Common Rules for Students of ESL
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1)
Pluralize words when you are talking about them in general:
Not: “I like dog,” or
“I like a dog.” But:> “I like dogs”
Not: “I like to see
movies and read a book.” But:> “I like to see movies and read books.
You can emphasis a particular type: “I like to read a good book.”
2) “I
like to sing a song” or “I like to read a book” ~ should be
corrected to just be “I like to sing,” and “I like to read.” We can
assume you sing songs and read books.
3)
Don’t put “was” before another complete verb:
Not: “I was ran
yesterday.” But:> “I ran yesterday.” Please never say someone “… was
died.” That sounds especially strange.
4)
Present Participles (verb + -ing) need a “be” verb in front of them.
Not: “I reading a book,”
But:> “I’m reading a book.”
5) Use
“too” with positive statements and “neither” with negatives statements:
“I like Kimchi,.” “I do too”; “I don’t like Kimchi,” “Me neither /
Neither do I.”
6) Use
“to” with only the basic form of the verb: Not: “I want to
running.” But:> “I want to run,” No –ing. Exceptions: “I look forward
to seeing you.”
7)
Don’t use “to” with past tense verbs, only present tense.
Not: “I like to ran.”
But:> “I like to run.”
8)
Don’t use “a” or “the” before meal names: Not: “I ate a breakfast
this morning,” But:> “I ate breakfast this morning.”
9)
Don’t repeat the subject in the form of a pronoun directly after the
subject.
Not: “Americans they
are very fat.” But:> “Americans are very fat.”
10) Don’t
use “a,” “an,” or “the” to mean generalizations except in scholarly or
very formal situations.
Not “I like to read a
book.” But:> “I like to read books.”
Not “The cat is a
beautiful animal.” But:> “Cats are beautiful animals.” Scholarly:
Used before a singular noun indicating that the noun is generic:
The wolf is an endangered species. A cat is a feline.
11) Going
somewhere specific requires the preposition “to” except for “home.” Do
not use “to” for places using “up” or “down.” Do not use “to” with
non-specific words like “abroad” or “overseas. Do not use “to” with
pronouns.
Not: “I’m going
Gwangju.” But:> “I’m going to Gwangju.”
Not: “I’m going to
home.” But:> “I’m going home.”
Not: “I’m going to
downtown.” But:> “I’m going downtown.”
Not: “I’m going to
there.” But:> “I’m going there.”
12) Don’t
incorrectly place verbs in the “subject” or “complement” of the
sentence.
Not: “I like sing.” But:>
“I like to sing.” Or, “I like singing.” (Turn the verb
into a noun by using “to” in front of it, or by adding “-ing” -- not all
verbs can use both methods.) Note: some verbs can produce a secondary
verb (infinitive without “to”), such as help, make, let, and verbs of
perception (see below). >> “My mother made me eat the
hamburger,” “I watched him fall.”
(See next page)
Subject |
Verb |
Complement |
Nouns or pronouns including modifying
adjectives |
Verbs, verb phrases, and phrasal verbs |
Objects, indirect objects, predicate
adjectives. predicate nominative
or object compliment |
Use infinitive or gerunds here |
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Use infinitives or gerunds here. |
13) Don’t
leave out the “do” part of “don’t.” “Not” is not a helping verb.
Not: “I not have
any money.” But:> “I don’t have any money.”
14) Put a
“determiner” in front of most nouns (a, an, the, my, his, her, some,
much, your).
Not: “I like teacher.”
But:> “I like my teacher.”
Not: “My father is truck
driver.” But:> “My father is a truck driver.”
15) Don’t
put “very” before verbs.
Not: “I very like
you.” But:> “I like you very much.”
16) Don’t
use two “determiners”
Not: “I’m having a my
birthday party.” But:> “I’m having my birthday party.”
17) When
making a negative statement begin with a negative word: Not:
“Everybody doesn’t want to go.” But: “Nobody wants to go.”
18) Don’t
use adverbs in place of adjectives.
Not: “He is very
kindly.” But:> “He is very kind.”
(Saying, “The kindly old man…” is ok)
Instructions:
Choose the correct answer.
Q1 - She played _____.
beautiful
beautifuly
beautifully
Q2 - The TV's far too ____.
loud
loudly
Either
could be used here.
Q3 - She speaks so very ____.
quick
quickly
Q4 - She's a ____learner.
quick
quickly
Q5 - I know them quite ____.
good
well
Either
could be used here.
Q6 - Check your work ____.
careful
carefuly
carefully
Q7 - I've been having a lot of headaches ____.
late
lately
Q8 - He's a ____ actor.
terrible
terribly
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Q9 - He should pass the test _____.
easy
easily
easilly
Q10 - He's really lazy and _____ tries.
hard
hardly
Either
could be used here.
Q11 - The newspapers were very _____ of the scheme.
critical
critically
Q12 - He's ____ill.
critical
critically
Q13 - I don't ____ agree with you.
full
fuly
fully
Q14 - I was _____ shocked.
complete
completely
Q15 - It was a ____ mess.
complete
completely
Q16 - They messed things up ____.
complete
completely
Q17 - It was a ____ day for us all.
sad
sadly
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19) Use
“going to,” not “will” for planned future events.
Not: “I will go to
Seoul tomorrow.” But:> “I’m going to go to Seoul tomorrow.”
20) Use
“would” when talking about future imaginary things.
Not: “I like to have a
big house in the country.” But:> “I would like to have a big
house in the country.”
21) Use
“have to” not “should” for things that are mandatory. “Should”
means: it’s just a good idea, but you don’t have to do it.
Not: “I should pick up my
mother at the airport.” But:> “I have to pick up my mother at the
airport.” Don’t say “must;” “must” is stronger than “have to” and is
used in “emphatic” (forceful) statements or by people in authority.
22) Don’t
say “wide” when you mean big. Say “big” when you mean big and
“wide” when you mean wide; i.e., “The board is 10 feet long and 8 inches
wide.”
23) “I
envy you” ~ is not natural English. Say “I’m so jealous”
or “That really makes me jealous,” “That makes me so jealous.”
24) Don’t
say “until” when you mean “by” ~ “By” means no later than.
“Until” means a continuous action that happens up to a specific time,
but not after: “I’ll finish studying by 9:00.” “I’ll study until
9:00.”
Instructions:
“By” and “until” are two words that are often confused by learners.
Students should take the following test:
Q1 - I'll keep phoning ____ you pay me.
by
until
Q2 - It's open from 7am ____ 5pm.
by
until
Q3 - It must be finished ____ Friday afternoon.
by
until
Q4 - She'll be staying at the hotel ____ Friday.
by
until
Q5 - She'll be here at five, ___ which time you mustn't leave
the room.
by
until
Q6 - I'll be ready ____ the time you get here.
by
until
Q7 - I'll stay here ____ five o'clock.
by
until
Q8 - She'll be here at five, ___ which time I expect you to have
finished the work
by
until
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Q9 - I'll have it ready ____ four o'clock at the latest.
by
until
Either
could be used here.
Q10 - ____ the time I get to Phoenix, she'll be getting up.
By
Until
Q11 - We’d better wait ____ Tony's here.
by
until
Q12 - She had promised to be back ____ five o'clock.
by
until
Q13 - The application must be in ____ the 1st.
by
until
Q14 - Don't move ____ I tell you.
by
until
Q15 - Once he starts a decorating job he won't stop ____ it's
finished.
by
until
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25) Using
“until” to mean having done something to the present ~ It is common
for ESL students to say things such as: “I’ve studied music until now.”
When one understands “until” to mean to do something for a period of
time and then stop, the sentence does not convey the desired meaning.
It implies that the person is no longer studying music. Saying “up to
[till] now” is better, but most native speakers would rephrase the
entire statement and say “I’ve been studying music for X years,” or
“I’ve been studying since I was X years old.”
26) Try not
to always use “so” to replace “very,” “a lot,” or “really.” Instead
of saying “The Wonder Girls are so popular,” try saying “The Wonder
Girls are really popular.” “So” has a conjunctive feeling and tends to
imply more information is coming, thus can give many sentences a feeling
of not being finished. Using “a lot” is very common: “I like it a lot”;
however “a lot” is not considered to be a real word by grammarians and
is not usually found in dictionaries.
27) Use the
proper preposition ~ Preposition usage can be confusing; you must study
them
Take this preposition
quiz (answers are on the next page)
(Answers to
preposition quiz: at, with, to, on, of, for or from, about, of, to, on,
in, on, at, in, in, in, on, at, in, in.)
28) Don’t
say “the next day” when you meant “tomorrow.”
Not: “I’ll see you the
next day.” But;> “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
29)
Multiple singular nouns following a “be” verb don’t make it plural. It
remains singular:
Not: “There are my
brother and sister.” But;> “There is my brother and sister.”
30) Not all
compound subjects form a plural verb. We would not say “Here are my
passport and registration card,” but instead would say “Here is
my passport and registration card.” We would not say “There are my
pencil and paper,” but instead would say “There is my pencil and
paper.” We would not say “Thunder and lightening were frightening to
me,” but instead would say “Thunder and lightening was
frightening to me.” Such compound subjects are so closely related in
the context spoken of that they become “conjoined” into a single idea or
subject.
31) The
plural of person is usually “people.” Only use “persons” when you
are emphasizing each person of the group. Ex. “The persons responsible
for committing the crime will be apprehended.”
32) “In
these days” ~ Should be just “These day,” “Now-a-days,” or
“recently.”
33)
“Almost” means “nearly” and must be followed by a quantity, most
commonly “all.” Don’t say, “Almost my friends like fashionable
clothes”; say “Almost all my friends like fashionable clothes.”
Using specific numbers like “Almost 90 people came to the party,” is
grammatical, but could sound a little strange depending in context (If
the person is certain the amount was not over 90 people, then he would
probable the know the exact number and just say the exact number.) If
one is estimating, one would say “About 90 people came … .” Saying
“Nearly [or almost] “half” would probably be acceptable in most
situations. Note: Only use “Almost all …,” with positive statement.
For negative statements say “Almost nobody or no one … .”
34) “Most
of” refers to a subset of a group. Don’t say “Most of Koreans like
dogs,” say “Most Koreans like dogs.” (leave out the “of”) “Most of ..”
is used to limit the group: “However, most of the Koreans I know prefer
cats.”
35) later
~ We don’t say “See you two weeks later” or “Come back two weeks
later.” You should say “See you in two weeks” or “…two
weeks from now…” “Come back in two weeks.” “Later” is a
comparative adjective and requires the comparing of two time
periods: “Mary came five minutes later than Joan.” The expression
“I’ll see you later” is alright. Also do not say “Come back in two
weeks later.” Saying “after” is not usually used with a time
period in second person (referring to the person being spoken to), but
could probably sound acceptable as long as the word after comes
before the time phrase, not after. Not: “Came two days after,” but
instead say “Come back after two days.”
36) Don’t
put “the” in front of city names. Just say “I’m going to Gwangju,”
not “I’m going to the Kwangju.”
37)
Everyone, everybody ~ Any word or phrase with “every” is
always singular: “Everyone likes good food.”
38) “fun”
vs. “funny” ~ Something is fun if it’s enjoyable in a happy exciting
way. Something is “funny” if it makes us laugh. The amusement park
ride was fun, not funny. The man was funny (he made us laugh).
39) “bored”
vs. “boring” ~ A person gets bored from watching or doing something
that’s boring. We don’t say “I’m boring,” we say “I’m bored.”
40) “said
like that” ~ We don’t say “He said like that.” We just say
“He said that”. – no “like.
41) Don’t
use “more” with comparative adjectives.
Not: I like it more
better than that one. But:> I like it better than that one.
42)
“recommend” ~ Don’t say “I recommend to you …” We recommend
information, so the word recommend is followed by “that”: “I recommend
that you lose weight.” However “that” is understood even when not said,
so it is considered optional: “I recommend you lose weight.”
43) play
vs. go ~ We “play” most sports that are games, but just do others.
We play tennis, basketball, soccer, badminton, pool, etc. We don’t play
swimming, running, skiing, or skating. With golf, we use both terms,
“I’m going to play golf,” or “Let’s go golfing.” Exception: We don’t
play bowling; we just go bowling (though it’s clearly a game).
44) noon
and midnight ~ Noon is PM, midnight is AM.
45)
diligent ~ This word is very rarely used. Try saying, “He is hard
working,” or “He works hard.”
46) red
color ~ When speaking of a color, don’t use the word “color”; just
say the name of the color: “The car is red,” not “The car is red color.”
47) “drunk”
vs. “drunken” ~ Native speakers never use the word “drunken”: “I’m
drunk,” “We got drunk,” “The drunk man …” Always use “drunk.”
48) clever
~ Don’t say “clever” when you mean “smart.” These words are not the
same. “Clever” means thinking in an original way, having a good idea,
or thinking in an imaginative way. If a person is intelligent then just
say “smart.” If he did something original that the average person would
not have thought of, then say “clever.”
49) “I need
to lose my weight.” “My weight” is all of your weight. Just
say; “I need to lose weight / some weight.”
50) “…
before” “I saw him five years before.” Say: “I saw him five
years ago.”
51) “Close
from here” This should be “Close to here” compare: “…far
from here.” Also, don’t use “to” with the word “near.” Say “It’s
near the post office,” not “It’s near to the post office.”
52) A, an,
or one, is singular. Never say “an hours,” “one hours,” “one years,”
etc.
53) Saying
“It’s good for your health” is not as natural as saying “It’s
healthy.”
54) “Eat
medicine” ~ We take medicine or vitamins; we don’t eat them.
55) I’m a
good cooker, should be “I’m a good cook”
56) We
don’t say “I got married with her.” We say “I got married
to her.”
57) “Food”
is not usually countable. Don’t say “I liked all the foods.” Say “I
liked all the food.”
58)
Distinguish between eating and drinking. We drink liquids, we don’t
eat liquids.
59) Until
now means something continued up to now, but then changed. You
shouldn’t say “I’ve studied math until now” because that sounds like you
no longer study math. Saying “Up to [till] now,” sounds better, but
most native speakers would rephrase the entire sentence and say
something like “I’ve studied math for X years” or “I’ve studied math
since ______.”
60)
Respectively ~ This word is used to clarify the relationships of two
sets of things. For instance, “The glass, plate, and fork cost
two-dollars, four-dollars and one-dollar respectively,” (the two
sets of items are listed in the same respective order). This is
confusing to many ESL students, which can be seen in the following quote
taken from a book published by Korean Herald: “Three of them crashed in
the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon respectively.”
“Respectively” in the foregoing sentence makes no sense because there is
no one-to-one correspondence between planes and buildings.
61)
Especially I ~ Adverbs of focus should be placed in directly in
front of the main verb of the sentence or the exact word they modify.
We do not say, “Especially I like chocolate ice-cream.” Instead say: “I
especially like chocolate ice-cream.”
Konglish Problems
62) black
eyes ~ Nobody has “black eyes.” Say “My eyes are brown (or
dark-brown).
63) oil ~
This is often used to mean gasoline in Korea. Motor oil goes
directly in the engine. Gasoline or “gas” is what we put into our fuel
tanks.
64) Are you
ok? ~ Don’t say this when you mean “Is that alright with you?” Say:
“Is that ok?” “Are you ok?” means: Are you hurt?, or Have you been
injured
65)
department ~ This is Konglish for department store. When
talking to a native speaker of English, you must include the word
“store.”
66) night ~
This is Konglish for nightclub. You should say “nightclub.”
67) cup
~ This is Konglish for glass (A cup has a handle or is made of paper or
plastic): “A glass of Coke.”
68) toast ~
This is Konglish for a toasted sandwich. You should just say
“sandwich” and “please toast the bread.”
69) hip ~
This is Konglish for “butt.” We have two hips – where the bones are.
70) toilet
~ bathroom – restroom (Say “restroom” for public buildings and
“bathroom” for homes.) Saying “toilet” sounds a little impolite
71) handle
~ This is Konglish for steering wheel.
72) cunning
~ Should be “cheating.” Cunning means a planned, skillful, and subtle,
deceptiveness: “The bank robbers were cunning.”
73) dessert
~ is not coffee, cider, tea, or cola. It’s only: ice cream, cake, pie,
banana splits, or something else that is sweet and something you eat
after having dinner.
74) car
number ~ Konglish for License plate number.
75) jelly ~
Konglish for Jell-o. Jelly is made from fruit juice and is what we
spread on bread or toast. Jam is similar, but is made from boiled fruit
and has pieces of the actually fruit in it. The dessert is called by
its brand name: Jell-o, not jelly.
76) hand
phone ~ Not a bad name actually, but Americans say cell phone
or mobile phone.
77) hobby ~
A hobby is NOT just anything you do in your spare time. “hob·by1
n. pl. hob·bies An activity or interest pursued
outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily
for pleasure.” So, it is something that is pursued and is
somewhat like an occupation. It’s not going to movies, listening
to music, watching TV, or reading books. Hobbies are things that are
pro-active, not passive. Hobbies involve work! Things like
collecting stamps or coins, making models, doing ceramics, wood working,
and photography are hobbies. Playing a musical instrument or
involvement in sports are usually not considered true hobbies, but
rather are skills.
78) “I have
a promise / plan .” ~ This is Konglish for “I have an appointment”
(usually for a doctor or dentist, etc.), “I have something to do,” or “I
already have plans.” “Do you have any plans?”
79) sign
pen ~ Konglish for marker
80) having
an “event.” ~ This is Konglish for having a “special” or having a
“sale.”
81) sharp ~
is Konglish for “mechanical pencil.”
82)
back-mirror ~ Konglish for “rear-view-mirror.”
83)
potatoes (at fast food restaurants) ~ Potatoes that are cut
and deep fried are called “French fries” or just “fries,” not potatoes:
“I would like a cheese burger and fries, please.”
84) coating
~ Koreans say “coating” for lamination. The word “coating” would be
used for liquids that dry and cover or protect; solids bonded together
are laminated.
85) hot dog
~ In Korea the hotdogs that come on a stick are called “hotdogs,”
but western people call them “corndogs” because they are covered with
corn batter. A hot dog refers to a hot dog (the meat) in a hot dog bun
to westerners.
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