Advertisement

Facebook

I post free lessons and resources on Facebook to help you with your English. They are divided into the following categories:

  1. Q&A
    Each week, I receive many questions regarding different aspects of English usage from my Facebook followers. Many of these questions are excellent, and at times, I find that I need to do some research of my own to come up with a satisfactory answer. I have selected some of these questions to include in this section. Have a look around—you may find the answers to questions that have been bothering you.

  2. Editing and Proofreading
    This is where I share my editing and proofreading work done on a variety of printed materials, including road signs, government notices, product packaging, pamphlets, and posters. In most cases, I have included explanations for the changes made.

  3. Male Celebrity Tutor Series
    In Hong Kong, there are many well-qualified English language tutors who put their hearts and souls into teaching their students. However, there is also a shockingly large group of tutors working in the private sector who continuously churn out sub-par learning materials riddled with spelling, punctuation, and grammatical mistakes. Many students fall prey to these materials each year, not knowing that what they are studying is wrong. This series aims to correct the mistakes found in these learning materials and, more importantly, to shed light on the seriousness and widespread nature of the problem. The whole point is not one of mockery, but rather to raise awareness of the need to choose your learning resources carefully.

  4. Female Celebrity Tutor Series
    This series serves the same purpose as the Male Celebrity Tutor Series.

  5. English Language Workbook Series
    Many English grammar workbooks published in Hong Kong, including some from well-established publishing companies, are filled with blatant spelling, punctuation, and grammatical mistakes. Students or parents buying workbooks for their children must be careful when making their selections. This series contains a large collection of such mistakes accompanied by explanations of why they are wrong, as well as their corrections.

  6. School Teaching Materials Series
    It may come as a surprise, but Hong Kong school teaching materials such as worksheets and handouts very often contain spelling, punctuation, grammatical, and usage errors. In this series, you will get to see them with your own eyes. Is the Education Bureau going to do anything about it, or is it going to continue to turn a blind eye?

  7. HKEEA Series
    As the government body responsible for administering public examinations and various academic assessments in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEEA) is supposed to exemplify academic excellence and be a role model for all students. Yet, in the examination papers that they release each year, one can easily spot grammatical, vocabulary, spelling, and usage errors of the most basic kind. In this series, you will see examples of such errors.

  8. Common English Mistakes
    Here, you can find hundreds of common English mistakes related to spelling, punctuation, and grammar. You will learn why they are wrong and how to correct them.

  9. Confusables
    What is the difference between continuous and continual, and imply and infer? Should it be you and I or you and me? Is the plural of fish fishes or simply fish? These are just some of the questions commonly asked by English learners. This section is devoted to clarifying these confusable items in a concise and easily understandable way.

  10. Can you spot the mistake?
    Are you up for a challenge? Here, you can test your knowledge of English by identifying common English mistakes through proofreading.

  11. Multiple Choice Questions
    Consisting of multiple choice questions, this section tests your knowledge of English on a wide range of topics, including spelling, gerunds vs infinitives, phrasal verbs, vocabulary, and a lot more.

  12. British vs American
    George Bernard Shaw famously said, 'Britain and America are two nations divided by a common language.' By and large, Britons and Americans have no trouble understanding each other, but confusion may sometimes arise because they use different words to refer to the same thing. For example, a dummy in the UK is called a pacifier in the US, and a car's metal engine cover is called a bonnet in the UK and a hood in the US. In this section, you will find many examples of these differences.

  13. Vocabulary
    This section includes vocabulary commonly used in casual speech or relevant to current social issues.

  14. Phrasal Verbs
    Phrasal verbs play a huge role in ordinary speech, yet they usually receive little attention at school. They can be challenging because the same phrasal verb can have multiple meanings, and different phrasal verbs can look remarkably similar to one another. This section focuses on phrasal verbs that are relevant to current social events.

  15. Pronunciation
    English is a tricky language when it comes to pronunciation, with things like silent letters (e.g., the p in receipt is silent), stress placement (e.g., the verb increase has its second syllable stressed, but its noun form has its first syllable stressed), and homonyms (e.g., the noun minute has a different meaning and pronunciation from the adjective minute). Here, you will discover some of these idiosyncrasies and find out how to pronounce some of the most commonly mispronounced words correctly.

  16. English Spelling
    This section covers common misspellings and spelling tips.

  17. English Phrases
    In this section, you will learn phrases that are commonly used in daily life.

  18. English Slang
    Slang is commonly used in casual conversation, especially among younger people, but unfortunately, it does not get the attention that it deserves in the language classroom. Whether you use slang expressions or not, it is important that you understand what they mean. In this section, you will learn some common slang expressions used by native speakers.

  19. English Idioms
    Idioms can be notoriously difficult to learn because they have meanings that cannot be worked out by simply looking at the individual words that form them. Despite this difficulty, idioms are worth learning because of their widespread use. Being able to understand them is crucial, and being able to use them can make you sound more like a native speaker. This section introduces you to some commonly used idioms.

  20. English Proverbs
    A proverb is a well-known phrase that gives advice or says something that is commonly experienced; for example, 'a stitch in time saves nine'. In this section, we explore the interesting world of English proverbs.

  21. Everyday English
    If you are learning English as a foreign language in a school setting, chances are your school emphasises academic English and neglects the kind of English that is actually used in casual conversation. The aim of this series is to introduce you to everyday English expressions used by native speakers in casual settings.

  22. Learning English through the Bible
    The Bible is widely considered one of the greatest works of literature. Many phrases in common use today, such as 'at your wit's end' and 'by the skin of your teeth', have biblical origins. Whether you are Christian or not, reading the English versions of the Bible is a great way to improve your English.

  23. TESOL
    In this section, you will find posts relating to the experience of teaching and learning English as a second or foreign language.

  24. Writing Prompts
    Feel like flexing your writing muscles? This is the place where you can show off your creativity and writing prowess by responding to my writing prompts.

  25. Writing Tips
    This section contains helpful writing tips that will take your writing to the next level.

  26. Quotations
    In this section, I share quotations from some of the most brilliant minds in the world. These quotations serve to inspire, to encourage, to console, and to teach. 

  27. Motivational Sayings
    If you ever need a dose of motivation to keep you going, have a look at the posts in this section.

  28. LOL
    Language instruction at school may lead you to believe that the learning process is necessarily boring and arduous, but it does not have to be that way. When carefully chosen, even memes can be used as learning resources. If you want to learn English and have a good laugh at the same time, then you have come to the right place.

  29. Miscellaneous English Topics
    Every English-related post that does not fall under any of the above categories goes here.