2 Minute Lessons

Verb Tenses: Choose the right one With my birthday less than two weeks away, I am about to enter / would enter my 30s. Yes. I’m going to be 30.  Please give me a moment as I have mourned / mourn the loss of my youth.  (mourn=lament) Okay, I’m exaggerating / I exaggerate.  I really [...]

Most of these prepositions are usually translated as “a” in Spanish. See if you can figure out what each one should be in English. Be careful: one of them needs to be left blank!
Last month, I wanted to go (1)___ Budapest, so my wife and I booked a trip. We arrived (2)___ the airport (3)___ noon and went straight (4)___ the hotel. I was hungry, so we went (5)___ the restaurant and sat down (6)___ the table. I ordered some dish I couldn’t pronounce, just to be exciting. When it arrived, I was taken aback. It smelled (7)___ fish and oregano, but it looked like vegetables, with some other thing (8)___ the side. My wife got a simple salad, and compared (9)___ mine, it looked delicious. I tried tasting my dish, but I couldn’t even swallow it. So I asked (10)___ the waitress to take it back and just bring me a hamburger.

Despite their surface similarity, these words are completely unrelated.

The English word is a noun and a verb, and describes how to get out of a place, to leave it.

There must be an Exit sign over every door that leads to the street, in case of emergencies.
After reciting her monologue, Marie bowed before the cheering audience and exited the stage.

Put the following sentences in the correct order:

been every for has last Madrid Michelle to the travelling two week years.
flying prefers She, are because but driving is on pilots she strike the this week.
also car her new She to try wanted, bought last she week which.
It powerful very is, being careful is not she so speed to very.
car her In old, a it problem wasn’t, a about but in is it little one she this worried.

Correct the mistake in each sentence:

After go to the store, I picked up my sister and we went to the cinema.
We saw a new Hollywood comedy that was released for a few weeks ago.
It took place on an airplane that flew from LA to New York.
There was many crazy characters on that plane!
We used to laugh a lot while we saw all their adventures in flight.

These are probably among the most misused false friends, undoubtedly due to their incredible similarity with their Spanish counterparts. However, they have no relation at all!

Actual and Actually are used to present factual information, usually after another person has said something wrong. It’s a great way to politely correct someone. It’s similar in meaning to “real(ly).

Verb Tenses: Choose the right one

1.March is always / has always been my favorite month.
2.A lot of very interesting things happened / have happened in this 31-day period.
3.Back in 44BC, Julius Caesar has said / said his famous last words: “Et tu, Brute?”
4.In 440AD, St. Patrick died and gave / has given the Irish an excuse to drink.
5.And in 1983, I born / was born.

While success and suceso both do ultimately derive from the Latin word successus, their meanings have changed over the millennia.

In English, success is the noun used to describe situations in which some goal has been achieved, or a person has obtained great wealth, respect, awards, etc. Its verb is to succeed, and its adjective is successful.

Success can come with a heavy price.

Despite having an amazing voice, Eva Cassidy was not successful until after she died.

Can you order the words to make sentences? Go! beach drive house hours It our six takes to to. at did last movie night on see showed the they you 5:00 Channel Six? adores and dolls his Jenny loves Michael toy cars, her. a and are cats few hospital horse recovering veterinary there a at [...]

Choose the best option.

Kerry is my next-door neighbor. She live / lives by herself but has many cat / cats. Sometimes, she and I go out with several of our mutual friend / friends, who run / runs a pizza parlor downtown. I’ve heard some people think / thinks she’s lonely, living with all that cat / those cats, but I know she has / have such a busy social life / lives that she doesn’t have time for a boyfriend / some boyfriends. She works with a couple of good friend / friends of hers in a shop in the mall, and makes a lot of money / a lots of money.