Thursday, 15 March 2012

Some tricky words, SUCH AS "ESPECIALLY" and "ACTUALLY"

To give examples, use SUCH AS, not AS:
In some European countries, such as Germany and Austria, people drink more beer than wine.
In some European countries, as Germany and Austria, ...

You can also use LIKE and FOR EXAMPLE:
Many young actresses, like Inge Traumann, started their career in television.
Many young actresses, for example Inge Traumann, started ...
Many young actresses, such as Inge Traumann, started...

Notice the use of AS in these sentences:
He works as a waiter in the summer. (Trabajó DE... singular countable >>> article)
They worked as waiters last year. (Plural >>> no article)


ESPECIALLY means "sobre todo", and it's one of a small number of words that begin with ES + consonant instead of the usual S+ consonant (space, station, stop, small, sky, but especially):
In some areas, especially in the north, it rains a lot.
The car is quite small, especially if you have children.

              Unfortunately, it isn't as simple as this: there is also a word specially, but the meaning is different. It's not important now. For the time being (=por ahora), I recommend using the adverb ESPECIALLY  (ESP-)and the adjective SPECIAL (SPE-):

She's a very special friend.             They use a special instrument to fix it.
I love walking in the forest, especially in autumn.

Finally, the word actually. Be careful. It's a false friend (a word that is similar to one you have in your own language, but means something different: not a real friend at all!). Actually ≠ actualmente. Actually = en realidad. Some examples:
It is similar to "actualmente", but actually it means something very different! (parece... pero en realidad...)
You're Kev's sister, aren't you? No, I'm his wife actually!
Everyone thinks he's in his thirties, but actually he's 45!

So, how do you say "actualmente" in English? Well, the easiest translation is simply now. Other options are at the moment or at present:
He used to work (=trabajaba) as an interpreter, but at the moment he's unemployed.
At present there are only two schools for gifted children in the country.



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