Today we've got five grammar points that you are probably getting wrong now I
teach English every day and these are some of the most common mistakes
I hear. Pay attention because you're going to be surprised and you're going
to learn a lot and in just a few minutes but I promise you we're going to take
your English level up a notch and by the way, this is just part one of two videos
on this subject so there'll be ten grammar mistakes in all. So I'll put down a
challenge for you I'll start each grammar point with a sentence that has a mistake
in it and all you have to do correct that mistake okay. By the way I'm
in Paris today in front of the vertical garden yes that's right it's not the
Eiffel Tower but have a look it's pretty nice
anyway I'm off somewhere a bit more comfortable
it's chilly here and also somewhere a bit quieter so see you in a moment
Hello and welcome to letThemTalk so are you ready for the first grammar challenge can you
correct this sentence? "This is a 30 years old bottle of vintage wine this is a 30
years old bottle of vintage wine" and the correct sentence is
"This is a 30-year-old bottle of vintage wine. In English when you say a number followed by
another word followed by a noun the word before the noun is without S okay that
sounds a bit confusing so maybe I haven't given you the best definition
but you'll see it very clearly if I give you some examples so you'll see
what I mean so "I work a 35-hour week" here WEEK is a noun but the word
35-HOUR before it is not a noun but a compound adjective that's right a
compound adjective that describes the type of week and we don't put an S on
adjectives in English and remember 35-hour should be hyphenated so that's a
little - between the 35 and the hour
however we can, of course, construct it differently with the S so "he works 35
hours a week" here HOURS is a plural noun and WEEK is a noun let's look at some
more examples "any seven-year-old child will know the answer" so "seven-year-old"
is a compound adjective so the age describes the noun
so it's an adjective and there is no S and it has a - remember but "she is seven
years old" "I live in a 28-storey building I live in a 28-storey
building" but "the building has 28 storeys" I had a "3-week holiday in Goa" okay "I
went to Goa for three weeks" with S.
So what's wrong with this sentence "My dear
friend, it's always a pleasure to see you. Come and visit me when you want my dear
friend, it's always a pleasure to see you. Come and visit me when you want". So the
correct sentence is "My dear friend, it's a pleasure to see you come and visit me
whenever you want" WHENEVER you want. Did you get that|? Here we want to say
anytime is okay Monday ,Tuesday, three o'clock four
o'clock and WHENEVER means it doesn't matter what time or it's not important
when so if you are referring to a specific moment then use WHEN "call me
when you arrive" but if you're not referring to a specific moment, if
you mean anytime is okay then use WHENEVER. So for example "Whenever I get tired I
take a nap" alright this also applies to WHATEVER, WHEREVER, WHOEVER, WHICH and
WHICHEVER, HOW and HOWEVER. So for example "You can do whatever you want"
and not what you want because it means anything is okay this that
anything okay "whoever is calling me this time of night
I'm not answering". "However you say it still sounds rude".
"This was a fantastic party we went to last week this was a fantastic party we
so the correct sentence is "that was a fantastic party
we went to last week that was a fantastic party went to last week" when
we are referring to time in the present and future we use THIS as the
demonstrative pronoun "I cannot wait until next month
this will be the holiday of a lifetime" but use THAT to refer to time in
the past "That was the best doughnut I've ever eaten", "that was an interesting
thing he said" okay this rule also refers to plurals .Use THESE for present
and future and THOSE for for the past with plurals. I'll give you an
example to show you what I mean "These will be the most important four weeks of
our lives" So THIS refers to the present and future here "Those were
difficult times between the wars" referring to the past of course.
can you correct this sentence? "I waited so long time for you I waited so long
time for you" and the correct sentence is
"I waited such a long time for you such a
long time" in English you use SO before an adjective or adverb "I was so happy to
see you" happy is an adjective. "He ran
so quickly" quickly is an adverb so use SO before it but
before an adjective and a noun or a noun on its own then you must use SUCH for
example "They are such clever children" there you are an adjective "clever" and a
noun "children", "that was such a delicious biryani" okay "Einstein was such a genius"
just with a noun there so "such a genius"
correct this sentence? "It was nice to meet you today. I now have to leave Rome
for a few days but I will go back next week".
So the correct answer is "It was
nice to meet you today I now have to leave Rome for a few days but I will
come back next week I will come back next week" So this is a very common
mistake and it's the difference between COME and GO so we use COME to talk about
motion towards the listener or reader. So if I'm writing to you in another
country I might say "I'm coming to see you next week" "I'm coming to see you
next week" "Hi mum I'm coming home soon"
So use GO to talk about motion away from the listener or the reader motion away
from the listener or reader so for example "I'm going to Hanoi next week to
visit my brother" ok "I go home twice a year" all right so that's motion away
simple huh so how many did you know? Let us know in
the comments and once again thank you for watching stay mellow and I'll see