Is say and tell making you crazy in English? It seems to be an area of English that most of my students are unable to master. When they sit down and study the grammar of say and tell and then do a few practise exercises it’s not a problem. But why are there mistakes almost every time students try to use say and tell in conversation?

It’s a case or rewiring the brain. In many languages say and tell use the same word and the same grammar. While say and tell are close in meaning in English there are differences and the grammar is a little different. For example, “tell” is often used for a stronger effect especially when an order to do something is given. “The boss told me to write the report by tomorrow.” Compare to “The boss said I should write the report by tomorrow.” In this example, “said” feels much weaker and not so much like an order.

Both verbs involve the act of speaking, and both can be used to report someone else’s speech, so how do you know when to use them?

 The simplest rule to remember is this

• We SAY something     
• We TELL someone something  

• TELL is usually followed by a personal object (the person you are taking to) for example:

“I told Carl that he had to take a test.”    “Can you tell me what room the test is in?”

“Please don’t tell me the answers until I have finished.”

• SAY is usually used without an object. for example:

“She said Ray (that) Ray had to take the test.”    “She said the test was in room 14.”

“The teacher said that the test was tomorrow.”

• If you want to use a personal object after SAY, you can use “said to” as in

Sam said to John  ”she was busy”  or  Sam said to me that she was studying

However, as always, there are exceptions. There are a few set phrases that always use TELL and not SAY. 

• tell (someone) a story  or tell a story
• tell (someone) a lie      or tell a lie
• tell (someone) the truth     or tell the truth
• tell the future (= to know what the future will bring)
• tell the time (= know how to read a clock)

Students in my class complain to me that watching films can be very difficult because of the constant use of idoms, phrasal verbs and slang. It’s true, this area of English or indeed any language can cause all sorts of problems but what can you do about it?

The answer is the same as always unfortunately – study. When my students want to study using a film, I always advise them that it is far better to only watch one or two scenes of the film at one time. I think it is important to have  seperate notebooks for idioms/phrasal verbs and slang. Of course when you watch a film you need to have a good dictionary at hand and if possible, a phrasal verb dictionary also.

First watch the scene with the subtitles off and try to understand as much as you can. Next, watch with subtitles and make a note of any words or expressions you don’t know. You will need to pause the dvd often to check things. It’s also a good ide to practise saying the lines after you hear them. If you have some device for recording the scene use it. Listen to the scene on your headphones when you have spare time - on the bus for example. Try to memorise as much as you can and practise the lines with the correct intonation over and over again until you feel comfortable. 

I once knew a student who improved her English dramatically using this method for the film Before Sunset with Ethan Hawke. The only problem was that it took her about three months to get to the end of the film!

In my experience as a teacher over the years, I have noticed that students, regardless of which country they are from often overlook some basic rules in English. Here are a few examples of some basic mistakes that if corrected will help you sound more fluent.

 Preposition + verb ing

 This seems to be something that almost all students are unaware of but if you can remember this basic grammar rule it will really help you. Yes, it’s true, prepositions are always followed by the ing form of the verb. Simple, right?

 Wh Questions with Verb

 There are a couple of problems here but again, it’s basically an easy rule to make questions. If you have a main verb in the question you always need to use do or a form of do depending on the tense after the wh question word. The problem for some students is that they have problems identifying a verb. If this is you, you have to become very good at quickly knowing whether your working with a verb, adjective or noun.

 Wh Questions with Adjectives and Verbs

 Just like identifying verbs in questions, you have to be able to quickly know if you are using an adjective or noun. If so, forget about do and use an appropriate be verb after the wh question. The problem here is that even after years of studying grammar, many student still do not know what be verbs to use in their various tenses after pronouns. This is something that you can correct in a few hours or less of study.

 It’s surprising how these three basic problem areas continually haunt students yet they are so easy to master.

In my experience as a teacher over the years, I have noticed that students, regardless of which country they are from often overlook some basic rules in English. Here are a few examples of some basic mistakes that if corrected will help you sound more fluent.

 Preposition + verb ing

 This seems to be something that almost all students are unaware of but if you can remember this basic grammar rule it will really help you. Yes, it’s true, prepositions are always followed by the ing form of the verb. Simple, right?

 Wh Questions with Verb

 There are a couple of problems here but again, it’s basically an easy rule to make questions. If you have a main verb in the question you always need to use do or a form of do depending on the tense after the wh question word. The problem for some students is that they have problems identifying a verb. If this is you, you have to become very good at quickly knowing whether you are working with a verb, adjective or noun.

 Wh Questions with Adjectives and Verbs

 Just like identifying verbs in questions, you have to be able to quickly know if you are using an adjective or noun. If so, forget about do and use an appropriate be verb after the wh question. The problem here is that even after years of studying grammar, many student still do not know what be verbs to use in their various tenses after pronouns. This is something that you can correct in a few hours or less of study.

 It’s surprising how these three basic problem areas continually haunt students yet they are so easy to master.

I taught for many years in Korea and while I was there, I noticed that Koreans have a strong preference to learn American English. The institutes, schools and universities often stress in their job advertisements that teachers from The United States or Canadians are preferred. Students are sometimes disappointed on the first day of class when they discover that their teacher is not a North American and some do their best to changes classes so that they can be taught by a teacher with “the correct” accent.

I understand the reasons for this preference but I am not sure if it really makes a difference. Many of the students in my class tried to imitate an American accent when they spoke but ended up sounding ridiculous. Very few second language speakers are capable of imitating a native accent. In my opinion, it is not a problem to speak English with the accent of the student’s country so long as the pronunciation is clear and the intonation more or less correct. If, like most people, you find it difficult to mimic a native accent, don’t worry about it. Just concentrate on good pronunciation. Accents are fine.

Students will soon realise that most or many of the people they need to interact with in education or business do not speak North American English and do not have North American accents. English is the international language and students are more likely to be dealing with someone fromIndia,ChinaorMexicothan a North American. It is vital that students are exposed to a wide rang of accents and different styles of English in order to communicate effectively with people of various nationalities and backgrounds.

Despite what many people believe, I don’t thing there is a huge difference between North American and British English. Often different expressions are used and on occasion the same word has a different meaning in each country but the differences are not so big as to make one style much different from another. A strong North American accent is just as difficult to understand as a strong British accent and likewise a neutral British accent can be understood as easily as a neutral North American accent.

If you are one of those students who believe that American English is the only style worth studying my advice is not to worry. It really isn’t as important as the quality of the teacher and the effectiveness of the methods you chose to study with.

English classes cost a lot of Money so it is important that you get all the benefits you can from them. Too often in my classes, I see that many students are not doing the things they need to do to improve and instead, continue month after month at the same level as when they started. Here are some of the bad habits that prevent students in my class from improving.

Not Reviewing the Previous Class

Often students turn up for class and have not even looked at what was covered in the last class. Sometimes I ask students to explain what we talked about during the previous class and I find that they can’t even remember. This means that key points have to be reviewed and practised again before we can move on as a class. This is a waist of time for the teacher, the students who have prepared properly and of course, the students not putting in the work themselves.

Not Studying Vocabulary

Vocabulary is not learned magically. It takes a lot of work to develop your vocabulary to a level in which you can converse on a wide range of topics. Many students in my class never make the effort to study new words in their own time. They seem happy to only study the words that come up in class. This method will never be good enough to develop the vocabulary you need. A commitment has to be made to learn at least 10 new words a day.

Talking in Your First Language During Class

Sometimes you have to speak in your own language during class. For example, you may be totally confused about what the teacher has asked you to do or you may need to understand something very quickly. However, having long conversations in your own language is unacceptable in the class. It’s like a disease and spreads to other students and before you know it, the whole class is speaking in their own language. Yes, it’s very difficult not to do it but you have to make a strong effort to speak in English only during class time.

Not Interacting With Other Students

How useful is speaking with other students who often make mistakes and have strong accents? This is what some people believe and instead only talk to the teacher. They stay silent during class activities and spend the time that they should be chatting reading their text books. The point is that you cannot improve your conversation ability without speaking. Unfortunately, the teacher cannot spend much time talking to students on an individual basis during the class. A good teacher will listen to conversations in the class briefly and select the mistakes he or she feels are most important to review with the class. Also, you will find that the reality of English in the working or academic world is that you often have to speak with people whose first language is not English. It is important to gain experience dealing with a wide range of accents and styles be they native English or not.

You spend hours memorising vocabulary and studying difficult grammar only to find that when it comes time to speak, many people can’t understand you! The frustration is incredible. You know the words are right, the grammar is correct but you are met with a blank stare and the enevitable “umm, pardon. What did you say?”.

Many students ignore pronunciation in favor of what many consider the more important skills. It’s easy to believe that pronunciation ability will develop in the future after you have mastered other more difficult areas of English. Bur the truth is that all skills should be developed together. Ignore pronunciation at your peril!

Get into the habit of exercising your tongue. That’s right, the tongue like any muscle in the body needs exercise in order to be able to effectively pronounce sounds it has never made before. The best workouts for the tongue are tongue twisters and lymericks. Most of you probably know what tongue twisters are and have, at some time, tried some in the classroom. For example:

She sells sea shells on the seashore.
The seashells she sells are seashells she is sure.

There are many websites for tongue twisters including http://www.uebersetzung.at/twister/en.htm If you are having problem with a particular sound in English, you can choose a toungue twister which focuses on that sound.

Another excellent way to not only practice proninciation, but rhythm and intonation as well, is by reciting limericks. When you practice pronunciation with limericks, make sure you mark where words are linked together. Remember, consonants are linked to vowels. English is a stress-timed language. Its intonation patterns, therefore, are different from those of syllable-timed languages like French, Spanish or Hindi. Limericks help you to practice the stress timing that so important for good pronunciation. If you are not familiar with the rhythm of lymericks, ask your teacher for a demonstration. Try this limerick to begin:

There once was a man from Peru/ Who dreamed he was eating a shoe/ He awoke in the night/ With a terrible fright/ And found it was perfectly true

Limericks and tongue twisters are difficult but if you keep practising, your pronunciation will improve and you’ll have fun doing it.

How do you learn new vocabulary? When most language learners don’t know a word, they look it up in a dictionary and then write the word and meaning down in a notebook. But is this the most effective way to learn and remember vocabulary? Probably not. You need to think about how to organize your vocabulary learning more clearly. Here are some tips on how to improve your study methods.

Let’s take an easy word like “sun”, for example – an easy word for most learners but how about learning other words from the same family? Do you know….

1. how to make the adjective from sun?
2. the nouns for when the sun comes up in the morning and when the sun goes down at night?
3. a verb that describes when people lye in the sun (on the beach, for example, to make their skin turn brown?
4. the adjective that describes when someone’s skin does turn brown because of the sun?
5. the word for glasses you wear in the sun?
6. the adjective that describes when someone has spent too long in the sun and their skin is red

You can improve your ability to remember word families by having a separate word family notebook. Use a new page for each different word family. Use colour and lots of space between words and definitions.

Using your dictionary, write if the word is a noun, adjective, verb, etc. and cipy down the meaning.

Try to write the word in your own sentence to demonstrate the word in context. Check the sentence with your teacher.

Write the translation of each word in your own language.

Write questions like the ones above so that when you only have a few moments to study you can quickly test your knowledge.

Have you ever thought about different ways to study English? Sure, going to class is important; you have to hit the books to improve. But there are other methods to help develop your English skills. Here are some fun and interesting activities you can try to help you with your studies. Good luck!

Sometimes when you’re sitting on a bus or waiting for a friend you feel bored, right? Why not use this time to read some of the signs around you. Signs are everywhere, just look around. Good places to read signs are train or bus stations, large shops, advertising boards and even traffic signs on the road. Do you know what they mean? Can you translate them? Carry a pocket dictionary with you to help with difficult words.

Newspapers can be scary to read in English – so many long words and lots of difficult grammar. If you don’t have the time or energy to study a whole newspaper article, why not read the funnies? The cartoons in a newspaper are easy to read and often use common idioms and phrases that can be very useful for you. Can you get the jokes? The horoscope page in the newspaper is also good to read. It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not. They’re short, interesting and great for studying vocabulary. What’s your sign?

Try to find websites which have both an English version and a version in your own language. The BBC website is just one good place to visit. Choose something you are interested in and read in English first. After read the version in your own language.

What’s your favorite song in English? Study the words and notice how words are linked together. Singing is an excellent way to improve your pronunciation and your natural delivery of English. But if you can’t sing very well, be sure the windows are closed. You don’t want to upset the neighbors.

Finally, be a spy just like James Bond. When you are on the bus or waiting in a line, listen to the conversations around you. How much can you understand? Note down any difficult words in a pocket book and check the meaning later. If you have a record function on your cell phone, try recording small parts of conversations and then listen to them when you get home. It’s probably a good idea not to get caught doing this. Some people may not like it.

Whatever ways you choose to study, try to have fun and keep it interesting. Learning a language is more than just sitting at your desk for hours. You have to live the language!