Today I'm going to explain the difference between LATER and LATTER. These words are only different by one letter, but they have different meanings and they're pronounced differently, too.

That's all for now! If you want more, you can find lots of great explanations inside my 600+ Confusing Words E-Book. Thanks for joining me for today's lesson, and I'll talk to you later :-)

After last week's lesson on common informal phrases, a lot of students e-mailed me saying, "please make more lessons like this!" So today I'll teach you more: You'll learn informal spoken expressions like "No hard feelings," "Join the club," and "Just my luck!" (that last one might be different from what you expect...)

Let me know if you have any questions about these phrases - or if you have another phrase that you're not sure what it means or how to use it. One of the best ways to learn real phrases to use in daily life is to join my Everyday English Speaking Courses. You can see what the lessons are like by taking the free samples available here:

• Free sample - Level 1
• Free sample - Level 2

There are lots of little phrases that native English speakers use in daily life. But if you don't live in an English-speaking country, then you don't have the chance to hear these expressions - except maybe in movies or TV shows. So today I'll teach you 8 common informal phrases that you might not find in textbooks - and I'll give you examples of situations in which we use them.

Do you want to learn more conversational English? I'd like to invite you to join my Everyday English Speaking Courses - the lessons are based on dialogues, so you can learn phrases in context. There are two levels of the course - Level 1 focuses on practical situations (traveling, socializing, shopping, etc.) and Level 2 has more advanced conversations. These are my most popular courses!

Today's lesson is all about the expression "gonna" and when you CAN and CAN'T use it. I'll also tell you about "gonna go" - is this correct? Listen to the lesson to find out.

I hope this lesson has been helpful! If you want to learn more from me, come check out my courses, where I can teach you about conversational English, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, phrasal verbs, idioms, business English, and more.

Today's quick pronunciation tip involves a very common verb: the word "say." You might be surprised that there's slightly different pronunciation in the different forms of this word. In this lesson I'm going to ask you to repeat after me, because the best way to practice pronunciation is for YOU to say the words and sentences out loud, not just watch me say them :-)

You can get a LOT more pronunciation training inside my courses called American English Pronunciation and Shadowing with Shayna. Inside these courses, you can practice all the different sounds in English - both in individual words and in sentences. The lessons will help you improve your pronunciation and reduce your accent, so you can speak more clearly.

Students often ask me if we can use idioms and slang in professional situations - and the answer is "it depends." Some expressions are not appropriate for the workplace, but there are many that you can use in conversations among co-workers and less formal emails. Today you'll learn 15 English idioms & phrasal verbs you CAN use at work.

There are several more lessons about business idioms inside our Business English Course. This course also teaches you essential words and phrases for professional situations like meetings, interviews, networking, and more. If you're more interested in idiomatic expressions more generally, we also have a course called 300+ Idioms in 30 Days.

The words experience and experiment might be the same in some languages... but in English they are different, and I often see students confuse them. Both of these words can be both nouns and verbs. Let's see how exactly they are used.

Want more? Check out my e-book, 600+ Confusing English Words Explained, for lots of lessons that will help make these differences clear to you. Also, if you are confused about some English words, reply to this e-mail and let me know, so that I can create future lessons about them. Thanks for joining me today, and I'll talk to you next week!

Today I want to answer a question that is important for everyone who is studying English. Many of my students say, "I study grammar a lot and I understand it in theory. But when I speak, I can't think of the grammar in the moment, or it takes too long to remember the rules. So how can I use grammar correctly when speaking English?" This is a great question! It's true that when you're speaking there's really no time to think about grammar rules and to analyze each sentence. But what if the grammar just doesn't come to mind? What tends to happen is that you either freeze or pause a lot. I hear a lot of students with these long pauses in the middle of their sentences as they're thinking carefully about their grammar. I don't want that to happen to you! I want you to be able to speak more easily and confidently, using correct grammar.

I really hope that you practice your grammar in the way I described in this lesson - trust me, it will come out more naturally with time! If you want to practice with the help of a teacher, we have two courses for you:

• In the Advanced English Grammar Course, you have the option of doing writing tasks with teacher feedback.
• In the Everyday English Speaking Courses, you can record your spoken English and get teacher feedback.

When you're studying English, I recommend focusing on learning phrases and not just individual words. When you only study individual words, it's hard to put them together into a phrase - but when you study phrases, then it's much easier for you to use the whole phrase when speaking. The problem is that sometimes you might hear or see a phrase that doesn't seem to make sense. This often happens with idioms and informal expressions. My students ask me about phrases all the time, and today I'll explain two expressions – "good grief" and "for goodness' sake."

If you're interested in learning more phrases that native English speakers use in daily life - and especially learning these phrases inside the context of conversations - come check out my Everyday English Speaking Courses. More than 1,000 students have enjoyed these courses, and I hope you will, too!

Today I'll teach you about some common English-learning mistakes that I've observed among the hundreds of students whom I've worked with. This lesson is going to be a little different because it's not about fixing specific words or phrases; instead, it's about correcting typical problems that language learners tend to have in the way they approach studying. In some ways, these are the most important errors, because these habits or thoughts or attitudes are at the foundation of everything you do when you're working on learning English. So I'd encourage you to reflect and ask yourself if you've been making any of these common English-learning mistakes.

This lesson covered some of the mistakes / problems you should avoid in English learning... do you also want to know what you SHOULD do? You can watch my free class on Secrets of Successful English Learners! That was a workshop I presented several years ago, but the ideas are still 100% true and relevant, and I'd encourage you to apply those GOOD learning habits to your life.