Explore expressions for ordinary conversations. Notice how the example connects the expression to a real situation.
Use sleep for the action of resting and asleep for the state of not being awake. Use live for the verb of having a home or existing, and alive for the state of being living or not dead. Before a noun, use live when that is the meaning: a live animal.
Use so before an adjective or adverb: so quiet, so quickly. Use such before a noun phrase: such a quiet room, such helpful advice. With countable plural nouns and uncountable nouns, use so many or so much: so many messages, so much traffic.
Practice one short conversation move at a time: open with a question, respond to an answer, ask a follow-up, or close the conversation politely.
Choose a subordinating conjunction that shows the relationship between your ideas, then join a dependent clause to a main clause. Use a comma when the dependent clause comes first: Because the roads were icy, we stayed at home. Usually do not use a comma when the main clause comes first: We stayed at home because the roads were icy.
Use should plus a base verb for advice: ‘You should save the receipt.’ Use could plus a base verb for a possible option: ‘You could ask the shop for help.’ Use why not plus a base verb or how about plus an -ing form to suggest an idea.
Choose a synonym by reading the whole sentence. Pick the word that keeps the same idea and fits the grammar and tone; do not choose a word only because it appears in a word list beside the target.
Use the statement's auxiliary verb and a matching pronoun in the tag. A positive statement usually takes a negative tag, and a negative statement usually takes a positive tag.
Wait for a natural pause, then use a short phrase that matches your purpose. Say "Can I add something?" to join in, "Just one more point" to hold your turn briefly, and "What do you think?" to pass the turn to someone else.
Under the weather means feeling slightly ill or unwell. Use it when you want to describe your condition in an informal, general way.
When you meet a new word, read the whole sentence first. Check its job in the sentence, notice a common word partner, and reuse it in a different but believable situation.
Use wanna only as an informal way to say want to, and use gonna only as an informal way to say going to for a future plan. They show relaxed speech, not standard spelling. Write the full forms when the situation needs standard English.
Use when when you expect the event to happen. Use if when you mean "only in the case that" or when the event is uncertain.