こんにちは。今回はStephanie先生のコラムをです。
よくある間違いの解説をします。
最後には便利なイディオムも紹介しますので、是非最後までご覧ください。

- -ed VS -ing
A very common mistake is mixing up the endings of adjectives.
Let’s look at some sentences below:
I am exciting for the party tomorrow. | X |
I am excited for the party tomorrow. | O |
The party was exciting. | O |
The party was excited. | X |
When do we use -ing and -ed?
We use -ed to describe the emotion that the subject is feeling.
We don’t normally use -ed for non-living things, like a party or a table.
We only use -ed for people or animals.
For example,
Sue was bored. (Sue feels bored.)
スーは退屈だ。(スーは退屈だと思う)
We use -ing to describe the subject itself. It is a description of the subject.
For example,
Sue was boring. (Sue is a boring person.)
スーは退屈だ。(スーは退屈な人だ)
- To play / to do
In Japanese, to play or do something has the same verb – やる.
A common mistake is to confuse them when describing sports.
Wrong | Correct |
I played swimming. | I went swimming. |
I played yoga. | I did yoga. |
I did soccer yesterday. | I played soccer yesterday. |
I do every week. | I go hiking every week. |
Play is usually used for games: I play soccer/tennis/chess. (私はサッカー/テニス/チェスをする)
Go/went is usually used for activities we have to go to: I went hiking/swimming/skiing. (私はハイキング/水泳/スキーをしに行った。)
Do is usually for a non-team activity you do alone: I do yoga/gymnastics/meditation. (私はヨガ/体操/瞑想をする)
- Go to home / call to him
We use the preposition “to” to indicate a direction or destination.
For example,
I will go to Kyoto tomorrow.
I will send a letter to Tom.
However, we don’t need to use “to” for the verbs “home” and “call”. We can just say:
I will go home after dinner.
I will call Tom tomorrow.
- BONUS!!: Idiom
- Break the ice
(緊張をほぐす/話の口火を切る)
If you break the ice at a party or meeting, or in a new situation, you say or do something to make people feel relaxed and comfortable.
E.g. I broke the ice at the meeting with a joke. (私はジョークで会議の緊張をほぐした)
I tried to break the ice by offering her a drink, but she said no. (私は彼女にお茶をおごって話してみようとしたが、彼女は断った。)