Reference · module 5
Food and ordering
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Food and drink
Name what you eat and drink in a day.
- bread, cheese, meat, fish, rice, soup, salad, fruit. Eight words and a menu stops being a wall of text.
- water, tea, coffee, juice, milk, beer, wine. Note that tea and coffee are both drinks and both cups of one, depending on the sentence.
- English uses have for meals and for eating: have breakfast, have a sandwich, have a coffee. eat exists and sounds oddly literal in those places.
The mistake you are about to make
I eat breakfast at seven.
I have breakfast at seven.
Eat is not so much wrong as literal — it describes the chewing. Meals in English are had: have breakfast, have lunch, have a coffee.
Some and any
Say you want some of something without counting it.
- Some things are counted and some are not. two apples, but not two waters. Water, bread, rice and money are measured, not counted.
- some goes in statements: I have some bread. any goes in questions and negatives: Do you have any bread? I don't have any.
- The exception is an offer or a request, where some comes back: Would you like some tea? Asking with any there would sound doubtful.
The mistake you are about to make
Do you have some bread?
Do you have any bread?
Some and any look interchangeable and are not: some belongs in statements, any in questions and negatives. The one exception is an offer — would you like some tea?
Ordering in a café
Order, ask the price and pay.
- I'd like a coffee, please. I'd is I would, and it is the polite way to order anything, anywhere in the English-speaking world.
- I want a coffee is grammatical and lands as blunt. The difference between want and would like is the difference between a demand and a request.
- How much is it? for one thing, How much is that? for the whole bill. And the answer to Thank you is You're welcome or simply Thanks.
The mistake you are about to make
I want a coffee.
I'd like a coffee, please.
Want is grammatical and blunt — it is what a child says. The polite form is I’d like, and please is close to compulsory with it.
I like, I don't like
Say what you like and ask what somebody else likes.
- like takes a noun straight: I like coffee. And a plural for things in general: I like dogs, not I like dog.
- With a verb it takes -ing: I like reading, I hate waiting. I like to read is also correct and points at a habit rather than a pleasure.
- The scale runs love, like, don't mind, don't like, hate. don't mind is the useful one in the middle and has no single-word translation.
The mistake you are about to make
I like read.
I like reading.
An infinitive follows the verb in many languages, so the bare form comes out. English wants the -ing form here: I like reading.