Anemone /əˈnem.ə.ni/
Continue reading “Pronunciation: 26 flowers 26 letters of the alphabet”
Category: Vocabulary
The story of my dog
Once upon a time, in a small village in the south of Spain, a woman with a heart of gold came across a heavily pregnant abandoned dog. The woman took her home and soon enough she gave birth to a litter (1) of three adorable mix-breed puppies (2).
One day, her granddaughter (also an animal lover) drove down from the north to visit her granny and she gave the dogs a ride to the city that would become their new home. Mum and puppies were all adopted and that is where the story begins for me. Continue reading “The story of my dog”
Learn 10 prepositional phrases in context
STEP 1
Read the sentences containing the prepositional phrases in context.
Continue reading “Learn 10 prepositional phrases in context”
Learning vocabulary in context: A Puzzling Car Incident
In this text, you will learn vocabulary related to cars and driving in the context of a short story. Once you have read it, I encourage you to write your own car incident story and send it to me by email. I will correct and give feedback to the first ten stories that I receive.
In this text, you will learn vocabulary related to cars and driving in the context of a short story. Once you have read it, I encourage you to write your own car incident story and send it to me by email. I will correct and give feedback to the first ten stories that I receive.Continue reading “Learning vocabulary in context: A Puzzling Car Incident”
LEARN 10 EUPHEMISMS IN 3 STEPS
Saying that you are between jobs sends a more positive image of your current situation than saying that you are unemployed. This is the purpose of euphemism, to soften the message you are communicating by using language that sounds less unpleasant, uncomfortable or embarrassing than the reality.
In this post we are going to learn 10 commonly used euphemisms in three steps. You will need pen a paper or you can print the pdf provided. Continue reading “LEARN 10 EUPHEMISMS IN 3 STEPS”
THE JOY OF GARDENING
Gardening has always been part of my life ever since I was a little girl but I must admit that until recently, I was simply a spectator and the recipient of glorious produce, handed over to me without any effort on my part. As things are, there comes a time when one has to take over and adopt an active role. Not terribly enthusiastically at first as this added to my to do list already quite hefty. However, it didn’t take long to become something enjoyable and later a new passion and something to look forward to. In this post. I will talk about some of the benefits that gardening brings to my life while providing vocabulary in context and pictures with some of the tools, produce and flowers in our garden.
10 very Kiwi words or phrases
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1. KIWI
This little word rich in meanings.
Imagine that I say this: “There is a kiwi under the tree.”
Well, I could be referring to the fruit on the left, but if I were in New Zealand also to a native nocturnal flightless bird, and last but not least, I could be saying that there is someone from New Zealand under the tree, as this is also a nickname for New Zealanders. For the record, the nickname refers to the bird, not the fruit. It is not offensive, quite on the contrary New Zealanders are proud of it.
10 very American English words
BANGS
Bangs, used in the plural, are the equivalent of a fringe in British English. In other words, hair cut short over your forehead.
One of the theories regarding the origin of this word is the term “bang tail”, a way in which horsetails are cut.
“Her bangs give her a very stylish 1920s look”.
(UK) Fringe Continue reading “10 very American English words”
VISUALS: 9 common mistakes and how to avoid them
Here are 9 mistakes that pop up regularly in conversations with students. Have a look and make sure these are not a problem for you. There will be more posts on this matter. You can subscribe to my mail list* if you want to be in the loop.
*Just send me an email with the words “mail list” in the subject.
Continue reading “VISUALS: 9 common mistakes and how to avoid them”
PHRASAL VERBS: Grammar patterns 1
The sooner you make friends with phrasal verbs, the easier your life as an English learner becomes. The difficulty that they are associated with and the sheer number of them should not stand in the way if you have the right approach. As with everything in life, small steps will take you far. There is a lot to be said about systems to learn them effectively and progressively and the keyword here is context (see footnote), but what this blog post will hopefully do is give you an understanding of how to use them well in terms of grammar and that is a solid first step. Continue reading “PHRASAL VERBS: Grammar patterns 1”