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English Quickfix
English Quickfix
I’m Greg Pioli, from English With Greg. I have taught English in person,
online, and via YouTube to thousands of students over the past 15 years.
In this book I am going to give you 16 quick fixes to help take your English to
an Advanced level.
If you fix these errors, you will instantly make noticeable progress in your
English.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 1. We are 5 people
❑ The correction
Instead of “we are”, we have to use the expression “there are … of
us”. This might sound a bit strange, but it is the only way in English to
express number of people that are in your group.
❑ Example phrases
❌ How many are you?
✅ How many of you are there?
❌ We are 5.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 2. If I will... I will..
❑ The correction
For sentences like this, we use the 1st conditional:
❑ Example phrases
❌ When I will get home, I will call you.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 3. Still v Already v Yet
❑ The correction
First we must imagine a timeline…
❑ Example phrases
✅ I don’t want to eat out tonight because I’ve already had dinner (I
had dinner in the past)
✅ I moved to the USA 3 years ago and I still live here. (I live here
now)
✅ I’m married but we don’t have any children yet. (I will have
children in the future)
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 4. As v Like
❑ The correction
Let’s keep this simple…
1. As describes the function of a person or object.
2. Like expresses that something is similar to something else.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 5. Bored v Boring
❑ What’s the problem?
There are many pairs of adjectives that are very similar (boring-
bored, interesting-interested, exciting-excited, tiring-tired…), and
students very often get very confused about when to use each one.
❑ The correction
We use -ing adjectives (boring, interesting, exciting…) when
describing our opinion of something.
We use -ed adjectives (bored, interested, excited…) when describing
a feeling.
❑ Example phrases
❌ It’s been a tired day! I had lots of work to do.
✅ It’s been a tiring day! I had lots of work to do. (My opinion of
today)
❌ There’s nothing to do here. I’m boring.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 6. Make or Do?
❑ The correction
Here’s a quick guide: use Make for creating or producing something,
and use Do for activities or jobs. However the rules for this are not
black and white, and there are lots of exceptions. We must therefore
change the way we learn English, and always learn “chunks” – groups
of words that go together – rather than individual words.
✅ Do business ✅ Do a course
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 7. Listen v Hear
❑ The correction
Hear is an involuntary action. But when you want to hear something,
you listen to it (please learn it together with the preposition… ‘listen
to’!)
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 8. Say v Tell
❑ The correction
The rule is simple… We say + something We tell + a person
So, use say when the verb is followed by another phrase (e.g. happy
birthday / she was coming / hello / that’s not fair…)
And use tell when the verb is followed by a person (e.g. him, them,
me, you, Peter, everybody…
✅ Rob said that it wasn’t fair, and left the meeting angrily.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 9. I didn't do nothing
❑ Why is this wrong?
In some languages it is OK to use double negatives, but in English,
we must never use two negatives in a phrase. Just remember, in
English (and mathematics), two negatives make a positive!
❑ The correction
If you already have one negative word (e.g. don’t, didn’t, can’t,
aren’t…), the other word must be anything / anyone / anywhere /
any…
❑ Example phrases
❌ I haven’t had nothing to eat all day.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 10. See you next Wednesday
❑ The correction
If you plan on seeing someone on Wednesday of the same week,
then simply say, “See you on Wednesday”. If you want to see
someone on 10th January of the same year, say “See you on 10th
January”.
❑ Example phrases
❌ Let’s meet for your job interview the next 4th June.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 11. The cat of the dad of Joe
❑ The correction
Use the apostrophe to express possession (you might have learnt
this as the “saxon genitive”, though native speakers generally just
call it the apostrophe). So we would say Joe’s dad’s cat (3 simple
words) instead of the cat of the dad of Joe (7 words!). We could go
on and on and say, for example, Joe’s dad’s ex-wife’s son’s friend’s
cat’s food.
❑ Example phrases
❌ It’s the birthday of the wife of my friend today.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 12. Two woman and a men
❑ The correction
The correct plurals of the above words are women, men, children,
wives and teeth. Students have the most problems changing woman
to women because, although both words begin wo-, the sound of
the o changes in the plural and sounds more like an i.
❑ Example phrases
❌ All the childs in my class are lovely.
✅ All the children in my class are lovely.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 13. Pronouncing -ed in past tenses
❑ What’s the problem?
English is not a phonetic language, and we do not pronounce every
letter that we write. I’m sure you know this. But I’m also sure you
sometimes pronounce regular verbs in the past incorrectly!
The thing is, that /t/ and /d/ are so similar that it’s almost impossible
to distinguish the two. So my personal tip is to always add /t/ to the
end of the verb. If it’s not possible to add a /t/ to the end of a word,
then add /id/.
Note: It’s only not possible to add a /t/ to the end of verbs that
already end in /t/ or /d/ sounds, for example:
✅ Decide ✅ Want ✅ Add ✅ Hate ✅ Collide
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 14. Used to v Usually
❑ Example phrases
❌ I am used to live in France when I was younger.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 15. Do you like the beef?
❑ The correction
The basic rule is quite simple…
When we are talking about something in general, we do not use ‘the’.
When we are talking about something specific, we use ‘the’.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
Quick Fix 16. I want to can speak English
❑ The correction
If we want to use it as the infinitive, we must use be able to. This has
exactly the same meaning as can but we can use it in every tense by
simply conjugating the verb to be (e.g. I will be able to, I would like
to able to, I would have been able to…)
❑ Example phrases
❌ I would love to can speak English perfectly.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M
WHO AM I?
GREG PIOLI
British English Pronunciation and Grammar Coach
I’m Greg Pioli, and I help students like you to power through the intermediate
barrier to communicate clearly and confidently in English!
In 2016 I started teaching via YouTube, and my lessons reach people in over
200 countries. I love how this makes the world seem a smaller place, and how
my lessons make a small difference to people’s lives all around the world.
W W W. E N G L I S H W I T H G R E G . C O M