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English Learner: Questions and Answers

Insure or Ensure : As long as you’re covered!

Question from English4Today member, Irene in Canada: Using the services of my company ENSURES the task is completed correctly, on time & on budget! OR

Overcome and overcame: present and past forms

Question from Kayoko The past tense of ‘overcome’ is ‘overcame’. But I hardly hear people use ‘overcame’. Instead, I hear “I have overcome the

Regret: Accepting with no regrets

Question from English4Today member Gireesh in the United Arab Emirates: Which one of the following sentences is correct having the meaning like “cannot accept…”

Adverbs of certainty

Some of the most frequently asked questions that we get are about adverbs, often with a request for a complete list of adverbs. Now that

‘IT’ : the Not-So-Personal Pronoun

Question: from Inês in Portugal I´m Portuguese and in my language the word – it (he/she/it) doesn’t exist. it’s hard to understand how to use this word: Examples

Write or wrote the quote?

Question from Randall in the USA: In quoting a line from a book, is it correct to use the word “wrote” or “writes” as in;

Vocabulary : How is that plural?

Question from Salim in Lebanon: Recently I stopped on the word vocabulary to find that it can be countable..so can you offer me the way

Read and Study: What is the difference?

Question from Dawood in Pakistan What’s the difference between ‘read’ and ’study’? Answer Hello Dawood. There may sometimes be a confusion between ‘read’ and

Advise or advice?

A question sent in by English4Today member, Jose Rodriguez asking about the difference between ‘advise’ and ‘advice’: is “advice” correctly spelled or is it “advise”,

Taking Possession: The possessive apostrophe

Possessive Apostrophe One of the most asked questions that we get at english4today.com is about the placement of the apostrophe for possessives. This is an

Using ‘sleep’ and ‘asleep’

Question from English4Today member Ellen in China: Apart from the “cue” word, ‘fall’, which comes before asleep, can you kindly tell me when to use

The Negative with ‘DO’

Question from Rick in the USA Why do we say “I did not meet him” rather than “I did not met him”, since this is

May or Might: Where’s the difference?

Question from Teddy in the USA: What is the difference between “may” or “might”? e.g., I might have made a mistake or I may have

Just in Time: Just once … only once

Question from George in the Romania: How does ‘once’ change when it is with ‘just‘ or ‘only‘? Answer Hi George. Thanks for your question. As

‘How about’ vs ‘what about’

Question from English4Today member Khadija in Morocco When can we use “how about” and when can we use “what about”? Hi Khadija. This is another

Saxon Genitive : A Detective Story

Question from English4Today student, Vincent in Spain: I hear a lot of English people talking about the Saxon Genitive – what is it? Answer: Thanks

Biography and Autobiography

Question from Suresh Prabhu, India: What is the difference between biography and autobiography? Hello Suresh and thanks for your question. Well, this is a very

Direct and Reported Speech

Question for Mattie in Guyana: “What is the difference between direct and indirect speech?” Hi Mattie. Thanks for your question. We have quite an extensive

‘On a holiday’ or ‘for a holiday’?

Question from Sarika in India: Which is correct ‘on holiday‘ or ‘for a holiday‘ A quick answer to Sarika’s question: Sarika, you can use ‘for’

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English Learner: Questions and Answers

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