Common Errors in English

In, At, On + Time or Date

When is your birthday? Mine is ON October 12. When do you eat lunch? I usually eat it AT noon. When does the school year begin in your country? In mine it begins IN September.

Do you know which preposition to use before times, days, months and years? Here is a reminder.

Don't forget to use...

in + month or year- In March, In 2003

on + date (with the year or without it) or day of the week- On April 2, On March 3, 1999, On Saturday

at + clock time, midnight, noon- At 3:30 p.m., At 4:01, At noon

Remember also...

in + season- In the summer, In the winter

in + morning, afternoon, evening- In the morning, In the evening

at + night- At night

Slang and Idioms

Slang and Idioms about Money

Vocabulary

-dough, moolah = money (non-countable.) I won a lot of dough at the casino. Look at
all of this moolah!
-greenback, buck = American dollar (countable.) Look at how many greenbacks you have
in your wallet! Could you loan me a buck for the subway?
-megabucks = a lot of money. I would love to be like Bill Gates. He has megabucks.
-(work for) peanuts = almost no money, very little money. John should quit
his job because he is working for peanuts and he can't afford his rent.
-max out (a credit card)= spend up to the limit of a credit card. Susie bought so
many clothes she maxed out her credit card.
-stretch money = be careful to make money one has last longer. Tony and Teri
had to really stretch their money in order to pay all of their bills. They ate
a lot of cheap food last month.
-flip a coin = make a decision by tossing a coin in the air and calling heads or
tails. (heads = side of coin with picture of a person's face, tails = opposite side
of coin.) Let's decide who will start the game by flipping a coin.

Vocabulary Lesson

Root Words from Tele and Phone

Everybody knows what a telephone is. Almost everyone has one, but very few people know why it is called telephone. When you understand the meaning behind the words, not only does it help you with the one word, it can help you understand a lot of other words, too.

tele means far, distance, or from afar

phon means sound

When you put them both together it means something that lets you hear sound from a distance.

So now that you know that, look at some other words that have tele:

telegraph- graph means writing. A telegraph is a written message that is sent a long distance by Morse code.

television- I'm sure you know that vision means something you can see. You can see something from a distance.

And some words that use phon:

microphone- micro means small. We use a microphone to capture a small voice and make it large.

homophone- homo means same. A homophone is two different words that sound the same, like here and hear.

Using 'The'

More on using 'The'

Here is a little more specific information on how to use The.

Use the after you have talked about it the first time. For example:

This is a cat. The cat is brown

Use the when the person you are talking to already knows what you are talking about. For example:

I am going to the bank.

There is someone knocking at the door. It must be the computer repairman. I called him to come help fix my computer.

Use the when you talk about general places in nature like the lake, the mountains, the ocean, the beach, etc. For example:

Let's go to the beach.

I love to camp in the mountains.

Use the when you are talking about something that there is only one of and everyone knows about it. The sky, the earth, the stars (as a group). For example:

How many people are there on the earth?

The sky is so beautiful today.

Reported Speech

Reported Speech (Part 1)

Reported Speech is used to tell or report what someone has said.

For example, look at this sentence: Harry said, "I love Susan." If we ask someone else to tell us what Harry said, the person would say (or report) what the first person said like this.

He said he loved Susan.
Or Harry said he loved Susan.

But notice how the verb tense changed. Love became loved. Here are some rules...

The present tense verb is change to the past tense in reported speech.

Sally said, "I like pizza."

What did she say?
She said (that*) she liked pizza.

The past tense is change to the past perfect in reported speech.

Joe said, "I went to New York City."

What did he say?
He said (that) he had gone to New York City.

The present continuous is changed to the past continuous.

Michael said, "I am taking an English class."

What did he say?
He said (that) he was taking an English class.

*You can use the work that in reported speech if you want. It doesn't matter if you do or not.

Using the conditional sentence

Using the Conditional

We use the conditional to show a possible situation based on another situation. For example:

If A happens, then B will happen.


The first conditional shows that something could possibly happen. Its structure is like this:

If + subject + present tense (or present progressive) ----, subject + will/may/can + base verb ----.

For example:

If it rains tomorrow, I will take my umbrella.

If you help me, we can finish earlier.

If the boys give the monkey a coin, it may dance for them.

Notice that each sentence above uses the present tense on the if side. But we could also use the present progressive if something is happening right now.

If he isn't working right now, he may want to come over for dinner.


We can also change the order of the sentence and put the if side on the second half. The only difference is that there is no comma.

I will take my umbrella if it rains tomorrow.

We can finish earlier if you help me.

The monkey may dance for the boys if they give it a coin.

He may want to come over for dinner if he isn't working right now.

Recount Text

What is recount???
Recount is a text which retells events or experiences in the past.

Social function of recount
-inform or to entertain the audience.
-provides information about what happened, when it happened, where it
happened and who was involved.

Schematic structure of recount
-Orientation:identify a person or thing acted or got involved in the
event,including the time, a certain place, the situation, etc.
-Series of Events:ordered in a chronological sequence.
-Re-orientation :not always (optional), it contains personal comments

Language feature of recount
-Recounts normally start by setting the scene, e.g., “what?”, “where?”,
“how?”.
-This is followed by a series of events, in order that they happened
(Chronological Order).
-The final paragraph should bring the reader back to the subject.
-They are written in the past tense and active voice
-They connectives related to time, e.g., after, then, next, meanwhile,
to cause, e.g., because, since, to contrast, e.g., however, although,
nonetheless.
-They use the first person (I, we) in autobiography and fiction,
otherwise they use the third person.
-They focus on specific people or event.

Recount text found in
-biographies and autobiographies
-newspapers or the television news
-letters and postcards
-textbooks
-conversations with friends

A little bit history about recount
-Derewianka (1990) identified three types of Recount text,
namely Personal Recount, Factual Recount, and Imaginative Recount.
-Hardy and Kalrwein (1990) divided two kinds of Recount,
namely Personal Recount and Historical Recount.

Moral values in narrative text

The Legend of Malin Kundang

A long time ago, there lived widow with her only son. They lived in a hut in a village near the sea. They were very poor. Malin Kundang, the son’s name, thought, “if I stay here, I won’t have a better life. I have to leave this village and look for a job.” His mother was sad to hear it. But she knew that Malin Kundang was right. So she let him go.
After her son had left, Malin Kundang’s mother went to the beach every day. She hoped her son would return soon. At night she would pray for her son’s safety. She would ask the captain of the ship whether he saw her son or not. But she got no news about Malin Kundang.
After years, when she was very old, a captain of a ship told her, “Malin Kundang? I met him some month ago. He is now married to a beautiful girl. She is the daughter of a wealthy man.” Malin Kundang’s mother was very happy to hear it. “Thank you, God!” she prayed. She was sure that Malin Kundang would return home one day.
One morning, a big beautiful ship docked. A young couple stood at the dock. They wore beautiful clothes. Malin Kundang’s mother cried joyfully. “Malin Kundang! My son! You are home!” she hugged the young man. Malin Kundang did not believe her. He thought, ”This can’t be my mother! She was a strong woman when I left.” But his wife said angrily,”Why didn’t you tell me that your mother is poor and old?” Then she spitted on the old woman. The old woman cried. She could not believe what she heard.”Malin, I am your mother.” But Malin Kundang did not listen. He was embarrassed to have an old mother. So he kicked the old woman yelled at her, “Go away, ugly woman. My mother does not look like you at all.” The woman fell on the ground. She cried. Then she prayed,” My dear God, if he really is my son, punish him. “
Suddenly, there was a thunderstorm. Big waves hit the shore with a loud noise. They hit everything from big ships to coconut trees along the shore. The thunderstorm was a fierce one. The storm died in the morning. But the villagers could see what the storm had done. Not far from the shore, there were rocks that looked like wreckage and the passenger of a ship. People believed that it was Malin Kundang’s ship, and Malin Kundang changed into a coral reef. God had punished him.

Moral values of Malin Kundang Story

Many believe that a story can teach a society certain moral value. Most stories are build in narrative. Because it is a narrative story, it must consists of complication. That complication, in fact, is the moral value which like to be taught. Malin Kundang’s story is a legend from Minangkabau. This legend has a good moral value. This legend suggest us honour and obedient to your parents especially mother. Never do rude things to your mother because your mother that give birth and raise you. Also, you may not feel embarrassed although your mother ugly and old. As a child, never forget all mother services. Do not become a rebel. Insubordinate to the parents is a big sin that will be born by yourself.