COMMON PHRASAL VERB: 'TO BE PUT OFF'

This means that something or someone discontinued your desire for something or someone.

Examples: 1. The hair in my soup put me off wanting to eat the soup. 2. The girl's strange habits put me off her. 3. They no longer want to vote for that candidate. His speech put the voters off.

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¿POR QUÉ TE FALLAS CON TU INGLÉS?

Aquí está un consejo para aprender el inglés más facilmente que damos a los alumnos de nuestros clases de inglés online (vía skype).

Minimice su esfuerzo estudiando menos gramática:

Teniendo una base de gramática, la mejor y más divertida forma de mejorarla es conversando y conversando mientras alguien corrige tus errores gramaticales como en nuestras clases de inglés online. Hablar correctamente de temas entretenidos e interesantes es mucho más divertido que estudiar solo con los libros de gramática.
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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TO 'TAKE/HAVE A BATH' AND 'TO BATHE' (BAÑARSE):

There is often confusion in our skype English classes concerning the verb 'to bath'. Well, although it exists in British English we don't usually use it. According to wordreference.com 'bañarse' can mean 'to take/have a bath/shower'. When you 'take or have a bath' it is what you do when you want to relax or wash yourself usually at home or in a hotel. When you do this you lay down horizontally in the water in a bathtub (bañera). In British English the verb 'to bathe' (meterse al agua) is usually employed when you want to go in the sea, in a lake, river or in a swimming pool. The primary objective is enjoyment and not to wash yourself although some people may bathe to wash themselves especially in less developed countries. 'Bathing' is usually done outside whilst 'to have a bath' is usually done indoors. I hope that helps. http://www.clasesinglesonline.com

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN 'FUN' AND 'FUNNY':

In our skype English classes students often have issues with 'fun' and 'funny' The difference of the use of these two words is very subtle. When a mistake is made, nearly always students say ‘funny’ (‘e.g. ‘we had a funny time at the shopping centre’) when they should be saying ‘fun’ and not the other way round. This is because using ‘fun’ is a lot more common than ‘funny’. Thus if you have a doubt about which one to use after reading the following, always go for ‘fun’. More than likely you will be correct. Now on to the grammar:
‘Fun’ is both an adjective and a noun whilst ‘funny’ is an adjective only.
‘Fun’ refers to when you have a good time or when you enjoy yourself (cuando 'lo pasas bien' o 'cuando te disfrutes'). For example, we could say ‘visiting my friend was fun’ or ‘it was fun to go skiing’ or ‘the party will be lots of fun’. Using ‘fun’ as a noun (remember, it is uncountable) we could say ‘we had fun at the event’ or ‘we will have fun on holiday’.
‘Funny’ is employed when a situation or person makes you laugh. For example, ‘the comedy is funny’ or ‘the clown is funny’.
In British English slang ‘funny’ can also mean ‘strange’, ‘odd’ or ‘bizarre’. For example, ‘the man painted his nails and that is a funny thing to do’.
Many times the translation of ‘fun’ as an adjective is ‘divertido’ in Spanish, whilst ‘funny’ could be ‘comico’.
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MODAL VERBS SHOULDN'T HAVE A PREPOSITION AFTER THEM:

In our Skype English classes many students incorrectly say ‘he can to come at 8’ or ‘they must to go running this evening’. However, all modals except for ‘ought to’ are followed by the base form of a verb (or infinitive) with no preposition after it. Some examples:

• I should go to visit them.
• I think it will rain tomorrow.
• Things could have been better.
• Someone may have seen them.
• They might be home tomorrow.
• They may be late.
• They would have known if they had gone to the seminar.
• He can come by anytime.
• You must get that project finished.
• I shall hand-in the paper on time.

Remember that modal verbs can’t be switched from tense to tense like normal verbs. For example, we cannot say ‘we musted do the homework’ or ‘I will must to study Norwegian’.

Also, modal verbs cannot appear together in the same sentence. Many people say ‘I will can go out tonight’. This is very incorrect. Since ‘will’ and ‘can’ are both modal verbs we need to use ‘to be able to’ after ‘will’. So the correct sentence would be ‘I will be able to go out tonight’. This would translate as ‘Yo podré salir esta noche’.
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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AFTER AND AFTERWARDS:

The English word ‘after’ is used in the sense of ‘when something or someone has happened or will happen’ as in the sentences:
1. They will arrive after 18h.
2. She will get his chance after Melanie gets her opportunity.

In both sentences you can find that the word ‘after’ is used in the sense of ‘when something has happened or will happen or if someone has done or will do something’ and thus the meaning of the first sentence would be ‘They will arrive once 18h will happen/has happened’. The meaning of the second sentence could be ‘she will get his chance once Melanie’s opportunity has happened’.
However, the word ‘afterwards’ means ‘after that’ or ‘after something happens’ but it is used when no object follows. For example:
1. The concert finishes at 17h. I will arrive afterwards (after that/after ‘the concert’ happens).
2. She forgot to arrive on time. She made an apology afterwards (after that/after ‘her unpunctuality’ happens).
Remember that ‘afterwards’ cannot take an object, ever! So we cannot say ‘I will see you afterwards the concert’ or ‘she will have lunch afterwards giving the speech’. In these cases we’d use ‘after’, thus:
‘I will see you after the concert’ or ‘she will have lunch after giving the speech’.
Unfortunately, with native speakers, there is no doubt that many speakers readily also use after without an object too. So some people will say ‘I will arrive after’ or ‘she made an apology after’. We would say that it’s more correct to use ‘afterwards’ here.
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IS 'STOP' FOLLOWED BY THE INFINITIVE OR BY THE GERUND?

 In English 'Stop' is normally followed by a gerund. When we stop doing something it means the verb in the gerund is the thing that we ceased to do. It can mean 'stop forever' or 'stop at that moment':
- My mum came home so I stopped playing on my PS4.
- I stopped smoking for health reasons.
- I had had plenty so I stopped drinking.

'Stop', more rarely, can be followed by an infinitive. In this case, we stop an activity in order to do what is indicated in the verb in the infinitive.
- I stopped to rest for a few minutes.
- He was shopping and she stopped to get a bite to eat.
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