You know, today I was planning on going to the beach and I thought, you know, a lot of my students have a problem with that sound, beach,
that e sound, eee.
The big confusion - it seems to be - comes between the e sound and the soft i sound. “i”
(It’s) very different - if you want to say:
That woman is a bitch.
Soft i sound.
(A bitch is NOT a woman who has sex with many guys, it is not a dog or an ugly woman - A bitch is a woman who is not nice or says rude things)
Or:
I’m going to the beach.
You don’t want to say, “That woman is a beach.” People will look at you - what? She’s not a beach, she’s a woman.
You have to make sure you say these words correctly.
The difference between e…see, look at my mouth - e - my mouth stretches out and everything tightens.
And “i”
Your mouth barely moves and the sound comes from here. Your tongue is relaxed.
Really, very opposite mouth movement
Okay, let’s try a few.
The hard e sound:
eat
feet
reach enormous (very big)
Or the soft i sound
sit
hit
(um)
mitt
(uh)
impossible
Alright, let’s do a couple comparison words.
reach rich
beach bitch
eat it
Okay. You try! And that’s it. I’m Kim Purcell. At realesl.com.
This is one of the most confusing parts of English grammar. Normally, you should not use THE before a name. But sometimes THE is part of the name.
For example, THE United States of America! Or the U.S. You can also say the U.S.A., though it’s very rare, except in military culture, to say the U.S.A. People normally say America. NOT the America. Why don’t you put THE in front of America??? You will have to memorize names that have THE as part of the name, but here are a few rules.
1. THE does not come before names that don’t have regular nouns inside the name. For example, consider my first name, Kim, and the countries of Canada and France. (consider - look at, think about)
2. THE often comes (not always) before names that do have a regular word in them. For example, the United States has the word ’states’ in it, which is a regular word. The United Kingdom also has a normal word in it - kingdom.
2. Nicknames often drop THE. For example, America is a nickname and you don’t put THE in front of it. However, this is not always true. The Getty Museum has THE in the full name and its nickname is the Getty, so you also use THE in this nickname. (nickname - a name used instead of the regular name, a more casual name, a street name)
3. Acronyms also sometimes drop THE. (Acronym - the first letters of the words in a long name are used to make a different name, a nickname) For example, you say, “I’m going to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.” But if you use the acronym, LACMA, you drop THE. You say, “I’m going to LACMA.”
One of my regular visitors sent me an essay about an experience he had in Niagara Falls. I told you to use sensory details in your writing. Below, I’ve posted most of his essay. You can read it first or after my comments. If you read it first, try to figure out if the highlighted parts are good or bad. I’d like to tell you what I liked about his essay first and what common mistakes he made after that. If you like this post, I may do this more often with essays people send me.
Good Part #1: Details
In this essay, Nafis uses a lot of great details, such as, “pink and white blossoms” and “the wind was blowing.” To improve it even more, he could use a wider variety of details. Many people use visual details, but forget to talk about smell, sound, touch and taste.
Good Part #2: So … that
He uses one really useful grammar structure… (subject) was so (adjective) that (new subject) (verb)
“The ceramic floors were so shine that I could see my face on it.” He should have said “The ceramic floors were so shiny that I could see my face in them.” However, he used the structure correctly and it’s a nice detail. He also wrote, “The weather was so cold that we could not walk along the street.” Very good.
Five Mistakes and The Corrections
Mistake #1: our friends and we
Except for I, you should put the pronoun first… We and our friends… He and his friends, She and her friends, My friends and I.
Also, using “we” in this case is very strange because I don’t know to whom it refers. Better to say, “My friends and I…” According to Oxford Grammar, it is not incorrect to switch this; however, it is awkward and unusual.
Mistake #2: one and a half hour
This should be “one and a half hours” because the time period is more than an hour.
Mistake #3: twelve and thirty o’clock
This should be “twelve-thirty”. Don’t use o’clock if it’s not exactly 6 o’clock or 7 o’clock or 3 o’clock. If it’s 7:15, you just say seven-fifteen.
Mistake #4: too crowded
Be careful about using too + an adjective. This should be “very crowded” or “so crowded” because “too crowded” implies a negative result. For example, it was too crowded, so we left. Or: It was too crowded to move.
Mistake #5: On the evening
This needs to be “in the evening”. You also need to use “in” for “in the morning” and “in the afternoon”.
An Excerpt of the Essay with Highlights
(I used an ellipsis, also called dot-dot-dot, (…) every time I cut part of the essay)
A trip to Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls, one of the most powerful falls in the North America, attracts many tourists every year… Trees had beautiful pink and white blossoms and I saw many wineries. Shortly afterwards, Lake Ontario and Erie intensified the beauty of the road. We were surrounded by deep blue water on the way to Niagara…After one and a half hour, we arrived to the city called “Niagara-on-the-lake”. It is a really nice small city near the Niagara. There were lots of handicrafts, gardening tools, and outfits stores along the street. The street was decorated by red, yellow, purple tulips. The white carriages took the tourists around the city. The weather was so cold that we could not walk along the street. The wind was blowing severely so we went into the stores. We visited a handicraft store which had handicrafts from around the world such as Africa, Asia, Canada, Pakistan and etc. The prices were too high. I saw paintings from First Nations in Canada. Colourful baskets, marble kitchen utensils, jewelleries, African statues were very in nice shapes and colours which I had not seen before…We wandered on the major street until twelve and thirty o’clock. We all were very hungry so we decided to go to a Casino that we heard of its fantastic foods. We could see the Niagara fall through the Casino’s huge windows. The Casino was too crowded which was strange in this time of the year. After standing in line, it eventually was our turn to be seated. The buffet Casino restaurant had various delicious foods and desserts including fish, oysters, pizzas… The ceramic floors were so shine that I could see my face on it. …On the evening, we returned to our home and prepared ourselves for the new week.
No, this is not about that kind of massage! Get your mind out of the gutter (Don’t think dirty thoughts). In this video blog post, I just came from an appointment with my massage therapist/chiropractor. I thought some of you ESL learners may have back pain and you might need to know who to see for this pain and what vocabulary to use. Do you ever crack your back or do you go to a chiropractor to get an adjustment? If you don’t know what I’m asking, check the vocabulary explanation below. Have a great day!
Vocabulary Explanation:
chiropractor - a doctor who adjusts/moves your back
chiropractor-slash-massage therapist - slash refers to this: /
** so, normally, you would write it this way: chiropractor/massage therapist
to really get in there - to rub really hard
my back is out - my bones in my back are not straight
my neck is out - my bones in my neck are not straight
my body is out of alignment - the bones in my body are not in the right places
I need an adjustment - I need someone to put my bones back in the right places
I crack my back - I adjust my back, I move my own bones into the right places
If you want to write a strong TOEFL essay or even a good email, you have to get good at using details in your writing. In this blog post, I talk about an experience I had in which a really sweettransvestite did my makeup. (sweet = nice) (transvestite = a man dressed as a woman) Use the experiences in your life to improve your writing! If you get better at writing interesting emails with lots of details, your TOEFL essay will improve too. Check out (to check s.t. out = to look at s.t.) the partial transcript and vocabulary explanation below!
Transcript/Vocabulary explanation
I’m running some errands today.(to run some errands = to do personal jobs outside the house like grocery shopping and going to the bank)
I’ve done a bunch of things. (a bunch of things = a lot of things)
I’m going to use one of these things to talk to you about using details in your writing. How do you use details?
Well, you’ve got to use your sense of smell, your sense of touch, your sense of sight, your sense of hearing…you’ve got to use all those things and put it/them in your writing.
We’re not going to talk about using these details in your TOEFL essay, though of course that’s what you’re gearing up for. (to gear up for s.t. = to get ready for s.t.)
Focus on an email. (focus on = concentrate on)
I went to the MAC counter at Nordstrom. (the MAC counter = the makeup stand that sells MAC products)
I got my makeup done because I needed to buy some makeup.
This is the first time I had a transvestite do my makeup. (to have s.o. do something = to ask s.o. to do something for you)
The funny part was he had these huge hands and he kept bringing them close to my face. (to keep doing s.t. = to do s.t. again and again)
He smelled fine, almost sort of flowery, like lilacs. (flowery= like flowers) (lilacs = a type of flower)
I kept worrying his hands would stink. (to stink = to have a bad smell/odor)
Guys’ hands are sometimes stinky. (stinky=having a bad smell)
That would be really gross if he didn’t. (gross = disgusting, describes something that makes you feel sick)
He had this bright yellow eyeshadow.
I worried he was going to make my eye makeup look the same.
Think of one specific experience and write about it.
I love finding an ESL site that’s easy to read and not clogged with a bunch of confusing categories. (clogged with something = filled with too much of something) Lucy’s blog has a lot of fun information and she gives great vocabulary explanations. I also really like how she blogs about English music because this is a fun way to learn English.
Ha ha! Got you! (got you = I tricked you, I got your attention) I thought I’d get your attention if I put sex in the title. (to get someone’s attention = to make someone listen to what you are saying) I’ll give you some juicy examples later, so keep reading!! (juicy examples/details = examples/details about sex or gossip or something exciting)
I’ve covered a lot of the rules about articles, but I’ve still got another two video blog posts I’ll put up this weekend and on Monday about articles. For now, I want to respond to a question from Nafis about articles. He asks why you should say “a million years.”
Always use “a” with “hundred, thousand, million, billion, trillion”. It’s a single period of time. So, “a” is not going with “years”, but rather, it is going with “million”.
One other note about this - they love to trick you on the TOEFL. If the word is “hundreds, thousands, millions, billions, trillions”, DON’T use “a”. These words have an “S” at the end and are not singular. Also, follow these words with “of” before the noun.
For example, we say:
Hundreds of women go topless on Brazilian beaches. (to go topless = to have nothing covering your breasts)
Thousands of people shake their booties in the streets during Carnival. (to shake one’s booty = to move your behind, to dance)
Millions of men want to cheat on their wives. (to cheat on someone = to have sex with someone who is not your husband or wife)
Go ahead, practice both “a hundred” things and “hundreds of” things. (Go ahead = Do it) When you write practice sentences, make them funny or crazy. You’ll remember the rule better. If you want, post your crazy examples in the comments.
For example, write:
I’m going to stare at hundreds of boobs at Carnival. (boobs = breasts)
I want to get laid a hundred times at Carnival. (get laid = have sex)
No, you won’t see those examples in any textbook! This is Kim Purcell at RealESL.com!
This is my next lesson on articles. I was in my kitchen, preparing for a party, so I took out a bunch of food and used it to explain articles.
When you watch, please notice how I pause. Sometimes I say “Um.” Sometimes I say something wrong and correct myself. It’s not the perfect way to speak. However, it is the most natural. You are going to need a moment to think sometimes - say “Um” or “Uh.” Pausing words are different in different languages.
At one point, I started to say “a piece of bread” and though it’s possible to say this, I meant “a slice of bread,” so I corrected myself. If you need to correct yourself, just do it right away as I did.
One more thing … when you are talking about corn, broccoli and lettuce, you can make them countable by saying an ear of corn, a stalk of broccoli or a head of lettuce. However, it’s much more common to leave these words uncountable and say “some corn on the cob” or “some broccoli” or “some lettuce.” I have a partial transcript and vocabulary explanation below.
Transcript/Vocabulary:
Right now, we’re going to talk about using A, THE, SOME in front of countable and uncountable nouns.
I’m going to use food as an example because I’m preparing for a party and I pulled out some food.
So, let’s look. Here are some carrots.
You want to say, “Pass me a carrot.” The second time you say it - “The carrot is fantastic.” So, the second time you use that word, you use THE.
Here is an avocado. Here is a cucumber.
Here are some tomatoes. (Use SOME with both uncountable nouns and countable plural nouns.)
Here is a pepper.
We just say, I’m going to bring some corn on the cob. (Corn on the cob is not countable.)
Right here, I have some peaches. In fact, I have two peaches. Peaches, uh, this word, is countable.
I want a peach. The peach is fantastic.
Or right here. Oh, look. Here are some beets. I’m going to put the beets … Did you hear that? The second time I used it (I say ‘the’). I’m going to put the beets on a salad.
Okay, now what about broccoli? What on earth do we do about broccoli? Do we say “a broccoli, one broccoli, two broccolis”?
(what on earth … - this is an expression before a question to show surprise)
No, it’s not really countable. How can you count it? You just have a bunch of it. Same as lettuce. We can’t really contain it. There might be a lot, a little.
So, we just say, “I need some broccoli.” We don’t say “One broccoli, two broccoli, two broccolis.” That doesn’t make sense. (That doesn’t make sense = That is not easy to understand.)
Okay, how about bread? You say a piece of - a slice of bread. Or you say a loaf of bread. Or “Give me some bread.” We don’t say “a bread.” That’s weird. (weird = strange) Kim’s note - it’s also wrong!
How about butter? Also uncountable. Let’s put some butter in this.
Water. You go to someone’s house. You say, “I’ll have some water.”
Here’s an explanation of a basic part of English grammar: using the + a place.
If you take time to practice each rule for using the, a and an, you’ll master articles!
(to master something = to become an expert at something, to be very good at something)
(articles = a, an, the)
After you watch this, practice using the + a place. Remember, the purpose of the place must be more important than the actual place itself. Read the transcript and vocabulary explanation below if you don’t understand.
Video Transcript and Vocabulary Explanation:
Today I’m going to talk to you about using “the”.
Now why am I in the kitchen?
Because I’m preparing for my daughter’s first birthday.
And I have an avocado because I’m going to make guacamole.
I have a bunch of foods I’m going to prepare, so we’ll talk about that in the next blog post.
But right now what I want to talk to you about is … I want to talk to you about some of the things we’ve done to prepare for this.
One thing we did yesterday is I went to the bank.
I went to the toy store to buy a toy.
And, um, after that, we went to the park. My two girls had to have some fun.
And then, let’s see, this morning, my husband has gone to the grocery store.
Okay. Did you hear that?
The grocery store. The bank. The park.
Why do I use THE in front of all of these places when it’s the first time I’ve said the word?
It’s because when the purpose of the place is more important than the actual place itself, we say “the”.
The Park - we’re really talking about the purpose - playing, going on the swings, that kind of thing
THE Bank - the purpose of getting money is more important.
Now, if I want to tell you about a bank in which the bank tellers are very friendly, okay, then, I say “a”.
But that’s not important, the place; in the case I’m talking about, the place is not important, it’s the purpose of the place.
In that case, use “the” plus the place.
This week I’m going to give you little exercises to practice using articles. It is one of the most important parts of English grammar that you must learn. You may think learning how to use articles is a waste of time because people understand you when you don’t use them. However, people will think your English is much worse than it is if you don’t use them correctly. Maybe your vocabulary is very advanced, but if you still make mistakes when using articles, people will think you are a beginner. It is one of the most basic parts of English grammar.
So, let’s start from the beginning. I will only talk about putting articles in front of a singular countable noun right now.
The first time you talk about a thing, you use “a” or “an”. Use “an” in front of a word that starts with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u).
(I saw a lion yesterday.)
The second time you talk about the thing, you use “the”.
(The lion was licking a bone.)
(The bone didn’t have any meat on it.)
Even in the explanation, I say “a thing” first and then “the thing”. In the example, I say “a lion” first and then “the lion” and “a bone” first and then “the bone”.
I want you to find a children’s book, a preschool book if you can, one for really small children. Look at the articles. Now write a very basic children’s story, using articles. You can start with your own sentence or “I saw a lion yesterday.”
I’d love to see the stories you write in the comments.
