Hope you enjoy this video as I did!
{January 21, 2012}
Stephen Fry on the Joys of Swearing
{January 21, 2012}
Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie: The Subject of Language
{December 5, 2011}
Fun Time
Did you ever hear about “The Offensive Translator”? If not, this is your chance to have fun together with Catherine Tate:
{December 5, 2011}
Working with Songs
Why don’t you have a look at this beautiful video to work with older students?
Declan Gabraith – Tell me Why
{December 5, 2011}
Interactive Whiteboard Activities
It’s been some months since I’ve first tried the device, and I must admit I love it! Here are two excellent sites with tons of activities for you to work with on an interactive whiteboard:
Sometime ago I shared this list of easily confused words and phrases in the forum, but I forgot to share it with you. All the credit goes to dailywritingtips.com
Here’s a quick guide to alleviate (or is it ameliorate?) your suffering:
1. a while / awhile: “A while” is a noun phrase; awhile is an adverb.
2. all together / altogether: All together now — “We will refrain from using that two-word phrase to end sentences like this one altogether.”
3. amend / emend: To amend is to change; to emend is to correct.
4. amount / number: Amount refers to a mass (“The amount saved is considerable”); number refers to a quantity (“The number of dollars saved is considerable”).
5. between / among: The distinction is not whether you refer to two people or things or to three or more; it’s whether you refer to one thing and another or to a collective or undefined number — “Walk among the trees,” but “Walk between two trees.”
6. biannual / biennial: Biannual means twice a year; biennial means once every two years.
7. bring / take: If it’s coming toward you, it’s being brought. If it’s headed away from you, it’s being taken.
8. compare to / compare with: “Comparing to” implies similarity alone; “compare with” implies contrast as well.
9. compliment / complement: To compliment is to praise; to complement is to complete.
10. comprise, consist of / compose, constitute: Comprise means “include,” so test by replacement — “is included of” is nonsense, and so is “is comprised of.” The whole comprises the parts or consists of the parts, but the parts compose or constitute the whole.
11. connote / denote: To connote is to convey (“Air quotes connote skepticism or irony”); to denote is to specify (“A stop sign denotes the requirement to halt”).
12. continual / continuous: Continual events are frequently repeated, or intermittent. Continuous events are uninterrupted, or constant.
13. credible / credulous: To be credible is to be authoritative; to be credulous is to be gullible.
14. deserts / desserts: If you eat only cake, pie, ice cream, and the like, you eat just desserts. If you have it coming to you, you get your just deserts as well. (However, the connotation is negative, so hit the gym.)
15. different from / different than: The former phrase is preferred in formal writing; but “differently than” is always correct usage.
16. discreet / discrete: Discreet means “subtle”; discrete means “separate.” (“He discreetly reminded them of their discrete meanings.”)
17. each other / one another: “One another” is preferred in formal writing when more than two of something are being discussed.
18. economic / economical: Economic refers to the science of economics; economical suggests frugality.
19. elemental/elementary: What’s elemental is essential or integral to nature; what’s elementary is basic.
20. ensure / insure / assure: To ensure is to guarantee, to insure is to indemnify, and to assure is to comfort or convince.
21. epidemic / endemic / pandemic: An epidemic is the outbreak of disease in a limited place and time; an endemic disease is a recurring one peculiar to a place or population; a pandemic is pervasive over a wide geographical area.
22. forgo / forego: To forgo is to go without; to forego is to go before (and is generally used only in the forms foregoing and foregone, which are themselves rare).
23. gibe / jibe / jive: To gibe (soft g, as in gym) is to taunt or insult (though jibe is an alternate spelling), to jibe with is to coincide or fit, to jive is to deceive.
24. historic / historical: Something historic is remarkable for its impact on history; something historical is simply an event in history.
25. home in / hone in: To home in is to close in; to hone in is to confuse one word for another. (“Hone in” has no meaning.)
26. jealousy / envy: Jealousy is resentment; envy is covetousness.
27. lay / lie: Lay is transitive, associated with a direct object — “Lay that pencil down.” “Yesterday, I laid that pencil down.” “That pencil has been laid down.” Lie is intransitive, not so associated — “Lie down.” “Last night, I lay down.” “It was my plan to have lain down already.
28. leach / leech: To leach is to dissolve by percolation; to leech is to remove blood with a leech or to exhaust; as a noun, it means a parasitic worm or the human figurative equivalent, or the edge of a sail (also spelled leach).
29. libel / slander: Libel is written defamation; slander is the spoken equivalent.
30. may / might: May refers to factual or possible; might is appropriate for the hypothetical or counterfactual.
31. nauseous / nauseated: To be nauseous is to cause sickness. To be nauseated is to feel sick.
32. notable / noticeable / noteworthy: Something notable is worthy of note. Something noticeable is capable of being noticed. Noteworthy is a synonym of notable, though the former implies the unusual and the latter the commendable.
33. partly / partially: Partly means “in part”; partially means “incomplete” or, rarely, is an antonym for unfairly.
34. peak / pique: To peak is to reach the pinnacle; to pique is to arouse interest or to bother.
35. people / persons: People has assumed primacy; persons is reserved mostly as a synonym for bodies (“those belongings carried on their persons”).
36. persuade / convince: To persuade someone is to motivate them to do something; to convince someone is to lead them to understand or believe.
37. predominantly / predominately: Both forms are correct, but predominantly predominates.
38. purposely / purposefully: What’s done purposely is done on purpose; what’s done purposefully is done with a purpose.
39. regrettably / regretfully: Regrettably is a synonym for unfortunately; regretfully means just that — full of regret.
40. repetitive / repetitious: Both terms have acquired a negative connotation, but the former retains a more neutral meaning.
41. sensual / sensuous: Sensual has an erotic connotation; sensuous refers more neutrally to what is pleasurable to the senses.
42. since / because: Informally, these terms are interchangeable, but in formal writing, since should be used only to refer to time.
43. stationary / stationery: To be stationary is to stand still; stationery refers to letter-writing materials.
44. that / which: That is used restrictively (“The pencil that is sharp” — among more than one pencil, the one with that characteristic); which is employed nonrestrictively (“The pencil, which is sharp” — one pencil alone, possessing that characteristic). The distinction is rarely observed other than in American English.
45. tortuous / torturous: A tortuous experience is a winding one; a torturous one is painful.
46. transcript / transcription: A transcript is a thing; a transcription is the process of creating it.
47. verbal / oral: Verbal refers to both written and spoken communication, but oral is useful for distinguishing the latter from the former.
48. while / although / whereas: Informally, while is a synonym for the other two terms, but in formal writing it should be reserved for temporal connotations.
49. wreak / wreck: These terms do not share etymological origin; you wreck a party, but you do so by wreaking havoc.
50. whether / if: Both words are correct in expressing a choice, but the former is more appropriate in formal writing (“I can’t decide whether to go”), whereas the latter is better reserved for reference to possibility or probability (“I’ll go if you do”).
{November 19, 2011}
Development of the English Language
Hope you like this video! I’ll be back for good in some weeks (truly, I promise!)
Development of the English Language
{October 27, 2011}
I know you miss me…
Five more tests, then finals, and I’ll be back!
{July 28, 2011}
“The Letter”
Today I came across this EXCELLENT monologue by @stephenfry and I couldn’t help sharing it.
Hope you enjoy it too!
Script:
The day the letter arrived, I was due in court on the intricate case of Melchett vs The Vatican, which was coming to a delicate and potentially explosive stage. The letter then came as a welcome diversion, and I tipped the delivery boy out of the window with more than ordinary generosity. Even then, I fancy I gave a momentary shudder as I unfolded the letter, but it was a cold morning, and in accordance with Mr. Talcinghorn’s instructions w/ regard to Melchett vs The Vatican – I was naked.
The letter read as follows:
‘If Mr. John Lawson Particle will travel immediately to Transylvania, as the honored guest of Count Dracula to personally advise his Excellency on a matter of great legal delicacy, Mr. Lawson Particle will be handsomely remunerated. He is to bring on his journey no garlic, no crucifixes, no wooden stakes. Neither is he to look up in a dictionary, the word “vampire.”’
It seemed innocent enough. Excited at the prospect at escaping a dreary London August, I rushed into Mr. Talcinghorn’s office. He read the letter through and eyed me carefully – then he looked at my face.
‘You don’t find anything strange in this letter, Mr. Lawson Particle?’
‘Ah, you noticed it too, sir. The split infinitive in the first sentence, yes.’
‘Uh, no, I was thinking… nevermind. You plan to go on this sui- on this fascinating journey?’
‘With your permission, sir, I will go straight home, dress, and take the first train to Southampton.’
Four days later, saw me standing at the gates of Castle Dracula, weary and travel-stained. Prudence had demanded that I leave her behind, so I was alone. Night was just falling as I knocked on the mighty oaken door and heard the answering echoes ring through the castle. After what seemed a cliché, iron bolts were drawn back, the portal swung open, and Count Dracula’s manservant stood before me. Of all the hideously disfigured spectacles I have ever beheld, those perched on the end of this man’s nose remain forever pasted into the album of my memory. Bowing low, this loathsome wretch introduced himself.
‘Travolta, sir, at your servile. If you will follow me, I shall tell the master you have arrived.’
Walking with a pronounced limp, L-I-M-P pronounced ‘limp,’ he showed me into a waiting room – Sorry, into a ‘waiting-room,’ and vanished. Presently, he returned with his master.
‘Ah, Mr. Lawson Particle,’ cried the Count, ‘welcome to Castle Dracula. Dinner is in half an hour if you would care to change. We can leave business until tomorrow. Travolta will show you to your room. Tell me, what blood type are you?’
‘Eh.’
‘I said “what blood type are you?”’
‘Oh,’ I said, ‘B.’
I tried to question Travolta as I dressed for dinner. I asked him the nature of the count’s business, but he made the sign of the cross and said nothing. I asked him why there were no mirrors in the castle, but this time he made the sign of the very cross indeed and spat openly. This was puzzling. I couldn’t see myself spending a month in a house without mirrors. The man was either mad, or both.
‘Cape on for dinner, sir,’ said Travolta as we descended the vast stairway.
‘Capon! Yummy!’ I replied.
‘No, sir, the count always insists that his guests put a cape on for dinner.’
And what a dismal repast it was. I passed a fitful night in my vast bedroom. Below me I could hear the count’s footsteps echoing in the hallway. I arose early, made my toilet, sat on it, then came down for breakfast.
Travolta informed me that his master had gone to bed at dawn, and would expect me in his study later that evening. It was a dreary morning. The greatest excitement I had to look forward to that day was the prospect of a total eclipse of the sun, which was expected during the afternoon. When the time came, I watched through a fragment of smoked glass, as the moon slid slowly across the surface of the sun, and darkness shrouded the Earth. I started at the sound behind me. By the dim light of a candle I had prudently placed on the table, I could see that it was Count Dracula – my client.
He seemed a little excited. A tendril of spaghetti appeared to be protruding from either side of his mouth.
‘Why, good afternoon, count,’ I cried, ‘I wasn’t expecting you until this evening! Have you come to enjoy the spectacle?’
‘Spectacle?’
‘The solar eclipse!’
He looked out of the window.
‘Solar eclipse?’
‘Yes, it’s the first total eclipse I’ve ever seen! Exciting, isn’t it?’
‘Oh…. Shit….’
‘Um… is there something wrong, Count?’
‘How much longer is it going to last?’ he cried, and I could see fear in his blood-red eyes.
‘Well, it’s just ending now!’ I replied, ‘look at that! Splendid isn’t it?’
I turned in time to watch the moon moving slowly away from the sun, and light once more flooding the scene.
‘Have you ever seen anything so… Oh. Count?’
But he had disappeared, leaving his cape behind him. In his hurry, he must have upset the ashtray on the floor beside him. I never saw him again.
