This quiz is about common mistakes that English learners make. We look at:
– affect vs. effect
– by vs. until
– how to say someone’s age
– raise vs. rise
– when we use the verb ‘suggest’
– structures we use (and don’t use) with suggest

How good is your English?
We’re going to have a quiz to find out.
We’ll try to catch you out with some common mistakes.
Let’s see how you do.
We’ve made some quiz videos like this before.
Here’s how they work. We ask a question and you have to answer before the clock stops ticking.
Let’s have the first one.
OK, here’s the situation. This weekend, your friend is planning to go to the seaside.
She means the shore.
But the weather forecast is terrible. What do you ask your friend?
Is the weather going to effect your plans?
Is the weather going to affect your plans?
Affect is usually a verb and it means to change or influence something
And effect is a noun. It’s the result of the change or influence.
So verb and noun. Notice the spelling so you don’t muddle them up.
This is a mistake that native English speakers make too.
Well they sound very similar. Affect. Effect. When we’re speaking naturally that /?/ sound becomes like a schwa.
It’s hard to hear the difference.
Hello Kathy. I can’t believe it’s still raining.
Yeah, it’s terrible. Really bad.
When’s it going to stop?
The forecast is not good.
Is it going to affect your plans?
Well, I was thinking of going to the shore this weekend, but now I think I won’t.
There was a really strange man answering all my questions.
OK, next question. I think this one might be extra tricky for our Brazilian viewers.
Imagine your boss is giving you instructions. What does she say?
You need to finish this report until Friday.
You need to finish this report till Friday.
You need to finish this report by Friday.
When we’re talking about a deadline, we say ‘by’.
‘By’ means at or before a time. So no later than.
And what about until?
That’s what we say when we’re talking about a situation that continues up to a time.
You can watch this until nine o’clock, but then we’re going to change channels.
What’s happening at nine o’clock?
Dancing with the Stars is on.
She loves that program.
Another way of saying until is ‘till’.
It means the same as until, but it sounds a little less formal.
Notice the spelling. It has two Ls.
Let’s see ‘by’ and ‘until’ in action.
So when will you be back?
Not until late.
OK. I’ll probably be in bed by the time you get home.
OK.
Have fun!
See ya!
Yes.
Are you in bed yet?
Yes.
I’ve forgotten my keys.
Yes.
I’ll be back by twelve. Could you stay awake until I get back? Hello? Hello?
If you want to see more examples, here’s a link.
OK our next question is a quick one. Imagine you have a young nephew and you want to say how old he is.
He has six years.
He’s six years old.
He’s six years.
He’s six.
So we say six years old, or just the number: He’s six.
We don’t say ‘He’s six years’. Though a lot of my students make that mistake. How old are you Jay?
I’ve lost count. What about you?
You should never ask a lady her age!
True. We’ve made another video about that.
I’ll put the link here. OK, next question.
You’ve noticed that some things have been getting more expensive because of the corona virus. What do you say?
Prices have been rising
Prices have been raising.
Stores have been rising their prices.
Stores have been raising their prices.
Both of these verbs describe upward movement, but we use them in different ways.
Raise takes a direct object, so we always raise something.
We can raise our hand or raise our eyebrows,
And raise is a regular verb: raise – raised – raised.
But rise is an irregular verb. Rise – rose – risen.
And rise has no direct object so things just rise.
The sun rises in the east. Nobody puts it up. It goes up on its own.
And now ladies and gentlemen, Vicki will rise into the air. She’s rising. She’s risen. She rose.
Oooh. What happened?
I used my magic powers to raise you into the air.
What else can you do with that?
Oh anything. I can even make you disappear.
Here’s another way to think of it. Raise is like lift or or put up, and rise is like go up.
If you want some more practice, we have more examples here
OK, another question.
You’re going out for a meal with a friend and you need to decide on a restaurant.
You’ve heard Victor’s Bistro is good. Here are four phrases, but one sounds strange. Which one?
I suggest going to Victor’s Bistro.
Why don’t we try Victor’s Bistro?
How about Victor’s Bistro?
Let’s go to Victor’s Bistro.
So they’re all possible, but ‘I suggest’ is a bit strange.
It’s because ‘suggest’ is quite a formal word.
You’re more likely to write it or to say it in a formal business meeting.
Normally we use a different phrase to make suggestions.
Where do you want to go for dinner tonight?
Why don’t we try the Chinese place?
Or how about Victor’s Bistro?
Good idea! Let’s book a table.
We use ‘suggest’, when we want to be explicit, in other words, extra clear.
Or when we’re reporting what someone else said.
Why don’t we look at that?
OK. Here’s another question. Imagine you wrote a report for your boss, but she didn’t like it and she says ‘I think you should do it again?’
Here are 3 sentences. How many are correct?
She suggested me to do it again.
She suggested to do it again.
She suggested I do it again.
So only one answer was correct there. ‘She suggested I do it again’.
It’s because you can’t use an infinitive form after the verb suggest.
There are other forms you could use, like she suggested doing it again – that would be correct.
But after suggest, you can’t say ‘to do’.
Hello? Oh hi, Jennifer.
Hey Jay. Can you send me that report?
I’m still working on it.
I thought you’d finished it.
Well Vicki suggested that I do it again.
Ah!
Suggest is a tricky verb.
But we have a video about it with more examples.
I’ll put the link here. And I’ll also add the link to the other quiz videos in this series at the end.
So you can keep testing yourself if you like. Are we done then?
Yes, but if you know anyone who you think would enjoy this video, please share it with them.
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Take care everyone. Bye.
Bye- bye.