There, their and they're

Hey everyone, I am leaving for Okinawa this morning to spend the next 4 days so this is a quick post before I go. You will have to wait until May for the next one ^_-

Their, there and they're

These three words in English are pronounced the same way, they all sound the same but they have different meanings(意味).

Their

This is a possessive like his, hers, yours. It is the possessive form of they.

ex:
A: Is that his car?
B: No, it's their car. (belongs to his family)

They're

This is a contraction of they are= they're.

ex: They had a baby so they are really happy.

BECOMES

They had a baby so they're really happy.

There

This is most often used as an adverb.

ex:

1. At or in that place: Put the sofa over there.

2. To, into, or toward that place: I wouldn't go there again.

3. At that stage, moment, or point: Stop there before you make any more mistakes.

OK time to get ready for my flight, have a nice Golden Week!!!

Phil

What grade are you in?

Hey everyone, this post is for people in high school, junior high school, college and university. Many students don't know how English speakers talk about school, so here is some useful vocabulary.

The simplest way is to ask someone:

"What grade are you in?"

This is a great question and can be used for anyone in elementary, junior high school or high school but NOT for university students.

Elementary school

1st grade
2nd grade
3rd grade
4th grade
5th grade
6th grade

Junior High School

7th grade
8th grade
(in the US sometimes also 9th)

High School

9th grade
10th grade
11th grade
12th grade

In University, people usually use year:

I'm a 1st year student.

So in University:

1st year
2nd year
3rd year
(sometimes also a 4th year)

In the US:

The US also has 4 words used by students and I would often see them in movies but never really understood them because we NEVER used them in Montreal~! hahaha But for my readers I did some research and now I understand.

freshman = in the first year of high school, college, university
sophomore = in the second year of high school, college, university
junior = the before last year of high school, college, university(3rd year of a 4 year program)
senior = the last year of high school, college, university

There you go! Now you can confidently talk about school and your studies in English. ^^

Phil

Intonation when asking questions in English

Hey everyone, sorry I only posted once last week but I was a little busy at work. Actually, yesterday a student asked me an interesting question about the proper intonation when using echo questions in English. We had all heard different things from different teachers and books, so we found it hard to agree what was correct intonation: rising or falling. I felt that there was no real rule and it depended on the speaker.

So, when I came home I decided to do some research. What I discovered was I was right! ^^
In English, intonation when asking questions is different for EVERY dialect!!!

That means there is NO 100% correct way to use intonation. It will be a little different depending on if the speaker is American, British, Scottish, Irish, Australian, etc. It will also change depending on the MEANING of the question.

OK, so here are some general rules for North American English:

There are two kinds of questions:

1- Yes/No questions (Do you like beer?)

These usually have rising intonation.

2- Wh questions (Who What Where When Why or How)

These usually have a falling intonation.

Alternative questions like "Are you going to go, OR are you staying here?"

The part before the OR rises but after OR it falls.

TAG questions(ex: ~,did you?)

These use a falling intonation when you want to strengthen a statement and don't really need an answer.

This restaurant is terrible, isn't it?

When you want an answer, are asking for information or want someone to do something you use rising intonation.

You're coming to the party, aren't you?

Here is a bit more info from wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_question)

Sometimes the rising tag goes with the positive to positive pattern to create a confrontational effect:

He was the best in the class, was he?
(rising: the speaker doesn't believe this, or perhaps is surprised by it)

He was the best in the class, wasn't he?
(falling: the speaker believes this)

Be careful, will you?
(rising: expresses irritation)

Take care, won't you?
(falling: expresses concern)

Sometimes the same words may have different patterns depending on the situation or meaning:

You don't remember my name, do you? (rising: surprised)

You don't remember my name, do you? (falling: thinks it is funny)

Your name's Mary, isn't it? (rising: isn't sure)

Your name's Mary, isn't it? (falling: is sure)

The all-purpose tag question from London, innit (for "isn't it") is ONLY used with falling patterns:

He doesn't know what he's doing, innit?

BUT, the adverbial tag questions (alright? OK? etc.) are ALWAYS found with rising patterns!

By changing the intonation you can change the meaning!

I hope this helps!

Phil

P.S. Check out this link for more information: http://www.orlapubs.com/AL/L78.html

And this one for a printable worksheet: http://fds.oup.com/www.oup.com/pdf/elt/products/file8-2.pdf

To read a 27 page paper about intonation in the UK:
http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/~esther/Grabe_et_al.pdf

go to and go...

OK this is a very common problem for Japanese English speakers, you say "go to shopping" instead of "go shopping". I even know a teacher who said it was one her student's biggest problems.

The basic rule here is:

go + ing verb = go do an action

go + to + PLACE = go somewhere

So for example:

I'm going to Sapporo.
I'm going to Gion.
I'm going to Book Off.

Be careful here going to is NOT used to talk about the future so DON'T use gonna!
All of these examples say I am going to a SPECIFIC PLACE. If you want to be a bit more general add "the" when the listener knows which one you are talking about.

I'm going to the bookstore.
I'm going to the supermarket.

If you are not sure which shop you are going you can use"a":

I'm going to a cafe. (I don't know which one)

Some places NEED "the" because people used to live in small towns and so there was only one, or everyone would go to the same place.

I'm going to the bank.
I'm going to the post office.
I'm going to the beach.
I'm going to the lake.

Now when talking about ACTIONS you use "go ~ing". For example:

I go dancing every weekend.
I like to go drinking with my friends.

The important thing to remember here is:

NEVER use go + to + ing verb!

It is virtually ALWAYS wrong.

I go to shopping. NO! I go shopping. YES ^_^

See you next time!

Phil

Tongue Twisters or Hayakuchi Kotoba

OK today I am going to talk about English Tongue Twisters, these are a fun way to practice English pronunciation. There are hundreds of tongue twisters and in doing research for this post I found out that Japanese has them too, they are called hayakuchi kotoba.

My two favorite tongue twisters are:

She sells seashells by the seashore.
(good for practicing s and sh sound)

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? (good for ch and w)

I was a bit surprised to learn that the complete tongue twister is:

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

Wow, that is difficult to say~!

And this:

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Some other ones I just found that I like are:

Betty and Bob brought back blue balloons from the big bazaar.

or

Brad's big black bath brush broke.
(good for br and b)


Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely.
(good for n)

The two-twenty-two train tore through the tunnel.
(good for t)

Which witch wished which wicked wish?
(good for w and Halloween ^_-)

Friendly Frank flips fine flapjacks.
(good for f)

There are many more! Try these sites:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8136/tonguetwisters.html

Where I got many of these tongue twisters.

http://www.esl4kids.net/tongue.html

This is an alphabetical database for EFL teachers so you can search for whatever letter you need to practice to improve your pronunciation!

And this page has a list of international tongue twisters in 108 languages!!!

http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/index.htm

I like this one in Japanese ^^:

Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago.

Hope this helps!

Phil

How are you? I'm fine, thank you, and you?

Wow, why do all Japanese people know this greeting??? I guess it is from the Japanese English as a Second Language Education system which started a long long time a go and has never really been updated.

OK to start there is nothing wrong with "How are you?" it is a perfectly normal greeting. The problem is that people in North America(Canada and the US) do not really use it that often EXCEPT in formal situations. A more casual way is to say "How R ya?" which I hear is popular in Ireland.

The greeting people use most often is "How's it going?". Which is pronounced "Howzit go-in?".

"How do you do?" Is EXTREMELY formal. Also in UK English it is like the Japanese

A: はじめまして。

B: はじめまして。

People usually use it when they first meet in a formal situation, like this:

A: How do you do?

B: How do you do?

The funny thing here is in the countryside of the US people often use "Howdy" as a way to say hello which comes from the greeting, how do you do~! So a very formal British English expression became a very casual countryside US English expression...

Other greetings are:

"Hello" or the more casual "Hi".

"What's up?" which becomes "Whassup?" or "Whazzup?" and in REALLY casual conversation "'Sup?".

There is also "What's happening?" but this expression is not so popular anymore.

Basically, you should know all these expressions so you understand them if a native speaker says them to you but I recommend you use:

"How's it going?"

Have a nice week everyone, expect another post in 3-4 days!

Phil

Conjunctions...

Ok, I had a request to explain what conjunctions are so here we go...

CONJUNCTIONS are words that connect words, sentences or, clauses. Basically they are linking words.

There are three kinds of conjunctions:

1 - Coordinating conjunctions, or coordinators

2 - Subordinating conjunctions, or subordinators

3 - Correlative conjunctions

COORDINATORS

These are the most commonly used conjunctions and you can remember them using the word
FANBOYS.

For
And
Nor
But
Or
Yet
So

The top 3 conjunctions are: AND, BUT, OR.

I like ice cream AND chocolate. ^^

I wanted to go to the beach BUT it was raining. (so I didn't go)

Would you like coffee OR tea?

SUBORDINATORS

These introduce a dependent clause and show how it is related to the independent clause. Sounds complicated? It links two ideas and tells you HOW they are linked.

There are alot of these so, here are the most common:

after

Call me after you finish work.

although

Although she liked him, she never told him.

as

It looks as if, it will rain.

because

I don't like you anymore because you cheated on me!

before

I always read before going to bed.

how

I wonder how he did that?

if

If you look at the sun too long, you will go blind.

since

I have lived in Kyoto since 2006.


There are many more!!!

once, than, that, though, till, until, when, where, whether, while

CORRELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS

These are PAIRS of conjunctions that link two gramatically equal parts of a sentence.

The most common are:

both...and
Both my mother and father live in Montreal.

either...or
Please buy either 1% or 2% milk. (buy one of these two items)

neither...nor
Neither my uncle nor my grandmother live in Montreal.

not only...but also
Not only that, but he also paid for her new car!

as...as
I'm as hungry as a horse! (very hungry)
He's as blind as a bat. (has very bad eyesight)
Superman is as fast as a speeding bullet. (very fast)

whether...or
I am thinking whether I should go to Hokkaido or Okinawa.

Wow! This was long, hope it can help. If you still have questions please check out this site:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm

Happy Birthday!!!

So, for the first post of my new blog I will tell you about something I noticed recently. Last Saturday was my birthday and so I told my students and Japanese friends.

I found their reaction a little strange to say the least. Most of them gave me a big:

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

This is from the Japanese "お誕生日おめでとうございます!"

So in Japanese you say "Birthday Congratulations!" but in English we use Congratulations for things we have done, accomplishments. For example:

A: I had a baby.
B: Congratulations!

A: I passed the test!
B: Congratulations!

Having a baby and passing a test are things you did, they do not just happen naturally.

In English the right thing to say is a simple:

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

So for birthdays, Halloween, Valentine's Day, Easter, etc. we usually just say:

"Happy ____________!"

An exception in Canada and the US is we don't say HAPPY CHRISTMAS (though they say it in the UK), we use the old word for happy, merry.

"Merry Christmas!"

I hope that helps,

Phil