Looking for a job? You need an effective CV.
You know how important your background, skills and a clear logical layout are to make your CV successful. What about language mistakes? How many errors in grammar or spelling are accepted by the employer? NONE. Grammar mistakes will most probably result in discarding of the CV.
Is there any job that doesn’t require writing? Not even an email or a note? I don’t think so.
The reality is that written communication is a big part of any business. You are brilliant, creative and hardworking, but nobody’s perfect; you have some communication weak spots. If you don’t want to destroy your professional image, you really need to improve your writing in English and your mother tongue, as well. Bad grammar reflects on you; some mistakes create embarrassing situations, others are hilarious and most of them reveal your unprofessional, careless side. Most importantly, some mistakes may lead to confusion and conflict.
Here are a couple of tricky situations:
1. You look exactly as/ like your mother.
2. It’s/ Its her birthday.
3. The story of his voyages and adventures at sea make/ makes a wonderful example for his nephews and nieces.
4. She sings beautiful/ beautifully.
5. A/ An university
6. I bought/ have bought the blue dress at the Mall.
7. Whom/ Who should I ask for advice?
8. The police have/ has arrived at the scene of the accident.
9. Everybody is/ are happy.
10. She still goes to school/ the school.
Are these statements correct?
A. Is gratuity included in the price?
B. McDonald’s’s profit has not been reported, yet.
C. I and my sister never fight.
Many people use grammar/ spelling checkers. Installing these applications and other computerized writing aids is time consuming and linguists argue that these resources are not always accurate. Most people don’t consider them a substitute for language trainers, and rightly so.
Learning a language with a teacher has more advantages. Classroom learning offers a stimulus to motivate learning - besides the personal experience of meeting new people and the fun and pleasure of working in a team, modern language courses are short and tailored to match the customers’ goals:
● Public speaking
● Legal English
● English for socializing, customer care, negotiations, presentations, tourism etc.)
I'm going to be your teacher and explain the above situations:
1. like is the correct choice because the meaning is resemblance (same face, eyes, built etc)
2. It's (it is) not the possessive pronoun its (its colour)
3. The story and the adventures (They) make a wonderful exemple.
4. beautifully is an adverb. She sings in such a way. Of course she has a beautiful voice.
5. a university [ˌjuːnɪˈvɜːsɪtɪ] is used after a consonant-type sound not letter.
6. bought (Simple Past) because the action took place at a specific time in the past which is known by the speaker (when she was at the Mall).
7. Whom would be the correct form. The answer explains, "Ask him." You are asking about the object, not the subject.
8. The police (here) is a group of officers participating in the investigation. So, the correct form is are.
9. Everybody is (thinking of each individual in the group)
10. to school (she is still a student, the school is the institution, not a location or a place).
A. Correct (Gratuity = a gift of money, tip) The word is a false friend that might cause confusion to Romance languages speakers (in Romanian, French = free)
B. McDonald's's seems grammatically correct; you are supposed to add an apostrophe and 's after a noun, but two apostrophes look ridiculous. Our advice is: McDonald's profit or McDonalds' profit.
C. Wrong (My sister and I is both technically correct and polite.)
For details please email us at: lexis@lexis-romania.eu
Website: www.lexis.ro
