<!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> In Sri Lanka there are lots people who want to speak English. After learning English as a second language in school for more than a decade, most of them still find it impossible to speak the language even at a basic level. So, after

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English verbs of perception like 'see', 'hear', 'feel', 'watch' and 'listen to' can be followed by an object with a verb attached to it. This happens when you talk about some perceived action of that object. I saw my brother enter the room. The child heard her sister singing.  The verb following the object is sometimes in the form of its 'bare infinitive' (i.e. enter, sing, eat...)

The word 'only' in English can have many meanings. Taken out of context, it can even lead to misunderstandings.  I saw her only yesterday. This sentence could mean that the speaker had never seen 'her' until yesterday; on the other hand, what the speaker means could be that he/she even saw the other person ('her') as recently as yesterday. As many other adverbs, 'only' also often

Thinking is one the skills that human beings can be proud of. While it's debatable whether the lesser creatures can really think, humans have the capacity to think in many different ways. So the way the verb 'think' is used differs a little depending on the kind of thinking involved. Although 'think' can be followed by either 'about' or 'of', these two prepositions aren't always

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In some instances, the two words 'except' and 'besides' seem to have almost opposite meanings: He can cook anything except Indian food. (Here the meaning is something like 'minus Indian food', 'excluding Indian food'.) Besides Indian food, he can cook Italian and Chinese food. (Here the meaning is something like 'plus Indian food', 'in addition to Indian food'.) I had nothing to do

<!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> Although the second and the third conditionals in English are both used to talk about things that we think are unreal, they deal with two very different scenarios. The former appears in situations where we think the condition (which is expressed by the part of the sentence

<!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> In Sri Lanka there are lots people who want to speak English. After learning English as a second language in school for more than a decade, most of them still find it impossible to speak the language even at a basic level. So, after leaving school, they start looking for a book or course

The second conditional in English is used to talk about imaginary scenarios that the speaker considers unlikely to happen or to be true.  She wouldn't be happy if she found out about it. (But I don't quite think she'll find out.) If I had a million dollars, I'd buy a Porsche. (But I don't have that much money and it's not likely that I'll get it anytime soon.) If I were you, I wouldn't do

Conventional wisdom has it that the proposition "between" is used when talking about a relationship involving two things or people; and "among" when more than two are involved. Although some people try to follow this advice all the time, general usage doesn't always follow this rule. The idiomatic expression "Between you, me and the gatepost" (meaning that something is meant to be strictly

<!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> 15.00 <![endif]--> The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages divides the linguistic skills acquired by language learners into six levels: A1 (beginner), A2 (elementary), B1 (intermediate), B2 (upper-intermediate), C1 (advanced) and C2 (

  Very often we hear expressions like 'One of his friends...', 'One of my books...' and so on. It goes without saying that this type of noun phrase should be treated as singular; we're talking only about that 'one', not the rest of 'his friends' or 'my books'. Though some people use a plural verb due to the proximity of the plural latter part of the phrase, it's generally not considered

Have you ever considered skipping a meal? Perhaps you have - for health reasons or otherwise. How about switching meals? Is it even possible to do so? As far as I was concerned, there were three main meals in the day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast came as the first meal in the morning - and the name is also logical as you break your nightly fast (= a time period spent without

Classification of Posts   Taking English Further Moving Beyond the Intermediate Plateau How to advance from the intermediate level in English Want to Speak English Fluently? Gaining fluency in English Unless You Read This... ‘Unless’ & ‘if not’ If I Were You... Mixed conditionals If I Were You... II Mixed conditionals (continued) If She Found Out About It... Real & unreal

When it comes to conditional sentences dealing with the past, we're used to seeing the so-called Third Conditional pattern very often. If you had heard his remark, you would have felt embarrassed.  It's about a remark that you didn't hear and, therefore, it's clear that you didn't feel embarrassed either. The condition (which is in the if-clause) didn't happen, so the possible result of it

Thinking is one the skills that human beings can be proud of. While it's debatable whether the lesser creatures can really think, humans have the capacity to think in many different ways. So the way the verb 'think' is used differs a little depending on the kind of thinking involved. Although 'think' can be followed by either 'about' or 'of', these two prepositions are not always

Read Anything Except This by sujeewads In some instances, the two words 'except' and 'besides' seem to have almost opposite meanings: He can cook anything except Indian food. (Here the meaning is something like 'minus Indian food', 'excluding Indian food'.) Besides Indian food, he can cook Italian and Chinese food. (Here the meaning is something like 'plus Indian food', 'in ...

Some time back I wrote a post entitled 'If I Were You...', which mainly addressed the issue of mixed conditionals. As mentioned in that post, these sentence structures come into use when the condition you're talking about belongs in a different time slot than the possible outcome. Though these patterns should come naturally to native speakers, they might seem counter-intuitive ...