More idioms…..

Idiom: “if the shoe fits, wear it”shoes3

Meaning: If the description is correct, accept it.

Example:

Veronica: My friends keep saying that I’m always late. I don’t understand why they have to complain so much…

Elena: Well, you’re late all the time. I know you don’t like it when people complain about you being late, but if the shoe fits, wear it.

 

Idiom: “to monkey around”136056095ccb2f51c9179a487de24345

Meaning: To play around; to do something without a real purpose.

Example:

Veronica: Ughh…..I have such a bad headache.

Elena: Why? What’s wrong?

Veronica: I wish my students would be more serious and study. They want to just monkey around.

 

Idiom: “on pins and needles”pincushion

Meaning: Anxious or excited about something.

Example:

Veronica: What’s wrong with Dana today?

Elena: Oh…she’s on pins and needles. She’s been waiting for a call from her boyfriend all morning.

Learn how to order your eggs the next time you go out for breakfast….:)

How do you want your eggs?

 

how-to-hard-boil-eggs-recipe-44081                   Hard boiled

how-to-make-soft-boiled-eggs-6-b                   Soft boiled

creamyscrambledeggs2                   Scrambled

98932e1390453097o5009                    Omelet

sunny-side-up-eggs                    Sunny side up

images-2                    Over easy

49c41c07-ffbe-4b0f-8098-0a156d2b270c                     Over hard

download-2                      Poached

 

 

 

Time clauses with WHEN and WHILE

stick-figure-question-mark-clip-art-EQpF9B-clipart

  •  Action interrupted by another action

*** Note:

=> long action: use while + Past Continuous 

=> short action: use when + Past Simple

They were watching a movie when the phone rang.

While he was driving, the car broke down.

When the car hit him, he was walking.

 

  • Actions in progress at the same time

While Lidia was cleaning the house, Dan was cooking dinner.

Maria was reading while George was sleeping.

 

 *** NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE IN MEANING: 

1) When he came home, she cooked dinner. (he came home,  and she started cooking dinner after that)

 2) When he cam home, she was cooking dinner. (she started cooking dinner before he came home)

The Chaos of English pronunciation…… Can you read this poem?

untitled-4It contains about 800 of the worst irregularities in English spelling and pronunciation.

Gerard Nolst Trenité – The Chaos (1922)

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
   I will teach you in my verse
   Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.

I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy;
   Tear in eye, your dress you’ll tear;
   Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.

Pray, console your loving poet,
Make my coat look new, dear, sew it!
   Just compare heart, hear and heard,
   Dies and diet, lord and word.

Sword and sward, retain and Britain
(Mind the latter how it’s written).
   Made has not the sound of bade,
   Saysaid, paypaid, laid but plaid.

Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as vague and ague,
   But be careful how you speak,
   Say: gush, bush, steak, streak, break, bleak ,

Previous, precious, fuchsia, via
Recipe, pipe, studding-sail, choir;
   Woven, oven, how and low,
   Script, receipt, shoe, poem, toe.

Say, expecting fraud and trickery:
Daughter, laughter and Terpsichore,
   Branch, ranch, measles, topsails, aisles,
   Missiles, similes, reviles.

Wholly, holly, signal, signing,
Same, examining, but mining,
   Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
   Solar, mica, war and far.

From “desire”: desirableadmirable from “admire”,
Lumber, plumber, bier, but brier,
   Topsham, brougham, renown, but known,
   Knowledge, done, lone, gone, none, tone,

One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel.
   Gertrude, German, wind and wind,
   Beau, kind, kindred, queue, mankind,

Tortoise, turquoise, chamois-leather,
Reading, Reading, heathen, heather.
   This phonetic labyrinth
   Gives moss, gross, brook, brooch, ninth, plinth.

Have you ever yet endeavoured
To pronounce revered and severed,
   Demon, lemon, ghoul, foul, soul,
   Peter, petrol and patrol?

Billet does not end like ballet;
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
   Blood and flood are not like food,
   Nor is mould like should and would.

Banquet is not nearly parquet,
Which exactly rhymes with khaki.
   Discount, viscount, load and broad,
   Toward, to forward, to reward,

Ricocheted and crocheting, croquet?
Right! Your pronunciation’s OK.
   Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
   Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Is your r correct in higher?
Keats asserts it rhymes Thalia.
   Hugh, but hug, and hood, but hoot,
   Buoyant, minute, but minute.

Say abscission with precision,
Now: position and transition;
   Would it tally with my rhyme
   If I mentioned paradigm?

Twopence, threepence, tease are easy,
But cease, crease, grease and greasy?
   Cornice, nice, valise, revise,
   Rabies, but lullabies.

Of such puzzling words as nauseous,
Rhyming well with cautious, tortious,
   You’ll envelop lists, I hope,
   In a linen envelope.

Would you like some more? You’ll have it!
Affidavit, David, davit.
   To abjure, to perjure. Sheik
   Does not sound like Czech but ache.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, loch, moustache, eleven.
   We say hallowed, but allowed,
   People, leopard, towed but vowed.

Mark the difference, moreover,
Between mover, plover, Dover.
   Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
   Chalice, but police and lice,

Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
   Petal, penal, and canal,
   Wait, surmise, plait, promise, pal,

Suit, suite, ruin. Circuit, conduit
Rhyme with “shirk it” and “beyond it”,
   But it is not hard to tell
   Why it’s pall, mall, but Pall Mall.

Muscle, muscular, gaol, iron,
Timber, climber, bullion, lion,
   Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
   Senator, spectator, mayor,

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
Has the a of drachm and hammer.
   Pussy, hussy and possess,
   Desert, but desert, address.

Golf, wolf, countenance, lieutenants
Hoist in lieu of flags left pennants.
   Courier, courtier, tomb, bomb, comb,
   Cow, but Cowper, some and home.

Solder, soldier! Blood is thicker“,
Quoth he, “than liqueur or liquor“,
   Making, it is sad but true,
   In bravado, much ado.

Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
   Pilot, pivot, gaunt, but aunt,
   Font, front, wont, want, grand and grant.

Arsenic, specific, scenic,
Relic, rhetoric, hygienic.
   Gooseberry, goose, and close, but close,
   Paradise, rise, rose, and dose.

Say inveigh, neigh, but inveigle,
Make the latter rhyme with eagle.
   Mind! Meandering but mean,
   Valentine and magazine.

And I bet you, dear, a penny,
You say mani-(fold) like many,
   Which is wrong. Say rapier, pier,
   Tier (one who ties), but tier.

Arch, archangel; pray, does erring
Rhyme with herring or with stirring?
   Prison, bison, treasure trove,
   Treason, hover, cover, cove,

Perseverance, severance. Ribald
Rhymes (but piebald doesn’t) with nibbled.
   Phaeton, paean, gnat, ghat, gnaw,
   Lien, psychic, shone, bone, pshaw.

Don’t be down, my own, but rough it,
And distinguish buffet, buffet;
   Brood, stood, roof, rook, school, wool, boon,
   Worcester, Boleyn, to impugn.

Say in sounds correct and sterling
Hearse, hear, hearken, year and yearling.
   Evil, devil, mezzotint,
   Mind the z! (A gentle hint.)

Now you need not pay attention
To such sounds as I don’t mention,
   Sounds like pores, pause, pours and paws,
   Rhyming with the pronoun yours;

Nor are proper names included,
Though I often heard, as you did,
   Funny rhymes to unicorn,
   Yes, you know them, Vaughan and Strachan.

No, my maiden, coy and comely,
I don’t want to speak of Cholmondeley.
   No. Yet Froude compared with proud
   Is no better than McLeod.

But mind trivial and vial,
Tripod, menial, denial,
   Troll and trolley, realm and ream,
   Schedule, mischief, schism, and scheme.

Argil, gill, Argyll, gill. Surely
May be made to rhyme with Raleigh,
   But you’re not supposed to say
   Piquet rhymes with sobriquet.

Had this invalid invalid
Worthless documents? How pallid,
   How uncouth he, couchant, looked,
   When for Portsmouth I had booked!

Zeus, Thebes, Thales, Aphrodite,
Paramour, enamoured, flighty,
   Episodes, antipodes,
   Acquiesce, and obsequies.

Please don’t monkey with the geyser,
Don’t peel ‘taters with my razor,
   Rather say in accents pure:
   Nature, stature and mature.

Pious, impious, limb, climb, glumly,
Worsted, worsted, crumbly, dumbly,
   Conquer, conquest, vase, phase, fan,
   Wan, sedan and artisan.

The th will surely trouble you
More than r, ch or w.
   Say then these phonetic gems:
   Thomas, thyme, Theresa, Thames.

Thompson, Chatham, Waltham, Streatham,
There are more but I forget ’em
   Wait! I’ve got it: Anthony,
   Lighten your anxiety.

The archaic word albeit
Does not rhyme with eight-you see it;
   With and forthwith, one has voice,
   One has not, you make your choice.

Shoes, goes, does *. Now first say: finger;
Then say: singer, ginger, linger.
   Real, zeal, mauve, gauze and gauge,
   Marriage, foliage, mirage, age,

Hero, heron, query, very,
Parry, tarry fury, bury,
   Dost, lost, post, and doth, cloth, loth,
   Job, Job, blossom, bosom, oath.

Faugh, oppugnant, keen oppugners,
Bowing, bowing, banjo-tuners
   Holm you know, but noes, canoes,
   Puisne, truism, use, to use?

Though the difference seems little,
We say actual, but victual,
   Seat, sweat, chaste, caste, Leigh, eight, height,
   Put, nut, granite, and unite.

Reefer does not rhyme with deafer,
Feoffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
   Dull, bull, Geoffrey, George, ate, late,
   Hint, pint, senate, but sedate.

Gaelic, Arabic, pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific;
   Tour, but our, dour, succour, four,
   Gas, alas, and Arkansas.

Say manoeuvre, yacht and vomit,
Next omit, which differs from it
   Bona fide, alibi
   Gyrate, dowry and awry.

Sea, idea, guinea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
   Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean,
   Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion with battalion,
   Rally with ally; yea, ye,
   Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, key, quay!

Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, receiver.
   Never guess-it is not safe,
   We say calves, valves, half, but Ralf.

Starry, granary, canary,
Crevice, but device, and eyrie,
   Face, but preface, then grimace,
   Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.

Bass, large, target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, oust, joust, and scour, but scourging;
   Ear, but earn; and ere and tear
   Do not rhyme with here but heir.

Mind the o of off and often
Which may be pronounced as orphan,
   With the sound of saw and sauce;
   Also soft, lost, cloth and cross.

Pudding, puddle, putting. Putting?
Yes: at golf it rhymes with shutting.
   Respite, spite, consent, resent.
   Liable, but Parliament.

Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen,
   Monkey, donkey, clerk and jerk,
   Asp, grasp, wasp, demesne, cork, work.

A of valour, vapid vapour,
S of news (compare newspaper),
   G of gibbet, gibbon, gist,
   I of antichrist and grist,

Differ like diverse and divers,
Rivers, strivers, shivers, fivers.
   Once, but nonce, toll, doll, but roll,
   Polish, Polish, poll and poll.

Pronunciation-think of Psyche!-
Is a paling, stout and spiky.
   Won’t it make you lose your wits
   Writing groats and saying “grits”?

It’s a dark abyss or tunnel
Strewn with stones like rowlock, gunwale,
   Islington, and Isle of Wight,
   Housewife, verdict and indict.

Don’t you think so, reader, rather,
Saying lather, bather, father?
   Finally, which rhymes with enough,
   Though, through, bough, cough, hough, sough, tough??

Hiccough has the sound of sup
My advice is: GIVE IT UP!

Indefinite pronouns

images (5)

Indefinite pronouns refer to people or things that are not specific, not known or not the focus of the sentence.

 

 

  • “-one”: someone, anyone, everyone, no one
  • “-body”: somebody, anybody, everybody, nobody
  • “-thing”: something, anything, everything, nothing

 

Uses:

  • “-one” and “-body” – to refer to a person or a group of people

Everyone knows drinking water is good for your health.

Somebody left the door open and the cat disappeared.

  • “-thing” – to refer to things (not people)

I found out something about your brother.

Everything I bought is for my sister.

  • “some-“, “every-“, “no-” – in affirmative statements

Someone ate all the chips.

Everyone loves cake.

No one drinks juice in my class.

  • “any-” – in negative statements

She doesn’t go out with anybody.

I don’t see anything wrong with your laptop.

I don’t think anyone should drink wine.

Tongue Twisters

shouting-lol-390x220

Real lemon, real lime, which would you pick every time?

Ribbons rolled, ribbons loose, hair untied, what’s your excuse?

Tip and tap, rip and rap, lip and lap. Tip, rip, lip, tap, rap, lap.

Feeling ill or feeling well, Phil will hardly ever tell.

She sells slippers, sleepers, and tiny little creepers.

Bears and beer, bears and bourbon, and bears and barley don’t mix.

Farther than further father feared.

She sells sea shells on the sea shore.

Swan swam over the pond, swim swan swim; swan swam back again – well swum swan!

A big bad bear went to the fair, he drank one beer and paid the fare.

Lovely idioms :)

Idiom: “as quiet as a mouse”10

Meaning: Extremely quiet, a person that doesn’t talk too much

Example:

Veronica: Do you know Maria? She is my new student. I can’t make her say anything in class.

Elena: I know her. I had her in my conversation class last month. She is as quiet as a mouse

 

Idiom: “it’s raining cats and dogs”UTH4450

Meaning: It is raining very hard

Example:

Elena: Are you going to the bank today?

Veronica: Yes, I’m leaving in 5 minutes.

Elena: You’d better take your umbrella with you. It’s raining cats and dogs.

 

Idiom: “as sharp as a tack”sharp_as_a_tack_1_thumb

Meaning: An extremely smart person

Example:

Veronica: Have you met the new grammar teacher?

Elena: Yes, I’m so excited to work with him. He is as sharp as a tack.

Veronica: Really?!

TOO / EITHER / NEITHER

download (1)When you AGREE with the speaker: too, either, neither

  • I like cats. => Ways to answer: 1. Me, too. / 2. So do I. / 3. I do too.
  • I can speak Italian. => Ways to answer: 1. Me, too. / 2. I can, too. / So can I.
  • I don’t like apple juice. => Ways to answer: 1. Me, either. / 2. Neither do I. 
  • I can’t skate. => Ways to answer: 1. Me, either. / 2. Neither can I.

 

When you DON’T AGREE with the speaker: either

  • I love dogs. => Ways to answer: 1. I don’t. / 2. I don’t either.
  • I can play soccer. => Ways to answer: 1. I can’t. / 2. I can’t either.
  • I am short. => Ways to answer: 1. I’m not. / 2. I’m not either.

 

Idioms again :)

Idiom: “money doesn’t grow on trees”toonvectors-19182-140

Meaning: You should be careful how much you spend  because money is a limited resource

Example:

Veronica: I really want to get a new car. I love that BMW I saw yesterday. I think I’ll get it.

Elena: Veronica, I don’t think you can afford that car. You know, money doesn’t grow on trees.

 

Idiom: “don’t cry over spilt milk” (“it’s no use crying over spilt milk”)toonvectors-22680-140

Meaning: Getting upset over something that has already happened and that it can’t be changed

Example:

Elena: Look at my new dress! I can’t believe the cat ruined it completely. What am I gonna do now? What am I supposed to wear? My day is completely ruined!

Veronica: It’s no use crying over spilt milk. Let’s go buy another dress and enjoy the party tonight.

 

Idiom: “to bury your head in the sand”paranoid_ostrich_1289795

Meaning: To refuse to think about a bad situation or experience / To ignore you’re in a dangerous situation

Example:

Veronica: I told my sister that her husband is cheating on her two months ago. However, she refused to listen to me and now it’s too late. He wants a divorce.

Elena: She should have listened to you and done something about it instead of just burying her head in the sand.

 

 

Modals of regret

Do you have any regrets?no-regrets

Use these modals to talk about your regrets:

  • SHOULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE

I should have listened to my parents more when I was a teenager.  (I didn’t listen to my parents. Now I’m a poor artist who can’t pay the bills.)

  • COULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE

I could have chosen a different career. (I didn’t like my parents’ suggestions and chose to go to art school.)

  • WOULD + HAVE + PAST PARTICIPLE

I wish I had listened to my parents. I would have been a rich doctor now. (Unfortunately, I’m just a poor artist and nobody knows my name.)