Mark Skype Teacher

Hi thanks Sarah for your valuable comments,

If someone asks me 'Can you get on to the suppliers?' rather than or in addition to talking about whether I have the ability to contact the suppliers, the sense, at least in British English, I think would be (also) someone asking me to contact the suppliers, a boss for example.

Have a nice day.

Good afternoon,

I have a bit of confusion concerning 2 phrasal verbs which came up in class.

Can you get on to the suppliers?

Have you got through to the suppliers?

1. I believe one meaning of 'get on to' means 'to contact' (also start a different subject e.g. 'let's get on to the purchasing issue'.

2. I believe 'get through to' means 'the ability to make contact or whether contact was established or not'.

For 2 word reference says '(intr, adverb) to contact, as by telephone' but I think it may be a bit different as in it has more of an emphasis of 'the establishment of contact'.

Any comments much appreciated. Thanks for your time!

Hi Miss,

OK that's what I figured. And I like your point about the flow/consistency. All the best.

Hi,

She prefers to play.

The dog prefers chasing the ball.

As I understand it, the gerund and the infinitive (with 'to') can be used after 'prefer'. I was wondering if one is US English and the other UK English?? Is there any difference in usage?? On first sight and as a native person, I believe not. Thanks and have a great day.

Hey all,

Thanks for your valuable internet.

That is great. I never knew the rule about the 'one another' thing being applicale to more than 2 people.

However, I have found the following FYI (only for discussion): ' ...Sixty-four percent of Usage Panelists say that they follow this rule (about using 'one another' for 3 or more) in their own writing. But it should be pointed out that many reputable writers from Samuel Johnson onward have ignored the rule (about using 'one another' for 3 or more) and that the use of each other for more than two, or of one another for two, cannot be considered incorrect. In particular, there are contexts in which each other and one another are subtly different in meaning. When speaking of an ordered series of events or stages, one another is the preferred form. Thus the sentence The waiters followed one another into the room was preferred by 73 percent of the Usage Panel to the sentence The waiters followed each other into the room.'

Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/each+other

I will keep to Laura M's (thanks!) rule however, although I'm sure that perhaps the vast majority of native people (English speakers) won't know the difference. All the best

That's great: thank-you... Ihave sometimes had that doubt although I'd always say 'different from' eventhough I wasn't altogether sure. Have a nice day.

Hi I'm trying to explain the meaning of 'each other' to a Spanish student but she is having trouble grabbing it.

The dictionary says: 'Used to indicate that a relationship or an action is reciprocal among the members of the set referred to by the antecedent: The boys like each other'.

I have said that the action is done to all people or that the relationship influences everyone.

Does anyone have an alternative explanation for this pronoun? Many thanks in advance.

Hi, I am English and I teach English online. I think Americans use the past tense more than the Brits. For example, it is common for an AMerican to say 'Did you eat dinner yet'?, whilst the Brits tend to employ the presentperfect tense in these contexts by saying 'Have you eaten dinner yet'? So with 'yet' and when you are talking about an action which was recently completed, the Brits are much more likely to use the present perfect tense. Hope this helps.

Nice post...

I'd also add that 'may' is normally the same as 'might' in affirmations: thus, 'I may/might go to the rowing tonight'... I believe the difference between the 2 modal verbs in affirmations is that 'might' is more of a remote possibility thant 'may' ie with 'might' there is less chance of the action taking place. Have a nice day.

Hi Laura,

Thank you for your response.

I agree that '2 more beers' is a very good option also, of course. In the UK at least we use 'another 2 beers' or 'a couple more beers' rather a lot: perhaps the latter 2 options would be considered more informal in terms of tone.

Have a nice day.

I did a translation masters 8 years ago in which I studied French (texts about economics and science) and Norwegian to English. It is of some help when we teach students in our skype English classes.

Have a nice day.

Hi all,

I hope all is well.

I was wondering about the following sentence. 'We drank another 2 beers before going home'?

Since we say 'other people/cars' etc which is plural, why do we not use 'other' in the above sentence since '2 beers' appears to be plural?

My feeling is that '2 beers' is treated as a singular unit/group/set for some reason. I think it is because the '2 beers' is actually a group or set or unit. If we think that the people drank 4 sets/groups/unit of 2 beers in one night, I think therefore 4 units/groups/sets were drunk. Thus, they could be treated as singular as we can indeed say 'a set/unit/group'. We could actually say 'lets have a group of beers' or 'here we have another 2 beers'.

Does anyone have a better explanation for this so I can pass this on to my student? Many thanks.

Thanks for the thorough response Laura and the correction... I would think at least some of the examples you kindly indicated are phrasal verbs. Would this be correct?

I was looking for examples of prepositions with think that are not part of phrasal verbs. Perhaps I didn't make that clear. Many thanks anyway.

Hi all,

I have always said to my students that the preposition after 'think' is 'of' or 'about'. Indeed, this is what the BBC infers at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionanswer/page6.shtml

However, I came across what I believe is an exception in a class the other day when we talk about the language our thought processes are in (i.e. the language we think in). For example, we could say ‘now I have been in France for 6 months, I am starting to think in French instead of English all the time’.

My questions are:

1. Is the above exception correct with 'in'?

2. Apart from phrasal verbs/idioms (e.g. you need to think out of the box), are there any other prepositions that go with think?

I'd be grateful for any enlightenment on this.

Thank you.

Hi Sarah RTW,

Thanks for your additions.

With regard to point 5: surely it's 'make noise'? In fact I am absolutely sure 'do noise' is wrong.

Also, with reference to point 8: it would be very strange to hear someone who 'does the bed'. I think using 'to do' here is not OK at all.

Anyway, have a nice day.

Thank you LauraM for the sources... that's most useful and have a great day.

That makes total sense LauraM. Do you have a source? Many thanks

I am an English teacher online and from time to time come across new grammar points I am not fully sure about.

Is 'None of us' plural or singular? Should we say 'none of us needs a car' or 'none of us need a car'? I suspect it is singular.

Thanks in advance.

I did face to face classes in Spain for 5 years. I moved to Ecuador 2 years ago and put my business online doing classes via skype with Spaniards. My business has steadily grown (gracias a dios) and I have been able to employ teachers working online via skype which I could never do while working with face to face classes.

With regard to online classes, I think they are better than face to face classes for the following reasons:

- no time wasted travelling or money spent

- you can do nearly everything that you can with face to face and have a lot more technological features (e.g. MP3)

- less body language and worse sound quality means the student can perform better with listening exams (which typically have bad sound quality and no body language)

There are other reasons why skype classes work very well and often better than face to face classes. Perhaps one reason not to do many online classes is if you don't want to spend more time in front of a computer. All the best.

Irina,

In addition to what the others have rightly indicated, if 'instead' is followed by a noun then you will need the preposition 'of'... e.g. 'Instead of a car, I will buy a boat'.

All the best.

Hi Manuel,

In the case below the sentence 'only yesterday I did hear the news' doesn't work. It would be 'only yesterday I heard the news'.

'Only yesterday did I hear the news' is a somewhat poetic or type of sentence which is found in literature. It is a little 'flowery' or 'pretty'. On the street we don't speak like this.

I am not sure but I believe this isn't an inversion. I believe this is a way of using the auxiliary verb 'to do' to improve the sound or tone of the sentence. In English, the auxiliary verb 'to do' can change the tone in other sentences e.g. I did eat the dinner. Here the auxiliary verb intensifies the action.

I hope this helps. All the best.

http://www.clasesinglesonline.com

Hi Manuel,

I am a teacher on Skype from the UK.

First, to answer your specific sentences:

1 What on earth have you done / made with my computer? COULD BE BOTH... NEED MORE CONTEXT. MORE LIKELY TO BE DONE.

2 It is very annoying to play with Vanessa . She makes / does such a fuss if she doesn't win. MAKE

3 The visiting foreign dignitaries were invited to make / do speeches about the ceremonial opening of

parliament. MAKE

4 If you agreed, you would be doing / making me a favour. DO

5 They will hear us and call the police, if you do / make any noise. MAKE

6 A short rest would make / do you an awful lot of good. DO

7 Well, there just isn't any Coca-Cola in the fridge. You will have to make / do without. DO

8 My mother always makes /does the beds straight after breakfast. MAKE

9 He's having a new suit made / done, as he really cares about his outfit. MAKE

10 What do you feel like making / doing this weekend? Walking? Eating out? DO

Second, I have written an ebook about commoon errors our students make. There is a section about make and do. It is based on Spanish learners of English but, like the French, they too have issues with make and do. I have copied the section on make and do below. Some of this is repeated by Linguaholic. 

7. Hacer: is it make or do?

Very much a problem as often this can be translated by two verbs: ‘to do/make’. The difference between ‘make and do’ is often the source of much frustration. Basically, ‘to do’ is used to translate ‘hacer’ when an activity is taking place (e.g. I do the painting) whilst ‘make’ should be employed when something physical that can be touched is the end result (e.g. I make a salad). There are exceptions though which you need to be aware of such as ‘I make a phone call’ or ‘I make an effort’.

Examples of incorrect usage include ‘I do a mistake’, ‘I make the housework’, ‘I do a telephone call’ ‘I do a decision’, I do a plan’, ‘I make business’…

So here is a summary and concentrate on the main activities you think you will use:

'Do' is for Activities

Use the verb 'do' to express activities or jobs. These are usually activities that produce no physical object.

do homework

do housework

do the ironing

do the dishes

do a job

There are a number of standard expressions that take the verb 'do'.

do one's best

do good

do harm

do a favour

do business

'Make' is for constructing and creating

Use 'make' to express an activity that creates something that you can touch.

make food

make a cup of tea/coffee

make a mess

make a salad

Important Expressions with 'Make'

make plans

make an exception

make arrangements

make a telephone call

make a decision

make a mistake

make (a) noise

make money

make an excuse

make an effort

make a payment

make a bank transfer

make love

make a toast (an act or instance of raising glasses at a gathering and drinking together in honour of a person or thing).

make a change

make a difference

make an agreement

make cuts

make sense

make a journey

make contact with

make a wish

make a list

make a comment

make oneself understood

make a new year resolution

make a bid

make a deposit

make a complaint

make peace

make a chance

make an opportunity

make a save

make a rule

make a regulation

make a joke

make a statement

make a copy

make eye contact

make a measure

make friendships

make friends

make ties

make a prediction

The whole ebook (free) can be found on my Skype English website (see signature). Remember, variations can occur with US English. All the best.