Archive for February, 2012
Comprehension Practice: Being a Member of a Club Posted by heather on Feb 29, 2012
Yesterday evening I attended a meeting of a photography club that I am a member of. I thought it would be a good example to use for practising your English comprehension (the action or capability of understanding something), so I have included a mini-story about the evening with some questions at the end. I have…
Gibberish and Gobbledygook Posted by Gabriele on Feb 27, 2012
Gibberish is a generic* term in English for speech that sounds like actual English words or language, but actually are not words and are just groups of sounds that have no real meaning. Gobbledygook is a term similar to gibberish, but it is used to explain meaningless text or written language. The best thing about…
Birds of a Feather Flock Together Posted by Gabriele on Feb 26, 2012
The phrase ‘birds of a feather flock together’ is an expression, which generally means: people with similar tastes and interests stick together or form groups. The phrase often stands on its own, is used as a response to something someone has said to you, or it is used to simply make an observation. Here are…
I.E. Versus E.G. Posted by heather on Feb 25, 2012
Who knew two little letters could cause so much confusion? Yet, the mere presence of e.g. or i.e. is scary enough to make some people’s legs start to shake. I.e. and e.g. are both abbreviations for Latin terms. I.e. stands for id est and means “that is.” E.g. stands for exempli gratia, which means roughly…
Body Parts and Their Verbs Posted by Gabriele on Feb 24, 2012
Today I am going to present a quick review of the vocabulary related to different parts of the body as well as present some of the verbs you might use to describe the actions of these body parts. Head: to shake; to nod (Shake your head from side to side.) (I need you all to…
A Virtual Tour of Los Angeles: “The City of Angles” Posted by Gabriele on Feb 23, 2012
Below I have put up a video tour of Los Angeles, California. I lived in Los Angeles for four years while studying for my doctorate and although I didn’t like the city much when I first moved there, I learned to love it! It really is a great city with a lot to offer in…
Job Suffixes and Uncommon Professions Posted by Gabriele on Feb 21, 2012
Most beginning English classes have a lesson on vocabulary related to jobs and professions. Usually these lessons cover jobs like: baker, teacher, and lawyer. One piece of grammatical information people often learn early on about profession title words in English is that they often end in the suffix –er. This suffix is commonly used to…