US Units of Measure for Cooking Posted by Gary Locke on Oct 10, 2019
I love to cook. I find it relaxing, but also creative. When I get home at night I gather my ingredients for dinner, pull out the necessary cookware and utensils, pour a glass of wine, and focus on making something that my wife and I will enjoy at the table. I rarely measure anything. I’ve…
The English Non-Binary They Posted by Gary Locke on Oct 3, 2019
We have a word in English which has always been trouble for grammarians. They and its related case form their and them, is a singular indefinite pronoun. We use it to refer to a group of people who might be male, female, or a combination. “They say it’s going to rain tomorrow.” It is also…
Talking about learning in English Posted by carol on Sep 30, 2019
Hi guys! What have you been up to? Learning a foreign language requires constant practice and study. Keeping in touch with the language in some way is essential for developing listening, speaking, writing and reading skills. Whatever method you use, from being enrolled in a class to self-study, communication in a foreign language only works…
English Words in the News Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 27, 2019
If you’ve been following the news coming out of the US lately, you’ve no doubt heard some terms which don’t mean what you might think they mean. This is typical of the English language. We have a talent for creating metaphors, colloquialisms, and idioms to convey meaning. Some of these have been in usage for…
Shenandoah: An American Ballad Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 19, 2019
I was recently listening to a favorite radio station which played a recording of the classic American folk song, Shenandoah. The station host confessed that he didn’t know the exact story behind the song, but he believed that it was from the time of fur traders in the American west in the 18th century. Well…
The US Interstate System Posted by Gary Locke on Sep 11, 2019
“Are we there yet?” The United States is vast. The distance to drive from Portland, Maine to San Francisco, California is about 2725 miles or nearly 4400 kilometers. While the US has many different highway systems, including state, county, territorial, and secondary roads, the country is linked by one massive grid of highways known as…
Time idioms in English Posted by carol on Aug 31, 2019
Hello, dear readers. Long time no see! It’s about time I wrote a new post. I can’t believe it is August already! It’s amazing how time flies. So you have probably guessed what today’s text is about by now. You got it, we are going to cover some useful time idioms. There are endless expressions…