It's funny how on some days you have to teach the same thing 3 or 4 times!
Today it was:
Do you like...?
Would you like...?
I teach in companies and I often hear the question:
Do you like a coffee?
The people who say this are being friendly, so it is difficult to say,
"That's WRONG!!!"
But, it IS wrong!
Why is it wrong? Well, if you say, "do you like coffee?" you are asking for the other person's opinion...e.g.
Do you like classical music?
Do you like dogs?
Do you like reading English is Easy?
So, you want to know what the other person thinks of these things.
If you want to be friendly and offer your poor English teacher a cup of coffee (or tea or beer or more money) you should say:
Would you like...
You can see the difference in the answers:
Do you like English is Easy? Yes, I love it!
Would you like a grammar lesson now? Oh yes, please!!
I would just like to say that I like getting comments and questions so if you would like to comment or ask anything, you can, if you like!
Friday, 29 January 2010
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Words Right Order The In Put The...
Word order is VERY important in English!! VERY, VERY important!!!
A sentence is made of words and we have to know how the words fit together to understand the meaning. We need to know what the subject is and the object; what the verb is, etc.
In some languages the words have different endings which show us what is what. Latin for example:
Canis mordet hominem - the dog bites the man
The word order is not important because we know from the ending that canis is the subject and hominem is the object. So:
Hominem mordet canis also means the dog bites the man and so does:
Canis hominem mordet or mordet hominem canis etc etc...
In English WE CAN'T DO THAT!!!!
All those different Latin sentences up there can ONLY be translated as:
The dog bites the man
If we change the order the sentence is either wrong or has a different meaning:
Bites the dog the man - is wrong and;
The man bites the dog - is the opposite meaning!
In English the subject comes first; "the dog"
then the verb; "bites"
then the object; "the man"
To help remember the order in English we often say SVOPT.
This means: subject S, verb V, objetc O, place P and time T.
The dog (S) bites (V) the man (O) in the street (P) at 10 o'clock (T).
or
I (S) read (V) English is Easy (O) on my PC (P) every day (T).
How does your language show the differences between subjects, verbs and objects?
A sentence is made of words and we have to know how the words fit together to understand the meaning. We need to know what the subject is and the object; what the verb is, etc.
In some languages the words have different endings which show us what is what. Latin for example:
Canis mordet hominem - the dog bites the man
The word order is not important because we know from the ending that canis is the subject and hominem is the object. So:
Hominem mordet canis also means the dog bites the man and so does:
Canis hominem mordet or mordet hominem canis etc etc...
In English WE CAN'T DO THAT!!!!
All those different Latin sentences up there can ONLY be translated as:
The dog bites the man
If we change the order the sentence is either wrong or has a different meaning:
Bites the dog the man - is wrong and;
The man bites the dog - is the opposite meaning!
In English the subject comes first; "the dog"
then the verb; "bites"
then the object; "the man"
To help remember the order in English we often say SVOPT.
This means: subject S, verb V, objetc O, place P and time T.
The dog (S) bites (V) the man (O) in the street (P) at 10 o'clock (T).
or
I (S) read (V) English is Easy (O) on my PC (P) every day (T).
How does your language show the differences between subjects, verbs and objects?
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