Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online.

1. What's the difference between the words emigrate and immigrate?

			You emigrate from your country to another country.
			You immigrate into another country.

Paul Brian's Common Errors in English

2. How do we know whether the contractions "I'd", "you'd", "he'd", etc. mean I had or I would, etc.?

The key here is to understand the context of the sentence where the contraction is written or spoken, and also to think about the word that follows the contraction. In most cases this word will be either and infinitive (in which case it is would) or a past participle (in which case it is had):

			I'd (would) lend you the car, but I need it.
			She'd (had) been shopping all morning.

The word would cannot be followed by a past participle and, likewise, had cannot be followed by an infinitive.

3. What's the difference between who and whom?

			Who are you?
			To Whom It May Concern

Paul Brian's Common Errors in English

4. What's the meaning of the informal expression ain't?

"I ain't misbehaving …"

Paul Brian's Common Errors in English

5. What's the difference between the word read in the simple present and simple past?

The difference (apart from the past and present meanings) is the pronunciation. In the present form, read rhymes with "reed". In the past form, read rhymes with "red".

			I read (reed) a book every night when I get into bed.
			I read (red) the newspaper this morning.

6. What's the meaning of the slang expression gotcha?

"I've gotcha now!" said the child as she caught her brother in the game.

Gotcha actually means "got you", and is written that way because, when said quickly, "got you" sounds like that. It is the same reason that we say "gonna" instead of "going to":

7. What form follows the verb help?

Help is unusual in that it can be followed either by object + infinitive or by object + to + infinitive:

			She helped me do my homework.
			She helped me to do my homework.

The only possible difference is that, in British English at least, the first form is slightly more informal than the second.

8. How do we say the year 2000?

We say the year two thousand, possibly because we are shortening it from two thousand years A.D. (anno domini) . However, we should remember that in 1900 we said "nineteen hundred" and not "one thousand nine hundred", so there does not seem to be any real logic behind it. Nor is it clear when (or if) we will stop saying "two thousand and …" and begin saying "twenty …".

9. What's the meaning of the word breakfast?

I was very hungry after sleeping so long, so I ate a big breakfast.

The word means, literally, to break a fast. A fast is a period of time in which we do not eat (in this case, during the night while we are sleeping). When we eat, our fast is broken.

10. What's the difference between the words hanged and hung?

			He hung up his coat as he came in the door.
			He was the last man to be hanged for murder in the UK.

Paul Brian's Common Errors in English