Some common mistakes : cook and cereal

Well,well , the first unit in the book I am teaching this year to Intermediate students is about food and if I didn’t know any better I would think it was intentionally placed in the first unit to remind me that I need to seriously consider going on a diet to try to lose the ??? pounds  gained after stuffing myself with tons of ice cream.  Haven’t I read somewhere that Uma Thurman, the actress, lost 25 pounds in six weeks by eating ice cream , chocolate and pudding??? Just joking !! But wouldn’t it be just great if  celebrities kept their strange fad diets to themselves ? Or rather not??? That way I can always put the blame on  Uma Thurman ! 😉

Anyway, talking about food , I feel I need to remind my students not to make two of the most common mistakes we, Spaniards, make when talking about food.

Mistake 1. When I grow up I want to be a cooker.  If a person who teaches is a teacher and  a person who runs is a runner  , why is a person who cooks called  a cook and not a cooker?

♥A cook= a person who cooks

My mother is a very good cook

♥A cooker= an apparatus where food is cooked  (also called stove in AmE)

Do you have an electric or a gas cooker?

Mistake 2. I like cereals for breakfast.

Cereal is an uncountable noun, so you  should say I like cereal for breakfast or a bowl of cereal.

Cereals can also be a plural countable noun. In that case, you are referring to the different kinds of cereals  such as oat, barley ,  wheat or brands like corn flakes , rice krispies or choco crispies.

There are so many different kinds of cereals in this shop that I never know which one to buy.

Hope it is helpful! Keep posted!


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