PhraseMix Articles

How to use the word "time" in English

Here's a list of useful collocations for the word "time":

What do people do with time?

• spend time on things
• devote time to things
  "Devote" is similar to "spend" but seems more thoughtful and purposeful.
• waste time
  (But not you, of course!)
• be out of...

How many lessons do you study per day?

A reader sent me an email asking me how many PhraseMix lessons he should study per day.

Personally, I would try to learn 2 new phrases per day. I would not only read the lessons, but try to search for other examples of each of the phrases on the Internet and on YouTube.

I would also spend 10-15...

English phrases for the holidays!

The end of December in the U.S. is known as "the Holidays".

The word "holiday" can mean any holiday, from religious holidays to national holidays. However, "The Holidays" means the time around the end of the year. 

One reason that English speakers call...

How can you find English speakers to talk with?

One complaint I often hear from English learners is that it's hard to find people to practice with.

I agree that it can be hard. You have to change your habits to put yourself in new situations where you get more English practice. It takes a little bit of bravery. You have to be willing to speak...

How to describe a funny person in English (Part 2: talking about humor negatively)

In the last article, I presented some phrases that you can use to describe a funny person. Of course, there are a lot of ways that humor can go wrong. Here are some things that you can say about people who try to be funny but fail, or who joke about bad things.

Unfunny humor

• Corny jokes...

How should I use "I hope" and "I wish"?

If you want to use "I hope" and "I wish" correctly, you just need to memorize these two phrases:

I hope I can...

I wish I could...

You may be wondering: why do English speakers use the present tense for "hope" and the past tense for "wish"?

The secret...

How to describe a funny person in English (Part 1)

How do you describe someone who's funny in English? Of course you can say something like:

She's funny.

He's hilarious.

But there lots of different ways that a person can be funny. They may tell funny stories, act silly, say odd things, tell jokes that they've heard, etc. So how do you...

The reason that PhraseMix works

What is PhraseMix about?

Whenever I meet someone new and introduce myself, I have to explain what PhraseMix is. To be honest, it's always a little bit difficult. I say something like this:

I run a website for people who are learning English as a second language. I write lessons each day and post...

Why do you use "them" to talk about just one person?

I've made a choice in how I write explanations in PhraseMix which is a little controversial. Sometimes PhraseMix readers ask me about it, like this question: 

This subject ("You've made plans to visit a friend that you haven't seen for a while. You tell them:") says "You tell them"....

Working at an English-speaking company is easier than you think!

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to work in a company where everyone spoke English? Do you imagine that you'd need to reach a really high level of English fluency to do that?

The truth is, you're probably closer than you think!

This week, I was talking with a friend who started...