Divided by a Common Language 2

A little more of British vs. American English

How to Learn English

2 easy steps from English is Fun

I. Vocabulary:

You can learn 300 new words in a month, spending just 15 minutes per day:

 1. Open www.lingualeobr.com (you can register or login with facebook).
2. Find favorite movies, songs, books or jokes - whatever you like.
3. Click on 10 new words (you'll see the translation), which you can add to your online dictionary.
4. Choose games to memorize these words, and learn English playing.

II. Speaking:

 

 

Useful Phrasal Verbs

Bear with Me...

More Phrasals

Favourite English Quotes

They say there is a good way to remember difficult vocabulary: simply find a funny quotation that contains your troublesome word. My list of quotes might be useful for you:

• You can do anything, but not everything. — David Allen 
• When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat. -- George Carlin
• Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
• You must be the change you wish to see in the world. —Gandhi
• The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking. — A. A. Milne 

The Most Popular Phrasal Verb is...

GET. Of course it's GET. And here goes the list of GET'S you need to know:

 

GET ABOUT

(intransitive) to go from place to place Mary gets about quite well without a car.

GET ACROSS

(separable) to communicate clearly or convincingly No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the message across to her that I cared.

GET ACROSS

(intransitive) to be convincing or clear Max has trouble getting across to members of the opposite sex.

GET AHEAD

(intransitive) to make progress in becoming successful Max compliments his boss constantly in order to get ahead.

Naive? Dramatic? Elegant?..

Test Your Vocab

If you really want to know how good your English vocabulary is in figures, you can try Test Your Vocabulary created by Oxford professors.
According to their data the average native English speaker possesses the vocabulary of 20.000-30.000 lexical units, whereas adults who speak English as their non-native language can boast 2.000 - 9.000 rich vocabulary.
Get comfortable and find out where your place among them is: Test Your Vocab.

... Divided by a Common Language

American English tends to subdue its "older brother". It's penetrated movies, songs, literature and weaves the web all over the world. It might be the case that one day the British won't be able to understand the Americans! Let's see what's going on there at the moment:

Which language do you speak?

Wicked

The adjective "wicked" stands out among other options:

- gloomy;
- depressed;
- miserable;
- forlorn.

First of all, it is not a synonym for the word "sad".
Second, it is a tricky adjective since in American and British English it has got different meanings. 
This is what you will learn from my favourite dictionary:

1 behaving in a way that is morally wrong [= evil]:

- the wicked stepmother in 'Hansel and Gretel'

2 informal behaving badly in a way that is amusing:

- Carl had a wicked grin on his face as he crept up behind Ellen.

- Tara hasn't lost her wicked sense of humour.

3 spoken informal very good:

- That's a wicked bike!

 

Wicked word, is it not?

Playing Games

If you are both: into word games and English, you will love this source. There is no better way to study than playing and not taking anything seriously :)

This particular web-site claims that "Games are a great way to learn all sorts of things about English. These games are for English language learners, or native speakers who are addicted to word games".
In addition, you will find a great thesaurus there.
Enjoy!

And the Right Answer Is...

Sophisticated.
Following the results of the most recent poll, I assure you that "Sophisticated" is NOT a synonym for the word "Nice".
Check it out here: Longman dictionary online

Link Your Ideas

There's no "What about me..." here :)

Hangover

At the end of the 19th century, the word "hangover" meant "hangover thing that has survived until today. "Drank so much that even today remains" appeared somewhat later.

The morning after a large-scale feast is called the morning after (spoken version). Sleep off/away is sleep it off, sleep, get over it. A cure for hangover informally referred to as the fur of the dog. Once it was believed that the only remedy for the bite of a mad dog, to take their drinks with a tuft of thair fur. Fire with fire, so to speak.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

More about Vocabulary

It is well-known that "Funny" words are usually easier to remember than the "normal" lexical units. English-Language Skills resource offers you the list of funny words you can train your brain with. Some of them are actually quite useful :)

Try these ones, for instance:

Life VS Living

Another example of the importance of vocabulary for successful communication

And what do you make, life or living?

Peek-A-Boo, I See an Umbrella

I have recently asked myself if something like a list of most beautiful English words exists

My personal one would start with the word “umbrella” and would also include “library” and “lullaby”. A friend of mine would add “passive voice” and “the Pacific ocean”.

Apparently, an official list of best English words does exist! By the way, my “umbrella” is included.

Google told me that mother, passion, smile, love and eternity are the words appreciated by almost 100,000 non-native who speakers participated in the vote held by the British Council. Apart from the five lexical units mentioned, there are 65 more words that English learners love:

Vocabulary Booster

Have you ever tried to count how many new words you tend to remember during, let’s say, ten days? Unless you are horribly meticulous, you probably don’t count the number of newly-acquired and yet awkwardly-used lexical units.

Frankly speaking, you don’t need this. First of all, it’s pointless. Even if you have learnt all the words they have in Muller’s dictionary, it doesn’t mean that they have become your active vocabulary. Second of all, you don’t need to do this with Muller’s dictionary…do it with your own! Create it using this resource, for example. It allows you to make your own dictionaries and study the words YOU like and YOU need. The tests provided will give you control over what you have remembered well and what requires more drilling.

Memorizing and Activating

Nothing is easy. Memorizing the words is no exception. It does require some work. Even if you are lucky enough to have fantastic memory, you might remember the meaning of the word but you might never “activate” it. Memorizing should not be just about the meaning, it’s more about remembering and understanding of how to use the word. So, the first step on the way to enhance the vocabulary is to understand the meaning, the second is to remember the context in which the word can be used and the third is to apply the newly acquired word to life!

Memorizing
I. Flip cards
Write the word on one side and the meaning/translation/collocation with this word on the other. Use the cards each day for several days to firmly learn the words. Don’t overload yourself with too long a word list!

II. Pictures
Draw small pictures that show the meaning of the word if you can. Make a funny picture – it will help the brains to memorize the word easier. We tend to retain more “unusual” pieces of information than the “usual” ones.

III. Opposites
Learn words with opposite meanings (antonyms) and words with similar meanings (synonyms) together. For instance, learn thick/thin (antonyms) and thick/fat (synonyms) at the same time. It will be easier to remember similar and opposite things because they “stick together” in our minds.

IV. Running list
Note down all the new words while you read, do a listening exercise, watch a video etc. Later on define all the words and write down the definition in front of each of them. When the list is ready, you can use it as a kind of flash card. Fold it and check if you remember the definitions. Fold it the other way and see if you remember the words.