Verbs – Advanced Dunglish

Making do

Making a jigsaw in English would mean cutting the puzzle pieces out, not putting them together. One of many occasions where Dutch uses “make” but English prefers “do”.

A new threat

Dutch doesn’t have words that end in D. Or rather, the pronunciation is the same as a final T so they have a hard time distinguishing the two.

Plurals are in the mind’s eye

Singular subjects require singular verbs and plural subjects require plural verbs… except when they don’t.

Historic present

Using present-tense verbs to refer to past events can be a literary device for drawing the reader in and adding impact. But avoid it in minutes and reports in English.