Grammar

Difference between Miss and Lose

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The verbs MISS and LOSE have several different meanings in English and they can be easily confused.

When to Use MISS

We use MISS in these cases:

  1. to not attend an event or something
  • I missed your birthday. 
  • Alan, you missed a great concert last night.
  • You missed class on Friday.

2. to arrive too late to get on a bus, train, or plane

  • John missed the train this morning.

3. to not see or hear something

  • The goalkeeper missed the ball.
  • Sorry, I missed that. Could you repeat it please?

4. to feel sad about someone or something that you have stopped seeing or having

  • My sister moved to Vietnam last year. I really miss her!
  • I miss my girlfriend. She’s on holiday with her family.

IMPORTANT: if you are going to use a verb after the verb MISS, this verb must be in the gerund

  • I miss going out with my friends.

When to Use LOSE

We use LOSE in these cases:

1. can’t find something or something’s gone

  • I lost my dog. Please help me to find him.

2. sports games

  • My favorite football team lost 5-1 in the semifinal.

3. someone is gone from your life

  • I lost my Grandmother last year.
  • I’ve lost my girlfriend. We had a messy break up and I don’t think I’ll ever see her again.
  • She lost her husband during the war.

Collocations

  • miss a chance/opportunity
  • lose a chance/opportunity
  • miss the point
  • lose time/money
  • lose confidence/interest/hope etc
  • lose weight/height/speed etc
  • lose your sight/hearing/voice/balance etc
  • lose sight of something
  • lose track of something/somebody

PRACTICE: Choose between the proper form of lose or miss.

a. The lady looking after the property was very helpful when we got lost/missed on the way back.

b. It is possible to lose/miss weight fast without dieting.

c. My pen is losing/missing from my desk! Who’s had it?

d. When Sylvia noticed her credit card was losing/missing, she called her credit card provider and cancelled it.

e. My apartment is only a block from the office, so I don’t lose/miss time commuting to work.

f. I lost/missed quite a lot of money on the stock exchange last year.

g. My daughter lives in Paris. I lose/miss her a lot.

h. I’ve just lost/missed the fast train to London.

i. Can you say that again, please. I lost/missed the thread of the conversation.

j. You’ve lost/missed the point. I don’t care about the money.

a. lost; b. lose; c. missing; d. missing; e. lose; f. lost; g. miss; h. lost; i. missed; j. missed

What does he like, what is she like and what does she look like?

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The word like is used in different ways to ask questions. Such questions with like may have different meanings.

Like may be used to ask questions about:

  • Personality or the characteristics of something.
  • Preferences.
  • Hobbies.
  • Physical appearance.

The word like in these questions is used either as a verb or as a preposition.

Talking about personality or the characteristics of something

Like can be used to ask about personality or the characteristics of something. Example:

  • What’s your friend like? → He’s nice.
  • What’s the house like? → It’s huge.
  • What was the weather like? → It was sunny.

Like in the above examples is used as a preposition.

Talking about about preferences

Like can be used to talk about preferences. Examples:

  • What music does Julie like? → She likes rock music.
  • What would you like to eat? → Fish, please.

Like is used in these questions as a verb.

Talking about hobbies

To ask about hobbies, use like in questions as follows:

  • What does he like doing? → He likes singing.
  • What do you like doing? → I like reading.

Like in these examples is used as a verb.

In this video we look at two meanings of like and fix a common mistake. They will compare the verb like with like as a preposition and you’ll learn how to use two useful English questions: Do you like…? and What’s it like? Video script here.

If one thing is like something else, it’s similar. Like is a preposition here, and it is used to talk about things that are similar.

Talking about physical appearance or resemblance

Like may be used in questions to ask about physical appearance. Examples:

  • What does he look like? → He is tall and has got black long hair.
  • What does she look like? → She is beautiful. She has brown eyes and short black hair.
  • Who do you look like? → I look just like my father.
  • Who does she look like? → She looks like her grandmother.

Like in the above questions is used as a preposition.

The next video explains the differences between the three question with the word like: What does he like, what is she like and what does she look like?

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE that we usually use How?, not What … like?, when we ask about someone’s health or temporary state:

A: How’s your brother today? B: He’s feeling much better.

A: How was your boss today? B: He was very friendly today!

Now, PRACTICE:

LEVEL 1 EXERCISE

LEVEL 2 EXERCISE: Write an appropriate question to the following sentences. You’ll find the correct questions, in order, below the answers. 

  1. Oh, she is very interesting. She is very involved in community activities and loves the outdoors.
  2. He’s fine, thank you.
  3. Just awful, it hasn’t stopped raining for the last three days.
  4. Reading science fiction, watching classic films on late night TV.
  5. Very pretty, she’s got short blond hair, blue eyes and she usually wears jeans and a t-shirt.
  6. He’s quite the entertainer. He loves having people over for dinner.
  7. It can be spicy and sweet. It’s delicious.
  8. It’s a painting of a countryside with lots of flowers in the foreground.
  9. He can be difficult at times.

Questions:

  1. What’s she like?
  2. How is he?
  3. What’s the weather like?
  4. What does she like doing?
  5. What does she look like?
  6. What’s he like? or What does he like doing?
  7. What’s it like?
  8. What does it look like?
  9. What’s he like?

“Teacher, I need more five minutes.” Is that right?

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“Teacher, I need more five minutes.”

A lot of English learners say that to me.
I understand that they say the same way they would say in Portuguese, but it’s incorrect.

More is a modifier, a word that gives additional information about another word. It is used in a variety of situations.

In this situation the structure is number + more + noun

Listen carefully to this famous song by Phil Collins (1984) and work on the lyrics by playing this fun game.

Look at some combinations below:

Verb “to be”

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The verb to be is the most important in English. It is everywhere, and we use it all the time.

Do you know the sentence:

  • To be, or not to be – that is the question.

It’s from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. It’s only 10 words long, and uses the verb to be three times.

In this simple lesson, we’ll learn to talk about ourselves with “I’m” and talk about other people!

I am, I’m…“, a common short form for “I” (the person speaking) and “am” (the verb). This short form is very common in spoken English. ?

Hi, I’m Fred. Fred is saying his name using “I’m”

you are, you’re

You’re Jennifer, right?

she is, she’s

How’s Julia? – She’s good!

he is, he’s

He’s James.

it is, it’s

It’s a bee.

We use “he” to refer to a man, ? “she” for a woman, ? and “it” to refer to one animal or object. ?? These words go with the verb “is“.

Here’s a tip

We can ask “How are you?” to one person ?‍♂️ and to multiple people. ?‍♂️??‍♀️??

“You” and “are” stay the same.

We use “they are” for a group of people. ?‍♂️?‍♂️?‍♂️
We can use “they” when we don’t know someone’s gender.

Look at the table below – there are only three different forms of “to be”. ?

PersonVerb “to be”Short form
IamI’m
youareyou’re
heishe’s
sheisshe’s
itisit’s
wearewe’re
theyarethey’re

For extra practice, listen carefully to the video. Topics included in it are negatives with be and simple questions using be.

Now test how well you can use the verb to be! 

“Of” e receitas: an oatmeal recipe

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Oatmeal (mingau de aveia) can be the most comforting and fulfilling breakfast, lunch, or dinner. A student was having (eating) a bowl of oatmeal during the class (online classes allow for that), and I asked her to share her oatmeal recipe with me. Then, she started listing the ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons of the oats (aveia)

She thought that she had to use “of the”, because of phrases like the end of the day, the cost of the meal, a member of the team, etc.

So I decided to prepare this lesson.

In this context, when we are listing the ingredients of the recipe, OF is being used to show what type of substance or thing we are referring to when talking about the amount:

  • two kilos of sugar
  • millions of dollars
  • a bar of chocolate

There are many different oatmeal recipes, and the purpose of this lesson is not the recipe itself but to learn how to say it. Here is an easy one only to show you how the ingredients are listed. Notice the 1/2 cup of rolled oats. 

Okay, now let’s look at some situations in which we use of the:

the end of the day

used to show what a part belongs to or comes from
the back of the house
the last scene of the movie

the cost of the meal

used when talking about a feature or quality that something has
the beauty of the scenery
the length of the swimming-pool

a member of the baseball team

used to show what group one or more things or people belong to
some of the students
‘Mona Lisa’ is one of the best-known paintings.
Two of the guests are vegetarian.

Now, here is a very common situation in which we use only of: a cup of coffee

used to say what something contains
several packets of cigarettes
truckloads of refugees

Okay! Let’s see what other ingredients my student adds to her oatmeal recipe, starting from the beginning:

  • 2 tablespoons of oats
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 1 tablespoon of whey protein
  • 1 banana
  • a dash (pitada) of cinnamon

Way to go Mariane! Bon apettit!