In English some words have silent letters. This means that how a word is pronounced and how it is spelt is different. We write the silent letter when we spell the word, but it is not heard when we speak.
Here are some examples. The orange letter in each word is silent.
Silent B
The lift is broken, we'll have to climb the stairs.
A baby sheep is called a lamb.
Silent C
Today we look at some nouns, how they change into verbs and examples of use. English learners often confuse the noun form for the verb form when speaking, let's see if we can fix that problem for these words!
Advice (noun): My grandmother gave me some good advice.
Advise (verb): I advise you to travel abroad while you can.
The confusion between amount and number is common but can be easily overcome. They are not interchangable - their use relates to countable and uncountable nouns.
Amount
Use amount is with uncountable nouns and abstract nouns:
amount of time
amount of snow
amount of noise
amount of love (abstract noun)
amount of pride (abstract noun)
Number
We've had a lot of requests for another find the mistakes quiz. Like last month's lesson, all you have to do find the one mistake in each sentence. Rewrite the correct sentences in the comments area.
Click 'Show Answers' to see the correct sentences.
1) I'll be with you in a moment, please being patient.
2) She do judo in her spare time.
All and whole are determiners.
All the school took part in the festival. all + noun
The whole school took part in the festival. whole + noun
The can be used with all and whole:
He's busy all the time. - use the after all.
Why is was used in the first sentence and were in the second?
If I were a millionaire, I would buy a yacht.
If I was late, it was because I got stuck in traffic.
Use were when talking about imagined, hypothetical situations.
If I were you, I would book a flight now.
If you were an animal, you would be a cat!
I would ask her out on a date if I were ten years younger!
Here are ten sentences. Each one has a mistake. What are the ten mistakes? As you read the sentences, think about grammar, spelling, parts of speech and word forms.
Write your answers in the comments area below.
1 - This trousers are too tight for me.
2 - Have you ever seeing a monkey in the wild?
3 - She's been living in London since six months.
4 - Its much colder today than yesterday.
5 - Driving in bad weather can be danger.
6 - We are begining to see more and more birds in our garden.
7 - Are their more of those biscuits?
Your and you're sound similar and are sometimes confused even by native speakers.
Your is the possessive form of you. It shows ownership or relationship to the person you are talking to.
Examples:
Can I borrow your bike?
Your daughter is in the garden.
You're is the contraction of you are.
Examples:
You're cheerful.
Why do we use farther in the first sentence and further in the second?
How much farther is it to the school?
I don’t want to discuss it any further.
Use farther for physical distance: How much farther is it to the school?
Confusing then and than is a mistake we frequently see online, even made by native speakers. Although their spelling and pronunciation may appear similar, they have very different meanings.
Than can be either a conjunction or a preposition.
It can be used to join two parts of a comparison or used with 'more' or 'less' to compare numbers or amounts:
I am a lot older than my brother.
There are fewer people here than last year.
I would rather go to a restaurant than a bar.
