Better English, Issue #1

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Better English

Issue #1

 

 

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Wins

Kirill participated in, and finished,  his first half marathon on September 15, 2019. Kirill is a full time lawyer, father, husband and more! And yet, he managed to squeeze running into his hectic schedule.  Read more about the race here. Kirill is pictured above with his family. (You can see the images on your laptop, if not on your phone!)

 

Let me know of  recent wins in your life, big or small, that you’re proud of! Write to me here, [email protected] Send pictures!

 

 

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Vocabulary Expansion

Did you know that in English we don’t eat coffee? We drink coffee. We have coffee. We imbibe coffee. We sip coffee. But we don’t eat it. Eating involves mastication, involves chewing. 

 

What about ice cream? We don’t eat ice cream, either. We don’t chew it. However, we don’t simply swallow ice cream, either, as if it were a liquid! We have ice cream. We don’t eat ice cream. We don’t imbibe ice cream. We don’t sip ice cream. We just have ice cream. That’s it!

 

When speaking of consuming any solid food, semi-solid food, soft food or liquid, the safest, and always correct, verb to use is “to have”. 

 

Recently, I had eggs cooked in butter with sliced tomatoes and hot peppers. I also had milk with two tablespoons of Nescafe Clasico stirred in. What did you have recently for one of your meals? 

 

Did you see any new vocabulary? Read the above short text on Readlang! To Eat, To Drink, or To Have That is the Question

 

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Resources

Readlang is a great tool for vocabulary expansion and review. Check out this series of short tutorials and get started! Getting Started with Readlang

 

Video Download Helper is a Firefox extension that allows me to download and save, offline, most of the videos I want to save for further study offline. You;ll know you’re in the right place because of the easily recognizable yellow, red and blue ball logo. 

 

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Recommended Reading

Outliers is a series of true stories and observations. I listened to the audiobook and you can, too. 

 

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Interview

Grant Cardone interviews Joe DeSena. Enjoy the conversation. If desired, adjust the speed to 0.75 by clicking on the settings button on the right side of the video toolbar. 

 

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Listening Comprehension Challenge

Secrets of Success in 8 Words, 3 Minutes What was this person saying and what made understanding them so challenging? What could this person have done to make it easier for his audience to understand him? How can you make your English easier for your audience to understand?

 

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Gems from Class

interested vs interesting

Both interested and interesting are adjectives.

interested says something about how the subject feels

For example: I am interested in travel.

In this sentence, “I” is the subject. This sentence talks about how “I” feel.

 

interesting says something about the power of  the subject to make other people feel a certain way.

For example: Travel is interesting.

In this sentence, “Travel” is the subject. This sentence talks about the fact that “travel” has the power of making people feel a certain way. 

 

For more practice and to subconsciously learn the rules, do some online exercises. Here is a  link. Repeat the exercise many times until you get 100% correct repeatedly.

 

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Pronunciation & Intonation

met SOUNDS LIKE set, bet debt, jet, let, net, pet

met is the simple past affirmative form of the verb “to meet”

 

meet SOUNDS LIKE meat, seat, neat, feet, feat, Crete

meet is one of the simple present affirmative forms of the verb “to meet”

the other  simple present affirmative form of the verb “to meet” is meets

 

Tip: When reading and writing, use your voice! When you use your voice, you’ll be less likely to write “met” when you mean “meet”. You’ll be less likely to  write one word, when you really mean another one. 

 

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Poll

Here is the question:

What is your BIGGEST problem with English?

 

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The Sharing Economy

Enjoying this Better English newsletter? It just takes a moment to share useful and inspiring content with a friend or a business colleague.

 

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Do you believe you need better English? We are committed to serving adults who are non-native speakers of English. Those adults--out of necessity--use English at work, and they have an intermediate or advanced level of English. Does this describe you? Do you have have access to 30 minutes per day,  technology and the determination to get better at English now? Contact us today.   Niamaat aka “Nia” +52 33 2235 2989 [email protected] Get Better English Now   Copyright © 2019 Get Better English Now All rights reserved.