19 topics
English as a Second Language help that goes past vocabulary
Articles are the single most corrected error in ESL writing, and no textbook rule fully explains them, because a and the encode whether your reader already knows which one you mean. If your first language has no article system, that is invisible information you were never asked to track. The same is true of the present perfect, which has no equivalent in most languages and gets replaced with the past simple by default.
Where students get stuck
A, the, or nothing — my papers come back covered in article corrections
Ask one question: does my reader already know which one I mean? First mention gets a, because the reader cannot know yet. Every mention after that gets the, because now they can. I bought a book. The book was expensive. Use the when there is only one possible referent — the sun, the principal, the third chapter. Use no article for plural or uncountable nouns spoken about in general: dogs bark, water is wet, information is free. The most common error in academic writing is dropping the where a specific thing has already been named.
Present perfect and past simple feel like the same thing
The past simple puts an event at a finished moment; the present perfect connects it to now and refuses to say when. I lived in Toronto means you no longer do. I have lived in Toronto means at some point, and it still matters. This is why any finished time expression forces the past simple: yesterday, in 2019, last week. You cannot say I have seen him yesterday. And with for and since, English uses the present perfect where most languages use the present: I have worked here for three years, not I work here for three years.
Phrasal verbs are impossible to guess
They are, because the meaning is not the sum of the parts, and the same verb changes completely with a different particle. Take off can mean remove clothing or depart in a plane. Put off means postpone. Put up with means tolerate. Give up means quit. Treat each one as its own vocabulary item rather than as a verb plus a preposition. The grammar has a rule worth knowing though: separable phrasal verbs must split around a pronoun. You can say turn off the light or turn the light off, but only turn it off, never turn off it.
Count and non-count nouns trip me up constantly
English decides which nouns can be counted, and the decisions are not universal. Advice, information, homework, furniture, equipment, research and news are all non-count in English even where they are countable in other languages, so there is no advices and no an information. Use much, little and amount with them; use many, few and number with count nouns. When you need to count a non-count noun, add a unit: a piece of advice, two pieces of furniture, an item of news, three assignments rather than three homeworks.
I know the words but my sentences sound wrong
That is usually word order, which English fixes far more rigidly than most languages. The core is subject-verb-object, and the adverb does not go between the verb and the object: I speak English well, never I speak well English. Frequency adverbs go before the main verb but after be: she often arrives late, she is often late. And embedded questions revert to statement order, which almost every learner misses: I know where he lives, not I know where does he live.
What's covered
English as a Second Language topics you can work through with a tutor, generate practice on, or turn into flashcards and a study plan.
Grammar foundations
- Articles and the count/non-count distinction
- Verb tenses and the perfect aspect
- Modals for ability, obligation, advice and possibility
- Conditionals and reported speech
- Gerunds and infinitives after specific verbs
- Prepositions of time, place and movement
Vocabulary and usage
- Phrasal verbs and collocations
- Academic word list vocabulary
- Idioms and register in Canadian classrooms
- Word families: noun, verb, adjective and adverb forms
Reading and listening
- Skimming and scanning long passages
- Inferring meaning from context instead of translating
- Note-taking from a lecture at natural speed
- Understanding classroom instructions and exam wording
Writing and speaking for school
- Paragraph structure and topic sentences
- Essay organisation for content-area courses
- Editing for article, tense and agreement errors
- Class presentations and group discussion
- Speaking tasks and exam interviews
English as a Second Language questions
Can I ask questions in my first language when I am completely lost?
Yes. Explaining a confusing English rule in the language you think in is often the fastest way through it, and you can switch back to English for the practice. Being stuck in English about English is a slow way to spend an evening when the underlying idea takes thirty seconds in your own language.
Will it rewrite my essay so the English is correct?
No. A rewritten essay teaches you nothing and reads nothing like the rest of your work, which teachers notice. What it does is mark up your own draft against the rubric and name the pattern: the missing articles, the tense that slipped, the sentence that runs on. You make the edits, which is also how the error stops repeating.
I understand my teacher but not my classmates. Why?
Teachers slow down and enunciate; classmates use fast connected speech, slang, and half-finished sentences. Live voice conversation at normal speed is the practice that closes that gap, and you can ask it to repeat something slowly or explain what an expression meant without the social cost of asking a peer.
I need to prepare for a language proficiency test. Can it help with that?
It can build practice questions in the format your test uses and return full worked solutions, plus speaking practice out loud against timed prompts. It is not affiliated with any testing organisation and cannot predict a band score, so treat it as preparation rather than a forecast of your result.
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