Britt's English Club

Exciting News! I have recently started accepting private students as a tutor. I’m a TEFL-certified English instructor, a native English speaker, and an educator with 8+ years of experience teaching English. If you're interested in a FREE 15-minute consultation, book a time using t his link!  I'm really looking forward to meeting you! :)  But why hire a tutor? At first glance, you may not think hiring an English tutor is right for you. After all, there are so many resources for self-study on the internet and hiring a tutor can seem pretty expensive. However, if you find that your English level is stagnating, you don’t know what to do next, or you’re falling behind your peers, English tutoring might be just what you need to bring your English to the next level. Let’s take a look at 10 benefits you’ll get from hiring a tutor.  Classes That Work with Your Schedule Because tutoring is 1:1 with just you and your tutor, scheduling lessons is a breeze! You can almost always find ...

  English speakers are lazy.  It's true! We’re always looking for shortcuts in our pronunciation. So here are 5 key native speaker pronunciation shortcuts you need to know to understand fast spoken English and improve your accent. Keep in mind that these are for spoken English ONLY. They are improper grammar when used in writing. 1. Been You may want to pronounce this one "been" with the long EEs like in seen and feel. But because this word is much more common than those ones, it often gets shortened to sound like  “bin”.  Example: I have been to 12 different countries -> I have bin to 12 different countries   2. Have Speaking of the verb “have” there are lots of shortcuts for this verb too. We see this shortcut mostly when talking about past tense modals. The have is replaced by just an a. should have -> should a could have -> could a would have   -> would a 3. Going to Another shortcut you’ll hear using the “a” ending is for the future ten...

  For a full refresher on uncountable and countable nouns, check out  this article!   But don’t worry, before we jump into today’s lesson, we’ll do a quick summary of uncountable nouns! Uncountable Nouns Uncountable nouns are nouns that we find impossible to count, such as: Liquids  (Water, tea, blood etc.) Gases  (Air, smoke, helium, etc.) Kinds of Weather  (Fog, rain, sunshine etc.) Emotions  (Excitement, sadness, anger etc.) Abstract ideas  (Advice, determination, stress, etc.)   They also apply to things that are difficult to count, like: Grains/ Mass nouns   These are often things you could (theoretically) count, but that information is likely to be irrelevant and the number so large,  that we tend to refer to them as uncountable. It's not important how many grains of rice are in your dinner, as long as you're full at the end. Mass/Category Nouns Alternatively, category nouns are considered uncountable because they represe...

  You can now find Britt’s English Club on  Instagram ! Tune into the Instagram feed to get mini lessons and mini vocabulary sets, and to hear all about upcoming live virtual events.  Great for all you visual learners out there! See you on the Instagram page, and don’t forget to follow! -Britt

 So you’ve read the article on  5 Common Preposition Mistakes Every Beginner Makes  and now you want to put your skills to the test? Complete these 10 multiple-choice questions and check your answers (and their explanations) at the bottom of the page. No cheating! I always ... my best clothes before ... a job interview. A) put / going B) put on / going C) put on / going to D) put / going to My cat always sleeps ... the afternoon. But she has too much energy ... night! A) on / at B) in / at C) at   / at D) in / on I sent an email ... Sarah last week, but she still hasn’t .... me. A) to / replied to B) at / replied C) from / replied to D) to / replied Americans celebrate Thanksgiving ... November. Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving ... the second Monday of October A) on / on B) in / on C) in / in D) on / in I wake up ... 7am every day because I have to ... school.  A) at / go B) in / go C) on / go to  D) at / go to  When you make a cup of tea, make sure yo...

  In English, we have two broad categories of nouns that we call countable and uncountable nouns. But what do these categories mean? Luckily, it's (for the most part) exactly what it sounds like.  Usually, if you can imagine yourself actually counting something, it's countable . If you can't imagine counting the noun, it's uncountable . Don't worry, we'll get into some more concrete examples in a bit!   But why should I care if I can count an item or not? Well, in English, these two categories use different grammar rules. So knowing the countability of a noun is step one to talking about it clearly.   So let's take a closer look at each of these categories to turn you into a countable and uncountable noun pro! Countable Nouns Usually, if you can imagine yourself actually counting something, it's countable. Physical things like apples, dogs, people, pages etc. can all be counted easily. Even some more abstract ideas, like ideas themselves, can be count...

  Prepositions are some of the most difficult words in English. They aren't difficult because they are long or hard to understand. The difficulty comes in understanding the rules for using them. Throw in the always-confusing phrasal verbs, and it only gets worse. While these tiny words seem like they aren't usually a big deal to get wrong, using prepositions incorrectly can change the whole meaning of a sentence. Using the wrong preposition may not make your sentence impossible to understand, but that can definitely happen in some cases. And while it's important not to worry too much about the small stuff, it's always important to try for the clearest communication possible. And that's what we're working towards, together! So here's a list of some common preposition mistakes I often hear from beginners. Master these to take your English to the next level!   1.  Verbs that require To   If you've ever talked about your hobbies in a conversation group, you...