Archive for 'English Language'
An elephant never forgets Posted by Gabriele on Sep 18, 2012
In English we have a saying that goes like this: an elephant never forgets. I recently heard someone say this and I started wondering where this saying comes from. Today I am going to explore with you the origin of this saying and how it is used in English. The saying ‘an elephant never forgets’…
Going to the bank Posted by Gabriele on Sep 6, 2012
The term in English “bankers’ hours” refers to a time of day when banks are open, or at least when they were traditionally open. “Bankers’ hours” are the hours between 10:00am and 3:00pm. Today in the United States banks are generally open more hours of the day, usually from 9:00am to 5:00pm, like most other…
Numbers Review – Part III Posted by Gabriele on Aug 28, 2012
To conclude this three-part series reviewing numbers today we are going to look at how to say/write numbers in a variety of ways, including decimals, percentages, fractions, and common expressions that use numbers. If you have not yet read the previous two posts in this series it may be helpful for you to review these…
Numbers Review – Part II Posted by Gabriele on Aug 27, 2012
Yesterday I began a review of numbers in English. In yesterday’s post I focused on cardinal and ordinal numbers below 100. Today we are going to focus on numbers, and how to read and say numbers, that are over a hundred. When expressing large numbers (numbers that are more than one hundred), numbers are read…
Numbers Review – Part I Posted by Gabriele on Aug 26, 2012
Numbers are often some of the first words language learners are taught in a new language. This doesn’t necessarily mean that learning numbers is easy. In fact most people continue to count instinctively in their native language even after obtaining a high level of fluency in a second language. Numbers always just seem to be…
Crazy Collective Nouns Posted by Gabriele on Aug 21, 2012
A collective noun is the name of a collection of people, animals, or things that can be spoken about as a whole or group. One of the many oddities (and annoyances) in the English language is the number of different collective nouns that exist. Some of these collective nouns are likely to be familiar to…
American Culture – The 4th of July Posted by sasha on Aug 18, 2012
Hello everyone! My name is Sasha, and I’m pleased to introduce myself as a new video producer here on the Transparent English blog. I’m an American guy from the great city of Detroit, and I currently work in Beijing, China as an English teacher and blogger. If you’re interested in all things China, you can…