The Big Idea
Learn how a word is used in a real situation. A useful sentence helps more than trying to make every English word logical.
English is a strange language.
Sometimes the words make perfect sense. Sometimes you look at them for five seconds and think, Who came up with this?
Here is a perfect example:
Why do we park on a driveway?
If it is called a driveway, shouldn’t we be driving on it?
And if we are parking the car there, why isn’t it called a parkway?
Of course, English makes this even more confusing because a parkway is usually a road you drive on.
We drive on a parkway.
We park on a driveway.
Welcome to English.
Why does “driveway” mean a place to park?
The important thing for an English learner is not memorizing the logic behind every strange word. It is learning how the word is actually used in real life.
A driveway is the private area beside or in front of a house where a vehicle enters the property and is often parked.
- “You can park in the driveway.”
- “There’s a car blocking the driveway.”
- “Pull into the driveway.”
- “I left my keys in the car in the driveway.”
This is why real English matters
If you only study vocabulary lists, English can become frustrating very quickly. Real conversations are different.
You hear a word in a situation. You see what is happening. You understand what the person means.
This is one of the ideas behind the Four Finger Rule.
- What do I want to say?
- What do I have to say?
- What do I need to understand?
- What might happen?
Then go use the language.
Stop memorizing English. Start using it.
What’s another English word or phrase that makes absolutely no sense to you?
THE FOUR FINGER RULE
Stop memorizing English.
Start using it.
52 weeks. 52 real-world missions.
US$52 once.
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