COMMON ERROR FROM OUR SKYPE ENGLISH CLASSES: 'BEFORE', 'AFTER' AND 'WITHOUT' MUST BE FOLLOWED BY THE GERUND:

If you want to use a verb after 'before', 'after' or 'without' it must be in the gerund form (ing) and not in infinitive. Thus, to say 'antes de ir al evento necesito comer' would be 'before going to the event, I need to eat'. Definately don't say 'before to go...'. Similarly, we'd say 'without/after going to the event...'. Hope that helps. Have a great day.

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COMMON MISTAKE: MISUSING THE WORD ‘ACHE’

In English we use the word ache (meaning un dolor/doler in Spanish) as a noun with only the following parts of body: ‘tooth’, ‘back’, ‘head’ and ‘stomach/tummy’ and possibly ‘ear’. So we can say ‘I have toothache’ (for some reason ‘toothache’ doesn’t have the indefinite article ‘a’) or ‘she has a stomach ache’. For other parts of the body, you cannot employ the noun ‘ache’. Rather, ‘ache’ is used as a verb. Indeed, you can use ‘ache’ for pretty much all parts of your body. For example: ‘my wrist aches’ or ‘my backside aches’ or ‘my tummy aches’. Remember, ‘an ache’ is a light feeling. ‘A pain’ or employing the verb ‘to hurt’ (which also mean dolor/doler) means can be light or severe. This grammar point is strange. To master it you just need to learn it. Have a great day.

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DAYS OF EASTER:

In our Skype English classes online, students often don't know some terms related to Easter. So of course 'Easter' is the name we give for 'Semana Santa' or 'Pâques'. 'Viernes Santo' is called 'good Friday'. 2 days after is the culmination of lent (cuaresma/carême) called 'Easter Sunday' and then 'Easter Monday'. A popular tradition in the UK at Easter is chocolate egg hunting. Happy Easter!



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COMMON ERROR: WRONG POSITION OF 'ALL THE TIME':

A big mistake in our online English classes. 'All the time' phrase should go at the end of a sentence, not after the verb or participle. So it is wrong to say 'we have been all the time sleeping' or 'we are all the time watching TV'. We would need to say 'we have been sleeping all the time' or 'we are watching TV all the time'. Remember: put 'all the time' at the end.

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