Fix Your New Year Plan in English: I Want to Sleep More, Earlier or Better?

On the first of January, a learner opens a notebook and writes three sentences:

I want more move. I want sleep more early. I want eat more healthy.

The ideas are good: move more, sleep earlier, eat better. But the reader has to stop and guess at every sentence. Each one is almost right, and each one has a small problem in the same place. The little words (more, early, healthy) are in the wrong spot or in the wrong form.

This page fixes the three sentences one by one. The correct sentences come from Paul and Emily, who talk about their year in an English Practice Daily episode, one part of life at a time: sleep, moving, food, time, people and English. Editorial note (not from the podcast): the wrong sentences, the extra examples and the exercises are written for this page. The lines in the quote boxes come from the episode.

Which kind of change do you want?

Before you fix a sentence, ask what you want to change. Is it how much? What time? How good? How often? Each question has its own small word.

You want to change	Use	Example
How much or how long	more / less	I want to sit less.
What time	earlier / later	I want to sleep earlier this year.
How good	better	I want to use my time better.
How often	more often	I want to make dinner at home more often.

All four examples are Paul’s and Emily’s own sentences. Look at how they work together in Emily’s story about sleep. She slept badly for months, because she drank a third coffee at four in the afternoon. She did not only decide to sleep more. She changed the time:

Emily: In September, I made a new rule. My last coffee is before two.

Emily: Now I sleep at about eleven. And I feel so much better.

So she slept earlier, and the result was sleeping better. This is a useful way to think about all three plans. Earlier is something you do. Better is what you get. More is only about the amount. When you write “I want to sleep better”, you can also say what you will do: “So I stop coffee at two.” That is exactly how Emily answers Paul in the role play (you can read it near the end of this page).

Fix 1: Where does more go?

Wrong: I want more move.
Right: I want to move more.

More has two places. Before a noun, it says how much of a thing: more sleep, more water, more time. After a verb, it says you want to do the action more: move more, read more, walk more. “Move” is a verb, so more goes after it.

Paul and Emily have two good examples:

Emily: So the sentence is, I want to move more every day.

Emily: I want to check in on my friends more.

Less works in the same places. Emily says it about her chair at work: “I want to sit less.” If you want a noun, you can say less coffee or less sugar.

Fix 2: Want needs to and a plain verb

Wrong: I want eat better.
Right: I want to eat better dinners.

After want, you have two choices. You can say to + the plain verb: I want to eat, I want to sleep, I want to use. Or you can say a noun: I want a better year. You cannot put the plain verb right after want.

Paul and Emily use both in the episode:

Paul: I want a better year, not a perfect year.

Emily: I want to eat better dinners.

Learners often drop to because it is a very small word, and it is quiet in fast speech. Say it slowly at the start: want to, want to, want to.

Fix 3: Earlier, not more early

Wrong: I want sleep more early.
Right: I want to sleep earlier.

English changes a short word by adding -er: early → earlier, late → later, strong → stronger. It does not say more early. The word healthy follows the same idea, with y changing to i: healthy → healthier. Paul and Emily have all three kinds:

Emily: I want to sleep earlier this year.

Emily: This year, I want stronger daily habits.

Emily: I want healthier boundaries.

The last sentence has no verb after want. It has a noun (boundaries), and healthier sits in front of it. That is the other correct pattern from Fix 2.

So the third sentence from the notebook becomes I want to eat healthier or, in Emily’s way, I want to eat better dinners. Both are fine.

Better works before a noun and after a verb

It is a good word because it fits in both places:

• before a noun: better dinners, a better year
• after a verb: use my time better, sleep better

Wrong: I want to use my time good.
Right: I want to use my time better.

Good is not used after a verb like this. The word you need is better, and it is also the word for a year that is only a little different from last year. It is also the word in the sentence of the day in the episode: “Better, not perfect.”

A plan with one more half-sentence

A plan is easier to keep when it has something you can do tomorrow. Paul adds half a sentence to his: so every day I…

Paul: In 2026, I want to move more, so every day I walk to the market.

Emily: Every day? But the market isn’t open every day.

Paul: Okay, okay. Every day, I walk for fifteen minutes. That’s better.

Emily finds a problem with the action. He fixes the action, not the plan: the new sentence is truer, and “much better” in Emily’s words. Try the same thing with your own sentence. If you cannot do the second half on a tired Monday, change the second half.

Emily has one for reading:

Emily: In 2026, I want to read more, so every day I read five pages before bed.

If you want to practise one goal in more detail (what, when and for how long), read How to Describe a Small Goal in English.

A short talk about your year

Here is how Paul and Emily answer one question, in only a few lines. Read it aloud, and notice how every answer is one I want sentence followed by one small action.

Paul: Emily, what’s your plan for 2026?

Emily: I want to sleep better. So I stop coffee at two.

Paul: That sounds good. And tell me about English.

Emily: I want English in my daily life. I listen when I cook.

Paul: Nice. And tell me about your friends.

Emily: I want to check in on them more. I call my sister every Sunday.

Now answer the same three questions about yourself: sleep, English, friends or family. Use one I want sentence and one small action each time.

Fix the plan: four exercises with answers

Exercise 1: choose the word. Choose more, less, earlier, better or more often.

1. You go to bed at one in the morning, and you want to go at eleven: “I want to go to bed ___.”
2. You sit for nine hours a day: “I want to sit ___.”
3. You call your mother once a month: “I want to call my mother ___.”
4. Your dinners are always instant noodles: “I want to eat ___ dinners.”

Answers: 1. earlier. 2. less. 3. more often (it is about how often). 4. better (it is about how good the dinners are).

Exercise 2: fix the sentence. Each sentence has one small problem.

1. I want more move.
2. I want sleep more early.
3. I want eat more healthy.
4. I want use my time good.

Answers: 1. I want to move more. 2. I want to sleep earlier. 3. I want to eat healthier. (or I want to eat better dinners.) 4. I want to use my time better.

Exercise 3: finish the plan. Write the second half. Do it for a normal day, not a perfect day.

1. In 2026, I want to walk more, so every day I ___.
2. In 2026, I want to sleep earlier, so every night I ___.

Possible answers: 1. walk to the bus stop and walk home. 2. put my phone in another room at ten o’clock. Your answers can be different. Check three things: the sentence has to before the verb, the word (more, earlier) is in the right place, and you can really do the second half on a tired Monday.

Exercise 4: your turn. Write three sentences about your year: one with more or less, one with earlier, and one with better. Then say each one out loud, once.

The small words in one list

• more and less: after a verb (move more, sit less) or before a noun (more sleep).
• earlier and later: the time (sleep earlier).
• better: how good; before a noun or after a verb (better dinners, use my time better).
• more often: how often (make dinner at home more often).
• After want: to + plain verb, or a noun (I want to eat better. I want a better year.)
• Short words add -er (earlier, stronger, healthier). Do not say more early.
• Finish with something you can do tomorrow: so every day I…

Hear it in a real conversation

These sentences come from one long, slow episode about making 2026 a better year, with stories about a red planner, a dripping tap and a chain of paper clips. If you want to hear them in a natural conversation and repeat after Paul and Emily, read the Show Note and listen to the episode: Make 2026 Your Best Year Yet: Easy English for Plans, Habits and Small Wins.