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The Sounds That Animals Make in English Posted by Gabriele on May 22, 2012
It is amazing how different people around the world hear the sounds of the same animals. I always find this fascinating at least. Since I have been talking about onomatopoeia in the last few posts I thought I would share with you the way the sounds of some different animals are heard and written…
Noisy Animal Verbs (more onomatopoeia) Posted by Gabriele on May 21, 2012
I introduced the topic of onomatopoeia yesterday with a number of “noisy verbs” found in English. Remember onomatopoeia is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes. Today I am going to focus on the verbs used to describe the sounds that animals make. Keep in mind these…
Onomatopoeia Posted by Gabriele on May 20, 2012
This is a really fun word to say in English! Click here and you should be connected to a link where you can hear how to pronounce this word correctly. What does this funny word mean? Onomatopoeia is the word we use to describe words that imitate or suggests the source of the sound that…
Nursery Rhymes Posted by Gabriele on May 18, 2012
Having lived abroad and having taught ESL for a number of years I have heard many people talk about what it means to be “fluent” in a second language. I set a very high standard for fluency myself and I think true fluency comes with both linguistic and cultural knowledge. In discussing how to determine…
I do not think it means what you think it means Posted by Gabriele on May 17, 2012
“I do not think it means what you think it means.” This is a line from a famous American film from the 1980’s called Princess Bride. This line is spoken in the following conversation between two characters, Vizzini and Inigo Montoya. Vizzini: He didn’t fall? INCONCEIVABLE*. Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do…
Post Editing (Part II) Posted by Gabriele on May 15, 2012
Todays (Today’s) post is a little different than my usual posts. I’ve written this post with a number of common grammer (grammar) and spelling errors in it that I want you to find. This is like a game of ESL hide-and-seek! Tomorrow (Tomorrow) I will re-post this exact same passage highlighting all the errors that…
Post Editing (Part I) Posted by Gabriele on May 14, 2012
Todays post is a little different than my usual posts. I’ve written this post with a number of common grammer and spelling errors that I want you to find. This is like a game of ESL hide-and-seek! Tomorrow I will re-post this exact same passage highlighting all the errors that I have made so you…