07 Apr

Posted at 21:53h in Grammar, Swisstakes

"I can't sleep in the night" 🥱

Is it in the night or at night? At the weekend, on the weekend or in the weekend?

Let's have a look at the different prepositions of time used in English, as well as some general guidelines on when to use which preposition.

01 May

Posted at 15:43h in Swisstakes
What do you do when you're unhappy with a service? Why, you graffiti your complaints where everyone can see them, of course. Although graffiti doesn't require grammatical accuracy, this particular example leaves much to be desired...Where to start?

21 Sep

Posted at 13:56h in Swisstakes, Vocabulary
These two verbs can be very tricky to use properly if your first language uses one verb for both meanings. Such is the case in German and Swiss German, so it comes as no surprise when learners of English make this mistake. I've heard students using these verbs incorrectly a number of times, so let's have a look at how they're used.

18 Aug

Posted at 13:38h in Grammar, Swisstakes
The owner of this hair and nail salon close to where I live should have paid more attention in class (or at least checked their grammar before getting this sign). Using an apostrophe + s to make a noun plural is incorrect - a very common mistake which unfortunately looks even worse on a shop window. So how should we use the 's form?

28 Jul

Posted at 15:56h in Grammar, Swisstakes

In Swiss German, future tenses aren't really necessary to talk about future plans. Most of the time, words or phrases like 'tomorrow', 'next month' or 'next year' serve as indicators of the future.

It's not that simple in English, however. We can use two tenses when talking about future plans or decisions: be going + infinitive or the present continuous.

So, how do we use these two tenses to talk about future plans and arrangements in English?

21 Jul

Posted at 16:32h in Grammar, Swisstakes, Vocabulary
Prefixes can be quite confusing. Although some languages make use of prefixes like un- or in- to form negative adjectives, mentally translating from one language to another won't always help you get it right. The use of unsensitive instead of insensitive is a common mistake - here's why:

11 Jul

Posted at 11:29h in Grammar, Swisstakes
Why is it wrong to say 'make the dishes?' Many students confuse do with make, but how can we tell which verb we should use? It all depends on the kind of activity you're talking about. Read on to find out!


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