| Word groups by CEFR level | could be very useful for checking words in the same group as the one you have in mind, e.g. colour ➝ colourful |
| sight vocabulary | see, look, watch, gaze, glimpse, glance, gawp, stare, peek, peep, peer. |
| Commonly misspelled words: | science, scientific, psychological, physical, hypothetical, different, studying, granddaughter, welcome, customer |
| Commonly confused words, due to similar spelling: | there, their, they're; your, you're; weather, whether; hear, here; this, these; by, buy; addition, addiction |
| False friends with Portuguese: | correct [the correct way to do something; the correct answer], infantile, reunion, comprehensive, pretend, assist.
Also: inhabitant: someone who lives in a town/country. |
| Uncountable Nouns: | transport, information, research, damage, advice |
| American/British spelling: | theater/theatre, center/centre, story/storey, tire/tyre, curb/kerb |
| American/British words that are often confusing: | sidewalk/pavement, pavement/road(way) |
| Words derived from Ancient Greek are spelled with "ph" rather than "f" and "y" rather than "i": | philosophy, photography, physical |
| Also words starting /s/ derived from Ancient Greek | psychological, psychiatrist |
| travel | travel broadens the mind; to travel by train/plane. Note that travel is almost always uncountable. |
| journey | usually a noun: have a pleasant journey; sometimes a verb: to journey to the ends of the earth |
| trip | trip = journey; perhaps slightly less formal |
| refer / mention | You refer to something that has already been mentioned. |
| as far as X is concerned |
| a tendency to + infin |
| "the" | Certain countries | the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States. |
| Groups of islands | the Caribbean, the Seychelles, the British Isles, the West Indies, the Bahamas. |
| Geographical features | the Alps, the Andes, the Atlantic (Ocean), the Pacific (Ocean), the North Sea, the north pole, the ozone layer. |
| Unique items | the moon, the world, the earth, the solar system (our particular one), the Internet. |
| Reference to something already mentioned, or specific to the situation | the cat [which belongs to the person speaking], the office [where I work]; There were several buildings in the [specific town, already mentioned in a previous sentence/paragraph] town centre, a church, a café, a shop and the [there can only be one] town hall. The [already mentioned] church was the oldest of them all. |
| with or without the? | How to use the firework = this particular firework.
How to use fireworks = all fireworks; general rule. |
| no article: in general | Portuguese wine is excellent. [ie ALL Portuguese wine]
You cannot just say the Portuguese wine; you must continue with some sort of relative clause, for example: The (Portuguese) wine from [put your favourite region here] is the best we have tasted. Or: The wine we had tonight was excellent.
In both cases, we are talking about a specific wine, or an occasion. |
|
| influence | to have an influence on, to influence. |
| an interest in | She has developed an interest in computer games. |
| describing lists | ...a variety of zz, ranging from x to y. |
| the former / the latter | Use these to refer to items in a previous sentence or paragraph: "The Middle Ages preceded the renaissance. The former was a time of knights and chivalry; the latter saw a blossoming of arts throughout Europe." |
| invest in | The company should invest in fantasy games. |
| decades | in the 1800s, in the 90s. [No apostrophe, as you are not leaving anything out: merely adding an -s for plural.] |
| Expressions with -ing | it's worth seeing, it needs doing, I look/am looking forward to hearing from you. |
| worth | either say: it's worth seeing/doing/drinking...
or it is worthwhile. |
| take [sth] into consideration | Taking into consideration that there are.....
We must take that into consideration. |
| let/allow | Do not allow children to play with fireworks.
Do not let children play with fireworks. |
| Genitive (indicates possession) | {women's health, children's books} These examples are irregular plural nouns, adding the regular 's. |
| words like {hospital bed, bus stop, student magazine, swimming lessons, karate lessons, sports activity} are compound nouns in English, not a genitive + noun. |
| Present Perfect for experience | If you have never used fireworks (before), you should read this leaflet. |
| Uncountable nouns | advice, information, software |
| Try this |
Remember too, that things that are not individual items are usually uncountable. eg some water, some cheese, some money.
These can be used as countables in specific situations, eg I'd like two beers, please. This is really elliptical (short) for: two glasses of beer. |
| buy | We bought/purchased new equipment. It was a good buy (idiomatic). The purchase of new equipment is necessary. |
| contractions | Reflect speech, so are only appropriate in informal writing. ALL formal documents should contain NO contractions. |
| such/so | Einstein was so intelligent. He was such an intelligent person. We need such a person today. |
| phrases with prepositions | take sth into consideration |
| right to do sth; the right to legal representation |
| Words ending: -tial & -tion (e.g. essential, demonstration) | These words, stemming from Latin roots, use a t in English. Their similarity with the Portuguese equivalent make them easy to misspell. |
| age | a 19-year-old boy; he was 19 years old. |
| difficulty in + ing | He had difficulty in solving the problem. |
| this [singular] those [plural] | this person, these people |
| Present Perfect for action started in the past, and still going on. | How long have you been learning English? |
| Nationality: adjectives, language, people & country ALL capital in English. | Go to Portugal to meet Portuguese, drink and eat Portuguese wine and food and learn to speak Portuguese. |
| Embedded questions | I couldn't help wondering how a simple football game could gather such a unique audience. |
Constructions starting: It....
These are less common in English than in Portuguese. | Indeed simplicity is the key to this success. [not: It is indeed....] |