.) How would you try to get across the meaning of the phrase “Would you like………”
(as in “Would you like a coffee?”) to a group of beginners?
Please note – they do not want to know what this bit of language means, rather how one would teach it to this level. They need answer’s in detail.
2.) How would you explain the difference in meaning of these two to a foreigner
a.) win vs beat
3.) How would you explain the difference in meaning to a foreigner between these two sentences?
He’s been to Hawaii
He’s gone to Hawaii
Hello, TopDog — and welcome to English-test.net. This looks like your homework, so I’d like to see your ideas first.
OK then, fair enough!
First question, I would explain the difference between 'need & ‘want,’ then would go on to explain that ‘i would like’ is a politer version of i want. Next, I would get the class to sit in groups of two & have them ask each other back & forth if the other ‘would like to’ or ‘would like a,’ keeping the answers to a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ at first.
Second question, I would use an example to explain the difference between the two terms.
For example I would say:
Bill & Mary were in a race.
Bill ‘beat’ Marry, there for Bill ‘won’ the race.
Third question is the easiest to of the three. "Gone’ here means that he is not here at the moment, while ‘been’ means he has visited there at one point in time.
The reason I posted them was just to basically make sure I was correct.
#1. I don’t think that you need to involve ‘need’： ‘want’ is straightforward enough. However, you are right about ‘would like to’— don’t try to analyze the phrase, but just introduce it as a polite fixed phrase. Getting students to use the phrase in pairs is good. You can introduce it with realia: just ask them whether they would like this or that among the classroom objects and pictures.
#2. The point to make clear is that it is the opponent that is beaten and the contest that is won. Stick figures and sketches on the whiteboard should be sufficient to illustrate this. You will probably find more instances of the students’ having won something (a prize, a lottery, etc) than of having beaten somebody, but the local sports teams should serve as good examples: Who won the Japan Series? Who/Whom did they beat?
#3. Yes, but I wouldn’t call it the easiest, since of the 3, it is the misuse most made by my students, at least. Search your memory, and I think you’ll find that many native speakers also use ‘Have you gone there before’ in the same way as ‘Have you been there before?’ It has as much to do with movement vs location as it does with present absence.
Thanks Mr. Micawber, you’re ‘gooood’ : )
I totally agree on no. 3, lot’s of people say ‘Have you gone there before,’ but we both know that that is just a commonly accepted colloquial use of the word, which in fact is an error . and I, as you, probably as well, believe that although it might be harder, but we need to teach the English Language as correctly as we can.
Thanks for your help & challenging me to give my answers first.
a commonly accepted colloquial use of the word, which in fact is an error– This is an oxymoron. By definition, if it is commonly accepted, it is not an error; it is merely colloquial.
what is the difference between “check up” and “check out”?
Is it OK to use that expression “keep looking” instead of “keep an eye on” ?
best regards
sasso
Sorry Mac, but I have to disagree. Essentially it is not an oxymoron, and no, just because a mistake is widely used and accepted that does not mean that it is correct. People in Afro America use colloquial all the time which is widely accepted but severely erroneous as far as the English language is concerned, such as…“yo man why you do me like dat, I be trippen when you do me like dat?” which can hardly be considered proper English if you catch my drift.
Sasso, you can go to the dr.'s office for a medical ‘check up’ or you can ‘check up’ on this thread every now & then to see if someone answered your question for example. While the phrase ‘check out’ usually means, to ‘check out’ of a hotel after staying there, or ‘check out’ what good movies are playing, or even ‘check out’ an attractive member of the opposite sex, as in to investigate further.
thanks for your reply
I just understand now, so I’d like to thank you for your explaining.
best regards
sasso