / last year.”)

Remember, if the ‘number of times’ in London is more important than the ‘when’ in London then say:

I have been to London twice.  (Here it is irrelevant when this was; the number of times is the focus.)

Have fun learning English!

Louise

I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.

They say:  I bought me a new car.

There are a couple of things wrong with this.

Firstly, remember in English we don’t use the reflexive form as much as in German.  The ‘me’ is wrong.   (You could replace the ‘me’ with ‘myself’ but it’s not necessary and native speakers wouldn’t always use it in this example.)

Secondly, if we want to use the past tense we need to say ‘when’ something happened.

So, the correct sentence is:

I bought (myself) a new car yesterday / last week / last month / last year.

If the ‘when’ is not important and the main focus is the new car you would say:

I have bought (myself) a new car.

Have fun learning English!

Louise

I often hear these mistakes made by German speakers who are learning English.

They say:  We meet us tomorrow at 9.

There are a couple of things wrong with this.

Firstly, when we are talking about personal plans in the future (e.g. tomorrow) we use the verb +_ing.

Secondly, we cannot meet ‘us’.  The verb meet is not reflexive in English.

So, the correct sentence is:

We are meeting tomorrow at 9.

Have fun learning English!

Louise

Having taught German speakers English for many, many years I know that one area of language that causes lots of problems and confusion is speaking in the future.

When do we use ‘will’?  When do we use ‘going to’ and when do we use ‘the verb +_ing’?

Take a look at the examples below.  Hopefully they will make things easier for you.

We use ‘will’ to talk about things decided at the moment of speaking:

I forgot to call the London office.  I’ll call after my next meeting is finished.  (This is a spontaneous decision.  There was no plan in advance.)

We use ‘going to’ to talk about things that were already decided or planned before speaking:

I’m going to call the London office this afternoon.  I promised I would call them after lunch.

(There was already a plan to call London before speaking.  It was already decided.  It was not spontaneous.)

We use verb + _ing (present continuous tense) to talk about future plans when what we are talking about is an arrangement.  We usually know the time and place.  More than one person is involved:

I’m meeting my new boss for lunch this afternoon at 1 p.m.

We are having a party at the company on Friday night.  Would you like to come?

We also use verb + _ing (present continuous tense) to ask about plans:

Are you doing anything at the weekend?

What are you doing at work tomorrow?

Are you having a holiday in the summer?

Have fun learning English!

Louise

I’ve mentioned before that some verbs and phrases when followed by another verb take the _ing form.

Below are a few more examples.  There are more!

The following verbs take _ing:

• avoid
• begin
• start
• finish
• stop
• miss
• keep
• risk
• practise

I haven’t begun writing my report yet.

He stopped working at 9 p.m.

She misses living by the sea.

I keep forgetting to call her.

We can’t risk losing the money.

They practice speaking English every day.

Have fun learning English!

Louise

One area of English that often causes problems for learners is prepositions.

Below are some examples of prepositions of time (on/at/in) and some rules for when to use them.

We use ‘at’ with times of the day.

The meeting starts at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning.

I’ll see you at lunchtime.

The loud music finally stopped at midnight.

We use ‘on’ with days and dates.

The conference starts on Monday.

I have an appointment with him on the 12^th June.

I’m visiting my family on Christmas day.

We use ‘in’ with longer periods of time such as months, years and seasons.

Her birthday is in September.

We first met in 2014.

I prefer the weather in summer.

She was born in the 1980s.

In the future things will hopefully be better than in the past.

We also use ‘at’ with the following expressions:

• at night
• at the weekend (on the weekend in American English)
• at Christmas and at Easter
• at the moment / at present
• at the same time

Have fun learning English!

Louise

I’ve mentioned before that some verbs and phrases when followed by another verb take the _ing form.

Below are a few more examples.  There are many more!

The following verbs take _ing:

• admit
• deny
• consider
• imagine
• suggest
• remember

She admitted making a mistake.

He denied stealing the money.

They are considering extending the deadline.

I could imagine working abroad for a short time.

I suggest taking a short break now.

Do you remember making the booking?

Have fun learning English!

Louise

Hi everyone!

Learning English is not always easy.  One of the areas that many learners have difficulty with is prepositions.

Take a look at the three examples below which show typical mistakes made by German speakers learning English.

I work by Bosch.

Remember in English we do not use the preposition ‘by’ in this example.

Correction:  I work at Bosch, or, I work for Bosch.

I have to finish the project until Friday.

Remember in English when we talk about a sense of a deadline, we use the preposition ‘by’.

Correction:  I have to finish the project by Friday.  (Friday is the latest possible time I can be finished.  Friday is my deadline for the project.)

She is very good in languages.  Remember in English we say ‘good at’ and ‘bad at’ something.

Correction:  She is very good at languages.

(If good at or bad at are followed by a verb we must use _ing.  E.g. He is good at swimming.  She is bad at presenting.)

Have fun learning English!

Louise

Hi everybody!

I often hear this mistake made by German speakers who are learning English.

They say:  I work here since three years.

Remember, when something started in the past, is true now and continues into the future we use the present perfect tense ( have/has + 3^rd form of the verb ).

Remember also that we use ‘since’ with a point in time (yesterday, 3 o’clock, February, last week) and we use ‘for’ with a length of time (three days, ten minutes, twenty years).

So, the correct sentence is:  I have worked here for three years.

Some further examples:

She has lived in London since March.

They have been married for over 20 years.

I have had my car since June last year.

Have fun learning English!

Louise