40 words to use instead of "said"
Do you ever notice that we use the word “said” a lot? He said this, she said that, then I said something else. Now there’s nothing wrong with the word “said,” it’s perfectly fine – but the English language has TONS of other options. Today we’re going to learn 40 words you can use instead of “said” – and as you will see, each one adds some extra meaning. If you want to expand your vocabulary even further beyond basic words, then you’ll love my Advanced Vocabulary and Collocations Course! The lessons inside teach you more than 1,000 high-level words to help take your English vocabulary from “simple” to “sophisticated.” One student described it as “like a gold mine for my vocabulary.” Check it out and join so you can sound more well-educated and fluent in English!
7 Dec 20229min
Never say "more better"
Today I’m going to explain why we never say “more better.” English learners sometimes say things like, “My English is getting more better” – but it’s ALWAYS incorrect. Take the lesson to learn the right way to express comparatives! I hope this helps make things clear! If you already understand this well and you’re ready for a more advanced study of grammar, come join my Advanced English Grammar Course, where we go into much more detail on grammar topics that will help you master the English language. We cover all the verb tenses, prepositions and connecting words, and more complex sentence structures – and what’s great about it is that there’s lots of practice, so that you’re not just “memorizing rules” but instead you’re actually using the grammar yourself, which helps you remember it much better.
23 Nov 20223min
Let's pronounce 15 DIFFICULT words!
Once I asked my students, “What are the most difficult English words for you to pronounce?” and I got a lot of great answers! Today we’re going to practice 15 words that English learners often find hard to say. I’ll say each one once slowly, once at normal speed, and then I’ll say an example sentence – so listen and repeat after me each time. Did you know that you can improve your pronunciation a LOT in the next 30 days when you join my American English Pronunciation Course? By doing a lesson a day, you’ll practice all the sounds of American English, so that your spoken English becomes clearer and clearer.
16 Nov 20226min
How to use BE, BEING, and BEEN correctly
The verb “be” is one of the most common words in the English language – but it has different forms, like be, being, and been. Do you know when to use each one correctly? I’ll explain it today, with plenty of examples! If you’re looking for simple, clear, step-by-step grammar lessons, check out my Basic & Intermediate Grammar E-Books. They’ll teach you essential English grammar so that you can use it confidently without mistakes. Each lesson in the e-books also has a quiz for practice, and they also come with audio for listening practice.
9 Nov 20226min
"I couldn't agree more" & "I couldn't care less"
Today I’m answering a question from a student who asked how to use the phrases “I couldn’t agree more” and “I couldn’t care less” – so today I’ll explain them by using a couple of mini-dialogues. When you’re learning English phrases, it’s so helpful to learn them in context – that way you can see how people use them, and understand the phrases better. That’s why the lessons in my Everyday English Speaking Courses are based on conversations! First you read/listen to a conversation, and then you learn the phrases that were used. It's fun, fast, and really works well for improving your spoken English :-)
2 Nov 20224min
No "grammer"!
Today I want to help you avoid a very common mistake that lots of people make – and that is writing the word “grammar” like this: G-R-A-M-M-E-R. There’s actually NO “e” in the word grammar; the correct spelling is G-R-A-M-M-A-R. But when we speak, we pronounce it like “er” – grammer, not gram-MAR – so that’s why people often misspell it with -er. It’s an understandable error. There are actually lots of words in English that end with -ar or -or in an unstressed syllable, and we pronounce them more like -ER. Let’s practice more of these words. If you want to avoid more mistakes that many English learners make, check out my 200 Common Errors in English Course. I’ll teach you the most common grammar mistakes, vocabulary mistakes, spelling mistakes, pronunciation mistakes, and more – showing you the right way to say things so that you can speak and write more confidently in English!
19 Okt 20224min
10 idioms for problems and difficulties
Today I’m going to teach you 10 English idioms for talking about problems and difficulties. Speaking of problems, idioms like these can be a problem when you’re learning English! When you’re watching TV or listening to a native speaker talk, you’ll often hear idioms and they’re hard to understand because you can’t translate them word-for-word; you have to know the meaning of the whole expression. My course called 300+ idioms in 30 days will teach you tons of common idioms in a way that’s especially effective because it actually helps you figure out idioms from context, and also put them into practice yourself.
12 Okt 20225min
"If I was..." or "If I were..." ?
Today we have a GREAT question from a student who asked: “Which is correct: if I was… or if I were…?” The answer is that we use BOTH in English, but in different situations! I’ll give you some good examples to make it clear. Try to practice this right away by writing two sentences – one with “if I were” and one with “if I was” – to help you remember when to use each one correctly! Do you sometimes find yourself frustrated by English grammar? The problem might be that nobody has explained it to you very clearly - and when you look for grammar information online, it can just confuse you more... Inside my Grammar E-Books, each lesson is clearly explained to make it as easy as possible to learn correct grammar and use it confidently. They have 70+ lessons, with quizzes, and also audio for listening practice - and you can get both e-books for the GREAT price of $7!
28 Sep 20224min
