Lesson 337--subscriptions

In this day of Netflix and Spotify, subscriptions are an important piece of vocabulary.  It is also important that we use the word correctly.

verbs: subscribe to

Jane subscribes to 10 weekly magazines.   She has barely enough time to read them.

Malcolm subscribes to Rogers most expensive cable package.

Some of you subscribe to this blog.  (Thanks)

noun (thing): subscription

Jane has a subscription to 10 weekly magazines.  She has quite a busy reading schedule.

Malcolm has a subscription to Rogers most expensive cable package.

noun (person): subscriber

Jane is a subscriber to 10 weekly magazines.  She is personally responsible for the death of many trees.

Magazines are losing paper subscribers but gaining lots of online ones.

Lesson 261--Bad English (That Everyone Uses)

Sometimes my students see some very questionable English being used in the world.  Of course, they always ask their teacher to explain.  Basically, there is some bad English out there that has become normal.

Bad Spelling

Drive Thru:  This should be drive through, but somebody decided to spell it that way to create a noun.  Blame McDonalds.

All U Can Eat:  Yes, this should be "All You Can Eat" but someone thought this was cute.  Sorry.

Luv:  Again, some romantic person thought this was cute.  Maybe they just wanted to save space.  Luv is three letters, whereas Love is four.

The Internet Effect

Besides chat "slang" the internet has had an effect on the English world.

@   We use it as "at".   See you @ 9 means see you at 9 o'clock.  It is appearing more and more regularly in advertising and in media.