5 English GRAMMAR points you are (probably) getting WRONG

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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".

Correct this sentence

"This was a fantastic party we went to last week this was a fantastic party we

went to last week"

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"

The next challenge can you

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

you in the next video