FEWER OR LESS ?

It is not only learners of English who confuse less and fewer – some native speakers also frequently use them incorrectly.

But less and fewer are not actually so difficult to use correctly: less means ’a lower amount’ (menor cantidad de algo), while fewer expresses ‘a lower number’ (menor número de algo).
 In other words:

• fewer and less are both the opposite of more;
• we use fewer with countable nouns; Fewer con nombres contables
• we use less with uncountable nouns. Less se usa con incontables.

Let’s look at some examples:

• I’ve got less time than I had last year. (time = uncountable noun)
• He’s got less money than his wife. (money = uncountable noun)
• Low-fat milk has fewer calories than full-fat. (calories = countable noun)
• The government built fewer houses last year. (houses = countable noun)

Easy-to-remember tip

If thinking about countable and uncountable nouns is a bit too technical for you, here’s an easy way to remember how to get less and fewer right: Use fewer when the noun is plural (e.g.doors, dogs, people, mistakes, days, etc.) and you will always be correct.

READING ABOUT... STEVE JOBS (APPLE'S BRAIN)

Steve Jobs, the American businessman and technology visionary who is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc, was born on February 24, 1955. His parents were two University of Wisconsin graduate students, Joanne Carole Schieble and Syrian-born Abdulfattah Jandali. They were both unmarried at the time. Jandali, who was teaching in Wisconsin when Steve was born, said he had no choice but to put the baby up for adoption because his girlfriend's family objected to their relationship.
     
The baby was adopted at birth by Paul Reinhold Jobs (1922–1993) and Clara Jobs (1924–1986). Later, when asked about his "adoptive parents," Jobs replied emphatically that Paul and Clara Jobs "were my parents." He stated in his authorized biography that they "were my parents 1,000%." Unknown to him, his biological parents would subsequently marry (December 1955), have a second child, novelist Mona Simpson, in 1957, and divorce in 1962. The Jobs family moved from San Francisco to Mountain View, California when Steve was five years old. The parents later adopted a daughter, Patti. Paul was a machinist for a company that made lasers, and taught his son rudimentary electronics and how to work with his hands. The father showed Steve how to work on electronics in the family garage, demonstrating to his son how to take apart and rebuild electronics such as radios and televisions. As a result, Steve became interested in and developed a hobby of technical tinkering. Clara was an accountant who taught him to read before he went to school. Jobs's youth was riddled with frustrations over formal schooling. At Monta Loma Elementary school in Mountain View, he was a prankster whose fourth-grade teacher needed to bribe him to study. Jobs tested so well, however, that administrators wanted to skip him ahead to high school—a proposal his parents declined. Jobs then attended Cupertino Junior High and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California. During the following years Jobs met Bill Fernandez and Steve Wozniak, a computer whiz kid. Following high school graduation in 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Reed was an expensive college which Paul and Clara could ill afford. They were spending much of their life savings on their son's higher education.

Jobs dropped out of college after six months and spent the next 18 months dropping in on creative classes, including a course on calligraphy. He continued auditing classes at Reed while sleeping on the floor in friends' dorm rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple In 1976, Wozniak invented the Apple I computer. Jobs, Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, an electronics industry worker, founded Apple computer in the garage of Jobs's parents in order to sell it.

They received funding from a then-semi-retired Intel product-marketing manager and engineer Mike Markkula. Through Apple, Jobs was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar. Jobs died at his California home around 3 p.m. on October 5, 2011, due to complications from a relapse of his previously treated pancreatic cancer. Source: Wikipedia

Comprehension:

1. Steve Jobs never knew who his real parents were.
   a. True
   b. False
2. His adoptive parents were rich.
   a. True.
   b. False.
3. Jobs was a university graduate.
   a. True
   b. False

SO AND SUCH. TOO - ENOUGH

SUCH + Nouns

such + a + (adjective) + singular noun + that + result
(It is common to put an adjective before the noun)

• He is such a tight person that he even reuses his servillettes.
• Christopher is such a handsome man that all the ladies want him.
• She had such a long speech that everyone stopped paying attention to her.

such + plural/uncountable noun + that + result

• She has such big feet that she has to buy special shoes.
• Woodward Restaurant has such good food that it's always full of people.

SO / SUCH in exclamations

In exclamations we drop the word 'that' and use:
i) such + noun (singular/plural)
ii) so + adjective

• You are such an idiot! (noun)
• Celebrities have such weird tastes! (noun)
• You are so stupid! (adjective)
• It's so sunny outside! (adjective)

CLICK HERE TO TRY YOUR UNDERSTANDING 

Too/Enough

Too and Enough are used with adjectives and indicate degree.

 Too means more than necessary, and it precedes the adjective.  

Enough means sufficient and usually follows the adjective and precedes nouns.

He is too old to ride the Merry-Go-Round. She has too much money. Tony was tall enough to play on the basketball team. They were smart enough to pass the test.

(NOT: enough tall) (NOT: enough smart)

Enough can also be used with nouns. In such cases, enough usually precedes the word it modifies.

I have enough money for the CD player.
I don't have enough (money) for the computer.
There aren't enough people to make a team.

In some cases, enough can stand alone.

I have had enough of this nonsense.
Enough is enough!

Common problems include using very in place of too or enough.

She is very young to drink alcohol. She is too young to drink alcohol. He is not very tough to play football. He is not tough enough to play football.

(Wrong) (Correct) (Wrong) (Correct)

BODY VOCABULARY

Adjective Order

In English, it is common to use more than one adjective before a noun — for example, “He's a silly young fool,” or “She's a smart, energetic woman.” When you use more than one adjective, you have to put them in the right order, according to type. This page will explain the different types of adjectives and the correct order for them.

1. The basic types of adjectives

Opinion	An opinion adjective explains what you think about something (other people may not agree with you). For example: silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult.
Size	A size adjective, of course, tells you how big or small something is. For example: large, tiny, enormous, little
Age	An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is. For example: ancient, new, young, old
Shape	A shape adjective describes the shape of something. For example: square, round, flat, rectangular
Colour	A colour adjective, of course, describes the colour of something. For example: blue, pink, reddish, grey
Origin	An origin adjective describes where something comes from. For example: French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek
Material	A material adjective describes what something is made from.For example: wooden, metal, cotton, paper
Purpose	A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often end with “-ing”. For example: sleeping (as in “sleeping bag”), roasting (as in “roasting tin”)

The order of adjectives in English is:

 

OPINION+SIZE+AGE+SHAPE+COLOUR+ORIGIN+MATERIAL+PURPOSE+ NOUN

PHRASAL VERBS RELATED TO FAMILY

TAKE AFTER:

He takes after his father.

GET ON ... WITH:

Do you get on well with your sister?

GET TOGETHER: REUNIRSE

How often does your family get together?

LOOK LIKE: PARECERSE A

Do you look like your parents?

BE NAMED AFTER: LLAMARSE POR ALGUIEN.

Are you named after your father?

USED TO, BE USED TO & GET USED TO ( WHAT A MESS!)

I Used To... (Solía...)

FORM: USED TO + BARE INFINITIVE.

USE:  It is used to express habits in the past.





"Used to" expresses the idea that something was an old habit that stopped in the past. It indicates that something was often repeated in the past, but it is not usually done now.

Examples:

• Jerry used to study English.
• Sam and Mary used to go to Mexico in the summer.
• I used to start work at 9 o'clock.

To BE/GET used to

Sometimes we get confused with these two similar expressions.

 

Both expressions refer to the Present, and they're followed by Gerund (-ing).

Ambos refieren al presente y van seguidos de un gerundio.

To be used to: Estar acostumbrado hacer algo . (When we always do something in the same way)

To get used to:Acostumbrarse a hacer algo.(When we do something too many times in a especial way, that becomes normal for us)

To be used to - estar acostumbrado a

We were used to the sunny weather of the coast.
Estábamos acostumbrados al clima soleado de la costa.

Mr. Jones wasn't used to all that luxury.
El señor Jones no estaba acostumbrado a todo ese lujo.

I am not used to travelling by plane.
No estoy acostumbrado a viajar en avión.

To get used to - acostumbrarse a (si sigue verbo, es un gerundio)

People get used to new technologies.
La gente se acostumbra a las nuevas tecnologías.

Paul never got used to living in the country.
Paul nunca se acostumbró a vivir en el campo.

I was getting used to working with Michael.
Me estaba acostumbrando a trabajar con Michael.