Tag: 間違いやすい英語表現、英会話教室　東京

From Twitter:

A: Jan won’t brush.

B: __ her do it before TV. (1.)

A: She won’t.

B: And the new tooth paste?

A: She hates it, and she’s always on her phone.

B: Get her a new app; that’ll __ her to do it! (2.)

A: I tried.

B: __ her do it by saying no phone. (3.)

Choices:
a. make

b. get

c. have

The answers are:
1. have

2. get

3. make

EXPLANATION

Sometimes we need someone to do something. When we ask and that person does it, we say we have or had that person do it for us:

Example 1
Mary: Did you get your hair cut? (We don’t usually cut our own hair.)
Nancy: Yeah. I had Sweeney do it–at Super Kuts.
Mary: Sweeney did a good job. Maybe I should have my hair done there.

Example 2
Mom had the repairman fix the washing machine on Saturday.

In the above two examples we can use ‘have’ or ‘get’ interchangeably–but sometimes we have to persuade (convince) someone to do something. In this case we use “get” exclusively:

Example 3
I couldn’t get myself to quit smoking–even after I learned that there is nuclear radiation in cigarettes. Well–it was winter and very cold, so I started keeping my cigarettes in the garage! Eventually, I grew tired of putting on my shoes and coat just to have a smoke–and I got sick of the cold, outside; so I began smoking less and less, and finally I just quit! That’s how I got myself to do it!

Example 4

Little John John wouldn’t clean up his toys after playing, so his father, Jack, promised to read to John John a story if John John would clean up. John John loved stories, so he started to put away his toys after playing, and Jack kept his promise of reading to him. That is how Jack got Jon Jon to always clean up his toys.

Finally, we sometimes have to force people to do something; in this case we use the word make:

Example 5

The police made the bank robber give up by shooting the money bag out of his hand. The thief was so frightened that he dropped his gun, raised his hands and surrendered.

In the Twitter quiz from today, parents are discussing their daughter, Jan–who will not brush her teeth. One parent suggests, that the other parent have Jan do it before watching TV. This means he is saying ask or tell her expecting her to do it. There is no persuasion or force.

Then the other parent says Jan will not do it. So, persuasion is suggested: Get Jan to cooperate by promising she can have a new phone app. That won”t work. The other parent tried that.

Finally, force is suggested: Make Jan brush her teeth by saying ‘no TV if you don’t brush your teeth it.’ 

Usually ‘make’ is used in more forceful situations, perhaps violent ones, but I did not want to say the parents would hit Jan; violence is never a good motivator for raising healthy children.

From Twitter:

Choose:

1. One of the things that’s hard to get used to living in Japan is:

a. how close things are.

b. things how close.

c. things so close here.

The answer is ‘a,’ because it is a com construction best follows simple grammar: S + V + Complement (though this is reversed when using ‘how’ as a value reference to a quantity, in this case, in relation to distance):

Complement + S + V : How close (meaning “so close”) + things + are

Options ‘b’ and ‘c’ have no verbs, so cannot complete the sentence.

2. A thing that’s hard to get used to living in the US is:

a. no Family Mart close.

b. no Family Mart is close.

c. no near mart.

The answer is ‘b’ because it best follows simple grammar:

(no) family mart is close (S + V + Subject Complement)

From Twitter

Choose:

a. The first time, / b. At first, / c. For the first time, … when I came to Japan, I was lonely.

The best answer is ‘b.’, because this phrase means something experienced in an initial instance–the conditions around which continued for a time; or it means something was done that was not done before, and it was done additional times after.

‘C’ means something was done and/or experienced causing certain feelings and results, but that those feelings and/results changed thereafter–and that this difference will be explained shortly.

‘A’, though not wrong, represents a kind of phrase–because of the comma and the use of ‘when’ after it–that presents an unnatural (or non-fluid break in the ) flow of the sentence, specific to spoken English, which requires context and intonation to be fully understood without confusion; and this phrase is adverbial, however is followed by an adverb. Placing them side by side is a possible challenge to the non-contextual expression of this construction (say in written English)–unless understood as dialog, with quotation marks. So this (while often done) is not the best answer for a grammatically and style-correct version of the idea being expressed. Basically, it is only acceptable in spoken English or idiomatic/dialect–in dialog.

*Proximity means distance between or from.

From Twitter

I’_ _ student. I _ to _ my English. I _ you have _ teacher who_ , _ poems and essays and _ fun. He _ immersion _ conversation are _ important _ grammar.

• be
• was
• ‘m
• an
• came
• a
• shows
• more
• heard
• then
• who
• is
• than
• has
• draws
• improve
• and
• have
• the
• writes
• thinks

ANSWERS:

I’m a student. I came to improve my English. I heard you have a teacher who draws, writes poems and essays and is fun. He thinks immersion and conversation are more important than grammar.

When speaking English as a second language, it’s often difficult to decide how to answer a question. 

Begin by thinking about “when”, or the time frame which the sentence is referring to.

The easy way to do this is to look at the tense of the question–like this:

A: What did you do today?

B: I bought socks.

The questioner using the helping verb did, which tells us the question is about the past, so the answer should be in the past, too. Thus the answerer uses the simple past form of buy.

Here, a girl and her father are in a restaurant. The girl is watching a waiter and asks about her.

 Daughter: What is she doing–the waiter?

    The girl is asking about what’s  happening now.

Father: She taking the man’s order.

   So the father answers in the same style–the tense of the daughter’s question….

Daughter: That’s her job?

So the father answers in the that same tense:

Father: Yes it is–and bringing the food.

Now the daughter switches to the present Simple–asking about usual activity:

Daughter: She takes order and brings food all the time?

Father: Yes.

Daughter: What‘s she doing now?

Father: She‘s going to the kitchen, now.

Choose:

Adam: When’s your birthday?

1. Jimmy: August; you know that. It’s ___ the 11th.

J: When’s yours?

2. A: Now you’re the stupid one. It’s ___ August too!

a. on

b. in

ANSWERS:

1. a (on)

How to remember this: The 11th is a date we write on the calendar.

My birthday is on the 11th.

We write a note about it on top of–or over–the day-square (on the calendar marked) 5th)

2. b (in)

My birthday is in August.

How to remember this: If we do not know or give the exact date, we know that the birthday must be inside (in) the time–the month–of August.

The answers are (in order):

1st someone*

2nd: (some) people**

*Though not always, someone often applies to a specific unknown person;

“Someone came in today and asked about electric cars.”

EXCEPTION: in Simple Present Tense Hypothetical Narratives

“(Imagine) someone comes in and asks about electric cars; what should I tell him or her?”

**Some people refers to hypothetical people.

MORE

To come in off the street means to come or visit with no reservation, plans or schedule.

Continue reading “Someone or Some People?”

From Twitter

Manners

In English-speaking culture it’s customary to ask about someone when s/he asks about you. Not doing can be considered rude:

Good:

Jon: Hi, Don! How are you?

D: I’m good, thanks for asking. And you?

J: Great! Thanks!

Continue reading “Asking about Others”

Maria: We need to hire more staffs.

Tony: Yeah. There’s too much work.

Amber: Sticks?

Maria: Huh?

Tony: What?

Amber: You say we need staffs.

Maria: Right! T: Mmm.

Amber: Look: staffs are sticks.

Tony: “…”

Maria: No, they’re clerks.

Amber: No; ‘staffs,’ with an `s` means “sticks.”

And the reason? 

ANSWER:

‘Staff,’ as in “company staff” is a non-count noun, thus a company, restaurant or shop wanting to hire more workers must refer to them as staff, as not “staffs,” as in:

Sony Hiring Additional Staff

Hiring Additional Staff

Most companies and restaurants–as well as other shops which put signs in the windows simply write:

Now Hiring

So every time you see a shirt in Japan or Korea that reads “Staffs”, it can correctly only mean:

‘the entire body of employees at several companies’

or…

‘sticks’

…in the minds of the native English speakers who see them–or at least that is what they think for a moment!

Come to class and learn to speak proper English! Go to: http://sayinsei.com. 

CA