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17 Common Mistakes with Parts of Speech

Jon — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 12:30:29 +0000

Learning English grammar is like holding a ring of keys—each key represents a part of speech. A noun, a verb, an adjective—they’re all special keys. But here’s the catch: each key only opens certain doors. If you try to use the wrong key, the door stays locked, and your sentence doesn’t work. In this post, I’ll show you 17 common mistakes with parts of speech that English learners make. By the time we’re finished, you’ll know how to choose the right key every time.

I have already introduced and explained each part of speech. If you need a refresher, you can refer to my main post on the parts of speech here. Now, let’s get started with the common mistakes!

Here are the 17 Common Mistakes with Parts of Speech

Skim the toggle headers and click on one to open up the text underneath. There, you will find an explanation and examples for each mistake type.

1. Missing or Overusing Articles

Problems with articles are really problems with nouns. Articles and the other types of determiners are pre-modifiers for nouns. Yet, nouns have a number of classifications such as common vs. proper, or in this case, concrete vs. abstract. Abstract nouns often omit the article because we’re referencing the noun generally or in an abstract way. Thus, we should omit the article.

Mistake: “I have an information about the hotel.”
Fix: “I need information about the hotel.” Or “I need some information about the hotel.
- Do not use articles with uncountable or abstract nouns like “information.”
- Some is not an article – it’s an indefinite adjective. Because of its indefinite qualities, it can modify both countable and uncountable nouns.

Problems also arise when the article is needed, but you omit it. This mistake type often affects those who don’t have articles in their mother language. For learners from such countries, it’s like the article is invisible – even when they are reading aloud.

Mistake: “I want to take summer class in design.”
Fix: “I want to take a summer class in design.”
- Use a or an with countable singular nouns: “It’s a sunny day.”

2. Countable vs. Uncountable Nouns

In addition to article misusage being a noun problem, the nouns themselves can also have mistakes in them. Abstract and uncountable nouns shall not be made plural.

Mistake: “Advices are useful.”
Fix: Uncountable nouns (like advice) don’t have plurals.
- Correct: “The information is useful.”

If you want to turn an uncountable noun into a countable one, you need to add a “container.” These containers allow you to contextualize something uncountable into a countable thing.

Alternative: “These two pieces of information are useful.”

3. Indefinite Adjectives: Mistakes with singular and plural only quantifiers

Problems with quantifiers (or as we native speakers call indefinite adjectives) come with some similar problems to articles. One reason is that both types of adjective stem from the same part of speech – determiners. Many people learn these quantifiers in terms of countability. Yet a few of these fall under a singular noun only category (each, every, another) whereas the other set of related words are plural only adjectives (all, other).

Mistake: “Every students are taking the exam today.”

Fix: Use each or every with singular nouns: “Each student is taking the exam today.”

4. Using Adjectives in the place of Adverbs

Adverbs associate with and modify verbs. However, many English learners confuse one for the other and make mistakes like what you see below.

Mistake: “You drive good.”
Fix: Adjectives like good describe nouns, while adverbs like well describe actions.
- Correct: “You drive well.”

5. Using an adverb after the verb “be”

The previous mistake explained that adverbs follow verbs. However, this does not apply to linking verbs. Verbs such as be, feel, and get are often associated with feelings adjectives, not adverbs.

Mistake: “She is being carefully.”
Fix: Use an adjective (not adverb) after be.

Correct: “She is being careful.”

6. Mistaking Like for As

Comparative words such as “like, as, or than” can serve as prepositions in a sentence when introducing a noun to compare to another noun. For example, “He runs like a cheetah” compares the boy or man to a cheetah. Grammatically, “like” introduces a noun, making it a preposition. However, these words are not interchangeable as they have specific collocations that they go with.

Mistake: “He works like a teacher.”

Fix: Use as for real roles, jobs, and functions: “He works as a teacher.”

7. Irregular Plural Nouns

Many non-native speakers don’t realize that some nouns are irregular in that their plurals don’t take an “s/es.” Words such as sheep, fish, teeth, and feet all fit into this category of nouns.

Mistake: “The sheeps are grazing in the field.”
Fix: Some nouns have the same singular and plural form.

Correct: “The sheep are grazing in the field.”

8. Mistaking Object Pronouns in place of Subject Pronouns

This next mistake type is a form of non-standard English in that we native speakers sometimes make this error. I still feel like my second grade teacher will pop out of nowhere and scold me whenever I say “My friends and me!”

Mistake: “My friends and me went to the donut shop for apple fritters.”
Fix: Use subject pronouns (I or he, she) in the sentence’s subject.

Correct: “My friends and I went to the donut shop for apple fritters.”

9. Unnecessary subordination of a co-subject

One thing I have noticed as a teacher is that my students often say something like “I along with my friends…” I then ask, “Wouldn’t it be easier just to say – We? A preposition is subordinate as an indirect modifier to a noun or verb.

Mistake: “I along with my friends are going shopping.”
Fix: Keep the subject simple.

Correct: “We are going shopping.”

10. Incorrect Adjective Order

Adjectives have a defined order in which they come before (modify) a noun. If you use multiple adjectives before a noun, check that the order is correct.

Mistake: “She wore red big shoes.”
Fix: Follow this order:
- Opinion → Size → Color → Noun.
- Correct: “She wore big red shoes.”

11. More Problems with Linking Verbs and Adverbs

Non-native speaker English resources and coursebooks (ESL/EFL) do a poor job of teaching linking verbs. Very common, everyday verbs such as sensory verbs are either stative, linking, or action verbs depending on how they are being used. In a descriptive sentence, the sensory verb is a linking verb and can be followed by an adjective or a noun.

Mistake: “He smells badly.”
Fix: Linking verbs like smell or feel use adjectives, not adverbs.
- Correct: “He smells bad.”

P.S. The mistake in the example is especially bad because of what it expresses. In an action verb sense, the mistaken sentence basically expresses that the boy’s nose doesn’t work well (i.e., It’s not doing its job).

12. Adverb Placement

Adverbs are like wild cards when it comes to placement in a sentence. Some can come at the beginning, on the verb, or at the end. In the mid-sentence position, the adverb’s placement depends on the verb expressed. If the verb is “be,” the adverb follows the verb “be.” On the other hand, if the verb is a regular verb, the adverb comes before it.

Mistake: “He often is late.”
Fix: Put adverbs like often in the right spot:
- Correct: “He is often late.”

13. Confusing Homonyms Like Affect and Effect

Homonyms are a class of similar sounding words that we native speakers learn in school. Most of these homonyms are easy enough to distinguish. However, there are a few pairs out there that seem to trouble us throughout and after our school days. For me, those pairs are “accept vs except,” “there vs their,” and “affect vs effect.” The more common the homonyms are, the more likely we are to make mistakes with them.

Mistake: “The rain had a big affect on the football game.”
Fix: Affect is the verb form for effect. There are two ways to fix this: (a) replace the verb with the noun “effect” or (b) transform the sentence around the verb “affect.”
- Affect is a verb: “The rain affected the football game.”

Effect is a noun: “The rain had a big effect on the football game.”

14. Word Building Errors

Word building means adding suffixes to change the part of speech of the base word. Sometimes, non-natives mix the suffix endings, ending up with a malformed word.

Mistake: “This area is ready for investation.”
Fix: Use the correct suffix to form the word:

Correct: “This area is ready for investment.”

15. Not knowing when to use Gerunds vs. Nouns

The gerund is an abstract idea of a verb when using it in place of a subject noun. We often use gerunds when no good noun exists as a relative of the verb. In some cases, the noun exists, but it is of a different meaning or quality to that of the verb. A good example of this is “smoke vs smoking.” Smoke is the physical quality of air rising from something that’s burning – like the smoke coming out of a cigarette. However, “smoking” is the act of smoking a cigarette. So, you cannot confuse the two words. On the other hand, let’s observe a pair of words my students often struggle with.

Mistake: “Exercising is good for you.”
Fix: Use simpler nouns when possible:
- Correct: “Exercise is good for you.”

What’s the harm in using “exercising” here? The noun “exercise” can be both abstract and concrete. When thinking about the abstract form of the noun, it is always better to use than the gerund. The gerund is best used when no better alternative exists.

16. Pronunciation Mistakes: Nouns vs. Verbs

Some words change meaning depending on where you stress the word. Here are examples:

Word	Noun	Verb
Live	“I watched the live show.”	“I live in Poland.”
Record	“This is a music record.”	“Please record the lesson.”
Present	“She gave me a present.”	“I will present my project.”
Object	“The object is heavy.”	“I object to your idea.”

Fix: Pay attention to stress! Nouns have the stress on the first syllable; verbs on the second syllable. The first example only contains one syllable, so the pronunciation difference is in the vowel sound. “Live” as an adjective pronounces its vowel as the long-I whereas “live” as a verb pronounces its vowel as the short-i.

17. Mixing Up -ed and -ing Adjectives

Many non-natives mix up adjectives ending with -ed or -ing. The difference comes down to cause and effect. The -ing adjective associates with the thing that causes or evokes a feeling. On the other hand, the -ed adjective expresses the evoked feeling.

Mistake: “I was so boring during the movie.”
Fix:
- -ing adjectives describe a cause: “The movie was boring.”

-ed adjectives describe feelings: “I was bored.”

Final Thoughts on the 17 Common Mistakes with Parts of Speech

English grammar mistakes happen to everyone but fixing them can help you speak and write more clearly. This is just a taste of all the confusing words that get mixed up all the time. As native speakers, we are more aware of these problems because we practice them in school. We often do worksheets with confusing homonyms and other tricky parts of speech conflicts.

Focus on these 17 mistakes and practice them daily. Before you know it, your grammar will improve!

Take a Quick Quiz on the Parts of Speech

If you want to practice these common mistakes, you can take my Parts of Speech Quiz Online with the link below.

The post 17 Common Mistakes with Parts of Speech appeared first on Native 1.

English Grammar Explained: Why Sentence Structure Matters Most

Jon — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 06:18:44 +0000

Many English learners and non-native speakers believe that they need to master verb tenses to be fluent in English. Does this sound like you? While verb tenses are important, English Grammar Explained will demonstrate that they represent a fraction of what makes for good English grammar.

Your focus on verb tenses may leave you struggling with making clear sentences. Additionally, you find yourself making common mistakes because you don’t put enough importance on the relationships between the parts of speech. Such errors include things like poor word order, incorrect part-of-speech relationships, and illogical or broken sentence structure.

What if the key to better English grammar wasn’t just about verb tenses but understanding how sentence structure and the parts of speech work together – as true building blocks of English?

By turning your focus to sentence structure and the parts of speech, you can create grammatically correct sentences. These sentences express your thoughts clearly. Even better, your mastery of sentence structure makes learning verb tenses easier. As presented in English Grammar Explained, becoming proficient in sentence building reduces mistakes and improves your fluency.

Understanding the Common Misconception About English Grammar

I had a former student come to me recently. He wanted to resume his English lessons after a 3-year break. He told me about his desire to do a reset on his grammar – starting right from the beginning. His words were “I want to revise all the verb tenses.”

To that statement, I responded “That’s not the beginning.” He looked at me, puzzled and said “The verb tenses aren’t the beginning.” Then I handed him my book, English Grammar Explained, and told him this is where it starts.

I then asked him if he had ever learned the 8 parts of speech for English.

His puzzled look deepened. “No, what’s that?”

I told him that he has surely learned about many of these parts – verbs, nouns, adjectives. The problem is, he hadn’t learned the parts of speech as an interconnected concept.

The 8 Parts of Speech have relationships that All English learners should study

There are relationships between the 8 parts of speech. Each one has a function in the sentence, relating to the other parts of speech. While in Europe, most English resources center around coursebooks that teach topical vocabulary and verb tenses.

Every student I have ever encountered here in Poland think like this – that they must learn verb tenses to be good at English.

So, he buys my book and starts reading it.

The following week for his second lesson, he shows up with my book in hand. He told me, “You are right. I started reading your book. And the parts of speech are definitely the beginning (foundation) of English grammar.”

English Sentence Structure is the true starting point

I remember back to the time when I was in 2^nd grade. The teacher wrote “This is a sentence on the board.” She then wrote the sentence and diagrammed its parts. Of course, I don’t remember what the sentence was, but it looked something like the image below.

This is where we native speakers start our English grammar journey – with a sentence and the parts of speech.

If that is how we learn English, why not learn English sentence grammar like a native speaker?

If you need more encouragement to learn the English parts of speech, don’t just believe me. Teacher Julieta has an informative post on her blog here.

Why Verb Tenses Alone Won’t Fix Your Grammar

For some languages, verb tenses are just the form to express the verb in different time zones. With English, on the other hand, the verb tenses are concepts. The simple, continuous, and perfect tenses each express a concept alongside the verb.

Those concepts are complemented by the adverbial phrases and clauses that modify the verb. Therefore, it is a good idea to understand more about verbs (as a part of speech) and its modifiers before you can fully master the verb tenses.

This is, in part, because time expressions are one of the four main modifiers for verbs. So, learn about verbs, their modifiers, then verb tenses become easier to unlock at the top of the pyramid.

What Is Sentence Structure?

Sentence structure is the collection of main pieces to express a clear thought. In English Grammar Explained, I teach that a sentence expresses “Who doing what.”

1. It’s like a very short story where you have the hero – the subject.
2. The hero takes an action – the verb.
3. The action impacts on someone, something, or somewhere – the object.
4. Together, these 3 elements combine to form a sentence.

That sentence can be extended with modifiers. These are things that tell us more about the nouns or the verbs (of the story).

Once you have mastered this basic structure, it clears the way to learn and use the higher concepts – like verb tenses.

Why say “WHO + DOING + WHAT” instead of “Subject + Verb + Object”

This book is designed to meet the needs of non-native English speakers by making complex grammar terms more relatable.

While terms like “subject,” “verb,” and “object” are accurate, I don’t want potential readers like you to feel the language is too academic.

By changing the sentence structure to WHO + DOING + WHAT, I believe the concept becomes more intuitive.

Common Mistakes Solved by understanding the Parts of Speech

The parts of speech have relationships with each other. If you know these relationships and practice them enough, your use of English will be much more accurate.

For instance, many learners make common mistakes that can be fixed easily with a focus on the part-of-speech relationships. Take the determiners “other” and “another.”

Another is actually a combination of the determiner “an” + “other,” meaning “one other.” Therefore, it modifies only singular nouns. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to correct students using “another” + a plural noun.

Examples: Another languages, another people, another countries, etc.

What Are the Parts of Speech?

The parts of speech are the building blocks of every English sentence. Each plays its own role in creating meaning and clarity:

1. Nouns

Name people, places, things, or ideas. Examples include: teacher, city, love.

2. Determiners

Express the number, definiteness, specificity, or possession of a noun. There are 5 types of determiners including: numbers, articles, demonstratives, possessives, and quantifiers.

3. Adjectives

Describe or
modify nouns in a number of ways.

Examples:
happy, modern, perfect.

4. Verbs

Show actions or states of being. There are many qualities about verbs. These qualities play into how we use them in verb tenses.

Examples: push, hold, know.

5. Adverbs

Modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, often describing how, where, when, or why.

Examples: quickly, very, here.

These are just five of the eight parts of speech. You can learn them all in the full post on the 8 Parts of speech here.

Or, you can just buy my book, English Grammar Explained, and learn them there and in greater detail.

By understanding these roles of the 8 parts of speech, you can construct clear and accurate sentences.

Why Non-Native Learners Miss Out on the Parts of Speech

Back when I started writing English grammar explained, I was motivated to fix my students’ sentence grammar – not verb tenses. I was thinking about how I was going to explain sentence structure and word order.

Then I realized that I needed to start with the parts of speech.

I began polling my students with “Have you ever had a lesson on the 8 parts of speech?” Many of their responses were like the following:

what’s that?
No, never.
What are the parts of speech?
and so on.

One-by-one, they all responded “no” in some fashion.

Then, I started looking through my collection of English coursebooks. Nothing. Not one of my books even contained a lesson on the 8 parts of speech.

It’s not as if non-native English learners don’t learn each part. They do exercises on adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, and pronouns.

However, they (my English coursebooks) rarely have lessons or exercises purely on nouns and verbs, which is criminal.

Also, they don’t differentiate between coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.

No wonder English learners around the world struggle with learning verb tenses!

The Consequences of not Understanding the Parts of Speech and their relationships

Wait a minute, what do verbs and conjunctions have to do with the verb tenses?

At the heart of every verb tense, there is a verb – duh!? Yet, verbs have properties, and those properties affect the verb tense.

Verbs can express a state in which case it cannot be continuous.
Verbs can be long or short physical or mental actions. The long actions tend to be continuous while the short actions tend to be simple.
Yet, short actions can be continuous for two reasons:
- It is interrupted.
- It is repeated a number of times.
Subordinating conjunctions often dictate what the verb tenses are in one or both of its clauses.

As you can see, there is a clear connection between the parts of speech, their relationships, and how it affects verb tense grammar. In English Grammar Explained, you will learn all of these things and more!

This book is the end product of almost 3 years of writing, late nights, and early mornings. I also need to give a shout to many of my English students for allowing me to test my explanations on them. And now, it can be your grammar guide, putting you on track to English sentence grammar mastery.

What This Book Offers

This book is structured into three parts, each designed to help English learners progress step-by-step:

Part 1: Simple Sentence Structure

You will master all aspects of sentence structure and the parts of speech. This section builds the most important knowledge to build out clear and accurate simple sentences.

This first section should make you equivalent to an American 6^th grader in terms of grammatical understanding.

Part 2: The 4 Types of Sentences

Explore simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. You will learn how complex sentence structures include advanced forms like conditionals and cause-and-effect relationships.

Not only are these higher thinking functions, but they also dictate how verb tenses relate to one another in complex sentences. To put it simply, you cannot master verb tenses without mastering complex sentences.

Finishing part 2 should bring you to an American 8^th or 9^th grade grammar level.

Part 3: Grammatical Flexibility

Develop advanced skills like transformations by understanding how English sentences to work. You will learn that just because a sentence is grammatically correct, that doesn’t make it a clear sentence.

Part 3 of my book will teach you how to connect or link ideas more naturally with advanced techniques.

From Common Mistakes to Confident Communication with English Grammar Explained

Perfecting English grammar isn’t about memorizing verb tenses. it’s about understanding how sentences work. By focusing on sentence structure, you can fix your common mistakes and become more fluent.

With English Grammar Explained as your guide, you’ll do the following:

gain practical understanding to construct clear, logical sentences.
build longer and more complex sentences without mistakes.
know what makes a sentence clear.

more importantly, where the biggest mistakes that make your sentences hard to understand.

Start your journey to confident communication today—because every fluent sentence begins with a solid foundation.

The post English Grammar Explained: Why Sentence Structure Matters Most appeared first on Native 1.

Is it Better to Pay for Subscriptions Annually or Monthly?

Jon — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 23:46:49 +0000

Remember the days when you purchased a Microsoft Office Suite like Office 2010, you were purchasing a product for life. It came with a CD and an installation code that you could integrate on any device. If you got a new computer or laptop, you could easily install that software and have a working albeit older version of Microsoft Office on that newer device.

Fast-forward to today and you can still buy a permanent office product but at an exorbitant price. This is because Microsoft Office is no longer meant to be a permanent purchase option. What’s the use of a cure when I can give you medicine to manage your situation for the rest of your days.

My friends, we have entered the era of SaaS – Software as a Service. In place of the traditional software model where customers would purchase, install, and manage updates to their software, people now subscribe to the software and receive it along with any updates as an application delivered over the Internet or used via an internet browser.

This guide explores whether you should pay for subscriptions annually or monthly to maximize your savings. But before we dive in, allow me to give a brief disclaimer.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended. Please note that this does not affect the price you pay, and I only recommend products or services that I believe will add value to my readers.

These days, software makers and other subscription-based services want you to pay for subscriptions annually or monthly – in perpetuity. The question is which of these offerings is actually the better deal.

Most service providers want you to take the longer option. Hence, the offer what appears to be a good deal on the surface. But do these discounts represent a true discount? Stay tuned to find out.

Understanding Monthly vs. Yearly Subscription Options

As we have established, most services from productivity software to entertainment platforms deliver their services in the form of a subscription model that you should pay for indefinitely. You then have to choose which frequency best suits your needs. The provider typically offers:

a monthly option.
a yearly option.
extended plans of 2-3 years.

The service provider, obviously, wants you to choose the longest duration, so they offer a discount for the longer period subscriptions. That means, a multi-year option will offer a higher discount than the annual subscription. The annual subscription, in turn, is discounted compared to the monthly option. The discount can be presented in a myriad of ways such as “get 2 months free with your yearly subscription” or “get 17% off with your yearly subscription.” Of course, both of these options are essentially the same.

In behavioral economics, we call this practice “framing.” You frame the situation such that will “nudge” the person towards the choice you want them to make. In this case, one frame consists of getting 2 months free whereas the other frame just takes the percentage approach, promising you a 17% discount. Well, two free months divided by 12 equals 17%. In either case, the service provider is banking on you seeing the “discount” as being big enough to commit more of your money upfront to secure a longer term of service.

Is it cheaper in "real" terms when you pay for subscriptions Annually or Monthly?

To get you thinking about this in the right frame of mind, I will answer this question with another question. Imagine your uncle asks to borrow $1,000. He promises to return the exact same amount one year later. Would you consider this a fair exchange?

You would probably refuse if not on principle, then due to the absence of interest you should receive for tying up your money in this loan to your uncle.

Money today ≠ the same amount of money tomorrow.

Suppose a service charges $50 per month for a subscription while offering the yearly plan at $500, representing an upfront discount of 2 months or 17%.

monthly plan cost: $50 x 12 months = $600
yearly plan cost: $500 upfront, which the service frames as $100 savings, 2 free months, or 17% off.

At face value, the yearly plan seems cheaper, but is it a true discount in financial terms? This is where your understanding of the time value of money comes in.

Present Value vs. Future Value: The key to Annual vs Monthly Subscriptions

The key principle is that money today is worth more than the same amount of money in the future, due to its earning potential. If you pay $500 up front, you are giving up the opportunity to put that money to work, investing it, over that period of time. The question arises:

Is the $500 upfront cost worth more or less than the $50 subscription fee paid monthly?

To evaluate this, you can calculate the present value (PV) of the monthly payments and compare it to the $500 upfront.

How to Compare the Cost When you Pay for Subscriptions Annually or Monthly

If we assume an annual interest rate of 6% (0.5% per month), you can calculate the present value of $50 payments over 12 months with the following formula: PV = PMT / [ 1 + .05)^nt

PMT = $50

r = 0.005 (monthly interest)

t = month

n = 12 (the number of times interest is compounded)

You can easily perform this calculation in Excel either with the manual table or using the present value formula. Using the formula above, here’s a table showing you how it works:

Month (t)	Payment	Discount Factor (1+r)t	Discounted Payment (PMT/(1+r)t)
1	50	1.005	49.75
2	50	1.010025	49.50
3	50	1.015075125	49.26
4	50	1.020150501	49.01
5	50	1.025251253	48.77
6	50	1.030377509	48.53
7	50	1.035529397	48.28
8	50	1.040707044	48.04
9	50	1.045910579	47.81
10	50	1.051140132	47.57
11	50	1.056395833	47.33
12	50	1.061677812	47.10
			$580.95

To summarize the table, here are some takeaways:

Paying $500 upfront at a 17% discount is financially better than making $50 monthly payments totaling $600.
The present value shows that $580.95 invested today at a 6% annual return would grow into the same value as paying $50 each month for a year. Since the $500 cost is even lower than $580.95, it’s the better option in this scenario.

While the initial analysis suggests this is a good deal, there are some caveats. In today’s economy, a $500 outlay is a significant expenditure.

It’s worth parting with the money upfront if you have disposable cash not earmarked for higher priorities. You can also justify the expenditure if you aren’t likely to find a better deal on an opportunity of equal priority.

Therefore, whether you decide to pay for subscriptions annually or monthly should take more into consideration than simply the discount.

Speaking of Rates, Let's Compare Subscription Plans against one of the top savings account Rates in America.

Other considerations to think about are whether your investment or savings account gives you a comparable rate.

You can find some interest rates on savings up to 4.0% as in the Sofi Bank Savings Account. Assuming you bank with Sofi, making use of that nice-looking interest rate, here’s the new calculation using the Excel PV function for simplicity:

Payment	50
4.0% over 12 months	0.003333333
Months	12

Present Value	($587.20)

The new calculation shows that a slightly greater lump sum investment of $587.20 would give you $600 after 12 months. Even with one of the best savings accounts in all of American banking, the discount offers a powerful incentive to choose the yearly plan.

Microsoft Office Case Study: Their Annual Vs Monthly Plans

Here’s a personal case study on Microsoft Office 365 Family. My business is heavily dependent on Microsoft Office 365. My OneDrive usage is well past the free threshold of 10 GB. I heavily use a combination of Microsoft PowerPoint, OneNote, Excel, and Word for my Business English teaching business. Additionally, I maintain roughly 100+ GB of OneDrive Storage that I have accumulated over time. Simply put, I cannot operate my private teaching business without an active Microsoft 365 subscription.

Microsoft charges $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. This is basically the same framed “discount” of 17% off or 2 free months.

Why I switched from their monthly plan to the yearly Plan?

I had originally been on the monthly plan, but my teaching business income fluctuates throughout the year, and the summer months are especially dry in terms of income. So, in my case, it made sense to switch to the yearly plan, so I could benefit by not having to pay the monthly bill over the summer months.

What’s more, I didn’t want to convert to the yearly option at a time in the year where I was about to go into a down period in terms of income. Therefore, I held onto the plan until November which is the height of my earning potential. Now, I know what you’re thinking – Black Friday is in November! This was another motivation as I tend to time my yearly subscriptions around Black Friday, so I can pay as little as possible on all my must-have subscriptions.

As you make your own choices whether to pay for subscriptions annually or monthly, think about the timing of these payments. Make sure you are paying for your plans at the optimal time of the year.

Use Coupon Codes to Stack Discounts on top of the Yearly Plan

Sadly, Microsoft doesn’t offer a Black Friday subscription discount although you can buy these subscriptions from year-to-year by purchasing the key from any electronics retailers. In Poland, where I run my English teaching business, I managed to purchase my yearlong Microsoft subscription for a paltry $67 on Allegro (the closest platform in Poland to Amazon). Now that, my friends, is a much better discount for Black Friday.

The lesson to learn is if you’re going to switch, choose your timing wisely. Wait until the optimal month to convert your monthly plan to yearly plans. If possible, time these annual subscriptions to take advantage of seasonal discounts such as Black Friday. If you can purchase your subscription as a key, make sure you switch off the automatic renewal option as you will revert to the normal price from the service provider.

Case Study 2: Skillshare and the Power of Coupon Codes Plus the Yearly Plan

This next use-case scenario centers on another personal story where I was switching my monthly subscription to a yearly one. In fact, I made this switch at the exact same time as I had done for my Microsoft Office 365. While I needed to find a third-party vendor to get a Black Friday deal on my yearlong Microsoft subscription, Skillshare had a great deal already, worthy of an instant switch with no hesitation.

At the time, Skillshare was offering a yearlong plan for $99. That’s a whopping 45% discount which is clearly much more than a present value discount. Even better, I just searched the web for Black Friday coupon codes to Skillshare and found an additional 40% off coupon to add at the checkout. In the end, I paid $60 for the following year which was exactly one third of what I would have paid on a monthly basis. That’s an insane combination discount that I couldn’t pass up.

Ultimately, the decision to pay for subcriptions annually or monthly can be influenced by additional factors like coupon codes. Using coupons can stack on top of the already offered discounts, doubling your savings.

The Economics Behind Coupons

The Skillshare example taught me a valuable lesson in always searching for coupon codes. This brings us to the question of how economists views coupon codes.

I remember back to my first quarter at UCLA where I was taking Econ 1. The professor was teaching us about the demand curve and what economists call, consumer surplus. The idea is that when a buyer purchases something for less than what he or she was willing to pay, the get some utility – consumer surplus. Likewise, if a vendor sells a product for more than what he would have willingly accepted, he gets producer surplus.

My professor, then, joked that coupons were ways that supermarkets identified the cheapskates. He then later explained that in a perfect world, the seller would sell to those willing to pay more at the price they were willing to pay while also selling to the cheapskates at a price they were willing to pay. In the end, there would be no consumer surplus because both groups would pay a price they were comfortable with, with the vendor maximizing his own utility.

The best way for vendors to do this is to offer discounts in the form of coupons. Yet, to use these coupons, the buyer needed to jump through some hoops to get the discounts. Those who were willing to pay more, wouldn’t bother jumping through those same hurdles to obtain the products at a lower price.

Are Your Subscriptions Sunk Costs or Flexible Choices?

A further economist’s view comes to the idea of sunk costs. Costs can be sunk in one of two ways:

You paid for something and cannot get the money back. Since you cannot get any return on the money already spent, you must decide whether to keep spending money to see the project through to the end or cut off spending on the project regardless of how much money you had spent on the project.
The other sunk costs are your fixed costs or overheads that you have to pay regardless of any business or productivity decisions you are faced with. You shouldn’t decide whether or not to hire some extra help for the holidays because you have to pay rent or utility costs.

Your subscription costs are sunk when they are necessary – like my Microsoft 365 example. I simply cannot operate my teaching business without it, so the cost is sunk – I have to have it no matter what.

In this case, I should take advantage of the yearly plan. In fact, if there was a longer 2 or 3-year option, I would be inclined to commit provided their “discount” or present value calculation made sense.

There are several subscription-based services that are probably worth the longer commitment. Such services include VPNs and web domain and hosting.

On the other hand, Entertainment services have a significant amount of options and alternatives. Nowadays, Netflix has competition from Prime, Disney +, and more. You have music streaming memberships and Audible.

You could find your budget and savings potential significantly taken up by all of these subscription services.

The moral here is to commit long term to the most necessary services while being judicious with your entertainment subscriptions – switching them on and off like a tap.

Here are some Actionable Steps to Make Smart Choices on your Subscription Plans

Like it or not, subscription services are here to stay, offering a mix of convenience and flexibility at a cost. The real question is how you approach these costs to get the best value. By understanding concepts like the time value of money, sunk costs, and the art of framing, you can make smarter choices about whether to choose monthly, yearly, or multi-year subscriptions—and when to make the switch.

Here are three key takeaways to guide your subscription strategy:

Do the Math: Always calculate the true cost of a subscription over time, considering present value and opportunity cost.
Time Your Switch: Leverage seasonal deals, like Black Friday, to lock in the best rates for necessary subscriptions.
Prioritize Essentials: Commit to long-term plans for must-have services, while treating entertainment options with flexibility—cancel and reactivate as needed.

Finally, don’t forget to take advantage of coupon codes and third-party vendors. A little effort can result in significant savings, just like my Skillshare and Microsoft Office examples. After all, every dollar saved is a dollar earned—and a better way to enjoy the services you truly value.

Choosing the Right Subscription Duration

Not all subscriptions are created equal, and their term length should reflect how integral they are to your lifestyle or business. Here’s a quick guide to help you decide which subscription durations make the most sense:

Long-Term Subscriptions (2–3 Years)

Secure the services you know you will need for the foreseeable future and the ones that offer significant, true discounts for extended commitments. Examples include:

VPNs like FastestVPN are essential for privacy and often discounted heavily for multi-year plans. In fact, FastestVPN offers a dirt cheap lifetime subscription that covers all the basics at $40.

Web Hosting (e.g., Ultra Webhosting) is perfect for business owners, bloggers, and content creators who manage one or more websites. If you have a website, you are in it for the long haul and Ultra Webhosting offers 1-, 2-, and 3-year plans.
Cloud Storage (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox): If you have an email with Google or Microsoft, then you have some kind of cloud drive storage. If you don’t store that much on your drives, there’s no need to pay. Once, however, you cross the threshold to being over the free limit, there’s no looking back. You are going to need a long-term solution. Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive have dueling offers that both make sense. Google Drive offers 2 TB of storage along with their suite of web browser applications whereas Microsoft 365 gives you 1TB of storage along with Microsoft Office 365. For business owners, you might consider Google Workspace Business Standard as it integrates your domain email via the gmail app. I’ve set this up myself and it has made using my domain email efficient while the recording option on my Meet meetings was a deal-maker.
Productivity Software (e.g., Microsoft Office 365): Critical for most individuals and businesses, offering cost savings with multi-year options.

Medium-Term Subscriptions (1 Year)

Buy the following subscription types for a year to get value. Annual plans often balance cost savings with flexibility. Examples include:

Sports packages like NBA.com, NFL.com, or ESPN Player. As I live in Europe and watch a lot of football (soccer), it’s great to get a season-long package that combines live tv, sports, tv series, and movies.
Educational platforms like Skillshare offer great value. You can foster your growth mindset and immerse yourself in their catalogue of classes. Grow your skills at a low cost.
Gaming services like XBOX Game Pass and PlayStation Plus allow you to pit your skills against other people as opposed to single-player against the AI. If you’re into gaming, why fiddle with the monthly option?

Short-Term Subscriptions (Month-to-Month)

This covers pretty much everything else. Entertainment and streaming have evolved and there’s so much good streaming out there besides Netflix. You will want to hop from one provider to the next as your favorite shows come available. Binge watch every Star Wars series on Disney +, then hop onto Netflix for Vikings and The Last Kingdom.

Audible is another favorite of mine, but I now have more audiobooks that I can ever hope to listen to. Quit them for a while to make them appreciate you enough to offer you a 3-month for $0.99 deal just like when you first signed up. By being on the monthly subscription, you can take advantage of seasonal deals and save more money.

Conclusion: Be a Strategic Subscriber

To wrap up, we have moved into a world where are lives are ever more dominated by subscriptions for services. These services span every facet of our lives. By understanding whether to pay for subcriptions annually or monthly, you can make smarter financial choices.

Well, that does it for this post. Before you sign off, I would love to hear what you think. Why don’t you comment below which subscriptions you find worth the money? What are the best deals you’ve found on a subscription? Can you beat my Skillshare example?

The post Is it Better to Pay for Subscriptions Annually or Monthly? appeared first on Native 1.

First Conditional: Master all Time Clauses, Present & Future Tenses

Jon — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 14:59:37 +0000

ALL CONDITIONALS

ZERO CONDITIONAL

2ND CONDITIONAL

1ST VS 2ND CONDITIONAL

1ST CONDITIONAL EXAMPLES

MIXED CONDITIONALS

The First Conditional is the second of four English Conditionals, and it expresses a future condition in relation to a future result. This post will take a deep look into the First Conditional while demonstrating the many ways we use it to communicate. After you have read this post, you’ll have a new understanding of the Future Conditional.

The Often unrecognized First Conditional

As English Conditionals go, the First Conditional is by far the most expansive. When I often practice reading with my students, I will highlight a sentence that starts with a time word (like as long as); then I’ll ask the student if he recognizes what kind of sentence it is. After he has given me the (typical) confused look, I underline the time word, the present tense, then the future tense. From there, they look up and say “it’s the First Conditional.”

We‘ll have a barbecue as long as it isn’t raining.

In the above example, you see the mix of present and future tenses. Yet the structure doesn’t fit what my students are typically used to seeing in a First Conditional sentence as most ESL coursebooks teach that the First Conditional consists of the following:

If + Present Simple + Future Simple.

This is such a simple and narrow view of the First Conditional. In my online video course on the conditionals, I explain and provide many examples of the First Conditional in its many aspects.

The graphic metaphor illustrates the difference in what most ESL books teach (the tip of the iceberg) as opposed to the true size of the First Conditional (under the surface).

What is the First Conditional

As I’ve mentioned in the Big Picture post on all 4 English Conditionals, each conditional exists in a time zone: Present, Past, or Future. The First Conditional is the Future Conditional as it expresses a Future condition in relation to a future result.

Typical relationships between the condition clause and the result clause include Conditional Future: Actions/State, Sequence, Predicament, Exception, and Requirements.

First Conditional Formation with different Time Clauses

As is the case with each conditional type, the first conditional consists of a Time Clause plus a Present tense as the condition clause and a result clause in a future tense.

TC + Present Tense , Future Tense
Future Tense + TC + Present Tense

It is the time clause that determines the meaning and strongly influences the verb tenses of the First Conditional sentence.

Those time clauses are as follows:

TIME CONJUNCTION	EXPRESSES	CLAUSE RELATIONSHIPS	EXAMPLE
after	Time	Sequence	After I've landed, I'll ring you to pick me up.
as soon as	Time	Sequence	I'll be ordering the tickets as soon as they go on sale.
before	Time	Sequence	Will you have completed your to-do list before you go home for the day.
by the time	Time	Sequence	By the time we get to our seats, the game will already have started.
once	Time	Sequence	Once you have made the payment, we'll begin preparing your order.
until	Time	Sequence	I won't be renewing my subscription until the price comes down.
when	Time	Sequence	I'll ask for a raise when I see the boss tomorrow.
while	Time	Sequence	I'll pick up your parcel while I'm out running errands.
now that	Time	Sequence	Now that I've passed my driving exam, my dad will let me drive his car.
unless	Time	Exception	We'll have to close the business unless the economic situation improves.
in case	Time	Predicament	I'll set a reminder in your calendar in case you forget about the appointment.
as long as	Time	Requirement	As long as I pass the exam with a minimum of 70%, I'll get my teaching qualification.
provided that	Time	Requirement	Provided the train leaves on time, we'll be arriving at the seaside before sundown.
if	Time	Action/State	If you work hard at your English every day, you'll improve it.
even if	Time	Negated Action/State	Even if it stops raining, the conditions won't be good enough to have a picnic.
since	Time	Case and Effect	Since we haven't found a babysitter, we'll be giving away our tickets to the theatre.

In the above table, you see the time clauses expressing the relationship. Additionally, the verb tense of the condition clause is mostly influenced by the time conjunction.

First Conditional Clause Relationships and Verb Tenses

In English, we express the verb in a tense depending on a couple of factors:

The nature of the verb: Is it action or stative? Finished or Unfinished? Long or Short? Etc.
The relationship of verbs to each other in separate clauses.

When it comes to complex sentences such as the conditionals, the most influential factor on the verb tense is sequence.

In cases of sequence, the time conjunction directly determines which verb tense to use in the condition clause. The time clause may also influence the verb of the result clause although this isn’t always the case.

The three relationships that influence the condition clause verb tense are: interrupting, parallel, and perfect sequence.

The Interrupting and Parallel Future Sequence: While + Present Continuous

While you were learning the past tenses, you probably read the rule that While attached to the Past Continuous tense. The first conditional operates the same way except the verb tense of the action will be Present Continuous.

It means, while I’m doing this long action, the result will either interrupt (with an action in Future Simple); or the result will be a parallel action that is also in progress at the same time in the future. Here are some examples:

While I’m running errands, I’ll pick up your parcel. (interrupting)
I’ll be making some phone calls while I’m waiting for you outside. (parallel)

In both cases, the time clause directly determined which verb tense I used (Present Continuous) in the condition clause. Yet the result clause verb tense depended on the nature of the relationship between that verb and the condition clause verb. The interrupting action was Future Simple while the parallel action was Future Continuous.

The Perfect Future Sequence: After + Present Perfect

One aspect of the Perfect Tense Aspect is that of the 2-action sequence.

You can think of the perfect tense as a name tag on the verb that occurred first in the two-action sequence. For native speakers, perfect tenses combined with the time conjunctions tell us which action happened when.

If the first action is perfect, the second action is usually simple.

You can think of this relationship as a kind of formula as the time conjunction directly influences both verb tenses. If you look back at the table, you will notice several time conjunctions that express sequence. Here are some rules to know:

Any time conjunction that means After attaches to the first (or perfect) action: After, as soon as, once, now that, and when. Now, we don’t always use the Present Perfect in these conditional sentences although I recommend you do. That is because it helps you master the use of the Present Perfect verb tense.
The time conjunction Before attaches to the second action in the sequence which should be the Present Simple tense.

Let’s look at the same example sentence expressed two ways.

Result Clause Verb Tenses of the First Conditional: Future Continuous

Since you are probably already comfortable with the Future Simple, I will use these next two sections to focus on the Future Continuous and the Future Perfect Verb tense.

As I had mentioned in the time clause section on While, if the verb’s action in the result clause runs parallel to the action of the condition clause, the verb tense will be Future Continuous.

Yet this isn’t the only reason to use the Future Continuous as the result. The Future Continuous means unfinished at a time in the future. The next two examples will show additional meaning and use of the Future Continuous tense in the First Conditional.

Use the Future Continuous in the First Conditional to discuss the details of planned future events

In the below example, notice the First Conditional structure and the verb tense of the result clause.

We’ll be negotiating the rental contract when we meet next week.

The meeting for next week has already been arranged by the two parties. Additionally, both parties know what the main topic of discussion will be. Since the details have already been decided, you use the Future Continuous verb tense to discuss them.

Use the Future Continuous in the First Conditional to express your future intentions

Another use of the Future Continuous is to state your intentions about a future time or situation.

If I can take off work next weekend, we’ll be going skiing in Austria.

What we can tell from this example sentence is that the speaker doesn’t know for sure whether he’ll have time off or not. Yet if he does get time off, he intends to go skiing in Austria.

These are a couple of uses of the Future Continuous in the result clause. Next up, let’s look at the Future Perfect and the result clause.

Result Clause Verb Tenses of the First Conditional: Future Perfect

If the Future Continuous means unfinished at a time in the future, the Future Perfect Simple means finished by a time or event in the future.

In my video lesson on the Future Perfect, I gave an example case at the end about a family doing a Route 66 driving tour of the USA. Route 66 starts in Chicago, Illinois and continues to Santa Monica Beach, California.

No matter where you are in your journey:

By the time you have reached Santa Monica, you will have driven a total of 2,140 miles.

In the above example sentence, you can see an advanced version of the First Conditional. The time clause is by the time, the Present Perfect is in the condition clause while the Future Perfect makes up the result clause.

We use the Future Perfect to express the number of finished actions before the time or event in the future (finished along the way). Therefore, the number of miles you travelled represents the number of finished actions along the way.

Roundup: Continue your journey with the English Conditionals

This post has given you the complete picture of the First Conditional in terms of the following:

The Time Conjunctions you can use with the First Conditional
The Full Range of Present Tenses to use in the condition clause
The Full Range of Future Tenses to use in the result clause

If you would like to continue this learning in video format, I invite you to my course page on Thinkific. There, you will find my Business English Solutions course. It teaches the First, Second, and Third Conditionals fully with video lectures and exercises.

Learn more about the 1st Conditional in the Big Picture Post

This post focused on the First Conditional and all its aspects that you don’t typically learn in an ESL book. Yet you also want to learn the inferences, common mistakes, and First Conditional imposters (sentences that look like the First Conditional but actually aren’t).

You can find those explanations on the Big Picture post that teaches all 4 plus 1 conditionals.

Can you learn the First Conditional with ChatGPT?

Of course practice makes perfect, so where can you get quality examples of First Conditional sentences?

In a special bonus post, I show you how you can learn and practice the First Conditional with ChatGPT.

The post is my experiment using ChatGPT to see if it can generate valuable example sentences and exercises on the First Conditional. I also give my commentary on how ChatGPT performed in the experiment. Yet I also do a fair bit of teaching and explaining based on the example.

Final Word on the First Conditional

So, have I delivered on my promise? Make sure to leave a comment on the post with where you’re from and how English books that you’ve worked with in the past explained the First Conditional. I’d love to hear your stories, so we can keep the conversation going.

That’s it for now, and see you in the next post.

The post First Conditional: Master all Time Clauses, Present & Future Tenses appeared first on Native 1.

Business English Pricing Guide: How much to charge for Business English Lessons

Jon — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 09:47:03 +0000

If you’re a business English teacher like me, then I’m sure the question of how much to charge for Business English lessons has occurred to you at some point. While you might offer both general English and business English lessons, how you price your Business English lessons depends on several factors including your short and long term opportunity cost and the competitive environment in your area.

What are opportunity costs

In economic theory, we define opportunity cost as a measure of cost on your next best alternative. Let’s say I go to the local language book store and I’ve got 80 zloties to spend (about $20). I could either buy a business English book or a boardgame to spice up my lessons. Since I only have the fixed amount of money, I have to decide between the two. Hence, the opportunity cost of the business English book is the boardgame and vice versa.

Equally, we can apply the same theory to your time. Your opportunity cost of time is the next best alternative you could be doing with that time. This type of economic thinking should play a big part in determining how much to charge for Business English lessons.

Your Primetime Teaching Hours

Have you heard of the phrase primetime as in a primetime tv series?

Before on demand TV became mainstream, people would tune in to watch their favorite tv shows in the evening. The time slots for the very best shows were typically between 8 – 10 pm. TV networks considered these times as their primetime slots as they could attract the biggest audiences for their shows. Consequently, they could also earn the most by charging the highest rates for commercial spots.

So, primetime means the best money-making period of time for any business. For freelance English teachers primetime is in the evening since our students are out of school or work. This is the time where they can come in for group or individual lessons. Therefore, the opportunity cost for an English teacher is quite high in the evening.

Learn more about the differences between Business English vs General English Teachers here.

To avoid conflicts with opportunity cost, you should keep your Business English hours to mornings. Sometimes business will ask for lessons just before their employees finish their shifts. But if you factor in your commute after the lessons finish, you might run into conflicts.

Business English Primetime Hours are in the Mornings

However, Business English primetime hours occur in the morning and early afternoon. For this reason, the opportunity cost calculation is different. Additionally, we should differentiate between the manner of lessons either occurring online or in-company.

If you travel to teach in-company, you want to teach a string of lessons in the same place. The more you can teach in one place at a time the better. On the contrary, you want to avoid going across town to deliver one lesson.

Yet in the post Covid-19 reality, you will find more students willing to take online lessons. If you commit to doing your lessons online, you reduce the time lost to travel in addition to the extra cost you incur.

How much to charge for business English lessons: the cost of an hour

The opportunity cost of an online lesson is about the same as the evening hour for an English teacher. As a teacher, you want to stack online lessons one after another just as you would do with evening lessons.

Personally-speaking, I’ve decided to commit to being in my office full-time and no longer drive for lessons. Presently, I teach between 8-11 in the mornings while I teach from 3 – 7 pm in my office. The lessons are a mixture of both in-person and online students.

With this arrangement, I can maximize my earnings and have time for content creation. Furthermore, I benefit from this with a more predictable schedule and less frustration from having to commute in the mornings.

As a freelance English teacher, you want a uniform schedule. Just think about how much more efficient your lesson planning and content creation will be when you have breaks in teaching that you don’t have to spend in traffic or on a bus.

The opportunity cost of commuting to onsite lessons

The business English teacher who’s willing to commute will have to make a different calculation, though. After all, commuting to and from a lesson both incurs time and expense.

In the past, I would often conduct a lesson at 8 in Tychy, another at 10 in Katowice, then a final lesson at around noon in another part of Katowice. All that driving around adds up to 5 hours to teach 3 lessons. Even worse, these lessons were organized by a language school so my rate was the same English teacher rate the language school would pay regardless of the lesson being general or business-oriented, nor did that rate take in the fact that I’d have to travel to and from the lesson.

Now that I am a freelance English and Business English teacher, I charge my own rates and do not allow the language schools to profit off my efforts. I charge what I’m worth and maximize my time for both teaching and productivity with my content creation. [plug]

When you are thinking about whether to accept or negotiate the rate you’re offered from a language school, you want your time and expense to be a sticking point.

How much to charge for business English lessons: the cost of a year

The day-to-day opportunity cost of an hour is one thing, the cost of a year, on the other hand, is another matter. Business English is a year-round endeavor whereas the general English calendar runs from September to June. This is why I mentioned that you should price Business English lessons differently from general English lessons.

With a business English contract, the calculation is closer to 11 months out of the year that you will be teaching. In some regards this sounds like a lower opportunity cost factor, but it isn’t. You have to factor in the kind of people you will be dealing with on a regular basis. I can attest that you will have a 60% (at best) attendance rate on your lessons since business English students tend to be managers, executives, or sales force managers who travel a lot and take frequent business trips.

As a result, not only should you carefully evaluate how much to charge for Business English lessons, but you should also protect your time and income against several factors which I’ll outline in the next section.

Protect your time and income against cancellations

When you are dealing with clients (students) in the business world, you have to protect your time and income against several risks. Business English students will frequently miss lessons due to any of the following:

cancellations
business trips
conflicting meetings
vacation
illness
family commitments,
peak time periods when they’re too swamped to take time out for a lesson

One example of the final bullet point is that I teach one person in the commercial shipping and logistics industry and he routinely disappears from the time before Black Friday to January the following year.

If you charge by the lesson, you will find yourself getting frustrated with your students due to the high number of cancelled lessons. For that reason, you want to think of your business more along the lines of the subscriber model. Your students aren’t paying for individual lessons but to keep that time slot in your schedule. I would recommend charging either a monthly fee or, in the very least, a minimum invoice to protect against cancellations.

Be Careful of prepaid invoices

Some business English students get a certain budget from their company to spend on their English development. In this situation, they will want to arrange with you a price and set number of lessons for the invoice. What I would suggest is to stipulate some deadline on the contract so that you don’t get stuck teaching someone for a contract whose time value of money had long since run out.

To summarize opportunity cost, you want to determine your price based on the cost of an hour. Based on that determination, identify what that time is worth to you for the whole year. Finally, you want to charge this price upfront (yearly, semesterly, or monthly). When you follow this approach, it is important to have a cancellation policy. Explain to your students that they aren’t paying for lessons. They are paying for your time and to keep the time for the whole school year.

Following this protocol will give you some income stability. Your time is valuable, and you cannot easily replace or reschedule someone who has cancelled a lesson.

Don’t Price per Lesson, Price as a Service

Service oriented businesses can be based on one-off visits or recurring visits by the same clients. A one-off model might look like a dentist’s office. This kind of service has no problem filling its schedule from week to week with patients within its area. If a person cancels an appointment, the dentist can easily place another patient in that time slot. Those time slots will fill up and the appointments can be scheduled out for weeks at a time. A dentist doesn’t care much if one person cancels because another can easily slot in.

The business English teacher with the office next door has the same revolving circle of clients. He has the Monday clients, the Tuesday clients, the Wednesday clients, and so on. Each client has fit the appointed day and time into their schedule and has built their other extra-curricular activities besides English around that fixed schedule. These clients may appreciate a bit of flexibility to cancel and reschedule appointments. Yet they need to respect and prioritize the time they set with you.

You, as the business English teacher, need to set a cancellation policy that protects your income against your students’ unpredictability. Without it, you are doing yourself a huge disservice.

Contracts and Informal Agreements

When you work with a company, both you and the company you’re working with will want to have a contract to formalize the teaching arrangement. Within that contract you can set conditions for the following items:

Agree with your client upon the format of the lessons provided.
Set the timing (for example: does one hour or lesson equal 50, 55, or 60 minutes delivered?).
Outline the frequency of the meetings along with stipulations for additional lessons.
State your cancellation policy and the number of allowed make-ups and reschedules.
Set the cost per lesson as well as how the bill will be calculated.
Allow for addendums to the contract so that you can change the price in the future if necessary.
Stipulate what counts as a late cancellation and whether or not it is fully paid.

Here's a Sample Teaching Terms and Conditions

I have put my terms and conditions up on my website and refer my students to that page. That way, they can translate it into Polish and fully understand my policies and expectations. You can view that Terms and Conditions page here.

Perhaps you’re thinking about teaching English abroad and are reading this to gather ideas and insights. Why don’t you comment below with any questions you might have, or email me directly.

Teaching Groups vs Individual Students

You should have a zero-cancellation policy if your business English lesson arrangement is to teach a group. At least one of the group members should be present and if nobody shows up for the lesson, it will still be counted.

You also want to include an allowance for any materials you provide to the group. As a freelance teacher, you don’t want the cost burden to be solely on you when you are dealing with a group. Printing for individuals is one thing, but printing for a four-person group can really add up over time.

You may have an informal arrangement if you are working with individual students, but you should at least agree to a cancellation policy or “subscription” price in the first meeting. If you have existing clients and you would like to change the arrangement, notify them in advance of your intention to discuss the matter and raise the points you want to make at the time of that meeting.

You will avoid the frustration of seeing your income fluctuate and drop as cancellations pile up if you follow these recommendations.

The Competitive Environment for Business English Teachers

Where you are providing your teaching services around the world as well as how you measure against the competition in that locale has a huge impact on how much to charge for Business English lessons. Technology has made the world a much smaller place, largely closing the gap on cost and standards of living around the world. Yet a gap remains as a prospective client in a western European country will have a different price range to a prospective client in Central/Eastern Europe, Asia, or even Latin America.

Your first activity should be to do a bit of market research to see just how much people are charging on both the high and low scale.

Use Match Finder Services for Market Research

In Poland, for example, there is a website called nativespeaker.com.pl which is a match-finder website. Teachers register on this site as native or non-native speakers, create their profile, define their preferred teaching format, and set their prices. Students looking for a native speaker browse the profiles for teachers in their area and reach out directly through the website’s portal.

The obvious benefit for teachers is that it allows for them to passively obtain leads for new prospective students. More importantly, though, you can use a platform like this to gauge the competition in the market. You see how much other teachers are charging.

Make a note of the teachers charging the highest prices and figure out their reasoning for that luxury price, then do the same for the lowest price teachers on the market. Finally, ask yourself where do you fit into the competitive environment? Does your profile compare well to the luxury price range, the budget price range, or somewhere in the middle?

Here are some additional considerations against which you compare yourself to other teachers in your local competitive environment.

How do your Teaching Qualifications Measure Up in the local Market?

Some factors that separate you as a business English teacher are your educational background, your teaching experience, and whether or not you have business experience apart from teaching. If you possess these qualities to a higher level than your competition, you can charge on the high end of the price range. In my post on Business English vs. General English teachers, I cover the concept of qualifications in greater detail, so you can click this link to read that post next.

Where will your leads come from?

Language schools and people matching agencies often do the marketing and outreach to secure an arrangement with businesses in your area and promise to match them with a teacher to fulfill the service. These services arrange the price in advance and offer opportunities to the teachers in their mailing list. The teacher who responds to the offer and meets the needs of the client will win the job.

However, this approach rarely benefits the teacher as you, the teacher, are placed with a limit on what you will be paid but still have to adhere to the administration of the lessons and whatever red tape that comes with it.

If you’re just getting started as a business English teacher, you might take these jobs so as to fill up your schedule. As you start to acquire your own clients, you can phase these arrangements out and go completely self-sufficient.

How to Price Student Referrals

The best form of marketing is word of mouth or getting referrals from your existing clients. For starters, you get a qualified lead that will be eager to get started working with you. Your student has done all the work for you by talking up your service when making the referral.

Unfortunately, though, your student might also have shared the price you were charging them to the new prospect. This means they will likely come with a price expectation that should at least be in accordance with what you’ve been charging their friend or acquaintance.

Do your own content marketing

As a freelance business English teacher, one way you can generate your own leads is to do your own localized and content marketing.

Local SEO (search engine optimization) involves setting up a profile on Google My Business. This means you will appear as a local business on Google Maps. To do this and rank highly, you need a place of business, complete your profile with details of the business hours and contact, and get some students to review your business on Google Maps. That way, when potential students in your area search for “business English (your town/city) or native speaker English teacher (your town/city), you show up as one of the top results.

Additionally, you might consider doing your own content marketing. Content marketing is the idea that you write content (blog content) which points to a landing page where you attempt to convert that traffic into customers or subscribers. In my upcoming book, Content Marketing for Content Creators, I teach you the whole scheme of content marketing aimed at content creators and freelancers.

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Run your Business English Teaching Service Like a Business

The benefit of having your own place of business, a website, and a marketing plan means you can set your own prices and generate your own leads based on these realities as opposed to renting yourself out to language schools and people-finder websites. How does that sound for a way to get qualified leads at the price you want?

How full is your schedule already?

Another thing to consider is your schedule availability. If your schedule is rather full already, you don’t really “need” to take on any additional students. This would be a good moment to raise your price to a level where you would like to set your new “floor.” Your price floor is the lowest price you would charge.

In this case, you’re not necessarily raising prices on all your existing clients. More to the point, you are raising the price on your next “new” client. Once you have a new student at that price point, you can gradually start stepping up your prices on your existing students. I wouldn’t recommend doing this all at once, because if too many of them don’t accept the new reality, you could be left with some huge gaps in your schedule.

What to charge for Business English in Poland

While I, unfortunately, cannot give you a definitive guide on what to charge for business English lessons in other parts of the world, I can only provide you with my own personal experiences as well as the insights to make your own informed decision.

As I live in Poland and teach Polish students, there are some realities that I have to deal with. My business English rates apply for morning lessons in the block between 8-11 am. The afternoon lessons are mostly in my private office and are general English students.

As I’m not located in Warsaw or Krakow, I can only discuss the realities for my location. For my location (the Katowice, Tychy, Mikolow area), the low scale of pricing for teachers would be 50 zl per lesson whereas the median price has settled recently at 75 zl for this area. As for Business English, I have seen most prices range from 90 – 120 zl per lesson from individual teachers.

What I charge for Business English

Personally, I charge the high end of this at 100 zl average price for business English lessons. My arrangement is typically to plan the month and invoice based on the available number of lessons for the agreed upon day and time with the student. For example, a month where I might meet a student 3 or 5 times is counted and charged as the invoice amount upfront. Business English lessons are on a “use it or lose it” basis in that I charge the invoice as a service, not for lessons delivered.

My Business English students reserve my time as much as they are paying for the lesson. I have arrived at this point after many years (12) in this local market. This all made possible by my having a full schedule, an established reputation as a teacher in the area, and my own place of business. I also do my own marketing efforts, which has enabled me to set my own prices equivalent to what the language schools are charging.

My recommendation

My advice for you as a freelancer is to work on building up your reputation first. Try and fill up your schedule and gradually push the upper limits of the price scale for your local market. Rome was not built in a day and neither will your business be.

Final Word

Being a freelance Business English teacher can be a rewarding career. Many of us freelancers may have started out thinking we’d be doing it for a year or so. However, once you find a landing spot and have a wonderful experience, you want more.

You start out with language schools, but eventually you branch out to take control over your career. If you’re ready for that challenge, I commend you and wish you the best. Hopefully, this pricing guide helps you to take the leap and be your own business. Or if you already have your own business, perhaps it gives you the insight needed to improve.

Over to You

If you’re a business English teacher, please comment on the post and let me know where you’re teaching. What does the situation look like where you teach, and what are the price ranges? Let’s keep the conversation going.

Perhaps you’re thinking about teaching English abroad and are reading this to gather ideas and insights. Why don’t you comment below with any questions you might have, or email me directly.

The post Business English Pricing Guide: How much to charge for Business English Lessons appeared first on Native 1.

The Zero Conditional Fully Explained

Jon — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 18:48:38 +0000

ALL CONDITIONALS

1ST CONDITIONAL

2ND CONDITIONAL

1ST VS 2ND CONDITIONAL

1ST CONDITIONAL EXAMPLES

MIXED CONDITIONALS

The Zero Conditional is the first of four English Conditionals, and it expresses a present condition in relation to a present result. In my many years of teaching English abroad, I have observed that there are many aspects to the Zero Conditional that have simply gone unexplained by most English Resources. This post will go where most resources have not by taking a deep look at the Zero Conditional, its formation, meaning, and use. By the time you finish this post, you’ll never look at the Zero Conditional again as the forgotten conditional.

This post is only focused on the Zero Conditional; however, if you want to learn all the conditionals together, you can find my Guide to All 4 Conditionals. Additionally, you could skip to the bottom of this post for a link to my online video course on Conditionals 1, 2, and 3.

The Zero Conditional is the Present Conditional

The 4 English Conditionals express conditions against the result according to either the present, past, or future time. The Zero Conditional expresses a present condition against a present result. This is why I often refer to the Zero Conditional as the Present Conditional. Wouldn’t the conditionals be easier to learn if we labeled them by their time rather than by numbers?

The Zero Conditional and its Complex Sentence Structure

English Conditionals fall under a category of complex sentences. It is important to understand the Zero Conditional from this context because the sentence structure itself determines how the speaker intonates the sentence by stressing the main idea.

A complex sentence is comprised of two clauses that are grammatically unequal. This is often apparent when both clauses have different verb tenses. Yet the Zero Conditional usually contains 2 clauses that are both expressed in the Present Simple.

The fact that both clauses might be in the Present Simple doesn’t make the clauses grammatically equal. It is the hierarchy of ideas expressed in the sentence that makes the clauses unequal. For conditional sentences, the result clause is always the main clause compared to the condition clause.

How are Zero Conditional Clauses Grammatically Unequal

The Zero Conditional is grammatically unequal in that the ideas expressed have hierarchy. The result clause of the this Conditional type is the independent (or main) clause whereas the condition clause is subordinate. Since there is hierarchy with a main and subordinate idea, the clauses are grammatically unequal.

Later in this post, I will show you how English sentence grammar often uses a change in the tense to either clause to emphasize the hierarchy of ideas.

How to Form the Zero Conditional

EFL coursebooks often teach you through a grammar box that the Zero Conditional is formed with a Time Conjunction (usually if or when) plus the Present Simple with the result clause also in the Present Simple. For me, this is just the basics.

The Zero Conditional can actually be formed with more Time Conjunctions than just if and when along with the Present Simple, Present Continuous, and Present Perfect Simple in the condition clause.

The Time Conjunction determines the tenses of the Present Condition

English verb tense aspects (simple, continuous, and perfect) express the different ways that verb actions of different clauses relate to each other.

Present Simple expresses a fact, a generally true situation, a state, or a regularly occurring situation.
Present Continuous expresses an extended or unfinished action in the present, or occurring at the same time in a sequence.
Present Perfect expresses an action already finished (first in sequence) in relation to a present situation or state.

Time Conjunctions to Use in the Zero Conditional

It is the Time Conjunction that tells us the relationship of the verbs in each clause. The following time conjunctions can be used in the Zero Conditional and determines the tense of the verb in the condition clause.

If/When/Unless this situation or state occurs, the result occurs. (TC + Simple | Simple)
When/While this action is happening, the situation occurs or the state exists. (TC + Continuous | Simple)
After or Until this action has happened, the second situation or action generally occurs. (TC + Perfect | Simple)

Have a look at the following graphic for examples of these relationships.

Find the Zero Conditional Meaning by Making Inferences

As I had explained in the post on all the English Conditionals, the meaning of the Zero Conditional is best understood through inferences that can be drawn from the sentence.

An Inference is what conclusion you can draw based on what someone has said. You can form an inference from the type 0 sentence by rephrasing each clause in the negative. Basically, if one clause has a verb in the affirmative (positive), it’s inference is negative and vice versa.

Have a look at the following grid of examples to illustrate this.

In the above example, all I did was either make the verb in both clauses negative or change a descriptive word to an antonym (word with the opposite meaning). This is how you draw an inference from a conditional, and it is the key to understanding the conditionals as a communication tool.

You can draw inferences from each conditional; additionally, you will find that the other conditionals (Type 1, 2, and 3) can draw more inferences than the Zero Conditional because we are inferring and speculating about either the past or future.

The Zero Conditional for Habits and Behaviors

At elementary level, every English learner is taught that we use the Present Simple to describe habits or situations that are generally true for us. But what about situations that aren’t generally true?

In my video English lesson on 2 Advanced Tenses to Talk about Routines, I explain that we use the Future Simple (with present meaning) to express present behaviors.

From the grammatical view, a habit is a generally repeated behavior whereas a behavior is one’s response to a specific situation or condition.

Hence, behaviors are situation specific while habits are general.

The Zero Conditional Changes to Express Behavior

Since a behavior is not generally true, we don’t use the Present Simple. We use the Future Simple instead of the Present Simple.

Earlier in this post, I had explained that we can use the verb tense of a clause for emphasis in a complex sentence. The Zero Conditional can emphasize that an action is not generally true by changing the verb tense of the result clause to Future Simple. We do this in two ways:

When the condition is too narrow or specific to be generally true
When there are multiple results that could be true.

Use the Future Simple for narrow or specific conditions in the present

Q: What do you do when you have free time?

A: When I have free time, I play sudoku.

In this first example sentence, the condition “when you have free time” is a very broad and general condition. You can have free time in many contexts. Hence, the Zero Conditional uses the Present Simple.

Q: What do you do when you have free time after work?

Comparing the revised question, you notice there are actually two conditions – when you have free time and after work. This condition is much more specific and we are not talking about habits anymore. We are asking about the person’s behavior.

A: When I have free time after work, I’ll probably go to the mall.

In the answer, we will emphasize the result by upgrading the verb tense to the Future Simple (with present meaning).

Use the Future Simple when there are a few possible results

Going back to the original question: What do you do when you have free time? While the question is broad, the answer might be equally broad.

A: When I have free time, I might listen to a podcast, or I’ll probably just play sudoku.

Here, you could use the future simple or the modal verb might. Once again, these future forms don’t contain any future meaning. We only use them to emphasize that the present result isn’t a generally true result (because there are numerous possibilities).

Hopefully, these examples help you to understand that there’s so much more to the Conditional Type-0 than just the Present Simple tense.

The Zero Conditional vs First Conditional

The difference between the Zero Conditional and the First Conditional is that the Zero Conditional presents both a present condition and result (the Present Conditional) whereas the First Conditional expresses both a future condition and result. This means that there is a clear difference between the two conditionals.

Yet there are a couple instances when the Zero Conditional looks like the First Conditional:

When we emphasize the present result by changing the tense of the result clause (as explained in the previous section)
When we mix the Zero Conditional and the First Conditional

Don't Confuse Future with Present Meaning for the First Conditional

Future Simple with present meaning. This is one case where the zero conditional looks like the First Conditional because the condition clause is in the Present Simple while the result clause is in the Future Simple.

When I teach this point to my English students in Poland, I jokingly call it the Half (0.5) Conditional.

One use of this is to express predictive behaviors and tendencies.

Predictive Tendencies are not the same as Making Predictions

A tendency is the typical or likely result. An example of this would be:

Ex: My typical English student will be an adult mostly looking to improve his or her conversation skills.

While a prediction will be:

Ex: I think my next English student will be an adult mostly looking to improve his or her conversation skills.

The first example is generalizing about my typical English student whereas the second example predicts some characteristics of my next (future) student. Yet in both cases, the Future Simple was used as the verb tense.

The Mixed Conditional between the Zero and First

Another First Conditional lookalike is when you mix the Zero and the First Conditionals. Since both the Zero and First Conditional share a condition clause in a present tense, a Mixed Conditional can look exactly like a First Conditional sentence.

Ex: If you are in high school today, you will be entering the workforce in the next 3 – 8 years.

In the example sentence, you can see that the condition is a present state (you are in high school today) while the result is a future fact.

Again, this looks like a First Conditional sentence; yet the Mixed Conditional occurs when the condition from one time zone (the present) mixes with the result from another time zone (the past).

Over to You

You can use the Zero Conditional in many practical situations whether it’s general or business English. To get some practice, why don’t you drop a comment to this post with an example sentence expressing one of the following functions and I’ll comment back with a reply?

Explain a general process
Express a procedure (how something is done in sequence)
Give a conditional instruction

The post The Zero Conditional Fully Explained appeared first on Native 1.

The Ultimate Guide to All 4 English Conditionals

Jon — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 13:57:15 +0000

ZERO CONDITIONAL

1st CONDITIONAL

2ND CONDITIONAL

1ST VS 2ND CONDITIONAL

1ST CONDITIONAL EXAMPLES

MIXED CONDITIONALS

The English Conditionals are a rather difficult subject for many English learners for a number of reasons. In this post, I will give a big picture approach to understanding the English conditional sentences as well as provide examples, common mistakes, and so much more.

Keep reading to master this grammatical aspect with my Ultimate Guide to All 4 English Conditionals.

What are English Conditionals

Conditional Sentences are one of seven types of complex sentences in English that describes the dependence of a result on certain conditions.

When it comes to teaching these kinds of sentences, I believe it is important to start with sentence structure. You can understand all English conditionals at sentence level. But first, you must learn how the verb tenses in each clause relate to one another to communicate meaning.

What are Complex Sentences

A complex sentence shows the relationship between two clauses as being grammatically unequal.

In terms of sentence building, grammatically unequal often means that the two clauses are built around verbs that are in different tenses, but this isn’t always the case (see the zero conditional).

In terms of communication, if-clauses are unequal, meaning there is a hierarchy of ideas where one idea (the main or independent clause) takes precedent over the minor idea (the dependent or subordinate clause).

The English Conditionals as Complex Sentence

Conditional sentences are composed of two grammatically unequal clauses: the condition clause and the result clause.

The condition clause is always the subordinate clause whereas the result clause is always the main clause.

How many English Conditionals are there?

There are four Conditionals in English which I have listed as follows:

Zero Conditional
First Conditional
Second Conditional
Third Conditional

We can additionally find that mixing the time contexts of any of these conditionals can lead to a Mixed Conditional.

Although many teachers consider the mixed conditional the fifth conditional, I see it differently. That’s mostly down to the fact that there is more than one type of mixed conditional.

What Do All 4 English Conditionals Mean

Each English Conditional type (Zero, First, Second, and Third) within a specific time context for both clauses.

What I mean by this is that the two clauses both occur in either the present, past, or future, and this time context determines which conditional we should use.

The Zero Conditional relates two actions (clauses) in the present.
The First Conditional relates two actions in the future.
The Second Conditional relates two unreal, hypothetical, or unlikely actions in either the present or the future.
The Third Conditional relates two actions in the past

With this understanding, choosing which conditional should become a lot easier.

If you’re talking generally, you should communicate using the Zero Conditional whereas you use the first conditional to express the relationship between two future actions. Likewise, you can use the Third conditional if you want to relate a past condition and its influence on the result.

If you understand where each English Conditional type fits in the big picture, it makes knowing which conditional to use a lot easier.

Inferences are also important to understanding the English conditionals

One way to understand what a conditional means and what time zone the conditional operates in (present, past, or future) is to make inferences from both the condition clause and the result clause.

An inference is the conclusion you can draw based on what information you are given. Basically, a person makes a statement, and you need to understand what they said on two levels in real time:

I understand what the person is telling me.
I also understand what the person is not telling me.

In English, each tense, verb structure, and conditional has inferences because of the aspect meaning they convey. Here are some examples of inferences in different tenses and verb structures:

Inference Examples in English Tenses

Ex 1: I’m working for an IT firm downtown in the Sky building.

The verb tense is in the Present Continuous as a result of temporary aspect of this situation. There are several inferences that we could make because of the verb’s presentation in the continuous tense:

He hasn’t been working there long enough to consider the job permanent.
He could be considering leaving the job.

Basically, for as many reasons that we put a verb in the present continuous tense, we can make an inference. The idea conveyed through the tense here is temporary or impermanence. That means the work situation could be temporary or not have existed long enough for it to be permanent in the speaker’s mind.

Ex 2: I work for an IT firm downtown in the Sky building.

The verb tense now is in the Present Simple tenses which suggests the permanence aspect. The inference could be that he sees the job as permanent. We can deduce that he has probably been working there for a long time and has no plans to change.

As you can see from the two example sentences, there are inferences you can make in each case. The best technique to teach inferences is the one I’ve just deployed here and that is to use marginal analysis. Basically, you change the sentence marginally (just a little) and measure the change in meaning.

How to make inferences from English conditionals

Now that you know what an inference is, let’s apply this knowledge to the different conditionals. You make an inference from a clause by stating or asking yourself what the opposite inference is.

Now study the tense of the opposite inference, and you’ll find that it is still in the present tense.

Now, let’s do a bit of marginal analysis on this by changing the sentence ever so slightly.

While the condition clause is in a present tense (the Present Simple), it’s opposite inference is in the Future Simple:

The school will possibly ring home.

If we change the time clause from if to when, then we change the inferences from might to will.

The school might ring home becomes the school will ring home.

To sum up this point, after each conditional we’ll study some examples and look for the meaning contained within the sentence. This will truly help you understand what each conditional sentence really means.

How to Form All 4 English conditionals (Big Picture)

As I had mentioned before, each conditional is composed of two grammatically unequal clauses, one being the condition clause while the other is the result clause.

The condition clause is composed of a Time Clause (also known as a Time Conjunction) and a clause containing a verb in a present or past verb tense depending on which conditional type it is. The result clause generally contains a clause containing a modal verb (or imperative if we’re dealing with the first conditional).

How to Form the Zero Conditional

You form the Zero Conditional with a time clause plus a verb in a present tense to make up the condition clause. The subordinate result clause is formed with a verb in a present tense.

Which tenses can be used with the Zero Conditional

Take notice that I mentioned the condition clause is formed with a verb in a present tense. Many English learning course books will teach you that the Zero and First Conditionals are formed with the time clause plus the present simple.

The actual verb tense you use in the condition clause of either the Zero or First Conditional really depends a lot on the time and sequence aspect of the verb in that clause. The present tenses (Present Simple, Present Continuous, and Present Perfect Simple) largely differ in terms of timing and sequence of the two verbs in both clauses.

The simple tense conveys the action in general terms, as a fact, or as a present state in relation to the result clause.
The continuous tense expresses the verb as being unfinished while or when the result clause occurs.
The perfect tense relates that the verb in the condition clause occurs first in a sequence and having an effect on the result clause.

The time conjunction (time clause) helps you understand this relationship as the conjunction itself actually states the order or relationship. The time conjunction, for example, after subordinates the first action in a two-action sequence. Since the present perfect is also used on the first action in sequence, what you often get is a clause where after is paired with a verb in the present perfect simple tense (see the third example sentence in the image above).

Examples of the Zero Conditional

Now, I want to show you some examples of the Zero Conditional. After each example, I’ll explain the context, aspect, and inferences to draw conclusions from.

If you’re interested in making a deeper study of the Zero Conditional, you can find an even more detailed explanation in my Zero Conditional Fully Explained post.

How to Form the First Conditional

The First Conditional is formed with a time clause plus a verb in a present tense to make up the condition clause. The subordinate result clause is formed with a verb in a future tense, future modal, or in the imperative.

As with the Zero Conditional, the condition clause can contain any of the three present tenses depending on the context. As the First Conditional conveys two actions’ relationship in the future, the result clause should be in a future tense such as the Future Simple, Future Continuous, or Future Perfect Simple (or contain a future modal verb like might).

Now, you might be wondering why the both tenses aren’t in a future tense. Most teachers will tell you that’s just how it is; however, I give you a great explanation in my post on the first conditional (post is under construction, please subscribe to my newsletter to get an email when it’s ready).

What Modals Can be Used in the First Conditional

Modal verbs can convey the likelihood or level of certainty around a future action. Therefore, as an extension of the future tenses, we can replace the modal verb will, which is the base modal for all the future tenses, with any other modal verb of certainty.

The modal verbs you can use to express the likelihood or possibility of a future action’s occurrence are will, might, can, can’t, and won’t.

First Conditional Examples

Now let’s examine some examples of the First Conditional to see the sentences and their inferences.

Common Mistakes of the First Conditional

Although the examples above show you how to use the conditional correctly, many English learners often struggle with saying the conditionals properly. Some common mistakes of the First Conditional include adding the modal auxiliary verb will in the condition clause as well as not recognizing other time conjunctions as following the rules of the conditionals. The following two sub-sections will give you an example of each.

Putting Will After If

Amongst my students here in Poland, this is the biggest mistake I often hear each day. They often say sentences like the following:

In English, we don’t put the Future Simple verb tense in the condition clause. *If you would like to know the reason why we use the Present Simple in the Condition clause that doesn’t include “because that’s just how it is,” click on my special explanation in this post here. (post under construction, please subscribe to be notified when the post is ready)

Not understanding that Time Clauses are the same as conditional linking words

Linking words such as after, before, until, by the time, and in case are often overlooked as condition clause links. As a result, English learners will often do one of two things:

They use the time link as a preposition only.
They add the modal auxiliary “will” to the condition clause because they didn’t recognize that it was actually a condition clause.

Time conjunctions and prepositions are often the same word, although they are used differently in a sentence.

This isn’t so much of a problem of grammar, but I believe it hinders English learners from achieving fluency. This is because the student is missing out on the chance to build complex sentences.

I believe that the ability to construct and understand complex sentences is a major part of being fluent in English. You can learn more about this in my Full Guide to the First Conditional.

How to Form the Second Conditional

The Second Conditional is formed with a time clause plus a verb in a past tense (specifically the past simple or past continuous) to make up the condition clause. The subordinate result clause is formed with a verb in the past modal such as would, should, might, or could.

The second conditional comes with a lot of nuance since sometimes it can represent the present, past, and future! If you want to learn the specifics of this conditional type, click on the related article to discover how you can better communicate using this conditional form. (post is under construction, subscribe to be notified when it’s ready)

Examples of the Second Conditional

As I had stated earlier, the Second Conditional can be understood in both the present and future tense (and the past too). Therefore, I’ll demonstrate both contexts with two examples:

Common Mistakes of the Second Conditional

The common mistakes of the Second Conditional are actually the same as with the First Conditional. For example, many of my English students are in the habit of saying “If I would” together in the same clause.

This is one of those mistakes that often occurs if the student is translating from their own language. If you find that you do this, you want to find some resources to fix this.

Form the Third Conditional

The Third Conditional is formed with a time clause plus a verb in the past perfect to make up the condition clause. The subordinate result clause is formed with a verb in the Modal Perfect form.

The modal perfect, as used in the third conditional, combines a past modal verb of speculation (would, might, could, couldn’t, or wouldn’t) plus the infinitive perfect (have been).

Like the other conditionals, there is quite a bit of nuance when practicing the third conditional, so you will want to check out my more in-depth study of the third conditional here.

Examples of the Third Conditional

The Third Conditional represents an alternative result to an alternative past supposition. Hence, both unreal actions exist in the past. Here are some examples of the Third Conditional for you to study:

Common Mistakes of the Third Conditional

Like the second conditional, the most common mistake of the Third Conditional is putting Would in the condition clause.

Since the Third Conditional’s condition clause is formed with the past perfect, you might also run into a reading misunderstanding of thinking the contracted (‘d) was would instead of had. Just try to remember that there is no Would in the condition clause of the Third Conditional.

The English Conditionals Matrix (Big Picture Graphic)

As I explain in my post on The Best Way to Learn the Conditionals, you want to learn them all at once. The English Conditionals Matrix that you can see below, depicts the Zero, First, Second, and Third Conditionals all together so that you can compare them in the following ways:

How they are formed
What tenses are used
What each conditional type means

What is a Mixed Conditional

Some English blogs and the teachers who wrote them write that there are 5 conditionals with the mixed conditional actually being the fifth type although I disagree on this. The Mixed Conditional cannot qualify as a conditional type because there are more ways to mix conditionals than one, meaning there’s no one type of Mixed Conditional. If the conditional types are defined by the time context (past to past, present to present, or future to future), the Mixed Conditional occurs when the condition and result clauses occur in different time contexts. Those contexts can include:

The Most Common Mixed Conditional Structure

The most common Mixed Conditional structure involves the past to present, and this can play out in one of two ways.

The condition clause is of the past (Third Conditional Clause) while the result clause is of the present (Second Conditional Result)
The condition clause is of the hypothetical/unreal present (Second Conditional Condition) while the result is of the alternative past (Third Conditional Result)

These two combined forms make up the two ways to form a Mixed Third/Second-Conditional.

The Hidden Mixed Conditional

I was doing an exercise on the conditionals with a student when I discovered that the book’s example sentence on the First Conditional was actually a Mixed Conditional. This form of Mixed Conditional involves a present situation or state’s influence on the future result.

Here’s that sentence that I spotted as the hidden Mixed Conditional and why I say that it is hiding in plain sight:

At first glance, this sentence looks like it is in the First Conditional. In truth, though, it is a Mixed Conditional because it combines a present state’s effect on the future predicted outcome.

Learn The 3 Main Conditionals with my Online Course

There you have it, the most complete guide on the Internet that teaches you all 4 conditionals! If you’ve read and studied this whole post, I have to say “congratulations!” on completing this written mini-course. So, where to next for you?

I can recommend my full course on the main three conditionals: the First Conditional(a deep dive), the Second Conditional, and the Third Conditional. The course can be done online and will provide you a visual experience while learning this important aspect of English grammar. Along the way, you will get lots of practice. By the time you have finished the course, you will have learned how to use the three main conditionals in English.

Over to You

So, what are your thoughts, questions, or difficulties with the conditionals. Please leave me a comment to the post or feel free to send an email to the linked contact form here, and I will answer if possible.

The post The Ultimate Guide to All 4 English Conditionals appeared first on Native 1.

The Complete Guide to English Conversation with Strangers

Jon — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 10:02:04 +0000

It can be super stressful to start a conversation with a stranger Even for us native speakers. If, however, you are a non-native speaking English learner, it must be even more frightening to try and start a conversation in English. This might be because you aren’t confident enough in your English, or you simply don’t know what to say. The best way to start a conversation in English with a stranger is to use some common phrases or icebreakers. This lesson will teach you how to choose a conversation starter depending on the situation, keep the conversation going with inviting follow up questions, then bring it to a smooth ending – basically your complete guide to English conversation.

This post is based on my 2-part video series which you can watch below, or scroll down to read the lesson transcript.

Watch Part 1: Conversation Starters

Watch Part 2: Conversation Frames

4 Steps for you to Start a Conversation in English

There are four basic stages of a conversation in English.

First you need to break the ice to get the person to respond to you.
Next, you want to keep the conversation going with polite but engaging follow-up questions.
Then, there is the back and forth conversation stage. This is where you show interest in what your partner is saying and prompt them to elaborate (or explain more) on what they were saying.
As it becomes clear that the conversation has run its course (expression: meaning it should more or less finish), you need to have a smooth exit strategy.

If you follow these four steps, you’ll come off as a pro at conversation. Does that sound like something you want to learn how to do in English? If so, read on for more!

Use Icebreakers to Start a Conversation in English

One of the best ways to start a conversation in English with a stranger is to use a good icebreaker. In English, relationships run hot when you’re really close to someone, and cold when you’re strangers or don’t get along well.

Icebreakers help to start the conversation and get the other person to warm up to you (start to like you).

The very best icebreakers arise from an observation that you make about your conversation partner. An observation is the idea that you notice something of interest then comment on it. You can do that with the following starter phrase: I couldn’t help + [gerund of: notice or overhear].

The two best icebreakers to start a conversation in English

I can’t help and its past form couldn’t help mean that a person can’t “not” do something (please excuse the double negative).

So, I couldn’t help noticing means I couldn’t “not” notice something about you or what you were doing.

For example, if we were in a train car sitting across from each other, I might say:

I couldn’t help noticing the book you were reading. Is that the new Dan Brown mystery thriller?

Notice in the example that it reads as “the book you were reading,” and not “the book you are reading (in the present continuous).” In English, you can also use past tenses with present meaning as a form of social English and it is a more friendly way to speak to a person than using the present tenses.

Keep the conversation going with inviting questions

After you have started a conversation with the stranger, you might ask the person: Where are you from?

Followed by: Why did you come to my country?

Avoid being too Direct with your Follow-Up Questions

However, you want to avoid starting the question with “Why.” The question word, Why, comes off as very direct and might put your conversation partner on the defensive.

Why acts as a challenge to your partner, so if they don’t know you well, they may not want to answer your question. Even worse, they might look for a way out of the conversation.

Examples of Inviting Questions

You can think of an inviting question as asking about the person’s reasoning or thought process instead of asking them “why.” I know it sounds like the two are the same, but trust me on this that they are not.

The better way to ask follow-up questions that mean why are to use one of the following three question types:

What brings you to my country?
What made you want to leave your home country?
How did you end up coming to my country?

Ask about a Person's Push and Pull Factors

Push factors are reasons why you want to leave as in these reasons are pushing you out. On the contrary, Pull factors are the reasons you might find another place attractive as in those reasons are pulling you there.

The Pull Factor Question: What Brings you...?

The What-brings-you question asks about the pull factor because of the the word bring. Bring is a verb of perspective and the user conveys the person as coming towards. There is a subtle psychology in using this word to form your question which is much more inviting than why.

The Push Factor Question: What Made you...?

The What-made-you question asks about the push factor because of the the word made. Made, in English, can take the meaning of force as in somebody is forcing me to do something.

For example: My teacher made (forced) me stay after school for detention.

In the above example, the student doesn’t want to stay after school, but the teacher made him do it.

The Universal Question: How did you end up...?

Questions with How (i.e., How did you end up doing something?) ask more about the process or story. The person you ask might choose to tell their push OR pull factors.

Here are some example questions that you might ask:

How did you end up moving from Los Angeles?
How did you become a teacher? (Or) How did you end up becoming a teacher?

If you look at the second example question, you will notice there are two ways to ask it: How did you do something or How did you end up doing something?

The only real difference between the two is that the second one is longer and therefore more indirect. This brings us to the next point of why it’s important to use indirect speech in English conversation.

Indirect Speech is Important in English Conversation

Being direct means that you tell your counterpart what you want to say in the shortest, most efficient way possible. However, this approach isn’t a friendly way of addressing your conversation partner. If you are speaking with someone you don’t know well (a stranger or acquaintance), you need to be more indirect.

Being indirect means that you take a longer approach to saying what you want. If you are communicating with a stranger, they will recognize your attempt at being indirect as a sign of friendliness.

In this case, they will be much more likely to continue engaging with you in conversation.

Direct Verb Tenses vs Indirect Verb Tenses

As a general rule, the Imperative and Simple (Present, Past, Future) verb tenses are direct and should be avoided in social situations.

If you want to be more indirect, there are many techniques to do so such as stretching the verb into a phrase or changing the verb tense.

What do you suggest? -> What suggestion can you make?

In this example, the verb suggest is stretched into a phrase (i.e., make a suggestion).

What do you suggest? -> What are you suggesting? What did you want to suggest?

In this follow-up example, the verb tense can be changed to the present continuous, or we can use a past tense with present meaning (more on this in a different upcoming post).

How to Ask Indirect Questions in English

An indirect question in English consists of three elements: a starter phrase, a linking word, and the main clause that asks the question.

For example: [Can I ask][if][you will be staying here until next week?]

In the above example, Can I ask is the starter phrase (the indirect part of the question), while if is the link word that connects the starter phrase to the main clause (you will be staying here until next week).

On the contrary, the more direct question would be: are you staying here until next week?

Since you are asking about plans, the present continuous tense is used. Yet we converted the tense to future continuous which is more indirect, and we converted the question into indirect speech.

This is a much more inviting way to ask follow-up questions in English conversation.

If you feel you need more practice on this, you can find my post on Say, Tell, and Reported Speech to learn how to form Indirect Questions.

Use Speculation to Show Interest and Keep your Partner Speaking

Moving into phase three of the conversation, the very next area to improve your speaking skills is learning how to use speculation in a conversational way.

Speculation basically means to:

Think out loud
Wonder about something
(or) guess about things that we think we know or are curious about

What makes speculation so conversational is the fact that it sends a strong signal to our conversation partner to confirm our guess by explaining or correcting us.

Therefore, when you speculate about your speaking partner’s activities, motives, or feelings, it is likely that they will respond.

Three Ways to Speculate in English

With a bit of understanding of English grammar and the proper intonation, you can use the following three ways to speculate with a conversation partner.

The Modal Verb – Must
Tail Questions (or Question Tags)
Phrases for speculating

Use Modal Verbs like Must or Could for Speculating

Simply add the modal verb Must to a comment with a bit of intonation and you have speculation.

You must be tired after such a long flight.
You must miss the great weather back in Los Angeles.

I is important to get the right intonation after the modal verb must. Be sure that you emphasize the verb after must if is an action verb (miss) or the adjective that comes after be (tired).

Use Tail Questions For Speculating

A Tail Question is a grammatical use of auxiliary verbs to form a question out of a statement. You do this by, first, making the statement, then add the tail by reversing the auxiliary verb.

You miss the great weather back in Los Angeles, don’t you?

The statement is: you miss the great weather back in Los Angeles.

The tail is: don’t you?

In the statement, the verb is in the Present Simple verb tense, so the auxiliary verb is do. You need to reverse that auxiliary (do -> don’t) in order to form the tail.

It’s also important to use the right intonation to make it sound like you’re asking a question.

Use the Expression: I Take It... for Speculating

The third way to speculate uses specific an expressions like I take it… or verbs of speculation which basically mean the same thing.

I take it you miss the great weather back in Los Angeles.

While expressions are great tools for English conversation, there are verbs that can do the same job (although in a slightly more direct way). Such verbs might include:

Assume
Suppose
Guess
Figure
Gather

To sum up, you now have three speculating structures that you can use to prompt your conversation partner to explain or keep talking.

Now, let’s transition to the final Stage of conversation – the Exit Strategy.

End the Conversation Politely with a 3-step Frame

Congratulations as you have started the conversation, asked follow-up questions, kept the conversation, but now you want to end the conversation on a good note. To do this, you can follow these three simple steps to bring the conversation to a polite end.

Either Thank or Compliment your conversation partner
Excuse yourself (you can additionally make an excuse here saying why you have to leave)
Either wish them well (or promise future contact if you know the person well)

Here’s an example for you to follow:

Hey thanks for reading my blog post, but I really have to bring it to an end now. I wish you all the best in your English learning!

How about a different example:

Hey listen, it’s been great talking with you, but I have to get going now. I’ve got a bus to catch. But hey, let’s keep in touch. What’s your messenger?

Depending on the situation and how well you know your conversation partner, you can use this frame to avoid the awkwardness of ending a conversation.

Over to You

Hey thanks for taking time out to read my post. You’ve been great! Now, I’d like to hear from you. Have you ever started a conversation with a stranger in English? If so, what did you say to start the conversation, and how did it go?

Click on the hyperlinked contact form and tell me your English conversation story and perhaps I’ll feature it on a follow up post – Student Learner Stories.

Business English vs General English Teacher, which is Better?

Jon — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 09:37:55 +0000

Whether you are thinking about taking up business English lessons as a student, or you’re an English teacher thinking about offering business English lessons, you may be wondering about the differences between being a business English vs general English teacher. While both types of English teacher can teach English vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, and skills, business English is a niche within general English teaching. Therefore, to be a Business English teacher, one must possess three key attributes that will separate him or her from most other general English teachers such as having an educational background in a business subject, having worked in the business world, and taking a different approach to business English students and their expectations for lessons.

Business English vs General English: the similarities and differences

A Business English teacher can much more easily master the language teaching aspect of general English than a general English teacher can master the nuance of business English register and discussion. The Business English teacher already possesses the vocabulary and has the capacity to learn how to teach and explain English Grammar, pronunciation, and writing. The general English teacher, on the other hand, might not have the knowledge or experience in business settings to teach the specialized vocabulary that business English requires.

What makes Business English register different from general English?

Have you ever watched an interview with business leaders on CNBC or the BBC? These unscripted talks are full of business expressions and clichés. Expressions and clichés are contextual and often come from a grounding in business, financial, or marketing concepts. A general English teacher who has never worked in business nor studied a business subject might not have the contextual background to explain expressions that business leaders use as a business English teacher would. Furthermore, that same general English teacher certainly would not be able to teach or provide examples from experience and personal stories.

As an example case, the term Black Friday has become popularized worldwide as people around the world became enamored with viral videos depicting Americans charging headfirst into retail stores like the running of the bulls.

As an American living and teaching abroad, my students often ask me why we have Black Friday and why it’s called “Black.” The term black before a day like “Black Tuesday”, is often thought of as marking something tragic such as the start of the Great Depression although Black Friday is different. So, how would both types of teacher explain this phenomenon?

Example: How a General English teacher might explain Black Friday

The general English teacher might explain Black Friday from its connection to Thanksgiving in that it is the day after the holiday and most Americans turn their attention to Christmas shopping. As for why Black Friday uses the term “Black,” a general English teacher might struggle with that answer unless they have read any articles or seen any programs about it that would explain the reason, nor would they be able to go deeper into conversation about the economics behind the Black Friday phenomenon.

Example: How a Business English teacher might explain Black Friday

As a business English teacher, I would explain it from the financial view in that the term “black” in finance refers to a business operating with a positive profit margin. If a business is in the red, it is making a loss whereas a business in the black is operating with a profit. The explanation continues discussing how most retail businesses run in the red for most of the year but finally turn from red to black during the Christmas Shopping season.

I might further go into why, in Poland for example, you don’t see the same enthusiasm for Black Friday amongst shoppers as you do with American shoppers. For starters, it’s not customary for Poles, and they don’t know the story of Black Friday. More importantly, though, the retailers here in Poland aren’t following the American Black Friday model of using scarcity to generate the enthusiasm from shoppers. Scarcity is a term that economists often use to explain customer behavior as relates to their perceived demand for goods.

Now, I don’t want to go so far off track with this case example, but if you’re interested in a deeper explanation on Black Friday, you can find my article on it titled: Why Black Friday doesn’t work in Poland.

This is just one example of how a business English vs general English teacher might approach explanations differently. The business English teacher in the example situation can go much deeper into an intellectual conversation about the economic theory and strategy that retailers use whereas the general English teacher would be limited to just explaining the history (provided he or she knows it).

Business English vs. General English: Knowledge, Training, and Experience

Both business English and general English teachers start their English learning journey the same in that we all learn the basic use of English, vocabulary, and grammar early on in our school careers. If you think about it, one popular nickname for Elementary or Primary School is “Grammar School.”

However, the two teacher types’ journeys diverge after high school (secondary school) as the general English teacher might go on to major in English, Literature, or Linguistics while the business English teacher goes on to study Economics, Business Management, Finance and Accounting, or Marketing. In fact, I will go so far as to say that the business English teacher has no idea they will end up being a teaching later in their career as they are preparing for a life in the business world.

How I became a business English teacher

The business English teacher typically graduates from college then goes on to work in the business world. In my case, I had begun my career as a financial advisor for two years before I decided to teach English abroad as a means to get out and see the world. It wasn’t until my second year teaching in Poland that I even knew there was a distinction between a business English vs general English teacher as I encountered a situation with a stranger who asked me to be his business English teacher.

We were getting to know each other over a beer when he asked me what I studied and how I became an English teacher. After I told him I’d studied Economics at UCLA and subsequently worked as a financial advisor, he suggested that I could be a good business English teacher for him, and that is where my own journey as a business English teacher began with him as my first student.

4 Important Qualities of a Business English Teacher

My first business English student saw the potential in me to be a business English teacher before anyone else did. As he was taking in my story over that beer, he recognized that I possessed four traits in me that he couldn’t find from other teachers he’d worked with before then.

I had the educational background in a business topic - economics.
I had worked and had "real" experience in the business world.
I could teach him the business English vocabulary and expressions from experience.
We could have high level conversation about business topics.

These four characteristics all point to the fact that I could deliver an authentic business English learning experience to my student. The key word there is “authentic” as defined by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary as:

Worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact
Not false or imitation: Real, Actual
True to one’s own personality, spirit, or character

What Business English Teachers use as teaching materials

A business English teacher does not need to rely on books or traditional English teaching materials to find resources for their lessons. In my own case, I have compiled a vast library of articles, videos, interview excerpts, questionnaires, business books (not only business English books) and more that allow me to teach and have business English discussion topics from authentic sources that give a different look and feel to my business English lessons which can’t be matched by a general English teacher.

As I mentioned earlier, business English is a niche within general English, and therefore, a business English teacher must be a specialist in that niche if he is to deliver on their target student’s expectations, which leads me to my third and final point on this subject matter.

Business English Students Expect More from their teacher

In my vast experience in teaching business English, I can honestly say that my business English students expect more from (me) their teacher than what the general English teacher may be able to offer. Here are some observations I have made over the years concerning my own experiences with business English students:

They prefer their teacher to have an educational background in a business subject.
They appreciated the fact that their teacher had worked in the business world prior to becoming a teacher.
They valued the fact that I ran my own English teaching business and could relate and discuss in terms of the difficulties of actually running a business.
They weren’t always eager to dive deep into the rules and grammar unless I could show them the relevance in how they could use the grammatical aspects in their own likely business situations.
They appreciate that we can go “off script” or deviate from the normal lesson plan and engage in conversation on whatever topic was relevant for that day and situation.
They often didn’t want to be taught from the book.
Even if we did use a book, they appreciated that most of the “teaching” derived from stories based on personal experience.
They valued that I could teach them business skills that I’d learned working in an American business setting and transmit those skills and the contextual use of those skills.

These are just some of my own observations having worked with so many business English students in Poland over the course of my 15-year English teaching journey.

I'd love to hear your thoughts

Whether you’re a teacher yourself or an English learner, what do you think about the points I’ve raised and the differences between the two forms of English teaching? What are your own experiences and observations? Please leave me a comment and let’s keep the conversation going.

New Video Lesson and Study Guide: How to Use Prepositions instead of And

Jon — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 19:01:32 +0000

It’s been a while since my last English video lesson and study guide, but at last the wait is over.

With this video lesson and the accompanying blog post, I explain two important elements of English sentence grammar.

How the conjunction AND works with Parallelism
How to use prepositions instead of AND in order to link ideas in a similar way

This understanding will help you to be more expressive with both your speaking and writing.

Please you can find the embedded video as well as the blog post transcript and study guide below.

It would be a huge help to me and the channel if you could like, comment, and share the video with your fellow English learning friends.

Thanks and enjoy learning English!

The Blog Transcript and Free Study Guide

This study guide is where the magic happens. As my valued subscriber, you can download the study guide right here by clicking the above image. That way, you bypass the need to subscribe again if you are on my main post.

Once you’ve learned how to use ‘and’ in sentences, it’s essential to understand how prepositions work. For a comprehensive guide on prepositions and their usage, refer to our full post on prepositions here.“

If you have any questions about this lesson topic or would like to test out your practice sentences, please put them in as a comment to the video.

The post New Video Lesson and Study Guide: How to Use Prepositions instead of And appeared first on Native 1.

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Over to You