The confusing meaning of double negatives

You have probably heard that double negatives in English are not grammatically correct. A double negative is when you use two negative words in a phrase or a sentence. For example, ✘ “I don’t like nothing” is grammatically incorrect. The correct way to say this sentence in English is ✔ “I don’t like anything” or ✔ “I like nothing.” But there is another […]

Devoicing final consonants

When I was a teenager, I loved hanging out with one of my friends after school. Once when we were in her room discussing movies, actors, life, and other things teenagers talk about, she told me that she really liked Brad Pitt. At the time he was just becoming famous and I still didn’t know […]

“You nailed it” and other idioms

A while ago I heard a nonnative speaker complaining that he had totally misunderstood his boss because of a phrase the latter had used. The situation was the following: the nonnative speaker presented something at work and after the presentation he asked his boss for feedback. “You killed it,” his boss said. The presenter was […]

How to sound clear in English

Last week I had a great conversation with a Bulgarian friend who shared with me that sometimes native speakers didn’t understand what she was saying. One time, for example, she asked someone “Where is Andy?” and she couldn’t understand why the woman she was talking to was so confused. When I told her that the […]

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