This summer I went some kind of diving in Bali with my family. When we were done, I talked to a diving coach, in English. We chatted and chatted. Yet, all of a sudden, something popped into my mind. What is that something? In our conversation, I found something, something that is unique to most Asian languages. What […]
3 questions for you. Is English your mother tongue? Do your parents talk to you in English all the time? Do you think English sentences are something easy to master? If your answers to the questions are negative, then this post is important to you. How? It will probably change the ways you think about English sentences. Yet, don’t just sit where you are. This post asks […]
Summary: This post is about how to negotiate well with regard to the differences between ‘can‘ and ‘could‘. You will learn how to negotiate with others by giving them more ‘space’, which means you are more polite. Do you have to negotiate a lot? When firm A offers you a price, do you have […]
Summary: This post is about how to talk about things in the past. To your surprise, you will learn that there are (at least) two types of past in English. Yes, you are right, two. In a way, this post helps you understand the differences between the present perfect simple (PPS) and the simple past, but not in terms […]
Summary: This post is about how to talk about schedules (e.g. travel arrangements, entertainments, and public events). It argues that native speakers of English do not use ‘will’ all the time to talk about future. Instead, the simple present (e.g. There is an English class at 10 tomorrow.) is usually used. —————————————————– Do you know that? What? If you […]
This post is about how to make predictions in English. You will learn that there are two types of predictions in English: with evidence or without evidence. That is, after reading this post, you will work out the differences between ‘It is going to rain’ and ‘It will rain’, without much difficulties. ——————————————————- When […]
Summary: This post is about how to talk about future in English. To your surprise, ‘will’ is not always a good choice as it is only one of the ways native speakers (if you like, Westerners) use to refer to future. The post starts with words of pop songs (lyrics) and moves on to talk […]
Summary: The post is about how to make sentences with regard to verbs in English. You will understand that words are like children that they change all the time, that is, the same word can be a noun or a verb. In other words, the post attempts to change the way you think about English, […]
Summary: This post is about how to apologize using long sentences. As it is not easy for you to grasp the structure of English sentences, I attempt to link it with eating ice-cream. You will learn how to write long sentences in an easy and funny way, if you remember the idea of two scoops (of […]
Do you know which word is one of the most troublesome in English? A hint: it is just a word with two, not four, letters. ‘To’ is just a two-letter word, right? Yet it is a word that causes lots of trouble in English, especially when you want to end your email or letter by asking someone to reply. You don’t think so. Alright, which […]
