Improve your advanced listening skills

Think! What gadgets have you got (iPad, digital camera, iPhone...)? What’s your favourite? Why? Which gadgets would you like to have? Why?

N.B. The most important thing to remember when listening to a conversation is that you won’t understand every word. The important thing is to listen for the key words (the most importantwords in the conversation: the nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.). Then, you can use your intuition to fill in the gaps – just as you do in your own language. Knowing the context and topic of the conversation will help with this.
Note! Don’t read the audio script until you’ve completed the exercises. Also, please note that when people chat informally, they often use nonstandard English and they rarely speak in full sentences.

Listening I: You’re going to listen to a conversation about gadgets.
Which two gadgets do they mostly talk about?
http://www.hotenglishmagazine.com/PDFsforarticles/gadgets.mp3

Using Seem

It seems as if a lot of students have trouble using the word seem, so today I’d like to show you how we can use this verb in everyday English. There are several grammar patterns using seem, so let’s have a look at them. You can use use seem + adjective. The nuance is “I think~”

• You seem tired today.

Using Feel

He feels soft

Today, I want to help you with the verb that can be tricky to use: feel.  I’d like to show you how we can use this verb in everyday English. There are several grammar patterns using feel, so let’s have a look at them. First, we use feel + adjective to describe mental or physical states:

• I feel hot. Can you please turn on the air conditioner?

Silent Letters in English from A to Z

Silent Letters in English from A to Z

Translators, have a try...

NOT THE PIZZA GIRL  by Michelle Ann King 

Lisa floored the van’s accelerator, thrashing the speed limit, weaving in and out of traffic on the A12 and even slipstreaming an ambulance from Gallows Corner to Gidea Park. It earned her more than a few angry horn blasts, a lot of obscenities yelled out of car windows and undoubtedly a shedload of bad karma, but it also shaved a good ten minutes off the journey. And when you guaranteed delivery in half an hour, no exceptions, that counted for a lot.

Color related idioms

Color-related idioms and expressions are very common in English. Meanings of colors change across cultures. We will discuss some of these expressions here.In the black

10 Metaphors about Money

Money is Liquid 

As in all languages, the English language has plenty of metaphors associated to many things, especially in Business. The most common image associated with money is liquid, hence the saying ‘money is liquid’. Think cash flow. Indeed, liquidity is the ability to convert assets into cash. From there we have the adjectives ‘liquid‘ and its opposite ‘illiquid‘ assets.

1. We need to pool all our financial resources if we want the project to succeed.