i`m a newbie, help!

[robbierocker]

i have started with the basics of SQL.
i am at lesson 3, how to select tables.
now when i give a command as given as in the example and submit the query, i get an message stating invalid charachter used in command, where as i have tried 100 times.
for example in lesson 3:
select first, last, city from empinfo where first LIKE `Er%`;
submit
it gives invalid command whereas the statement goes this way in the same example i`ve typed,
select first, last, city
from empinfo
where first LIKE `Er%`;
submit
it gives results.
where am i going wrong?
is it that i need to divide the statements and give spaces and use 3-4 different lines as shown in example? also some statements work, but most of the time it says invalid charachter, only when i copy paste, it gives a result display of the table. i`ve also copy pasted and writtent the statements as it is, also tried writting ``from`` and ``where`` as it is placed and shown in example,
please if anyone of you can guide me, where am i going wrong?
regards
robbie