I recently saw someone saying “teachers don’t have to make mistakes” while he meant “teachers must not make mistakes.” Although I don’t agree with this statement, I’d like to clarify the difference between must not and don’t have to. Must is one of the modals in the English language. The word “modal” comes from the […]
Do you feel your English is still not good enough?
The unpredictable word stress in English
I sometimes hear nonnative speakers of English with excellent levels of grammar and vocabulary still struggling with word stress. This is because some languages have fixed word stress, which makes pronunciation of words predictable. But in English this is not the case. That is, some words have their primary stress on the first syllable, while […]
Words you forget are still in your memory
The power of community – a weekend in NYC
Common questions during job interviews in the US
When I was working on my Master’s degree at the University of San Francisco, one of my professors told us a story about a Korean man who had applied for an open position at the university. The interview went great, my professor said. The candidate was knowledgeable and pleasant to talk to; he answered all […]
Confusing English pronunciation: L vs. W
During my last trip to Bulgaria, I had a conversation with a person who was helping me with some paperwork. At one point, answering one of my questions, he told me that I could find more details about the topic we were discussing “on wine.” Although this sounded odd to me, I immediately knew that […]
What is the best way to learn English?
How to speak up – even in “imperfect” English
My last flight from Europe back to the US went so smoothly that I was almost suspicious. “Could anything still go wrong?” I asked myself when the plane landed at the San Francisco airport. My husband and I spent the last five weeks in Europe, splitting our time between our two respective native countries Poland […]
