VS Language Services

Good morning to all … VS Services have moved to online training & coaching … from the 14th Floor broadcasting to the world. Keep safe-- stay home -- use your time wisely…

If vs When
A typical error especially for German speakers as in German the difference is not so sensitive as in English.

You need to try to give a percentage power to the 2 words to understand them better. So, we give ´When` 99% & ´if` 50%. So, it’s not a question of grammar but a question of probability. You invite me to a party in London and you will drive 300km to pick me up at the airport. Shall I say to you .... ´if (50%) I come we will do this` or ´When (99%) come we will do this`?

Clearly you need to hear me say When and not if.

When we talk in the past tense there are no maybe`s ... I can`t say ´IF I WAS A CHILD` ... I was clearly (100%) a child and so when talking of things that have happened in the past NEVER USE IF.

yet

A 3 lettered word .. yet so complicated to use it right for non-native speakers.

To try to explain it in simple terms, take a look at the following example.

Have you seen Peter?

1: No, I haven't seen him.
or
2: No, I haven't seen him yet.

The difference between sentence 1 and 2 is that sentence 1 simply say you have not seen Peter and that's final.

In sentence 2 the word yet suggests that you have not seen Peter but that you expect to see him soon.

I have not eaten yet..... means I expect to eat later on today.

Hope you have understood .... if not you need to answer....

not yet!

Easter vs Eastern
Easter is coming up and as every year I am greeted with ´Happy Eastern` .... thanks but please remember Eastern (Östlich) is the same as Western, Southern, Northern etc. The problem comes because in Germany one says `Ostern' for Easter but Eastern means Östlich.

We are celebrating the original Jewish Passover therefore Pasqua and now the Christian Easter Sunday. Its interesting that while most countries used some form of the word Passover -- Pasqua, Pâques, Paskha etc the Germanic version is Easter originating from old word of Germanic goddess ´ Ēostre`.

The last three days before Easter are Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday

So Happy Easter

Now that’s a classroom ... meeting room .. just great

Nice thanks to the participants of last Saturday´s Business Seminar -- See you again in November -- Seminar 2