I have a lot of sympathy for my students. Whether they complain about it or not,
English can be confusing. Similar
combinations of words often mean very different (or just a little different)
things. Here are some useful examples of
that.
Working hard = the person is putting a lot of effort into
something.
Maria is working hard on her essay.
Hard at work = the person is quite busy and probably should
be disturbed.
Paul is hard at work and can't come to the phone.
Hardly working = the person is doing almost nothing.
Timothy is hardly working since he had the accident at work.
Hard work = this describes the work as being difficult, but
not the person.
For Grace, taking care of children was hard work. She loved it, but it was really hard work.
Maybe there is a mistake at your example - Paul is hard and work and can't come to the phone. Shouldn't it be Paul is hard AT work?
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right. I fixed it. Thank you. I appreciate your help. I should pretend that I made the mistake on purpose to see if the students were really reading the blog.
ReplyDelete