The English Trainer

Recipes are a good way to learn the imperative- orders -in English. The imperative is most often used speaking to children "Go to bed now!" or in military situations with a command structure, "Stand up!". Usually we don't use the imperative in general conversations as it's seen to be rude. It can be used in arguments "Get out!" Back to recipes. "Add the milk to the bowl", "Mix in the sugar" are examples of the imperative used to make something. Scones are a typical British food that originates in the south west of England. They are traditionally served with jam and cream. A special type of cream which comes from Cornwall is known as 'clotted', it's more like the consistency of butter, with a high fat content. This is particularly good in a 'cream tea'- scones, cream and jam, served with a classic pot of tea.  I use a scones recipe to illustrate the imperative to my students. As an added treat I make sco...

There are lots of ways to describe renting or borrowing things in English. I have created a list with examples to show the language use. Borrow, loan, lend, let, hire, rent, lease To borrow (verb) take and use (something belonging to someone else) with the intention of returning it. I borrowed a book from the library. I borrowed a lawnmower from my friend. … To lend (verb) to allow (someone) the use of (something) on the understanding that it will be returned. I lent Sarah my red dress. Traditionally loan is a noun and lend in a verb but loan is more frequently being used as a verb. I l oaned Sarah my red dress. … Loan (noun) Usually a sum of money from a bank or another financial institution that must be paid back. I got a loan from the bank. On loan -(phrase) something is unavailable as it’s been borrowed I’m sorry but the book you wanted is on loan . The player is on loan to Tottenham. The painting is on loan to the Tate. ...

A few years ago there was a series of adverts by the drinks company Carlsberg. The punchline was "if Carlsberg did <supermarkets, golf courses etc>, they would probably be the best in the world" which was intended to show how great their lager was. The line, "if Carlsberg did..." seems to have made its way into common speech, to describe something that has or would work perfectly. My 'if Carlsberg did English lessons' happened today . We were discussing the difficulties of talking on the phone and what happens when you have to spell your name or address . One of the students said, "it would be great if you could tell us the words to help us spell the letters, like a is for apple etc". As it happens, I had the next part of the lesson dedicated to teaching them the phonetic alphabet for spelling. Afterwards, the student told me how useful it had been for her. It is incredibly useful to be able spell confidently and easily on the phone, as t...

I tell my students that there is one person, two people in most contexts. 'Persons' comes into play in legal contexts 'murdered by a person or persons unknown' as crime show fans will know. 'Peoples' is concerned with tribes of people, 'the peoples of the Amazon rainforest'. I saw this sign and thought it was a good example of 'persons' in use. This is persons as it is referring to any one person. If the sign said, 'no unauthorised people' then perhaps a single unauthorised person would be allowed?

Last and ago Last         (Long) periods of time before the current one year month week                 Seasons spring summer autumn winter                 Night                 Days of the week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday                 *but yesterday is the day before today. Ago        Usually a specific length of time in the past                 5 minutes ago or 5 years ago                 Be careful with “I m...

As I taught English for many years in Germany, a student recently asked me to compile a list of mistakes that native German speakers often make in English. Here it is. 1)       Using make all the time instead of do . This is because their equivalents (machen/tun) are not equivalent at all. A common mistake being ‘make a party’. There are rules, but it's a hard habit to get out of. 2)       Using drive in situations where it is inappropriate – such as drive a bike, drive a train, drive on a scooter. Due to the fact that fahren seems to be ubiquitous in German. Remember, the only person who drives a train, is the train driver, the rest of you are travelling on a train. It is appropriate in situations about cars such as "I drive to work" meaning I drive to work in my car. 3)       Using until instead of by. ‘ I will give you the report until Friday’. Which is probably because dict.leo.org gives ‘til’...

It was the first of one of my English conversation classes after a long break and one of the activities I had decided to do was Taboo. It was a new class, and I wasn't sure how it would work as I didn't know the students. I modelled the basic idea behind the game, there is a word that people have to guess, for example, 'bones' but they cannot mention the 'Taboo' words such as break, skeleton, broken, dog. I split the class up into four groups as it was a large-ish class of 23. The students got the idea and were amazingly creative about how they described the words. This ability is incredibly useful when it comes to communicating and not knowing a particular word, should not stop students from being understood.