Lesson 241--Some advice

 

 

Today's lesson is a little different.  Instead of teaching you a phrase, or some vocabulary, I just wanted to give you some advice.

• When you have mastered something in English, like answering "I'm fine." and used it successfully a few times, you should try something new.  "Great!" or "Fantastic!" or "Pretty good."  Don't be afraid to experiment.

• When you get asked the same questions every day  ("How was school today?"), prepare for them, and give longer and different answers.  "It was great because we learned about the 3rd Conditional."

• If you learned a new word today (or any day) learn words that are related to it.  If someone teaches you destroy, you should learn destroyer, destruction, destructive, destructible, indestructible, destructively, and indestructibly.  The meanings of all these words are approximately the same.  If you dictionary doesn't tell you this information, it isn't a good dictionary.

• Try to find a collocation dictionary.  It will change the way you look at English.

• If you have trouble with prepositions, read a newspaper article and highlight all the prepositions.  You will remember more of them this way.

• If you want to practice reading in English, get a book translated from your language into English.  You won't have to worry about names and cultural issues because you will already understand them.

Lesson 240--Collocations with "favour"

 

 

An interesting word came up in class today and I thought I would share it with you.  Someone asked me about the word favour.    So I present to you some different uses of the word favour.

1.  Do me a favour.

we use this one to ask people to help us or do something for us.

 

Could you do me a favour?

2.  in favour of

we use this to explain that we support something.

 

I am in favour of a complete ban on smoking.

Marcia was not in favour of a school dress code.

 3. in favour with + somebody/someone

      out of favour with + somebody/someone

we use this to explain that someone is seen positively by someone else

Jason was not in favour with the team owner and decided to quit.

Jason had fallen out of favour with the team owner and decided to quit.

Lesson 239--Slackers

Slackers Celebrate

I asked my students about their experiences in groups or teams.  They had some funny stories.  I heard several people explain that in at least one project their teammates did absolutely no work and they had to do everything,  It is with this idea that I present some useful phrases that relate to a situation like that.

to slack off: this means to do very little or no work.

A slacker
 

 

examples

When Jimmy started slacking off, his team leader yelled at him.

All of the members of Maria's team started to slack off before the end of the project.  As a result she had to do most of the work.

slacker:  someone who slacks off (usually quite often)

 

examples

Greg had a bad reputation as a slacker.

Because Daniela was a terrible slacker, nobody wanted to work with her.

to pick up the slack:  to do work that other people are not doing

 

examples

Phyllis had to pick up the slack when several of her team members got sick.

 

If they were going to finish the project on time, the remaining members would have to pick up the slack.

Lesson 238--The Amazing Word Get.

 

A student today asked me why we always use the word get.  Honestly, I would say because it is easy.  The word get has so many useful functions in English.  My student's example was "Can I get a coffee?"  which he heard a person use when ordering.  It really means "Can I have/order a coffee?"

Today's lesson is using get in a way that means "something happened to me."  It is a passive construction that doesn't use the "be" verb.

I got hit by a car.  ( I was hit by a car.  The car hit me. )

Greg got his car stolen.  (Greg's car was stolen.  Somebody stole Greg's car.)

Theresa got her heart broken again.  (Theresa's heart was broken.  Somebody broke her heart again.)

When he wasn't looking Jimmy got hit in the head.

Sandy and Ramona got beaten in the tennis match.

The car got scratched at the mall.

When you have time, try and make some useful get sentences. 

Lesson 237--Job Title Suffixes

 

Vocabulary and spelling are quite important, so today's lesson is devoted to that.

Specifically today's lesson is focused on jobs/occupations and how to make them using suffixes (word endings).

If there are any jobs in the list that you don't know, try looking them up.  Use this link for an online dictionary with pronunciation (in British and North American)

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/

 

 

ian	or	er	ist	others
physician librarian technician optician electrician veterinarian	doctor director actor conductor animator curator	teacher soccer player mover trainer lawyer plumber writer singer barber mail/postal carrier	pharmacist psychologist therapist dentist biologist manicurist hair stylist	accountant engineer mechanic masseuse

 

If you comment on other job titles, I will edit the post and include them in the chart above.  By commenting, you will be helping all the other students as well.

Lesson 236--Using the Present Continuous for the Future

 

 

While we use the present continuous (is/are/am + ...ing) for things happening right now, we also use it to describe future events.  This is considered more sure than using going to  or will to express the future. To do this:

• we include a reference to the time we are doing the event
• the event must have been organized and agreed to by more than one person.

examples

I am playing tennis on Tuesday with my father. (The time has been agreed upon by my father)

 

Jim is flying to Miami on the 12th. (Jim, the airline, and even his travel agent agreed upon the time)

 

Maria is working late on Thursday. (Both Maria and her boss agreed upon this)

 

The whole family is spending Christmas in Cuba.

 

What are your future plans?

Submit your sentences in the comment box (you don't have to log in, just click the anonymous box).

Lesson 235--Two expressions using "second".

 

 

Today's lesson is about two expressions using the word second.  They are closely related, but they are not exactly the same.  The two are

To second guess someone

To have second thoughts

 

To second guess someone or something means to have some doubts about someone or something. 

examples

Janine was second guessing her husbands story about Friday night.

Philip told Maria that he didn't like anyone second guessing him.

Daniel started second guessing his decision to quit smoking almost immediately.

Manuela second guessed everything her twin sister did.

 

A similar idiom is to have second thoughts.  This usually means to reconsider, or to start doubting a choice you have made.

examples

After proposing to Donna, Keith started having second thoughts.

Pamela was ready to buy a new computer, but she started having second thoughts and decided to wait a few weeks.

If you are having second thoughts, maybe you shouldn't do it.