Archive for 'English Language'
Foreign Words in English (Part VI) Posted by Gabriele on Aug 16, 2012
Over the last six months I have written a series of posts on different foreign words that have found their way into the English language. This is the last post I’m going to write in this series. If you haven’t read my other posts in this series you can easily link to them here: Part…
Abbreviations and acronyms you will see online Posted by Gabriele on Aug 13, 2012
Have you ever wondered what some of those abbreviations and acronyms are that you see online or on your computer? Today we are going to explore a number of common computer and internet related abbreviations and acronyms. There are abbreviations we all see all the time, but probably don’t give that much thought to. After…
Talking about Table Tennis Posted by Gabriele on Aug 9, 2012
Table tennis is an Olympic sport that is pretty much dominated by one country, China. In fact, China has won 20 of the 24 available gold medals in this sport since it joined the Olympics 1988. That is a very impressive record. Perhaps the reason Americans are not doing so well in this sport is…
Sports that are no longer in the Olympics Posted by Gabriele on Aug 7, 2012
I bet you would be surprised to know about some sports that were once in the Olympics that are no longer there. There are a number of sports that have been discontinued* from the Olympics over the years and interestingly some that were once eliminated are now coming back. Here is some information about sports…
Precious metals and precious medals Posted by Gabriele on Aug 2, 2012
You may have noticed how closely related the words medal (as in Olympic gold medal) and metal (as the metal silver) are in English. This is no coincidence. The two words are written and pronounced very similarly, you can hear the pronunciation of these two words here by clicking on each one: medal and…
Exploring the Olympics using your English Posted by Gabriele on Jul 30, 2012
If you can’t attend the Olympics (like most people) there still are many ways to feel like you are there: by watching the Games on TV, reading about the Games, and exploring information online about the 2012 Games. Today I have an activity for you related to the Olympics and a way to practice…
Seeing Double in American English and British English Posted by Gabriele on Jul 10, 2012
In my last few posts I have been talking about spelling differences between written British English and American English. The last major difference in spelling between British English and American English that I want to cover is the use of double consonants. The final consonant in English words is sometimes doubled by both American…