Tag: Verbs

Tricky Verbs: Fall, Feel, Fill

by elsahedrick, posted in Pronunciation, Speaking, Vocabulary

These three verbs are often confusing, especially when it comes to past tense forms and pronunciation. Let’s look at the differences and practice using them.

Fall

Fall has an “Aww” sound. Practice the following sentence:

Aww, did the baby fall?

Feel

Feel has a hard EEE sound. You need to smile when you say this word, making your mouth wide. Practice this sentence:

I feel so happy and free!

Fill

The sound of fill is between fall and feel. Your mouth is slightly open, and it has a short i sound. Practice this sentence to help:

Bill filled the glass with milk.

Now try them all together, making sure to say each word slowly and differently than the others.

Fall, feel, fill, the dog meets Bill. The dog eats meat, Bill drinks milk, Fall, Feel Fill.

Various Forms

Another challenge for students is to use these verbs in different tenses.

Fall—Fell—Fallen—Falling

Feel—Felt—Felt—Feeling

Fill—Filled—Filled—Filling

Try to answer the following questions:

Did the man fall out of the airplane?

Yes, the man…

Did you feel the elephant?

Yes, I…

Did you fill the glass?

Yes, I…

Expressions with the Verb TO HAVE

by elsahedrick, posted in Collocations/Expressions, Speaking, Vocabulary

I hope everyone is having a very Happy New Year so far! I think 2019 is going to be a great year! This year, I’m looking forward to eating healthier, learning new recipes, getting more exercise, and writing many more lessons for all the English learners out there. How about you? Do you have any plans or goals for 2019?

Let’s start the year with a great verb: TO HAVE. 

The verb to have is everywhere in English. It’s used to form the present perfect (Have you ever celebrated New Year’s Eve in another country?) and it’s also used in many common conversational expressions. (Would you like to have dinner at our house?)

We can start with looking at some basic greetings/conversational vocabulary.

  • Have a great day!
  • Have a nice weekend!
  • I had a great time at the holiday party.
  • Did you have a nice trip/visit/vacation/holiday?

Have is used in hundreds of everyday English expressions. Here are some of the different ways you can use have instead of other verbs.

Have = To Own

Perhaps the most obvious meaning is to own something, meaning it’s yours.

  • I have a house.
  • She has a nice car.
  • They have a good job.
  • We have a large family.

Besides ownership, there are more meanings for the verb to have.

Have = To Be Sick, for Diseases and Illnesses

  • I’ve had this cold for a week.
  • I have a headache.
  • She had a stomachache after eating too much candy.
  • Does anyone in your family have diabetes?
  • Do you have any allergies?

Have a Dream, a Nightmare

  • I have a dream to own my own business.
  • I had a nightmare about my job last night.

Have Sex

  • Some people wait until after marriage to have sex.
  • The boss should never have sex with employees.

Have = To Eat and Drink, For Meals

  • I had breakfast, but I didn’t have lunch. I’m starving!
  • I’ll have a hamburger and french fries, please.
  • I had three beers after work.
  • I’m having dinner at my friend’s house tomorrow night.

Have a Fight, Have Problems

  • We had a huge fight yesterday and we are still not speaking.
  • Call me if you have any problems or questions.

Have an Idea

  • I have a great idea: let’s take a vacation!
  • He has no idea where he parked the car.
  • Steve Jobs had a lot of great ideas for technology.

Have a Party

  • We always have a party at our house for New Year’s Eve.
  • If you have a birthday party, where do you want to have it?

Have a Baby, Children

  • My sister had a baby last month.
  • Most women prefer to have their babies at a hospital.

Have Plans

  • Do you have plans for the New Year?
  • I like to have an itinerary before I travel.
  • I have an appointment with my agent this weekend.
  • We have too many meetings at work, don’t you think?
  • I have no doubt you will understand this lesson.

I hope you had fun and learned some new ways of speaking from this lesson. Do you have any more examples or questions?  Leave me a comment on the post. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Have a great day!

Expressions and activities with the verb TO GO

Expressions with the Verb TO GO

by elsahedrick, posted in Collocations/Expressions, Vocabulary

Use GO with another -ING verb when you talk about activities and sports.

  • Do you want to go surfing in California?
  • There are some beautiful places to go sightseeing here, too!
  • Have you ever gone wine tasting in Italy?

Team sports (soccer, basketball) typically use the verb to play. Sports that are done individually usually use to go. For more information about the verbs go, play, and do, click here.

WATER SPORTS

  • go swimming
  • go surfing
  • go scuba diving
  • go snorkeling
  • go sailing
  • go wind surfing
  • go boogie boarding

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

  • go hiking
  • go biking
  • go mountain climbing
  • go ice skating
  • go skiing
  • go camping
  • go exploring

TRAVEL AND LEISURE ACTIVITIES

  • go shopping
  • go sightseeing
  • go wine-tasting
  • go dancing
  • go clubbing (go to nightclubs for dancing and music)
Expressions and activities with the verb TO GO
Activities used with the verb TO GO usually follow with an -ING verb.

GO EXPRESSIONS WITHOUT -ING VERBS

Go is also used in expressions that don’t use an -ing verb.

  • go broke (lose all your money)
  • go out of business (close a business forever)
    • Many businesses go broke after the first year and go out of business.
  • go bald (lose your hair)
  • go blind (lose your vision)
    • He went bald when he was 45, but he didn’t go blind until much later.
  • go away for the weekend
  • go out of town for business or travel
  • go abroad (overseas for travel, work, or study)
  • go home
    • After going abroad, going away for a few weeks, or even going out of town for the weekend, it’s always wonderful to go back home.

Do you know the difference between go back and come back? Click here.

Remember, the verb to go can change in tense. Let’s look at what happens when we use one expressions in different tenses.

  • I go swimming every day.
  • I went swimming yesterday.
  • I haven’t gone swimming in a long time.
  • I‘m going swimming after work today.
  • I won’t go swimming in cold water!

Do you know any more expressions with the verb to go? Add your comments below!

Ready, set, GO!

the verb to do is used in expressions for work, style, and activities

Expressions with the Verb TO DO

by elsahedrick, posted in Collocations/Expressions, Vocabulary
the verb to do is used to ask about activities in general

The verb TO DO is very useful when talking about general actions.

We use it to ask about activities, as in:

What do you want to do tonight?

(However, a different verb is used to answer the question.)

  • I want to watch the sunset. I want to spend time with my friends. I want to walk on the beach.

Do is also used in many questions. You can read about questions here.

However, some English expressions use the verb to do for specific activities. It helps to learn them by category.

Housework, Chores, and Cleaning

Use do with common housework responsibilities.

do laundry, do shopping, do housework, do the dishes, do the ironing
  • do the laundry (wash and dry)
  • do the dishes (wash and dry)
  • do the ironing
  • do the floors (sweep and mop)

Work

After you do all your housework, you can start to do your homework. Oh man!

  • do homework
    close up of woman working
  • do school work
  • do a report on something
  • do research
  • a good job (nice work!)
  • a bad job (uh-oh!)

Speaking of work, don’t forget we use do to talk about our jobs.

What do you do?  (What’s your job?) I’m a teacher. How about you, what do you do?

Exercises and Workouts

After work, you might want to workout at the gym.

We use DO with all kinds of exercises, martial arts, and workouts. Other sports use GO or PLAY. You can read more about other sports here.

  • do yoga
    woman with red top and black shorts on purple yoga mat
  • do karate
  • do jiu-jitsu
  • do pilates
  • do zumba
  • do burpees, plank, jumping jacks
  • do a flip, a handstand, do a dance
  • do push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups (C’mon, 10 more times!)

Beauty Treatments

Are you tired from all that exercise? Use do when you talk about personal care for your body, skin, hair, and nails. Let’s go to the spa!

  • do your hair (cut, color, and style)
    woman s pink pedicure
  • do your nails (paint, pedicure or manicure)
  • do your makeup (put makeup on your face)
    • Don’t you love getting your hair and nails done?
    • I love doing my makeup when I go to a party.

Relationships

Finally, we often use do when working with other people in social and business settings.

  • do someone a favor
  • do business with someone or with a company
    • Could you do me a favor and drive me to the bank?
    • We don’t want to do business with companies that aren’t environmentally friendly.
group hand fist bump

Think you’ve got it? Let’s do it!!!

Expressions, collocations with the verb TO MAKE

Expressions with the Verb TO MAKE

by elsahedrick, posted in Collocations/Expressions, Vocabulary

The verb TO MAKE has several different uses. The literal meaning is to create something. Here are some expressions, or collocations that use make, organized by category.

Make = To Cook or Prepare

  • make breakfast, lunch or dinner
  • make a sandwich, pasta, or other meal

If you don’t feel like cooking, you can make a reservation at a restaurant!

Make = Schedule Events

  • make an appointment
  • make plans with someone
  • make arrangements

Make = Mental Activity

  • make a decision
    • I need to make a decision on which college I will be attending in the fall.
  • make a choice
    • It’s difficult to make a choice when there are so many options!
  • make a mistake, an error
    • I think I made several mistakes on the exam, but I’m sure I will still pass.
  • make a calculation
    • It’s important to make several calculations to see if you can afford to buy a new home.

If you can’t decide, we use the expression,

I can’t make up my mind on what to order for lunch! (can’t decide)

Make = Business Talk

  • make money
    • Our company made a lot of money last year. 
    • How much money do you make at your job?
  • make time for
    • These days, it’s difficult to make time for your family.
  • make progress
    • I’ve made a lot of progress at the gym. I can run faster than before!
  • make a request
    • The passenger made a request for a quite seat near the window.
  • make a phone call
    • Could you please be quiet? I need to make a phone call to my boss.
  • make a deal
    • Let’s make a deal: I’ll cook dinner if you wash the dishes, OK?
  • make a promise
    • If you make a promise, you should always try to keep it.

Because make is used in so many different situations, it’s a good idea to memorize these expressions and make and effort to practice using them!

Remember, the past form and participle form of make is made.