Deadpan

Deadpan is often used in comedy to make viewers feel uncomfortable, or to add contrast to an otherwise slapstick set. This term is an Americanism from the 1920s, when it started being used as slang for the face itself.

Why Making Your Bed Matters

The world is divided into two kinds of people: Those who make their beds, and those who just…don’t. If you’re part of the latter group, it’s time to get your act together! Why, you might ask. Well, besides the fact that your mother said so, everyone from feng shui devotees to sleep researchers has found good reasons to keep the Sheets neat. Here are some of them…

Talk About Your Friends

Now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English.Each week, this program tells about words and expressions in American English.

Who, Which, Whom, What, Whose, That

Fill in the blanks with an appropriate relative pronoun.

1. ……………… she said made me angry.

That;            What;            Which

2. She has acted in a movie …………….. name I don’t remember.

Which;            what;            whose

3. The only thing ………………. keeps me awake is tea.

That;            what;            which

How to Write an Apology and More

None of us really likes to apologize when we’ve done something wrong. 

In fact, the ways we avoid apologies are so common they’ve been given names. There’s the “nopology,” the “unpology,” and the “fauxpology,” just for starters. And the hashtag #sorrynotsorry

British icons: the postbox

Speaking Tests