What is the simplest way to explain the importance of the "-ing" suffix?

[Ketzl]

Hello -- I'd really appreciate some help.

I have an Israeli friend who recently asked if I would start talking to her Israeli friend, to help her Israeli friend improve her English, because I'm a native English speaker.

Her Israeli friend speaks good English and has a good vocabulary, but she doesn't use the "-ing" suffix for words -- for instance, she says things like, "Thank you for correct my English" instead of "correcting".

I'm not a teacher, and I've never taught anyone English before. I'm trying to think of the best and simplest way to explain the difference between "correct" and "correcting", and the importance of the "-ing" ending, because I don't just want to tell her that she should use "correcting" without explaining why. But I don't know how to tell her without getting into complicated language terminology that she might not know.

Can anyone help? What's the best and simplest way to explain this to her?

Thank you very much for your time.

[Cainntear]

What's simple depends on the other person's background knowledge.

What could be the simplest explanation is to say that "correct" is a verb, and you can make a noun from a verb by adding "-ing". Meanwhile, "for" is a preposition, and a preposition comes before a noun. So it has to be "correcting".

[Ketzl]

What's simple depends on the other person's background knowledge.

What could be the simplest explanation is to say that "correct" is a verb, and you can make a noun from a verb by adding "-ing". Meanwhile, "for" is a preposition, and a preposition comes before a noun. So it has to be "correcting".

Sorry, I thought I would get an email notification when my topic was approved, so I didn't realise I had an answer! Thank you for your reply.

[Doitsujin]

Can anyone help? What's the best and simplest way to explain this to her?

Since your friend is apparently not a grammar nerd, how about you simply tell her that she needs to add the -ing ending to English verbs after prepositions?
You can find lots of exercises and explanations, if you google for "gerund after prepositions."