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”.
Category Archives: Elementary
Water monsters
No, we’re not talking Nessie or ichthyosaurs: a water monster in Dutch also has a second, more common and prosaic meaning: a water sample.
The verb for spatial positioning: to be
My car is located in the car park. It is placed in the car park. It can be found in the car park. It is positioned in the car park. It stands in the car park. Nope.
Mo-Fr, Sa+Su
You’re probably not going to confuse anybody by using two-letter abbreviations for days. But English doesn’t do that.
Twenty twenty-one
The way dates are said out loud is sometimes a little different to the spoken form of a simple number. Short and simple.
I before E (except after C)
Lots of people think this (or even just the first part) is supposed to be a spelling rule and get annoyed by the exceptions. But they’ve only learned part of it!
A black-and-white issue?
You’d think colours are pretty elementary and there ought to be no mistakes there. But there are still pitfalls when colours are combined.
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.
GB, England and the UK
The term “Great Britain” has nothing to do with delusions of grandeur. It’s just the biggest island in the group, same as Gran Canaria or Grand Cayman.
Using “a” and “an”
Whether to use “a” or “an” depends on if a vowel follows. But remember: that’s determined by the spoken sound, not the alphabetical letter.
Advanced Dunglish 