So, if you want to make your English speech more nativelike and feel more confident at work, this blog post is exactly what you need. Let’s start!

abide by

Meaning: to accept and comply with a rule

Example: All newly hired employees have to get familiarized with internal company rules they have to abide by.

back up

Meaning: to make a copy of the information on a PC (documents, files and programs) to avoid losing it.

Example: My laptop has crashed. Luckily, I’ve backed up all my files, so I can recover them later.

book up (booked up)

Meaning: When someone or something is booked up, they have no spare time or

space, so they’re unable to offer any appointments or accept any reservations.

Example: My boss is fully booked up for this week. Do you want to make an appointment early next week?

bring forward

Meaning: move a meeting or event to an earlier date or time than it was planned

Example: Please bring the next month’s meeting forward to the end of the current month.

bring up

Meaning: to mention a subject or start to talk about it

Example: I’m going to bring up my proposal for the project in today’s meeting.

burn out

Meaning: to become extremely exhausted or ill due to overwork or stress 

Example: Even after quitting her stressful job, Martha felt burnt out for a month. 

call off

Meaning: to cancel an event or agreement 

Example: He’s called off the meeting at the last minute.

carry out

Meaning: to perform a task

Example: We have to carry out our mental health research next month.

close down

Meaning: cease business permanently

Example: He admitted that it’s time to close down his company. 

come up with

Meaning: to suggest or think of an idea or plan

Example: After an hour-long video conference call we’ve finally come up with a solution.

contract out to

Meaning: to employ other companies to perform a job instead of your company

Example: We’ve decided to contract out IT services to a highly-reliable IT company.

copy in (somebody)

Meaning: to send someone a copy of an email you are sending to someone else

Example: I’ll copy you in on the correspondence related to this project.

draw up

Meaning: prepare a plan or any other document

Example: I’ve finally drawn up a detailed business plan.

fall through

Meaning: to not happen, fail

Example: The deal fell through because our main competitor made a better offer.

fill in for (somebody)

Meaning: to do someone’s work because they are away; to substitute for someone

Example: I’ll have to fill in for Andrew until he gets back.

fill out

Meaning: to complete a form or document

Example: To sign up, you have to fill out an online application first.

get back to

Meaning: to contact someone later or reply to a message

Example: I’ll get back to you as soon as I figure out who was in charge of carrying out the report.

go over

Meaning: examine or check something

Example: Today we’re going to go over their proposal with great attention.

jot down

Meaning: to write something briefly and quickly on a piece of paper so that you remember it

Example: I was jotting down every word he said during his presentation.

lay off

Meaning: to stop employing a worker temporarily or permanently because of a shortage of work

Example: Many employees were laid off during the pandemic crisis.

meet up

Meaning: to see another person or group to discuss something

Example: Mary and I met up for lunch to discuss our business plan.

pencil in

Meaning: to provisionally put someone or something on a schedule, calendar or list

Example: Sarah, could you please pencil me in for Monday morning at 10:30?

point out

Meaning: to make someone aware of something or call attention to it

Example: He pointed out that our AI strategy needs to be slightly pivoted.

push back

Meaning: to delay or postpone something until a later time or date

Example: The date for the conference has been pushed back until next week.

put off

Meaning: to postpone something

Example: I’ll have to put our meeting off since I might get Covid.

reach out (to)

Meaning: to contact someone by phone or email

Example: Don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any questions.

report back (to)

Meaning: to bring information to someone in authority

Example: Report back to me as soon as you finish your research.

sign up

Meaning: to sign one’s name to get, do, or join something

Example: Today our company has signed up with six marketing influencers to promote our product.

slack off

Meaning: to do something with less effort or energy than usual, to become less active

Example: If you feel you’re slacking off at work, you might experience burnout.

snowed under

Meaning: To be very busy or overwhelmed with something

Example: After these two projects started at the same time, I’m constantly snowed under reports.

stay behind

Meaning: to stay late at work after everyone else has left

Example: Alice, you can go, I’m going to stay behind to finish my research.

step down

Meaning: to resign from an important position 

Example: He stepped down as a CTO a month ago. 

take on

Meaning: agree to do some work or be responsible for it; employ 

Example: Luke, I don’t have the time to take on one more project now.

take over

Meaning: take control of something

Example: This corporation has taken over 3 promising startups within one year.

team up

Meaning: to join someone to do something together

Example: Guys, let’s team up and finish this project today.

turn down

Meaning: to reject something offered or proposed

Example: I’ve turned down this job offer because the salary was too low.

work out

Meaning: solve a problem

Example: We need to work out a plan to finally get rid of the issue.

That’s it! What phrasal verbs do you use at work?

Pro tip: to make your online writing better, we recommend using our AI-powered grammar checker and paraphrasing app. Those tools will fix your grammar, punctuation, and style mistakes as well as help to make your writing more compelling.

The post 37 Common Phrasal Verbs at Work appeared first on Linguix Blog.

The problem, however, lies in choosing the right content to digest and information that is worth attention. This task can be procrastinated for ages, especially by busy salespeople who are trying to hit their sales quota.

That’s why the Linguix team has made a list of various trustworthy resources that will definitely bring a breath of fresh air to the process of crafting your sales pitch. We deliberately have chosen multiple formats to suit every taste. 

So, whether you want to read the latest blog post, listen to a podcast, watch a video or simply get a weekly newsletter with updates, you’ll find it in our article.

Let’s dive right into it!

While learning, many people prefer the video format that online courses provide. What’s more, such courses offer information in a structured manner with a teacher’s explanation, Q&A section and even homework. Let’s look at the best sales courses available in the market:

Craft Your Sales Pitch with Competitive Differentiation

This course by LinkedIn focuses on how competitive differentiation can dramatically change your sales for the better. In this course, you’ll learn how to add value and differentiate yourself from the first call to the proposal, so that potential customers can view your product as something truly special.

Sales Training: Master Your Sales Pitch

This online training course is designed to help sales reps display an authentic enthusiasm and make every presentation personalized and interactive. You’ll learn how to create a pitch that elevates a product’s value, emotionally connects and provides benefits and solutions to the customers’ pains in a clear manner. 

Seth Godin on Presenting to Persuade

Bestseller on Udemy, this course is created by an entrepreneur, best-selling author, and speaker, Seth Godin. Sales reps will look at Powerpoint or Keynote from a different angle: instead of creating colorful slides, you’ll learn how to use a presentation to understand the audience, engage it in your journey and be heard.  

Social Selling Success

More and more sales reps pivot their perspective towards social selling, i.e. selling through social media channels. “Social Selling Success” is designed for sales reps who are willing to build relationships with prospects and start selling via social media networks. 

Inbound Sales Course by Hubspot 

In this course, you’ll learn how to identify and connect with the most promising leads as well as to create effective sales pitches that result in closing a deal. 

What’s more, after finishing the course and passing the exam, you’ll get a badge on your LinkedIn profile, email signature and website.

You might also find helpful the following online training courses:

• Sales Pitch Online Training Course
• Sales Pitching Certificate
• Compelling Sales Presentations

Whether you’re an experienced sales professional, who wants to review a certain topic or a beginner who needs inspiration, you probably don’t need the entire online course. Rather, you can use dedicated videos or webinars that shed light on specific areas of the sales process.

Build the Ultimate Converting Sales Pitch

A seasoned sales strategist, Michael Humblet, who made over 250 sales pitches, provides a practical webinar, where he breaks down such topics as the ideal structure of a sales pitch, how to grab prospects’ attention, before & after examples as well as use cases, where he demonstrates what works and what doesn’t.

How to Give the Perfect Pitch 

In this video, a pitch coach, David Beckett shares his insights at Young Creators Summit on how to pitch and get your ideas heard. According to four principles, his ‘Open, three, close’ model and the Pitch Canvas, he explains how to get your audience to engage with your story.

How to Get People to Say Yes

Psychology plays a huge role in sales. Robert Cialdini, author of a book on the psychology of persuasion explains the most important factors for influencing people and how to make them say yes.

Seal the Deal: Sales Presentations That Don’t Suck

In this video training, the founder of Startup Hypeman, Rajiv Nathan, shows you how to do sales presentations that help sell and close deals faster. He describes the Hamilton method to build a powerful sales deck and tells how to involve the customer while creating it.

Instead of watching TV series or short videos, you can get the most out of your free time with the best youtube channels for sales professionals created by sales professionals:

The Sales Hunter 

The Sales Hunter (aka Mark Hunter) is an author of several books on successful selling, a sales consultant and a speaker with 20 years of experience in sales. On his YouTube channel, you’ll find tons of useful and practical information, including sales strategies, tips and leadership advice. 

Sales Insights Lab

Marc Wayshak is a sales strategist and another bestselling author that uses a data-driven approach to selling. His YouTube channel is full of tips and advice on how to increase sales, how to identify promising leads, how to deal with sales rejection and much more!

LinkedIn Sales Solutions

The LinkedIn Sales Solutions channel focuses your attention on social selling. On the channel, sales experts discuss current trends of the sales process and give practical tips on leveraging the power of social selling with LinkedIn and managing sales teams efficiently. 

Aaron Evans Sales Training

Aaron Evans is a SaaS sales enablement leader, mentor, speaker, coach and practitioner of NLP and Neuro-Semantics. As he specializes in B2B sales and psychology, his channel offers free B2B sales training and methods, as well psychological tips and tricks to identify potential clients and boost your confidence.

Sales for Life 

The Sales for Life YouTube channel educates sales professionals by using the powers of social selling. With digital selling, you’ll be able to scale relationship building using social and digital channels. It can serve as an additional tool that will not eliminate what you’re doing now but complement it digitally.

You might also like these YouTube channels:

• Salesman.org
• Mike Weinberg
• Sales Hacker
• Sales Feed
• Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Training Channel

Don’t have time for learning? The best way to study when you’re running out of time is to listen to podcasts that provide the latest sales news, techniques and hacks on the go. On top of that, you’ll not get bored while driving a car or working out in the gym. 

Better Presentations — More Sales

This podcast is dedicated to sales reps to deliver more confident presentations and sales pitches. Every Monday host Travel Lee is joined by an expert guest and together they discuss current trends, tips and hacks to turn sales pitches into closed deals. 

The Successful Pitch Podcast

John Livesay, the host of the Successful Pitch Podcast is a sales keynote speaker and the author of several bestselling books on effective sales. On his podcast, he interviews sales experts where both share their insights and views on what works and what you as a sales rep should avoid.

Tales from the Field Podcast

Amy Volas, one of the Top Sales Voices on LinkedIn, and guest experts of the podcast reveal their profound sales failures and uncover the important lessons they learned from past mistakes and how they bounced back. We learn from mistakes, that’s why Amy offers sales reps a great chance to get better.  

The Sales Evangelist

Just starting out and want to know how to succeed in sales? The Sales Evangelist podcast gives you the right content and motivation. Together with industry experts, Donald Kelly discusses successful stories and reveals the most recent trends. 

Advanced Selling Podcast

With more than 850 podcasts available, the Advanced Selling Podcast is full of advice on how to organize your sales process from prospecting to following up, be more confident, eliminate your limiting beliefs and so on. It’s the longest-running sales podcast in podcast history hosted by experts in B2B selling, Bill Caskey and Bryan Neale.

You might also find useful:

• Make It Happen Mondays
• Sales Success Stories
• Full Funnel

While reading a blog post, you can make notes and screenshot the information you find the most valuable. The same goes for newsletters. If you prefer getting concise and structured pieces of sales news in one place (aka your inbox), newsletters are the best option. Here are the best blogs and newsletters in the sales field:

LinkedIn Sales Solutions

In the LinkedIn Sales Blog, sales professionals find all they need: social selling tips, top sales strategies, trends and customer success stories as well as LinkedIn’s solutions to boost sales and close deals faster. 

Sales Hacker

The Sales Hacker Blog offers a bunch of highly useful content on a regular basis: lead generation, negotiation and outreach techniques as well tips and strategies from pros in sales. What’s unique about the blog is that they offer information in multiple formats — be it a webinar, article, podcast or other formats.

HubSpot Sales

The HubSpot Sales Blog covers literally everything a salesperson needs, including various methods for sales in a specific niche, leadership tactics for managing sales teams, B2B vs. B2C sales and others. Check it out, there is definitely something for you.

Gong Labs

Gong Labs claims that their blog is the only data-backed sales blog dedicated to helping sales reps to close more deals. They offer a variety of content such as selling methods guides, customer stories, sales management and others.

Sales Caffeine Newsletter by Jeffrey Gitomer

Jeffrey Gitomer is a speaker and author of dozens of bestselling books on sales. His weekly Sales Caffeine newsletter is full of sales ideas from him, special guest articles and exclusive promotions spiced up with a pinch of humor. 

You’ll find helpful the following blogs and newsletters as well:

• Sales Gravy
• Sandler Training Blog
• Sales Folk Blog + Newsletter
• The Sales Blog
• Weekly Pitch Newsletter
• Jill Konrath Newsletter
• Sam Nelson Newsletter

Step-by-Step Guide by Linguix

Now you have all the resources to enhance the sales process. But what to start with? Linguix’s free step-by-step, definitive guide on how to craft a perfect sales pitch in 2022 is what you need to begin with. 

What are the current trends and statistics best sales reps know in 2022? How to perfect your sales pitch to catch prospects’ attention? How to get the most out of Linguix’s solutions for your sales pitch? Our team discusses all of these in great detail in our free guide. Download it here.

May you reach your quota this month and good luck!

The post 43 Sales Pitch Blogs, Online Courses, Podcasts & More for High-Performing Sales Reps appeared first on Linguix Blog.

It goes without saying that, in order to retain customers, businesses need to take customer care correspondence seriously. Today, we’ll cover a few tips on how to improve the quality of customer service emails and share three sample replies.

Try to sound more human

Since the customer support team has to deal with a huge number of requests on a daily basis, it’s highly probable they would use generic answers to address them. And while this might save lots of time, it shouldn’t get to the point when customers would feel they’re talking to a robot. Ideally, each email, even a template-based one, needs to be personalized to fit the customer’s request and make the communication more friendly. At the very least, it’s worth greeting the customer by their name. 

Make apologies if necessary

If the customer is disappointed by the service or even gets angry, the first thing to do will be to make an apology (even if the situation is ambiguous.) It is important to reassure the customer that you understand their feelings and will do your best to fix the issue as soon as possible. In some cases, offering a discount or another type of reimbursement would be appropriate. If there’s no objective fault from your company’s side, a good idea would be to say you’re sorry that this situation has occurred and to explain what can and cannot be done to the customer in a very polite way.

Be clear and concise

The main thing customers want from the support team is to get a quick and efficient solution to their problem. This is why it’s essential to focus on the issue instead of beating around the bush or upselling something. If a client asks a number of questions or poses some concerns, make sure to address each of them. Being concise and informative rather than wordy and vague and offering clear solutions or alternatives will show the client that you care about them. 

Avoid grammar mistakes and typos

Even if you closely address the customer’s issue and give a satisfying answer, grammar mistakes or typos might spoil the impression for the customer—even more so if the reply is not very positive. Some can even consider such flaws as a non-professional attitude. That’s why it’s crucial to make sure your message is grammatically correct. AI-based writing assistants like Linguix are indispensable in this regard since they help to quickly find and fix mistakes and paraphrase sentences. 

Value customer’s time

Quick responses to customer requests will make them feel valued. In today’s world, customers often expect to get a reply within a couple of hours. Sometimes, however, more time is needed to address the customer’s issue or get additional information. In this case, the best thing to do would be to explain this to the customer and promise to get back to them as soon as everything is sorted out. 

Templates

Responding to a complaint about a service/product

Hi James,

Thanks for letting us know about this issue. I totally understand your frustration with the delayed delivery and would like to apologize for that. We’re currently overloaded with orders and all our couriers are doing their best to fulfill deliveries on time. Unfortunately, this is not always possible, and we’re now extending our staff to address this issue.

To recompense for the delay, I offer you a 10% discount for your next order. Here’s the promo code you can use when submitting an order: MG55.

Thank you for your patience and have a nice day!

Kind regards,

Rachel

Providing additional information

Dear Clara,

Thanks for contacting us! 

I’m happy to provide you with the details of the services we offer. Please find a pdf file enclosed.

Regarding your question about payment, we accept credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, UnionPay); you can also send us the required sum via PayPal or a bank transfer. I have attached our bank requisites. If you choose to transfer money to our bank account, please send us a check at orders@company.com to confirm your order.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

Thank you,

Kate

Issuing a refund

Hi Dan,

Thanks for your request. I’m sorry to hear you encountered difficulties getting a visa.

I’ve processed the refund for you. Please be warned that it might take up to a week for the money to appear in your bank account.

If you have any further questions or concerns, I’ll be happy to help.

Best wishes,

Martin

The post How to Write 10x Better Customer Service Emails (+Templates) appeared first on Linguix Blog.

We updated our CSR policy. The Linguix team is now focused on helping people who struggle with writing. We analyzed that writing is one of the most challenging skills for most students and, as a part of the solution, offered Linguix Pro to them. As such, any student can get our tools at 70% off. 

We provide free access to all educational organizations across the globe. We will need a contact in your school administration to discuss providing bulk licenses to all students. If you are a student or part of a management team, contact us via email at hi@linguix.com to get your discounted EDU access to Linguix PRO features.

Free Premium for Dyslexic Users

Our new survey made us realize that the condition significantly affects the work and studies of dyslexics who deal with writing. Therefore, as of today, we also provide all dyslexic users with our Premium tools free of charge for 3 months! Click here and follow the instructions.

Lastly, we’re ready to offer Linguix for free to those who are in need. But to do so, we need your feedback. What groups of people struggle with writing? Come share your thoughts in our community and let us know if we should pay attention to others.

The post Linguix’s Updated CSR Policy: Free Premium for Students and Dyslexics appeared first on Linguix Blog.

Unfortunately, the grim statistics show that most high school students lack the proficiency in writing necessary to successfully complete a college-level English composition class. As a result, poor writing skills affect students’ performance and grades as well as lower chances to succeed in their future. 

Why do students struggle with writing? What are the ways to overcome this issue? How can AI writing assistants help? We’ll cover these questions in our new blog post. Let’s dive into it.

Students don’t read as much as before

Reading is an effective process for improving writing skills. While reading, students learn new words, expressions and the way they can be used. 

The digital era provides us with numerous opportunities, while simultaneously creating new challenges. 

Teenagers and young adults are no longer eager to perceive information through reading. Why would they, if there are so many YouTube videos that explain all they need in 10 minutes? 

Social media destroy our focus, so reading becomes particularly tedious. As a consequence, students don’t memorize new expressions and proper grammar usage, their vocabulary is limited.

The casual style of writing differs from the formal one

Essays and research papers require an academic writing style. While creative writing is enjoyable, the formal one is tiresome for most students. 

Essays, for example, should be written using accurate and subject-specific vocabulary, which students often don’t possess. Social media, short videos or some blog posts that teens usually digest are unlikely to contain this kind of vocabulary. Combine this with a lack of reading and you’ll see dozens of students who are afraid of writing.

People don’t speak using correct grammar

Even though most students in the US are natives, a lion’s share of them doesn’t speak correctly, let alone formally. Spoken language is full of incorrect grammar, unnecessary fillers, slang words and so on. Written assignments, in turn, should be concise, clear, accurate and formal. 

That’s why ELL students, for instance, can’t rely on speaking to improve their writing.

Students aren’t prepared to write academic papers

According to The New York Times article based on several studies, the root of the problem lies in teachers’ inability to teach students how to write. They often have little training in how to teach writing and, as a result, are unconfident writers themselves. 

The analysis of teacher preparation programs indicated that the teaching of writing wasn’t being covered in a widespread or systematic way. 

For these reasons, students lack writing practice and get little or no feedback.

Students are dysgraphic or dyslexic 

Students with these disorders commonly suffer from poor reading and writing skills. To keep up with the pace, they should be provided with special room accommodation. However, the symptoms of the disorders are often overlooked because neither educators nor their parents are aware of students’ condition. 

Without proper care, they will most probably perform worse and get lower marks.

How to Help Students who Struggle with Writing 

First, educational institutions should take into consideration the peculiarities of all students. Dyslexic, dysgraphic and ELL students have special needs that should be met. For example, additional writing and reading classes or class accommodation would be of great value. 

Second, teachers should take additional programs to learn how to teach writing. In fact, various initiatives are taken to address the issue. For example, as part of its program at Nassau Community College, a group of teachers was honing their own writing skills.

Finally, students themselves should take action to improve their writing. Practice makes perfect, as we all know. 

There are numerous techniques: freewriting, copying articles or essays, journaling and reading. In addition, it’s important to have someone who can give feedback on students’ writing.

How Linguix Assists Students 

Although we learn how to write in childhood, it still is one of the most challenging skills for many students. Yet the amount of papers, essays and emails they have to write to survive the university is notorious. Silly mistakes can easily affect grades and eventually their future. 

Nevertheless, students rarely can afford to buy tools for their studies. 

Therefore, our team has decided to provide all students with Linguix Premium for free! Use the tool to check if your grammar, punctuation and spelling are correct. Your personal Writing Coach helps you learn and avoid common mistakes you make. Rewriter 2.0, in turn, makes your vocabulary diverse and eliminates repetition.

If you’re a student and have an “.edu” email address, click the link, create an account and get your free Premium right away.

If your student email account doesn’t end with “. edu”, contact us at hi@linguix.com and we’ll help you out.

Focus on the value you provide in your writing assignments. Linguix helps you with the rest!

The post Why Students Struggle with Writing and Ways to Help Them appeared first on Linguix Blog.

If you’re ready to change your unproductive habits and type faster, let’s dive into the ways to improve your writing speed so that you spend time more efficiently and finish your writing a lot faster.

Use Techniques for Faster Typing and Play Typing Games

If you are always looking for a letter on a keyboard while typing, it’s definitely time to make some changes and start practicing. Write every day and eventually, you’ll notice improvements. Research suggests that people who type faster than the average typing speed (41 WPM) train 3 times as much as those who type slower than that.

Practice is undoubtedly crucial, but to type even faster the practice should involve the best typing techniques. Learn how to put your fingers on a keyboard to train your muscle memory and repeat exercises regularly.

To hone your writing skills with some fun and consolidate results, play typing games. There are so many various games that are developed to improve your typing speed. Apply the techniques you’ve learned earlier and enjoy writing speed.

Make an Outline

It’s nearly impossible to write fast about something you don’t know. Spending additional time to outline major points may seem redundant, but believe us it’ll save your time. 

Analyze what you want to include in your writing, get your ideas in order, highlight key points and so on. Thus you don’t need to stop and think about what comes next as you’ve prepared it in advance.

Your outline doesn’t have to be detailed or time-consuming. The main purpose of it is to make sure you don’t get distracted by searching for ideas and know for sure that you don’t miss anything important.

Conduct Research 

Your outline should also include relevant statistics, facts, quotes from research papers you’ve found. This will again save the time you otherwise would spend on recalling or searching for the information you’d like to mention.

Conducting research in advance is critical for faster writing for one more reason. Task switching is a procedure when we switch our attention between two or more tasks consciously or unconsciously. A good example is switching between writing and researching.

The hard truth is it takes more time to get tasks completed if you switch between them than if you do them one at a time. It not only increases the amount of time spent but also makes you tired faster as task switching involves several parts of your brain.

Moreover, you make more errors when you switch than if you do one task at a time. 

Therefore, make sure you’ve done your research beforehand so you don’t get distracted by switching between writing and researching.

Eliminate Distractions

We often call our brains lazy. In fact, the human brain prefers to expend as little energy as possible. And yes, writing anything is energy-consuming. Not surprisingly, we sometimes choose reading celebrity gossips over writing an article. This results in productivity loss and frustration. 

The good news is that you can adjust your environment and get rid of distractions. Pay closer attention to your notebook and smartphone. Turn on focus mode on your gadgets, close unnecessary browser windows and email apps, take everything you need in advance and start working. 

You may experiment even further and turn off your Wi-Fi if it’s possible. For example, Google Documents has an offline mode. 

Set a Timer and Take Breaks

Setting a timer during your work has significant advantages. First, you’ll be aware of your average completion time which is important when you start new challenging tasks. Second, it’s too hard to procrastinate and waste time when you know the clock is ticking.

When it comes to purposeful breaks, let’s turn to science. A study showed that short breaks help concentrate better, fight cognitive boredom, increase energy and productivity. 

Experiment and find out whether you need shorter and more frequent breaks or longer ones after two or more hours. You may begin with the Pomodoro technique:

Work for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. Repeat this cycle 4 times and take a longer break (15-25 minutes). Repeat a bigger cycle again. There are multiple Pomodoro apps you can install on your smartphone. Learn more about the science behind the Pomodoro technique here.

Set a deadline

Do you know about Parkinson’s Law? It’s usually expressed as “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” It generally means that if you decide to finish the task in a year, you will. If you believe you’re able to do it in three months, you will.

Under no circumstances do we imply that you should set unrealistic deadlines. Instead, think of the shortest time you’ll be able to finish your writing without sacrificing your life and the quality of the piece.

Revise later

The first draft rarely becomes a masterpiece and it’s totally fine. Let’s recall the task switching we mentioned earlier. You probably guess that our advice is not to edit your copy while you’re writing. Let typos occur, it doesn’t matter right now. What matters is that you do a single task at a time and save your precious time.

After you’ve completed your draft, start editing. To eliminate errors as fast as possible, use Linguix’s Grammar and Spell checker. To make your writing even more eloquent, you can also use a built-in thesaurus and paraphraser. Download the Linguix browser extension and enjoy your personal AI-based writing assistant.

Bottom Line

There are so many ways to improve your writing speed. Practice one at a time, make it a habit and then add one more hack into your writing routine until your typing speed is enough for your purposes. Good look!

The post How to Improve Your Writing Speed appeared first on Linguix Blog.

You’ll definitely encounter difficulties on your way to fluency in English, but it doesn’t mean you can’t learn it. Just look at millions of English learners who have overcome the same obstacles. So can you.

Let’s debunk the most common myths about learning English together, so you’ll realize that they shouldn’t stop you from achieving your goals.

Myth 1: Native Speakers Can Teach You Better

Have you noticed that most language learners prefer lessons with native English speakers? It’s common disbelief, however, that native speakers are better teachers. Why?

First of all, native speakers didn’t have the experience of learning the language as adults. Therefore, they may not be able to understand and empathize with most struggles non-natives adults face. 

Moreover, they can often use English grammar correctly without knowing why. It implies that they speak or write accurately but they can’t explain or teach it.

On the contrary, non-native teachers can be more helpful than a native speaker.

It doesn’t mean there are no excellent native teachers, but it’s important to pay attention to skills and qualifications your teacher possesses in the first place.

Myth 2: You Need to Live in an English-speaking Country to Learn the Language 

Many non-natives believe that after living in the US, for example, they’ll become fluent in English. Unfortunately, going to one of the English speaking countries isn’t equal to mastering the language. Without learning grammar first, for instance, you won’t be able to improve it. You’ll probably be able to use simple phrases while buying groceries or looking for a restaurant, but that’s far from fluency.

In the Internet era you don’t need to travel around the globe to learn the language. Instead, look for learning opportunities where you are. Create an environment in which your mind always has to use English. Change the language on your smartphone and laptop, watch movies and read books in English, find offline or online friends who are native English speakers and so on. 

Myth 3: To be Fluent You Have to Make no Mistakes

Some learners believe that they’ll become fluent only if they observe and correct all mistakes in their speech or writing. It doesn’t work this way as fluent English isn’t only about accuracy. 

It’s actually the other way around: focusing mainly on accuracy negatively impacts your fluency and ability to speak naturally and rapidly. Additionally, by constantly eliminating errors or being afraid of making them, you may avoid using complex sentences with sophisticated vocabulary and structure. Not surprisingly, this complexity also adds to your fluency level.

Therefore, try to balance accuracy and complexity and remember that accuracy isn’t everything. Mistakes are totally acceptable and even necessary.

Myth 4: You’re too Old to Learn English at a Sufficient Level

Let’s rely on the studies of respected universities. For example, MIT scientists proved that adults learn language to fluency nearly as well as children.

Instead of limiting yourself by believing that you’re too old to learn English, think of exact difficulties that make you procrastinate? What are you afraid of? Maybe you don’t like offline lessons or learning methods are too tough?

Find what really stops you and modify your learning practice, so that it’s enjoyable and easy. Test different methods with your teacher or by yourself.

Myth 5: Learning English is Boring

If you still believe that English is boring, the problem lies in the chosen learning method, not the language itself! 

To increase your motivation, change your learning strategies. Do something new, challenging and exciting. Find situations that force you to use your English skills.

Stop reading boring textbooks. Instead, 

• Listen to favorite podcasts; 
• Learn songs’ lyrics and sing them using correct pronunciation; 
• Follow bloggers whose English you like;
• Video chat with study buddies, who are also interested in learning English.

These are just a few examples of how to make your learning more colorful and engaging. Find what excites and challenges you, and believe us, you’ll love the process.

Myth 6: After Learning All Grammar Rules You’ll Become Fluent

It’s another limiting belief that delays your ability to sound fluent. Many learners believe that when they have learned enough English grammar, the fluency automatically comes into play.

Yes, you’ll eventually be able to use complex, sophisticated structure in your sentences with hard work, but you don’t have to wait until you’ve learned every grammar rule. Take small steps towards fluency everyday from now on. Learned rules should be practised, otherwise you’ll forget it later. Think about every grammar lesson you learn as something you will apply the next day. Cultivate habits that will enhance your fluency on a daily basis and you’ll see the results much sooner.

Myth 7: Once You’re Fluent, You’re Always Fluent

Most people learn the language, spending a lot of time and money, but end up forgetting everything they’ve learned. The reason is that without creating an environment contributing to lifelong learning, the chances to forget the language are too high. Bad news, you have to literally insert English in your life if you want to maintain fluency. 

Good news, however, is that you can learn to enjoy the process. Remember to apply methods that you like, experiment with video, audio and other ways of learning, dedicate some time every day and keep the language fresh.

Good luck in your English journey!

The post 7 Myths About the English Language appeared first on Linguix Blog.

The problem is that too many words used when describing food just don’t really describe anything at all. Or else they are just too cliché, or in the worst-case scenario, put people right off the food that you should in fact be encouraging them to eat.

Here is a list of some of the words that just don’t cut it when talking about food, along with some alternatives that will hit the spot just that much better.

Tasty

The problem with the word ‘tasty’ is that it really tells us nothing. All food, almost without exception, has a taste of something (anyone with an imagination can, therefore, describe it), so using this word, which has really come to mean that something tastes ‘good’, really gives us no detail at all. It’s a bit like saying something tastes ‘good’!

Alternatives: Absolutely any description of the food that reveals in detail why the taste is positive.

Spicy

The problem with this word is it is now used to mean something which is laden with chili, when in fact its connotation is that it is full of spices, which of course can include anything (and perhaps no chili whatsoever).

Alternatives: Why not actually mention the spices that are prevalent in the taste, or if it is full of chili, then say that. ‘Hot’ definitely doesn’t hit the mark either, because you could just as easily be talking about the temperature.

Delicious

This word is useless because not only is it subjective (something that is delicious for one person may absolutely not be for another) but it is now so ubiquitous that it has become practically meaningless.

Alternatives: Talk about the blend of flavors, and if it really is something that you would recommend, then be specific as to why.

Moist

Did you know that the word ‘moist’ is regularly voted as one of the most hated words in the English language? The problem is the sound of the word (for some people), and also the word’s connotation (for others). You see, it has become somewhat connected to bodily fluids.

It’s not really a bad word to use if truth be told. A cake that is soft and ‘liquidy’ really should be described as ‘moist’, but for this irrational dislike that people have for the word. It’s probably best avoided, which is a shame really because for accurate descriptions it really should be a winner.

Oh, and it’s synonym ‘soggy’ should never be used! Never.

Alternatives: juicy, rich with liquid.

Moorish

This invented word has come to mean something that entices you to eat (or drink) more. That can really be applied to so many things that it again becomes a redundant term. A synonym is addictive, but this word has too many negative connotations to be considered a worthy alternative too.

Alternatives: Enchanting, bewitching, beguiling.

Organic

Where do we even start with this word? Organic has become a buzzword for anything and everything that goes against the mass-produced norm, but the irony is that organic has become so prevalent that it itself has become mass-produced.

Of course, the principle is a good one. It is the right one. The problem really is that the word has become so ubiquitous on a vast range of products that we have lost sight of what it actually means.

Alternative: Talk specifically about the food journey involved with the product so readers get a real sense of where it came from

Foodie

A foodie has come to represent some sort of special class of people who really cares about food and understands it. But really, when you think about it, with a few exceptions, we are all foodies (not least because without it, we wouldn’t last very long). The problem with a foodie is that it is exclusive like it’s a club that not everyone can be a member of, and when it comes to food, that’s just not the case.

We all have foods that we are enthusiastic about, and we have our own way of preparing and enjoying the food that we eat. We are all foodies, so the word itself is really a redundant expression.

Alternatives: Chefs, professional cooks, or just avoid the term completely.

Yummy

This word is cute when you are five years old. Anything older and it is simply a bit immature and, a bit like ‘tasty’ and ‘delicious’, not really descriptive at all. Yummy (which has also found itself attached to the word ‘mummy’ in recent times to describe something else equally as poorly, not to mention in a way that is very un PC too) is juvenile and gives no real description to the food you are applying it too. So, find something else.

Alternatives: Again, absolutely any description of the food that reveals in detail why the taste is positive.

Nosh

This is an old slang word simply meaning ‘food’. The problem is that it makes food sound really unappetizing, so it really shouldn’t be used at all. It’s a lazy term that harks back to a time when people really didn’t put the time and effort into cooking that the activity deserves. Nosh is from a bygone age, therefore, and really needs to be replaced.

Alternatives: Cuisine, food, dish.

Gastro

Gastro is a shortened version of the very scientific-sounding word ‘gastronomy’, which means the preparation and enjoyment of food. But there are two problems with the word gastro. The first is that it sounds like some sort of medical problem. The second is that it is way too scientific and clinical for something that really should be much more passionate, heartfelt, natural and accessible. Plus, for many British people, in particular, it represents a craze that has somewhat seen the demise of the classic English pub: the dreaded gastro-pub. It’s either a restaurant or a pub. Make up your mind!

Alternatives: Again, what’s wrong with ‘food’? 

The post Words to Avoid When Writing About Food appeared first on Linguix Blog.

‘Been’ is the past participle of the verb ‘to be’, and so, as such, is used in perfect tenses. Here are some examples:

‘I have been very tired recently.’

‘My car has been stolen.’

‘Gone’ is the past participle of the verb ‘to go’, and so is used in perfect tenses to represent this common verb. Again, here are some examples:

‘My brother has gone to Europe.’

‘Where have they gone?’

However, there is one situation when these two participles, which appear to be totally different, are linked. That situation is in movement.

Gone

‘Gone’, as the past participle of ‘to go’, represents when a person of thing has moved to another place, such as in the examples above. Here are some more examples:

‘My colleague Simon has gone home early today.’

‘Where have you gone? We need you back here in the office.’ (A cell phone conversation)

The emphasis in these examples is that the subject of the sentence is no longer in the place where the statement is made, or where the subject began.

‘Been’

‘Been’, as the past participle of ‘to be’, is often used to speak about states, such as emotions and feelings, or to describe a passive action (where ‘to be’ is used as an auxiliary).

However, ‘been’ is also used to speak about movement. In this case, the person or thing moved to another place, but has since returned to the original place. Here are some examples:

‘Have you ever been to Mexico?’

‘Yes, I’ve been to Mexico three times.’

In this instance, the conversation is definitely not taking place in Mexico, so represents a journey that was made and then returned from. In this case, three times.

In this way, ‘been’ is typically used in the present perfect tense to talk about experiences of travel or movement, again such as in the example above.

‘Gone’ Vs ‘Been’

There is, therefore, a fundamental difference between using ‘gone’ and ‘been’ to talk about movement. Note the contrast in these examples:

‘Where have you gone?’ (A cell phone conversation between two people who were in the same place at some stage before the conversation)

‘Where have you been?’ (A face-to-face conversation between two people who are now in the same place, but one of whom was absent for a period).

In the second example above, it would also be acceptable to say ‘Where did you go?’, particularly in the United States. In British English, the present perfect tense with ‘been’ (as in the example above) would be more common.

So, in summary, ‘gone’ is movement in one directions, whereas ‘been’ represents a movement or journey that was returned from.

If you have ‘gone to France’, you haven’t come back (you are still in France).

If you have ‘been to France’, you are definitely not in France now.

Example mistakes

These are examples of typical mistakes when using ‘gone’ and ‘been’:

‘Have you ever gone to Mexico? – ‘been’

‘Yes, I’ve gone to Mexico three times.’ – ‘been’

‘I’ve gone there before.’ – ‘been’

‘Where did you go?’ ‘I’ve just gone to the shop to buy this soda.’ – ‘been’

Generally speaking, it is much more common to make a mistake by using ‘gone’ instead of ‘been’ than vice versa.

The post How to Use the Past Participles ‘Been’ and ‘Gone’ Correctly appeared first on Linguix Blog.

The Linguix AI-powered writing assistant is available to download for free as a browser extension on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge. Here are just five reasons why you should:

Fix typos and grammar mistakes wherever you are writing on the net

At heart, the Linguix tool is an advanced grammar and style checking tool that goes beyond what you will have come to expect from most simple tools of this kind. The Linguix tool applies 2000+ context-based rules and over 1700+ common patterns developed by Linguists in order to power the algorithm that scans your texts in detail.

The result is stylish and error-free texts that you can be proud of. And the tools apply wherever you write on the web, once you have downloaded the free extension.

Brighten up your writing with suitable synonyms

As well as the correction of grammar, stylistics and spelling mistakes, the Linguix tool provides you with a detailed list of synonyms for whatever word you choose to highlight. As a result, you can peruse the list of options and select the word that is most suitable for the context and your audience. In this way, you are not just creating flawless texts, but you are developing your language skills too.

Enhance your vocabulary with the look up in Linguix feature

Another way in which Linguix educates as well as assists is in the “lookup in Linguix” feature. Once you have downloaded the extension, you now have the ability to click on any word you read on the web and get a definition of that word provided by Linguix, as well as a list of synonyms. In that way, you are benefitting from a powerful education tool that goes beyond just the simple correction of grammar (far beyond!)

Get lightning-fast Google Docs support

In February 2020 Linguix released a support feature for Google Docs, allowing instant grammar and style recommendations for any writing in Google Docs. But development continued and integration was redesigned in order to include document support for pieces of work up to 30 pages long, meaning the full Linguix support package can be applied to college essays, detailed business reports, blog posts or any other larger texts in Google Docs at the expected high level of Linguix performance. In fact, tests have shown that the Linguix tool works faster than most well-known competitors in this regard.

In addition, you can avoid any delays when opening and running documents that you don’t intend to edit by using the “view-only” option. However, if you change your mind as you are browsing, simply hit the “check it” button to start the AI-based algorithm for checking for corrections.

Get advanced statistics related to your writing

Upgrade to become a Premium user with Linguix and avail of the tool’s brand-new feature: advanced statistics. Copy and paste your writing into Linguix, and then move over to where the number of mistakes is accumulated on the side of the screen. Click the diagram icon here and immediately receive a comprehensive list of statistics and a readability score relating to your text.

The statistics included here cover all manner of elements such as document length, the time it will take to read the text, and the average length of words and sentences included in the text. The overall readability score provided is based on the Flesch test, and as a result, you can tailor your language and style to the audience that you intend to reach out to.

These are just some of the main reasons why the Linguix Grammar Checker is one of the best writing tools out there and can help elevate your texts, wherever they feature, to higher levels of quality and suitability.

The post 5 Reasons to Use Linguix Browser Extensions appeared first on Linguix Blog.