Notes

English
Confusable words:
- Lay / lie
o Lay in the past: laid, laid
o Lie in the past: lay, lain
To lie down: you take a horizontal position (se coucher)
To lay something down: put something somewhere, often carefully
(déposer)
- Feel / fall
o Fell in the past: felt, felt
o Fall in the past: fell, fallen
- Mind / matter
o I don’t mind: you have no objection to do something
o It doesn’t matter: no problem, no trouble
- Manage / succeed
o If you manage to do something, you succeed in doing it
- Say / tell
o If you say something: you use your voice to produce words.
After say, there’s generally a report clause or a quote
If you want to mention someone, you have to use the
preposition to
o Tell is generally giving information and you use tell rather than
say when you mention the person you’re speaking to or
the speaker
Tell someone something
Used as objects, don’t need to refer to the person you are
speaking to: To tell the truth, a lie, a story
- Let / leave
o Let him go: to allow the third person to do something.
Someone allows someone else to do something
o Leave him alone, leave him be: get away from him
- Anxious / nervous
o Anxious can have a negative and a positive meaning. If you
are anxious about someone or something means that you are
worried about them (so more negative)
If you are anxious to do something, you are very exited and
impatient to start doing it (so more positive)
o If you are nervous, you are rather frightened about something
you are going to do or experience (always negative).
Generally, before an exam.
- Prevent / warn
o To prevent someone from doing something: do not allow you
to do it:
o To warn someone of something: drawing the person’s
attention to a potential danger
Rule that concerns spelling

When to doble final consonants:
- If you have a one syllable word ending in a single vowel sound and
consonant, you doble the final consonant before adding the suffix
o Dip: dipped
- If there is more than 1 syllable, it is linked to pronunciation. You only
doble the final consonant if the final consonant is stressed.
o Admit: final syllable has the stress  admitted
o Begin: beginner
o Open: opener
o Suffer: suffered
- Exceptions: in British English, words ending in “l” doble the l
o Travel  travelling
o Quarrel  quarrelling
 You don’t doble it in American English
- Doble it in both (even if they don’t have the stress):

o Hiccup  hiccupping
o Program  programmed
o Kidnap  kidnapping
o Worship  worshipping
o Handicap  handicapped
Use of hyphens
Sometimes the use of hyphens is compulsory sometimes no
Compulsory:
- When refer to relatives
o Mother-in-law
o In-laws
- In compound nouns in which the first part is a letter
o A t-shirt
o A U-turn (when you move the complete opposite direction, also
in an idea, when you change to a complete opposite direction)
(always capital letter)
o X-ray
Advisable:
- Group of words that make up a concept and define a third word
o A spare-time occupation: spare-time forms one concept that
defines occupation
o Third-year students: third-year forms a concept that defines
the word students
o Blood-cells sample: blood-cells defines the word sample
Use of ‘s (as the possessive)

- Singular noun: ‘s
- Plural noun that ends in s: ‘ (only the apostrophy)
- Singular noun ending in s: both are possible
o Socrates’ ideas

o Dickens’s novels
 Consonant sound preciding/following the s so adding the
s makes it easier
- Use the ‘s for relationship, possession and physical characteristics
when the 1st noun refers to a person, an animal, a country,
organisation or any other group of living creatures.
- No ‘s with things.
- There are some words which express actions that can be used with
‘s but we have the choice
o The arrival of the Queen / The Queen’s arrival

- When express a measurement of time, how long something took
place, can use ‘s
o A day’s journey
o A year’s work
- Before the adjective worth

o A 20 pounds’ worth of gold
Words that can be followed either by an inform or by an

infinitive
- Remember, forget: can be followed by both
o I don’t remember buying soap  try to remember the moment
you bought it but you can’t picture it
o I didn’t remember to buy soap  you jumped a line on your
list and you don’t have soap in your bag
- Go on / stop (same kind of use but don’t have the same meaning)
o I went on / stopped running : I was running and all of a sudden
I stopped/ I went on running mean you went on running and
you continued running
o I went on / stopped to run: you stopped what you were doing
to run
- Regret
o I regret telling you: you did tell but you shouldn’t have told
o I regret to tell you: to announce bad news. Often used when
someone passed out.
No change in meaning, the difference is grammatical:
- Advise, allow, permit, forbid
o I wouldn’t advise taking the car into town
When there is an object: infinitive, more general statement
o I wouldn’t advise you to take the car into town. (more specific,
to a person)
Here: difference in meaning:
- See, watch, hear
o I looked out of the window and saw Mary crossing the road:
she is in the process of crossing the road
o I looked out of the window and saw Mary crossed the road and
disappeared into the cloud: you went at the window and
looked at the whole process, until she has finished crossing the
road.

Notes

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Notes

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Notes

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

English

Rule that concerns spelling

 You don’t doble it in American English

- Doble it in both (even if they don’t have the stress):

Use of ‘s (as the possessive)

o The arrival of the Queen / The Queen’s arrival

- Before the adjective worth

Words that can be followed either by an inform or by an

You might also like