Knowing when and how to use the articles a, an, and the can be tricky for students learning English.
A mistake that English language learners often make is to misuse the word “challenge.” Let’s look at it in the context of running a race:
I’m going to challenge the race this weekend.
Many Japanese people learning English use the word “generation” to talk about “people” in general, as in,
Younger generations shop online much more than older generations do.
In English, the negative component can be put in a variety of places. But, as long as the meaning is the same, the negative element should go as close to the front as possible.
Try to spot what's unnatural about the following statement: “The number of people on my team is 5.”
When talking about rural places like vacation spots or a far-away hometown, it's common to talk about nature. However, native speakers never say, “You'll enjoy nature,” or, “It has beautiful nature.” It’s too general. It doesn't bring to mind any mental image.
Some English seems so easy that you may not question if you are making a mistake. Many students—even high-level students—have trouble talking about where they live.
Many students are familiar with the word increase, but fail to use it correctly. Try to spot the error in the following sentence:
Elderly people are increasing in Japan.
Verbing—changing nouns into verbs—is happening so fast these days that non-native speakers can struggle to keep up. The rapid rate of change in technology means we email someone instead of sending an email to them.