#14 Phone Your Friend!

     Hi my dearies! Do you have time for a little grammar today? If you do, go on reading!
Do we meet our friends? or Do we meet with our friends? Which of the two sentences is right? The FIRST sentence is right and the second is a common mistake! Remember: meet sb, marry sb, discuss sth. phone sb. We say: play the guitar, climb a tree, drive a car, ride a horse, answer a question. These verbs are followed by a person or an object but there is NO preposition in between.
      If you think of Ukrainian equivalents to these verb phrases, you will see that in our language they share the following pattern verb+preposition+noun. In English it is verb+noun (no preposition). In grammar, this phenomenon is called direct object (no preposition is needed).
For example,

• My boyfriend plays the guitar. (NOT My boyfriend plays on the guitar.)

• My boyfriend is going to marry me! (NOT My boyfriend is going to marry with me!)

• I have to phone my friend. (Not I have to phone to my friend.)
  

     So WHY do English students make these mistakes? They usually translate a Ukrainian sentence word for word. The problem is that English is quite a different language and our language structures don`t work here:) So you have to develop a habit of  THINKING in English:) This is not easy, of course. But the more you work with English, the more you understand how this language works!
      To brighten up the boring rules here watch this FUNNY VIDEO about kids riding horses. Every person looks so happy here! Enjoy the video, remember about direct objects and phone your friend!