If you need help with phrasal verbs...

Yesterday, I posted my latest Doceri video about phrasal verbs. Looking back, though, I realize that I should have provided a little bit more of an explanation, so here's a quick rundown of what to remember about phrasal verbs:

a) Phrasal verbs may be complex, but they're not LONG. The maximum number of words you can have in a phrasal verb is three words. That makes it easier to learn and use all the parts together. Don't fixate on the meaning of the individual pieces. That won't help you. Trying to translate the individual words just shows that you can't work in English. If you can learn the name of a brand (e.g. Coca-Cola - two words) or someone's name (Angelina Jolie, which has two words), you can learn phrasal verbs.

b) You do not need to know every possible phrasal verb that exists in English. If I told you that you had to memorize the credit card numbers of everyone you know, you would think that I'm crazy. If I told you to sit in the Metro and learn the names of every single station in the Metro system, you'd think I was mad. So why do students feel that they have to learn every single possible phrasal verb? Don't drive yourself crazy with that idea. So....

c) Focus on the phrasal verbs that you need to use in your everyday life. Don't try to learn phrasal verbs that you won't use. If you're a secretary, you probably don't feel a great need to learn terms related to neuroscience. It's the same thing, here.

I'll post more Doceri presentations about phrasal verbs in the future; but, for now, if you can remember those three key ideas, you'll give yourself a lot less stress and frustration.

STOP SPANGLISH: The Seminar!

New Year! New English! New confidence! New abilities! Ladies and gentelmen (and everyone in between....) I proudly present to you....the FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO STOP SPANGLISH seminar, which will start on Friday, January 14th, 2011.

Instead of babbling on about what an amazing course it is, I've put all of the important information in a downloadable document that you can print out and refer to:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/45323270/Stop-Spanglish-Seminar-1

And, as always, if you have any questions, comments, doubts or requests, don't hesitate to send an e-mail.

Couldn't have said it better myself

For a couple of months now, I've been trying to create a list of good reasons why students should use English-only dictionaries. English teacher Alex case has done a better job than I have, and he's included it on the UsingEnglish.com website. If this list doesn't convince you, nothing will!

http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/why-does-my-teacher-make-me-use-an-englishenglish-dictionary.html

If you're worried about the price of an English-only dictionary, don't be. I just got a paperback copy of the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus (http://www.m-w.com) through Amazon.com for the equivalent of about €15 (including shipping).

Some more World Cup fun....

For reasons that are too complicated to explain here (or, rather, I'll explain them later), most of the English as a Second Language dictionaries sold in Spain are from the UK -- Oxford, Longman and Cambridge, for example. American and Canadian students, however, typically use Merriam-Webster dictionaries, which were first published in the mid-19th century in the United States.

Merriam-Webster's website is a great place to find tons of fun information about English, and they've recently added a new feature: Ask the Editor. These videos give you short explanations (under 2 minutes) of the origins of certain words and expressions.

Here's one for you sports fans who want to know the origins of the noun "hat trick":
http://www.merriam-webster.com/video/0009-hattrick.htm

Enjoy!

Subject: Subjunctive (Part 1 of 3)

One of the biggest advantages to learning English is the fact that, in English, you have a maximum of FIVE words to express any verb idea:
º the infinitive - TO BE ... TO EAT....TO PAINT
º the present simple - AM/ARE/IS....EAT(S)...PAINT(S)
º the past simple - WAS/WERE...ATE...PAINTED
º the present participle - BEING...EATING...PAINTING... and...
º the past participle - BEEN...EATEN...PAINTED

For people who are learning English, this is either a blessing or a curse. It's a blessing (what's the third person past preterit subjunctive of TO PAINT? Who cares!!), but it can cause difficulties for Spanish speakers of English for two reasons.

The first is obvious: If you're used to using a whole bunch of different words to express very specific ideas, it may feel strange, at first, to limit yourself to only a couple of words.

The second reason is the most difficult and it's the kind of problem that causes people to fail oral exams - it's EXACTLY the kind of mistake the examiner listens for, to check if you're translating or you're really using English.

Let's take idea as an example.

Imagine that you're at a party, and a drunk, obnoxious person comes up to you and starts bugging you. You ask him nicely to leave you alone, but he won't go. Then he tries to hit you! You go to the host of the party, and, in Spanish, you say....

¡QUIERO QUE SE VAYA!

This is a perfect example of when you use subjunctive in Spanish:
a) the two verbs have different subjects: (yo) quiero // (él) se vaya.
b) you can't control the result: quiero doesn't guarantee that the second action (irse) is going to happen.

But in English, you cannot say: *I want that he leaves.

Why not?

Look at the first verb: want. In English, WANT is always transitive: you always want something, or you want someone to do another action. Since you're the speaker and your want is the most important verb in the sentence, you have to complete that verb first.

I want (direct object)...

The direct object of want in this case is HIM, because a verb cannot be a direct object.

I want him (third person singular object pronoun)

So what happens with the second verb? Ah. Since HIM is already the direct object of WANT, it can't ALSO be the subject of LEAVE. It can't do both jobs. As a result, WANT doesn't have a subject, which means it must be infinitive:

I want him to leave.

This is correct English: Two verbs, but only ONE possible subject, so the second verb has to be put into the infinitive. Spanish looks at this situation and sees a philosophical problem; English looks at the situation and sees structural problems with the verbs.

It's worth remembering tthis is the kind of mistake that examiners listen for, especially in First Certificate speaking exams. Remember, it's called the First because it's the first Cambridge exam where you must show that you can communicate without translating. And it's especially important to use common verbs like WANT, HOPE, LIKE properly.

If you're not sure how to organize the information after the verb, a quality English-only dictionary like the Oxford University Press series of dictionaries will describe what verb patterns to use, depending on how you use the verb. (In the Oxford dictionaries, verbs that need infinitives after have the V+[TO- inf] code after them.)

A small miracle

As a general rule, I try to discourage people from using translating dictionaries in my class. Translating dictionaries are useful for beginner students because they give you the most basic idea(s) of what a word means. But they can cause problems for other students, because most translating dictionaries don't adequately explain the differences between meanings, or explain how to use the word properly in a sentence.

A lot of students, however, don't like English-only dictionaries. They say that many of them are too heavy and bulky to carry; that the definitions are confusing; that they're expensive; and that they find them intimidating to use.

If you want to make the switch to an English-only dictionary, I've found a great solution. The Oxford Pocket Learner's Dictionary ( http://tinyurl.com/34yhwlz ) is a small (the size of my hand!), light (183 grams) dictionary that is suitable for intermediate and advanced learners. It doesn't contain all of the possible meanings that an English learner might need to use (for that, you may want to consult the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary... http://tinyurl.com/36g9plg ). The Pocket Learner's is affordable: it's about €17.50, or nearly two-thirds of the price of the Advanced Learners....and it's a LOT easier to carry around.

So now there's no excuse NOT to use an English-only dictionary!!


TODAY'S VOCABULARY
to discourage: to persuade someone not to do something.
adequately: enough; properly
bulky: large and difficult to move
intimidating: scary