Lavengro Books

Alone and lonely do not mean the same thing.

Spanish-speakers often place adverbs in the wrong place in English.

Spanish-speakers very often place adverbs in the wrong position in English.

With apologies for the delay, Lavengro Books is resuming posting extracts of articles from the books.

Here we explain the difference between all, both and most.

Double negatives. English is different from most languages.

It's not surprising that people confuse the two words "devil" and "evil", but they are completely different words from different origins.

The correct use of "any" forms is sometimes confusing. Here is a quick guide.

There are differences between British and American English. They are not very important, being minor spelling differences and some vocabulary items.

It's a good idea to know what they are and use one form or the other without mixing them.

Do you have an ache or a pain? Why do we say "a headache" but "a sore throat"?

Remember that "though" and "although" are conjunctions and "despite" and "in spite of" are prepositions.

In both cases there is no difference between the alternatives. They are completely interchangeable.

Writing and speaking dates is surprisingly complicated in English. Here are some guidelines.

A common source of usage problems comes is the difference between: a lot of, lots of much/many and plenty of. This is the explanation.

This is a useful guide to modal verbs. I found it on the internet. I don't know where it comes from.

I am pleased to say that A Guide to English Language Usage is now available from Amazon in Mexico, Japan and Brazil

Problems arise with these words. "Since" and "for" go with the present perfect but "ago" has the past simple.

Midnight is not the same as the middle of the night.

Midnight is 00.00, the exact point when one day changes into another.

The middle of the night is some imprecise time, probably after midnight, when you are sleeping and don't want to be woken up by the phone ringing.

Some people say that "speak to" can only mean mean one-way communication because of the meaning of the preposition "to". That is a very pedantic interpretation and is obviously not the case in practice. However, there is a difference: "speak with" implies a conversation of some length and substance, which is not necessarily the case with "speak to". You can say "I spoke to him briefly yesterday" but "spoke with" doesn't work there.

Similarly, the much maligned "meet with" is used to mean "have a (probably scheduled) meeting with" and cannot mean that you just bumped in a friend in the street.

Sometimes we say "hear" and other times it's "listen". And we say "listen to"? What's happening here?

When do we use "see" and when is it "look"? What about "look at"?

All this is explained in A Guide to English language Usage for non-native speakers.

From Great English Mistakes made by Spanish-speakers.

In my publicity for Great English Mistakes I list some typical mistakes made by Spanish-speakers. I have been asked for explanations of them.
• I apologise for your father’s death.
Should be: I am sorry about your father’s death.
Explanation: Spanish “siento” (literally “I feel”) is both “apologise” and “feel sorry about”.
• People is kind.
Should be: People are kind.
Explanation: In Spanish the word for “people” (gente) is singular.

• Which is your phone?
Should be: What is your phone number? The Spanish would be: ¿Cuál es tu teléfono?
Explanation:
1) “Cuál” conventionally translates as “which” so Spanish-speakers say “which” in questions with unlimited possibilities.
2) The Spanish form does not include the word for number.

• I am interesting to know you.
Should be: I am interested to know you.
Explanation: A common mistake with no obvious cause.

• How many children you have?
Should be: How many children do you have / have you got?
Explanation: Spanish ¿Cuántos hijos tienes? The verb (tienes) is not marked as a question. The meaning is shown by the context, with intonation in speech and punctuation in writing.

• I am sorry, I am constipated.
Should be: I am sorry, I have a cold.
Explanation: Spanish “constipado” refers to a blocked nose.

• I forgot my books at home.
Should be: I left my books at home.
Explanation: Spanish-language interference.

• I came walking.
Should be: I came on foot.
Explanation: Spanish-language interference.

• My car is in the parking.
Should be: My car is in the car park.
Explanation: “Parking” is the Spanish for car park.

• Is very beautiful your sister.
Should be: Your sister is very beautiful.
Explanation: Spanish often starts a sentence with a verb followed by the subject.

• My fathers live in Zaragoza.
Should be: My parents live in Zaragoza.
Explanation: In Spanish “padre” is “father” but “padres” is “parents”. This applies generally, e.g. “rey” is “king” but “los reyes de España” is the King and Queen of Spain”.

English doesn't have any accents or other symbols on the letters. People often omit them but this can make words look strange and lead to pronunciation problems. However, newspapers and other publishers are often inconsistent in the way they use them on foreign words.

From Pearls of the English Language

The difference between abroad and foreign

from

Pearls of the English Language

above & over; below & under

from

Pearls of the English Language

Thank you to the number of people who have liked this page lately. I intend to post some short messages about English language usage. All comments are very welcome.

People sometimes confuse e.g. and i.e.

e.g. means “for example”.
i.e. means “that is to say”.

They are abbreviations in Latin and are spoken and written as the names of the letters. The full Latin forms “exempli gratia” and “id est” are not used at all.

A big thank you to all the people who have Liked this page lately. I intend to post some short messages about English language usage. All comments are very welcome.

People sometimes confuse e.g. and i.e.

e.g. means “for example”.
i.e. means “that is to say”.

They are abbreviations in Latin and are spoken and written as the names of the letters. The full Latin forms “exempli gratia” and “id est” are not used at all.

We are pleased to report that A Guide to English Language Usage is now in stock on amazon.fr.

Owing to some odd distribution blip, amazon.fr shows A Guide to English Language Usage as available but not in stock. We have queried this and hope to have the situation remedied soon.

It takes a few weeks for books to appear on amazon.mx. The book should appear there later this month.

New editions of three books are now available