Uses of 'Like'

'Like' can be used as a verb or as a preposition. There are a number of common questions with 'like' that are easy to confuse.

What's he like? - 'What like?' is used to ask about a person's or object's character and is general in nature. What does he like? - This use of the verb 'like' is for general preferences. 'Like' as a verb is generally followed by the 'ing' form of the verb (I like playing tennis). What does she look like? - 'Like' is used as a preposition to express physical appearance. In this case, 'like' can also mean 'similar to' if you are making a comparison to other people. What would you like to drink? - Another common use of 'like' is in 'would like' to express wishes. Note that 'would like' is followed by the infinite form of the verb NOT the 'ing' form.

Secrets to Using Prepositions in English

by Chad on April 15, 2013
Im sure you all probably know that the book is ON the table, but do you know exactly why we say on instead of ABOVE, or OVER, or another of the hundreds of prepositions that exist in English?

Using prepositions in English can be a big problem and they are so often misused by English learners. The English language actually uses prepositions in so many ways, and if you can master how to use them correctly, your English can become really natural and start to flow much more. In this article you are going to:

Learn how to use prepositions with situational reference Help to remember them by learning the opposite prepositions Understand how we use prepositions with verbs to start flowing and sound natural

Learning Prepositions with Situational Reference

When speaking English, every student is faced with trying to understand the 3 most common prepositions and how and when to use them. Im sure if youre a Brazilian and like funk music, you know that the book is always ON the table, but why is it on and how can I know when I should use it? Lets go through the 3 most common prepositions and look at exactly how you use them.

How the use ON

ON is used when something is making contact with a surface. The book is ON the table because the book is making contact with the surface of the table. Other examples of how we use on in this way:

I live ON First street (my house is making contact with the street) He has a green shirt ON (the shirt is making contact with my skin) I saw it ON tv (the images are viewed on the surface of the television)

ON is also used for days; on Monday, On Friday, On the 20th of December, On my holiday etc.

How to use IN
IN is used to describe that something is physically INSIDE some kind of barrier or border

When I say I live IN Brazil, its because I am inside the Brazilian border. Other examples using IN:

I used to live IN Australia (inside the Australian border) Im stuck IN traffic (inside the barrier of traffic) I read it IN the newspaper (inside the closed paper) *we use ON for pages

IN is also used with months and years; in December, in 2011

How to use AT
AT is often used to describe a place in general. This is by using the name of the place, not specifying your exact location. A good example to see the difference is to say I am AT the mall, IN the sports shop.

Other examples of using at:

Bob is AT the bar drinking a beer (the place in general) I found some money ON the ground AT the park (ground=surface, park=place) Im going to have lunch AT my grandmas house today (the place)

AT is also used for talking about the time; I have an appointment at 2 oclock.

Opposite prepositions
Before we move on to talking about how to use prepositions with verbs, its very important to learn the opposites to some common prepositions. You will understand why in the last part of this article. *there are many more opposite prepositions but these are the most common

How to Use Verbs with Prepositions

If you have studied much English, then you will probably know about phrasal verbs and all those figurative expressions that exist when using prepositions with verbs. Today we are not going to talk about those figurative expressions, instead we are going to focus on the literal way to use verbs with prepositions. If you can start using these verbs + prepositions correctly, youre going to see how much more your English will flow. For example, imagine you are holding a cup of water IN your hand and suddenly, it falls. How would you describe that situation?

Most English learners, will just say the cup fell, which is absolutely correct. But if you wanted to say this more specifically, you can start to apply the use of opposite prepositions with the verb. I would say, the cup fell OUT of my hand. We say OUT because the original location of the cup was IN your hand, opposite preposition. Lets focus in some specific situations to help understand the use of opposite prepositions with verbs better. To understand this you must think of, 1. The preposition for the original location of the object or person, or the preposition for the way the object or person is moving. For example, is the object IN your hand, ON the ground, ON TOP OF your house? Or, if the object in motion Towards, around, up, down etc 2. The verb (action) that describes how that object or person moved. So did the object or person fall, roll, blow, drive, ride? Let me show you how to use this in a real situation:
1. You are riding a bike and wearing a hat. Because of the wind, your hat leaves your head.

Original location On my head The action The wind BLOWS

The wind blew my hat off my head 2. You are drinking some water and holding the cup in your hand. Suddenly, someone knocks you and the cup falls.

Original location IN your hand The action- To knock Some guy knocked the cup out of my hand 3. You are at a park and there is a concert happening. You dont want to walk through the park because you will disturb the show. Original motion- Through The action- Walk I decided to walk around the concert Around in this case means that you are avoiding the concert,

CALL TO ACTION
Using prepositions in this way is extremely common in English. If you really want to sound more natural when you speak, start using more verbs with prepositions.

Think about what you are doing right now. Are you reading ON your computer? Are you sitting ON a chair? Maybe youre ON your smart phone or tablet travelling THROUGH the city, walking UP a hill or leaning AGAINST a wall. Whatever youre doing, Im sure you can find a way to describe it using a verb preposition combination. If you would like to find out more about this topic, or any other English related topics, dont forget to sign up the the Real Life English mailing list where youll be informed with any new information, and receive our free 3 part mini course about our language learning methodology. - See more at: http://reallifebh.com/secrets-to-using-prepositions-inenglish#sthash.Tz2Zs9Td.dpuf

How to Use: Say, Tell, Talk, Speak

by Chad on August 15, 2012 Are you talking to me? I said are you talking to me? Theres no one else here, you must be talking to me? How many times have you misused these 4 words? I speak English, I talk to my friends, he told me a secret, you know what Im saying? If youre having difficulty with using these words, dont worry, were going to resolve that for you guys today, show you what prepositions you can use with them, and even teach you some popular expressions typically used in spoken English.

Say Vs Tell
SAY Say means to speak words. The most common use of the word say is in reported speech. Reported speech is when you are repeating what someone has said. When speaking in reported speech, we often make statements and it is not necessary to add the object. The object is whats receiving the action i the phrase, for example:

He said he was going to be late. What did he say? When he said he was leaving, we all got really sad.

In these examples youll notice that I havent used an object. When we use say generally the recipient of the action is not as important as what we have to say. Prepositions for SAY To/ That- If we are going to use an object, we always use the preposition to, for example:

He said to Steve that that he was going to be late. I said to him that I couldnt go.

We use to to show who we are directing our words at and that to say the information. Tell In comparison to say, when we use tell we need to use the object. This is because when using tell, who received the information is more important that the information itself. For example:

I told you about the party. Have you told him the news? She always tells me that.

I often hear people saying, She tell what to do. This would be incorrect because we need to use the object. The correct form would be, she tells me what to do. Prepositions for Tell To-When we use to with tell we are giving someone an order or making a strong request.

I told you to buy me a drink, Didnt I tell you to mind your own business?

About- To tell someone about something is used to pass information about an event or a series of events which happened to a person.

let me tell you about a girl I know, she had a drink about an hour ago,

Did I tell you about my party?

That - When we use that, we are expressing an action or a more permanent situation. To compare examples, I cant say, Did I tell you about she is pregnant, I would have to say, Did I tell you about her pregnancy.

Did she tell you that she was pregnant? Did I tell you I changed cell number?

Talk Vs Speak
Speak and talk are synonyms and in most cases interchangeable. The main difference between the 2 would be that speak is used in more formal situations and talk is for more informal conversations. When used as a noun, to give a speech, it would be a formal presentation as appose to give a talk sounds more casual.

Talk Did you all recognize the famous line from the movie Taxi Driver? Are you talking to me? Although this word is not so common in English, talk would be the same as saying converse. No Im not talking about the sneaker, I mean to converse with another person. In spoken English, we commonly use the word talk in the continuous form, for example:

I was talking to him about the Real Life English event. The movie was really good but people kept talking during the best parts. This guy talks forever.

Prepositions with talk

To/ About- We use to to show who we are directing our words at and about to give the information.

I need to talk to you about last night. Did he talk to you about his trip?

Speak Speak is also used when we are referring to languages or when conversations are more of a monologue.

How many languages do you speak? Can you speak English fluently? He was speaking to his employees about the new services. I have to speak to you about the next Real Life event.

As you can see, speak sounds more formal than talk. If someone said that they wanted to speak to me I would consider it more important than if they had said they wanted to talk to me. Prepositions with speak To about- Just like tell, we use to and about to direct our words and give information.

Did you speak to him about our new project?

With- We use with to say who we are speaking to or how that person speaks, usually in reference to their accent.

Have you ever spoken English with an Australian? They speak with a really strange accent.

Expressions with Say Tell Talk Speak (Taken from: Como dizer tudo em Ingles) Say Anything you say- I wont argue with you Easy for you say- Fcil falar Needless to say- Its obvious Would you say that- Voc diria que She says hi- Ela mandou um oi Tell

Something tells me that- Alguma coisa me diz que Tell me about it- Nem me fale To tell you the truth- Para falar a verdade You can tell- Percebe-se Talk Money talks- O dinheiro fala mais alto Look whos talking- Youre guitly of the same thing Talk shop- to talk about professional things with colleages He talked me into it- He persuaded me to do something Speak Actions speak louder than words- Doing means more than talking about it Speak your mind- Say what you really think So to speak- Por assim dizer Can you speak up- Can you speak louder If you have any other questions about this subject please post on the Real Life English facebook community page.

Common mistakes in the use of some conjunctions

July 3, 2013

Scarcely and hardly

These words are followed by when or before, not than.

Hardly had I entered the room when a strange creature ran out. OR Scarcely had I entered the room when a strange creature ran out. (NOT Hardly had I entered the room, than )

No sooner is followed by than, not when

No sooner did she complete one project than she started working on the next.

As you can see, the adverbs hardly, scarcely and no sooner are all negative expressions. When a negative expression comes at the beginning of a sentence, we use inverted word order. That means the auxiliary verb comes before the subject. These adverbs can also go in mid-position. In that case, we use normal word order.

I had hardly entered the room when a strange creature ran out. I had scarcely solved one problem before another cropped up.

Not onlybut also

This correlative conjunction is often confused. When using not only but also, you must make sure that both parts of this conjunction go before words of the same parts of speech.

The controversy not only damages our image but also decreases investor confidence.

Here not only and but also go before two verbs.

She was not only arrogant but also rude.

Here not only and but also go before two adjectives.

Lest
The conjunction lest is not very common in modern English. This word has a negative meaning. Therefore, it should not be used with not. The only auxiliary verb that can follow lest is should.

Work hard lest you should fail. OR Work hard lest you fail. (NOT Work hard lest you should not fail.)

The same idea can be expressed using the expression or else.

Work hard, or else you will fail. Leave on time, or else you will miss the train.

When to use Make or Do

By Kenneth Beare, About.com Guide

Do and Make are two of the most common verbs in English. They are also two of the most commonly confused verbs in English! There are two main reasons for this:

Many languages have only one of these verbs. For example, in Italian 'fare' translates for both 'do' and 'make'. Many of the expressions are fixed expressions such as: make the bed, do homework.

This guide should help you learn the most common uses of both Do and Make in English. Fixed Expressions with 'Do' Here are the some of the most common fixed expressions with 'do':

do homework do the dishes do housework do good do harm do your best do a favor

do 50 mph do business do your duty do your hair do a deed do penance / time do right / wrong do enough

Fixed Expressions with 'Make' Here are the some of the most common fixed expressions with 'make':

make an offer make an exception make a mistake make peace / war make love make money / a profit make a phone call make an effort / attempt make (a) noise make a suggestion make a decision make an excuse make progress make arrangements

General Rules for 'Do' Use 'do' when speaking about vague, or indefinite activities. These include speaking in general using '-thing' words such as something, anything, nothing, etc.

Examples Are you going to do anything about it? Let's do something this afternoon. I didn't do anything wrong! Use 'do' for activities. This includes any chores or daily tasks. Examples Hurry up and do the dishes Did you do your chores? I didn't have time to do my homework Use 'do' with various jobs and activities ending in '-ing' such as do some gardening, do some thinking, do some painting, etc. This use tends to be informal in nature and can often be stated in a different manner. For example, 'I did some studying this afternoon' can be stated 'I studied this afternoon'. Examples I did some thinking about your problem. He did some reading this morning. She's going to do some resting on vacation. General Rules for 'Make' Generally, use 'make' when actually constructing or creating something (in other words, NOT for activities). Examples I made a cup of tea for breakfast. He made his daughter a rocking horse. Did you make that wonderful bread?