Active vs Passive Voice

"Am I writing the essay or is the essay being written by me?"

Can you identify the difference between these two sentences?

“The Queen welcomed the ambassador at Buckingham Palace.”

“The ambassador was welcomed by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.”

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Animal Idioms

Improve Speaking English with Animal Idioms

Idioms are fun a way for learners to improve speaking English, so I wanted to share these images showing how animals are used to describe common situations or people.

Which one do you like best?

Monkey business - mischievous or deceitful behavior. 

Rat race – an exhausting and repetitive routine. 

Cat burglar –  a thief who climbs into buildings. 

Top dog – the most important person in a group. 

Cash cow – a dependable source of income. 

Eager beaver – an enthusiastic hard worker. 

Road hog – a dangerous driver. 

Black sheep – an undesirable member in the group.

Idioms About Money

English Idioms About Money — With Images

Read the following story. If you don’t understand, that’s fine, because after you look at the images below, you will! - "Running my own business is hard. Balancing the books 

Despite, In Spite Of, Although & Even Though.

 Despite and In Spite Of have the same meaning and are used with the same grammar. Despite + Noun not despite of

• Despite the rain, we went to the beach.
• Despite the time, we continued talking.

Colds

“There's some kind of bug going around.”

It's winter. A lot of people that you work with are getting sick with colds and flus. You're worried that you're going to get sick too. You're talking to your wife about it.

There's some kind of bug going around.

some kind of (something)  - The phrase "some kind of ___" can be used when you don't know exactly what you're talking about or you don't want to specify:

What's this? Some kind of stew? 

I hear some kind of siren in the background.

There's (a contagious sickness) going around. 

When a lot of people are sick with a cold, a flu, etc., you can say that it "is going around". For example:

Be careful. There's a flu going around.

 I've noticed a few people sniffling. I hope that there's not something going around.                     a bug  - You can call a slight illness like a cold, a flu, or a stomach virus a "bug".

A: Are you OK?

B: I think I got some kind of stomach bug.

The more common meaning of "bug" is insect, but when you use it this way, "bug" means a virus or bacterial infection.

Red Tape

This is an awesome phrase in spoken English. If there is a lot of  “red tape” it means there is a lot of annoying rules or “paperwork” to do.  When governments have a lot of rules and regulations, we say there is a lot of  “red tape“. The government always wants to make things safe for people, but sometimes in the process of trying to make things safe and fair, they simply make too many rules