Comma splices 📝

How not to use commas

Comma splices -what are they ? They sound like a good thing (the name reminds me of a delicious ice-cream🍦I loved as a kid) but they aren’t .They are punctuation mistakes often made by English native speakers and non native speakers alike. Yes, native speakers make this mistake too!

Let’s have a look at an example of one :

I love studying English, my teacher is amazing.

You may think this sentence looks correct and you have probably seen similar sentences. However, this is a comma splice and if you want to write correctly (you may have an IELTS, PTE or Cambridge exam coming up), then please make sure you avoid this mistake.

So what exactly are comma splices and how can we avoid them?

They are two independent clauses (parts of sentences which can stand alone) joined together by a comma.

I love studying English, my teacher is amazing. ⬅️ Clause, clause = comma splice

So, how do we fix comma splices?


➡️ Make two simple sentences .

I love studying English . My teacher is amazing.

➡️ Join the clauses with a conjunction.

I love studying English because my teacher is amazing.

➡️ Use a semicolon to join the clauses. ( To see more information about semicolons please click on my blog post ➡️ the semicolon )

I love studying English; my teacher is amazing.

So, next time you are checking your essay or any piece of writing for mistakes (which I hope everyone does), remember to check if you have written any comma splices and fix them using the tips above 😊

Phrasal verbs- friends or foes ?

Why phrasal verbs are friends 😊

First of all, what are they? They are verbs with a preposition and / or an adverb added to them which changes the meaning of the original verb when it is by itself. While many students feel they are a bit difficult to learn, English native speakers use them most of the time, so they are important to learn if you want to bring your English to another level.

We use them in everyday speech so the more phrasal verbs you know, the more English you will understand and the more you will sound natural if you use them. Phrasal verbs don’t only make you sound more like a native English speaker, but they are also tested in official English tests like TOEIC, PTE and the Cambridge tests.

Quiz time ! Let’s try a few

Which answer is correct?

He ____________ tennis when he was 8 years old.

  1. took out
  2. took in
  3. took for
  4. took up

It took her a long time to ____________ her flu but she is feeling fine now.

  1.  get off
  2. get over
  3. get on with
  4. get out

Replace the words in italics with the phrasal verbs in the box:

  1. Because of the weather, we have decided to cancel the picnic at the beach.
  2. Our neighbours think they are superior to people who don’t have European cars.
  3. I can’t tolerate his noisy music every night anymore!
  4. Can we postpone our soccer practice until tomorrow as it looks like it might rain?
*look down on * call off   *put up with *put off

You can go to the contact page of my website or connect with me on social media to get the answers and explanations to these questions😀

Is grammar really important to learn?📝

This is a question that has been debated by linguists over many years. When it comes to learning a second language, is it necessary to learn grammar?

When we learn our mother tongue, did our parents sit us down as toddlers and teach us the grammar rules of our language? Of course not. So the question is, can we learn a second language like we learnt our own language without having to learn grammar?

If people are immersed in (totally surrounded by) the language they want to learn, especially (but not limited to) being at a younger age, then picking up the language without any formal learning is possible and quite common.

This, however, is not how many of us learn a second language. Sure, if we go to the country of the language we wish to learn, we will hopefully acquire a lot of the language naturally (vocabulary, idioms, slang and so on), but when it comes to putting the language together to make coherent sentences, grammar is important to know. Making grammatical mistakes when we speak or write is a natural part of learning a language and this is fine but to improve our production skills (writing and speaking), learning grammar is essential.  Grammar is the building blocks of any language and necessary for us to convey what we want to say properly.

Also if you are interested in taking English Language proficiency tests where there are grammar parts in the test, learning grammar is essential for passing these tests with a high score.

For example, let’s try a typical question from part VI of the TOEIC test.

The new software _________ by many companies since 2015.

  1. is used
  2. have been used
  3. has used
  4. has been used

The correct answer is……

4. has been used. Why ?

There are different grammatical concepts to think about here:

  • Subject verb agreement– software is uncountable and therefore a singular verb must be used.
  • Tenses – we must use the perfect tense as we have used the time marker “since” plus a specific time.
  • Passive voice versus active voice– we must use passive voice here as the verb “use”is transitive so it must have a direct object following it but there is no direct object after the verb in the example so the verb must be in the passive voice.

A native English speaker would automatically choose the correct answer because it sounds correct but if English is not your first language, it is often hard to tell if something sounds correct or not and so you should know your grammar !

Grammar is necessary and it can also be fun to learn so please remember this when you are learning grammar next time in class 😀

Let’s practice some grammar! Are you ready?

Choose the correct answers :

I have been learning English _____________.

  1. since two months
  2. during two months
  3. two months ago
  4. for two months

My teacher does not _________us use our phones in class.

  1. allow
  2. permit
  3. let
  4. get

Find the mistakes :

  1. On the weekend, I will go bushwalking because I like to be in the nature.
  2. I have met a lot of people when I was in class.
  3. I like my class because everyone are friendly.

You can get my contact information from my contact page of this website or connect with me on social media for the answers and explanations to these mini quizzes 😀