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.