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Copyright: © Copyright Shayna Oliveira 2015
Students often ask me if we can use idioms and slang in professional situations - and the answer is "it depends." Some expressions are not appropriate for the workplace, but there are many that you can use in conversations among co-workers and less formal emails. Today you'll learn 15 English idioms & phrasal verbs you CAN use at work.
There are several more lessons about business idioms inside our Business English Course. This course also teaches you essential words and phrases for professional situations like meetings, interviews, networking, and more. If you're more interested in idiomatic expressions more generally, we also have a course called 300+ Idioms in 30 Days.
The words experience and experiment might be the same in some languages... but in English they are different, and I often see students confuse them. Both of these words can be both nouns and verbs. Let's see how exactly they are used.
Want more? Check out my e-book, 600+ Confusing English Words Explained, for lots of lessons that will help make these differences clear to you. Also, if you are confused about some English words, reply to this e-mail and let me know, so that I can create future lessons about them. Thanks for joining me today, and I'll talk to you next week!
Today I want to answer a question that is important for everyone who is studying English. Many of my students say, "I study grammar a lot and I understand it in theory. But when I speak, I can't think of the grammar in the moment, or it takes too long to remember the rules. So how can I use grammar correctly when speaking English?" This is a great question! It's true that when you're speaking there's really no time to think about grammar rules and to analyze each sentence. But what if the grammar just doesn't come to mind? What tends to happen is that you either freeze or pause a lot. I hear a lot of students with these long pauses in the middle of their sentences as they're thinking carefully about their grammar. I don't want that to happen to you! I want you to be able to speak more easily and confidently, using correct grammar.
I really hope that you practice your grammar in the way I described in this lesson - trust me, it will come out more naturally with time! If you want to practice with the help of a teacher, we have two courses for you:
When you're studying English, I recommend focusing on learning phrases and not just individual words. When you only study individual words, it's hard to put them together into a phrase - but when you study phrases, then it's much easier for you to use the whole phrase when speaking. The problem is that sometimes you might hear or see a phrase that doesn't seem to make sense. This often happens with idioms and informal expressions. My students ask me about phrases all the time, and today I'll explain two expressions – "good grief" and "for goodness' sake."
If you're interested in learning more phrases that native English speakers use in daily life - and especially learning these phrases inside the context of conversations - come check out my Everyday English Speaking Courses. More than 1,000 students have enjoyed these courses, and I hope you will, too!
Today I'll teach you about some common English-learning mistakes that I've observed among the hundreds of students whom I've worked with. This lesson is going to be a little different because it's not about fixing specific words or phrases; instead, it's about correcting typical problems that language learners tend to have in the way they approach studying. In some ways, these are the most important errors, because these habits or thoughts or attitudes are at the foundation of everything you do when you're working on learning English. So I'd encourage you to reflect and ask yourself if you've been making any of these common English-learning mistakes.
This lesson covered some of the mistakes / problems you should avoid in English learning... do you also want to know what you SHOULD do? You can watch my free class on Secrets of Successful English Learners! That was a workshop I presented several years ago, but the ideas are still 100% true and relevant, and I'd encourage you to apply those GOOD learning habits to your life.
Today's lesson is all about spelling mistakes involving adding an extra letter to a word, or accidentally removing a letter from a word. There are so many words in English where these errors can happen, but again I'm going to focus on the most common ones.
If you are looking for a quick way to check and correct your spelling and grammar, I recommend Grammarly - it's a free online tool! If you want to get personal correction from an English teacher, then I recommend joining our Advanced English Grammar Course or Reading Course, and selecting the option that includes teacher feedback.
Remember that mistakes are an opportunity to learn - and today you'll learn from the mistakes of other students like you. Today's lesson focuses on errors that I and my teaching team have found frequently when correcting students' homework.
Maybe you've made some of these errors in the past, and now you know how to avoid them! But maybe you're making different mistakes, and you want someone to check your English to see if anything is incorrect. You can get correction from a teacher inside these Espresso English courses:
You can also join our Complete Program to get ALL the courses above (plus many more) at a 50% discount. I'd like to remind you that the most important thing is to practice your English- don't let the fear of mistakes stop you from trying to communicate! However, when you get your mistakes corrected, this can give you a lot more confidence because you'll know you're saying / writing things the right way.
In this lesson we're going to look at 7 common pronunciation mistakes in words with confusing combinations of letters.. A lot of students ask me about rules, like how do we know when the letter e sounds like ee vs. eh, or when the letter g sounds like juh (general) vs. guh (get). Although there are some trends in English spelling / pronunciation, there are so many complications and exceptions that I'd encourage you NOT to focus on remembering rules. Instead, when you learn new words, always look them up in an audio dictionary - listen to the pronunciation and repeat it. Don't try to figure it out by analyzing the spelling. I know it's frustrating! English is very irregular, so it's best to just learn the correct pronunciation of each word and not try to interpret them based on a logical system. In this episode, you'll learn:
Having CLEAR pronunciation is one of the keys to speaking fluent English! If your pronunciation is bad, then it doesn't matter if you have great grammar or a huge vocabulary... because nobody will understand what you're saying. You can practice and improve your pronunciation inside my American English Pronunciation Course and Shadowing with Shayna Course. These courses also include an evaluation of your pronunciation by a teacher on the Espresso English team. We'll listen to your recording and send you comments and corrections on your spoken English.
This month I'm going to teach you about some common errors in English. These are mistakes that I've observed and corrected frequently during my years of helping English learners improve their skills. Today's lesson focuses on common errors with adjectives and adverbs.
Do you want to get correction on YOUR English? Join one of our courses that includes teacher feedback! Here are the options:
Getting direct feedback from a teacher on your writing or speaking is one of the best ways to identify the specific errors you are making, and then correct them so that you can speak and write better in the future.
Here in the U.S., we're in the middle of summer - the hottest part of the year!
Today you'll learn some English vocabulary related to summer and hot weather, with pictures to help you remember the words.
Expanding your vocabulary is so important because the more words you know, the better you can express yourself in English.
Inside my Vocabulary Builder Courses, you'll learn and practice 1000+ useful words. The lessons include lots of pictures to help illustrate the words, and there are also quizzes and short-answer exercises to help you review.
Hope you're having a great summer... or winter... depending on where you are in the world :-)
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