"no any" (我没有___ ) for Chinese speakers

A common error I've heard among Chinese speakers is:


"I have no any ___"
(我没有___)

such as, "I have no any class".
(我没课)?

In English, there are two ways to say this correctly:

"I don't have any class." or "I do not have any class."

or

"I have no class".

Note that you either use "any" or "no" but not both. If you use "any" you must use "don't".
可以用any还是no. 如果用any要用don't.

Happy studying and good luck.
加油

really + (adjective) -- for Chinese speakers

When you use the (intensifying) adverb really, it must be followed by an adjective, as in:

really good
really fresh
really cold
really old

another adverb that means the same thing is very:

very interesting
very quiet
very expensive

Note that very and really always come before the adjective.

Sometimes Chinese speakers say things like: "it was really success" or "it was really hurry"

As I said, really must be followed by an adjective.

The problem with "really success" is that success is not an adjective; it's a noun.

How can we say it correctly?

We need to find the adjective that means success which is: successful.

Words ending in -ful are all adjectives, such as:

beautiful
graceful
bashful

So, the correct way to say it would be: "It was really successful." :)

What is the adjective that means hurry?: hurried

As in: "The vacation tour was not fun. It was really hurried."
Or instead of hurried it might be better to say: "It was really rushed." 

Speaking of confusing nouns and adjectives, sometimes I hear Chinese speakers say:
"It is good for healthy."

The correct English expression is: "It is good for your health." (good to memorize!)

In this case, the problem was using an adjective (healthy) when you should use a noun (health).

How do we know that healthy is an adjective??

We can guess that it is because of its -y ending.

Other adjectives that end in -y:

happy
silly
funny
sleepy

Of course not all words ending in -y are adjectives though....such as these nouns ending in -y:

country
laundry
party

But sometimes, you can take a noun and add -y to the end to create the adjective, such as:

health --> healthy
brain --> brainy (which means smart)
fur --> furry (like a cat)
wealth --> wealthy
oil --> oily


Hope this was helpful.

because (in spoken American English)

I was speaking with one of my English language learner friends and she said, "what did you say? you said 'cuzit'...?"

I notice often English learners hear more than one word stuck together in spoken (American) English and think it is one word.

She meant when I said "because it.." (part of a sentence).

When I say "because", it sounds like "cause" or "cuz". I don't say the "be" part of the word. This is not incorrect! This is the way American English is spoken. At the same time, it's not incorrect to say "because".

Most of the time you should use "because" in written English. The only times you might not use it are: text messages or other informal writing. You may also find "because" written as "cuz" or "cos" or "cause" in informal writing or in texts that want to imitate the way people speak, such as novels or plays.

So listen for "cause" when you hear American English spoken.

"what is your feeling/idea?" and where to put "please"

I've heard some English learners (from China) say: "what is your idea?" or "what is your feeling?" This is not really idiomatic English. I think native English speakers would be more likely to say: "how do you feel about this?" or "what do you think?" In fact, it seems much more common for us to say "what do you think?" Is that because we (Americans) think more than we feel?! Good question!

Also, concerning the use of please, we would not say, "what is your idea please?" as some English learners may write. Where does the "please" go? It's better to say: "Please let me know what you think" or "Please let me know how you feel about it." You can see that you can't always add "please" to the end of any phrase; sometimes you will need to change the sentence.

I hope you found this useful. Thanks for reading.

road vs. abroad

I was just thinking about the different pronunciations of the "oa" vowel sound, as in road and abroad.

These words spelled with "oa" sound like the o in "code", "mode", "rode", etc:

road    coat  coast  boast   bloat  groan  cloak    broach  coax
load    moat  boat   roast   loan   croak   loathe   soak    hoax
toad    goat   toast   goad  moan  loaf     poach   soap

These words with "oa" spelling sound like the o in "rod", "sod", "cod":

abroad 
broad

So I can see why people might confuse the pronunciation, since "oa" is not usually pronounced the way it is in abroad and broad.

Hope that was helpful.

"don't mention it" and other expressions (esp. for Chinese)

I was recently watching a Chinese learning DVD and one of the expressions they were teaching was:

"duibuqi" which means "I'm sorry"

Their example was when you accidentally bump into another person, you would say "duibuqi".

If someone says "duibuqi" to you, you say "mei guanxi" in return.

The DVD translated "mei guanxi" as "it doesn't matter" or "don't mention it".

I thought about it and realized that that was not the best translation.

In English, if you bump into someone by accident you can say any of following:

       sorry
       I'm sorry
       I'm so sorry (if you really bumped them hard, or caused a problem liked spilled your coffee on them!)

The person who gets bumped into, and is told "I'm sorry", can respond with any of the following:

      it's ok
      no problem
      no worries *this is an expression that has become more popular recently. When I grew up, people just said "no problem" and never "no worries", but now especially younger people say "no worries".

"It doesn't matter" isn't wrong, but I would probably say "it's ok" instead.

Saying "don't mention it" if someone bumps into you and says "sorry" seems incorrect to me.

Here are some examples of when of when you might use "don't mention it":

        You are going to a café with a friend and you forgot your wallet, so your friend buys something for you. You say "thanks!" and your friend says "don't mention it", like a form of "you're welcome".

or

        You ask a friend of a friend for a ride home and they say they can give you a ride. You say "thanks a lot!" and they reply: "don't mention it". It's literally like "don't mention" the thanks, because it's nothing, it's not an inconvenience.

So, "don't mention it" is used when someone, perhaps even a stranger, does a kindness for you, in response to your saying "thanks", not in response to your saying "I'm sorry".

In fact, "don't mention it" might not be that commonly used.
More often, you will hear: "thanks" and (in response) "you're welcome".

Of course, the combination of "thanks" and "don't mention it" is a special one, only used when you are saying thanks because someone has done a kindness for you which may be a slight inconvenience to them. That also might be true for "thanks" and "you're welcome", but it's not the main meaning of it.

zh sound in English (and French)

The zh sound in English

When making this sound in English, the top and bottom teeth are close together, or even touching, and the tongue is up near the roof of the mouth. The tip of the tongue vibrates behind the top teeth barely touching the ridge behind the top teeth but not touching the back of the front teeth. If the tip of the tongue does contact the back of the front teeth, you'd be saying the "z" sound instead, as in zebra, or season.

Here are some examples of the "zh" sound in English:

beige (a color like tan, off-white, ecru)
pleasure
measure
leisure
closure
seizure
decision
amnesia
Asia

Note that in amnesia and Asia, "si" makes up the "zh" sound. The "i" isn't pronounced like an "i".

and many more...

Note that the sound is the same, though spelled sometimes with "g" or "s" or "z".
I don't think there are any words in English that start with that sound (at least none that are from the English language).

This sound is also common in French (including at the beginning of the word), in words such as:

je
juin
gilet
gymnastique
stage


.