Friday, 4 June 2010
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Like a bull in a china shop...
In English there are lots of peculiar animal idioms. For example:
- in the doghouse - (means in trouble)
- eg. "You broke mother's favourite vase? You're really in the doghouse now."
- as mad as a March hare (means completely insane)
- eg."That man was as mad as a March hare"
This site http://doghause.com/idioms.asp has a nice collection.
Listening Practice with Elllo
I found a great site to help practice listening comprehension! (聞き取り)
It's called Elllo and contains hundreds of listening exercises, games and free mp3 files.
Check it out!
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Some phrases with "hang"
To hang up:
1. To suspend on a hook or hanger.
Please hang up your coat in the wardrobe.
2. To end a telephone conversation abruptly.
She hung up on me!
3. To delay.
The project was hung up by budget problems.
4. To continue to have sad thoughts about something or someone.
He's still hung up on his ex-girlfriend.
To hang on:
To wait for a short period of time.
Hang on a minute, I've nearly finished!
To hang onto:
To keep in your possession.
Hang onto this map because it could be useful.
To hang in there:
To persevere.
"Hang in there John, you're nearly at the finish line!"
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Monday, 8 February 2010
The Slanket!
"The Slanket is a gigantic fleece blanket with sleeves. A very soft-to-the-touch, lightweight, but warm fleece blanket with large, loose sleeves designed for maximum comfort and convenience. The Slanket is designed to keep your entire body covered and cozy while you still retain the use of your hands. Simplistic and practical, its innovativeness opens up many possibilities."
This is a nice example of descriptive writing. The second sentence shows how we can use lots of adjectives to give a richer description of an object.
"A very soft-to-the-touch, lightweight, but warm fleece blanket with large, loose sleeves."
Pay attention to the commas! Commas should be used after all adjectives except for the last one.
She's a kind woman.
She's a kind, intelligent woman.
She's a kind, intelligent, beautiful woman.
What about...?
She's a kind, intelligent and beautiful woman.
This is ok too. Adjective combinations don't require the "and" before the last adjective when they come before the noun they are describing, but you can put it in anyway and it still sounds natural.
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