Learn English Today And Talk To The World: Jan 31, 2009

Saturday, January 31, 2009

irregular verbs

Present	Past	Past Participle
be	was, were	been
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
do	did	done
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leave	left	left
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
shake	shook	shaken
shine	shone	shone
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke (waked)	woken (waked)
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

Activities to use in Large Classes

Small group discussions: Use topics related to a theme, or ask students to submit topic suggestions.

Who Am I?: Tape the name of a famous person to the back of each student. Students go around the room asking questions and trying to identify themselves. Once they guess who they are they can place their nametag on the front and continue helping other students identify themselves.

Team spelling contests: Each student who gets the spelling correct gets a point for their team.

Balderdash: Large class can be split into teams. Teacher calls out a word and students have to write down the part of speech and definition. Each student to get both correct gets a point for her team.

Write the question: Large class can be split into teams. The teacher calls out an answer and the students have to write the question. (ex. "Lynn") Each student to write the correct question gets a point. (ex. answer: What's your middle name?")

Questionnaires: Students circulate around the room asking each other questions. Students can create their own questions on a given topic or theme, or you can provide the questionnaire handout. Follow up by asking each student to report the most interesting answer they received.

Categories: The teacher calls out a category, such as fruit, and each student has to name a fruit when it is his turn. If a student hesitates for more than five seconds, he or she has to choose a new category and sit out the rest of the game. The last person to get out wins.

Hope this would help you.
Niha

Teaching Large Classes 3

Strategies for Coping with Large Classes

Use a teacher's notebook: Attach a small notebook and pen to your belt loop. Take notes while you are monitoring pair or group learning. Review common errors as a whole group after an activity is complete.

Spread out: Find another space that your class can use for energetic whole group activities. Find a lobby or spare classroom in the building that your students can spread out into when they are preparing a project or performance. Take students outside if there is no indoor space available.

Create a participation grade: Make homework and attendance count by doing regular checks and making it part of their final grade. Giving a daily exam tip also encourages attendance.

Encourage competition: Establish a fun and competitive atmosphere within the class, by dividing the class into teams. You may change the teams once in a while or leave them the same throughout a semester. Teams can win points for certain accomplishments (If noise and behaviour is a problem, students can lose points too.).

Relax: Find ways to relax before class so that you don't feel anxious. Never attempt to prepare a lesson in the morning, right before class. Always have a water bottle handy. Always have an extra activity on hand in case something doesn't go as you expect it to.

Establish trust: Learn unique ways to remember names and do your best to get to know something about each of your students. Create a seating chart on the first day and ask students to stick with it for a while. Tell your students at least one or two things about yourself beyond your role of teaching.

Manage the noise: Establish a signal that you want your class to stop what they are doing and listen. This should be done from the first day, so that students become accustomed to it right away. Be careful not to use gestures or sounds that would offend anyone.

Reduce marking and preparation time: Design quizzes and tests in a way so that you can reduce the amount of marking. Use peer evaluations when possible. If students submit journals, just read them and leave a short comment and/or suggestion, rather than fixing every grammar mistake. Designate a specific time when the teacher's room is slow to do most of your photocopying for the week. This will save you from feeling guilty for taking up the photocopier for a long time when another teacher only has a few copies to make.

Enforce a late policy: Notify students of your late policy on the first day and stick to it. For example, don't let students enter your classroom after a warm-up has ended. If students miss class, make it their responsibility to catch up, not yours.

Share your e-mail address: In a large class, you will find yourself feeling drained before and after class if you let students come early or stay late to ask questions every day. This alone can make you hate your job, especially if you are not paid for hours when you are not teaching. Encourage students to e-mail you with questions, and answer them on your own time. If you don't like the e-mail suggestion, try finishing your class ten minutes early once in a while and allow your students free conversation time. Take questions on a first come basis during this time.

Teaching Large Classes 2

Challenges of Teaching Large Classes

Intimacy: Remembering student's names can take a while. Teachers may feel that they do not get to know their students as well as they would like to.

Anxiety: Some teachers feel anxious being so outnumbered by the students. In addition, some students are afraid to ask questions or participate in a large class.

Student needs: Meeting individual needs can be difficult or impossible when class size is very large.

Marking: Grading assignments and tests can be very time consuming, and your pay will generally be the same for a smaller class.

Distractions: There are more distractions for teachers in large classes, such as latecomers and people chatting while you are teaching.

Preparation: Making photocopies for a large class can be very time consuming. Other teachers may be bothered by how much time you spend using the photocopier.

Noise level: Large classes can become out of hand when students are working in pairs or groups. At times you may feel more like a disciplinarian than a teacher.
Monitoring students: Teachers may find it difficult to keep students on task as they monitor pair and group work.

Space: There is limited space in a classroom for energetic activities such as role-playing.

Textbooks and resources: There may not be enough textbooks or computers available for all students.

Teaching Large Classes 2

Teaching Large Classes 1

Most teachers agree that teaching a small group of students is easier, more enjoyable, and less time consuming than teaching a large group. Unfortunately, due to budgets, space, or lack of teachers, many ESL schools only offer large classes. In some schools, large classes may consist of up to 50 or more students. While your class may look more like a University lecture hall, your job is not to lecture. Just like teaching a small class, you must come up with engaging activities that keep all of your students interested and participating with the goal of improving their communication skills. While there are numerous challenges when it comes to teaching large classes, there are many coping skills and activities that you can use to make your job easier.

Advantages of Teaching Large Classes

High Energy: Classes with many students may be noisy, but they are also fun and exciting.

Timing: Classes go by quickly in a large class, and you will rarely catch yourself looking at the clock. You will regularly find yourself with extra activities that you did not complete that you can save and use in your next class.

Participation: There is always someone who is willing to answer questions even if they are just guessing. Make sure to take answers from a variety of students.

Fillers: Teachers have less need for fillers since core activities and lessons take longer to complete.

Teaching Small Classes 3

Strategies for Coping with Small Classes

Fillers: Always have plenty of fillers (such as puzzles and games) ready in case activities finish quickly. Keep a list of games or warm ups on hand to use when energy gets low. Some may need to be adapted slightly if the class is very small.

Review often: Take the time to make sure that your students understand the lessons and material.

Encourage confidence: Help shy students to feel more comfortable by trying not to put them on the spot. Let them get comfortable with you and their classmates before you start calling on them to speak up more. Remember to praise them often and save criticism for private interviews.

Change the dynamics: Invite students from other classes in once in a while. Prearrange pair group and getting to know you activities with other teachers who have small classes. If you have high level students pair them with lower level students and give them the opportunity to teach.

Ask for feedback: Take time to find out whether or not students are happy with the class. Ask for suggestions regarding activities they want to do or skills they would like to improve. Put a question box or envelope out so that students can remain anonymous if they want to.

Teaching Small Classes 2

Challenges of Teaching Small Classes

Timing: Activities finish quickly, so teachers may need to prepare more lessons and games.

Distractions: Pairs can get distracted easily since they can hear what each other are saying.

Attendance: If a few students do miss a class, planned lessons can occasionally flop. For example, you may plan a lesson that requires pair work, and then find that only three of your six students come to class.

Fillers: Teachers must always have plenty of fillers on hand for times when lessons or activities get completed quickly.

Boredom: Students may become bored working with the same pairs or groupings all of the time. There may also be less energy in the room in a small class.

Anxiety: While you will likely feel more comfortable teaching in a small class, shy students who are used to blending into a large class may be uncomfortable participating. You will have to take special measures to help them gain confidence.

Activities not always suitable: Some activities in textbooks, such as debates or role-playing, may not be possible if a class is very small. You will have to spend some preparation time adapting textbook activities.

Teaching Small Classes 1

Most teachers would agree that teaching a small class comes with many benefits. Teachers can offer one-on-one assistance at times and are more likely to meet the individual needs of their students. Some teachers, however, find it quite challenging to keep their students interested and excited about learning in a small class. Depending on the location you are teaching in, small classes range from about three to seven students. In countries where large classes are the norm, classes of twenty may still be considered small. There are numerous coping strategies and activities that teachers can use to deal with the challenges of timing and student engagement.

Advantages of Teaching Small Classes

Comfort: Teachers and students often feel more comfortable when the class size is smaller. Students generally feel more comfortable voicing their questions and opinions.

Students' needs met: Teachers can design customized lessons to meet the needs and interests of all of the class members.

Student centred: Teaching is student centred and often more communicative than is possible in large classes. Students also have more opportunity to speak.

Space: Students have plenty of space to move around in the classroom. Teachers can also arrange excursions (or suggest spontaneous ones) outside of the classroom where students can be exposed to real world English.

Attendance: Class attendance is usually high because students know they will be missed if they are absent. They also feel like they belong to the group.

Tasks Completed: Assignments and homework are more likely to be completed because the teacher is more likely to check.

Preparation time: Less preparation time is required for photocopying. There are generally enough textbooks to go around so photocopying is limited to extra activities.

Detailed Feedback: Teachers have time to provide detailed feedback when marking assignments and tests, so students get a better sense of how they are improving and where they need to work harder. Teachers also have more time to answer questions before, during, and after class

Public Speaking in English: Presentations

People speak in public for many reasons. One of the most common forms of public speaking is the 'Presentation'. In a presentation, you 'present' or introduce something (a product, an idea, financial results, a project etc) to your audience. You give a presentation because you want to 'communicate' something. Generally, you want to do one of four things. You want:

to inform
to train
to persuade
to sell

A presentation is one of the best ways of communicating your message. And because English is so widely used in international business, a knowledge of the vocabulary and techniques used in an English language presentation is very useful.
This article will give you 7 of the most important areas to consider when giving any presentation.

1 Preparation

Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Good preparation is essential for any presentation. With good preparation and planning you will be fully confident. Your audience will feel your confidence. And so your audience will be confident in you. This will give you control. With control, you will be 'in charge' and your audience will listen positively to your message.

2 Structure

A good presentation has a clear structure, like a good book or film. A good presentation has:
a beginning (introduction & preview)
a middle (main message)
an end (review & conclusion)

3 Equipment

You may have any of the following pieces of equipment at your disposal:
whiteboard
flipchart
overhead projector
35mm slide projector
computer graphics
Each of these has advantages and disadvantages. The important thing is to be the master of your equipment, not the slave. You should know and understand your equipment perfectly.

4 Visual Aids

"A picture is worth 1,000 words."
There are many types of visual aids - photographs, graphs, pie charts, maps, tables, real samples etc. But you should use visual aids with care. Do not overload your audience with too much information in a short time. A good rule is: use one image to give one message. Do not try to give two messages with one image.

5 Signposting

When you read a book, you know where you are. You know the title of the book, the subject, the chapter, the end of one chapter and beginning of another, the section and even the page number. But when you give a presentation, your audience does not know where they are - unless you TELL them! You can use special language called 'signalling' or 'signposting' that helps your audience know where they are. Here are a few examples:
Let's begin by...
That's all I have to say about...
Now we'll move on to...
Let's consider this in more detail...
I'd like to deal with this question later, if I may...
I'd like now to recap...
To start with...later...to finish up...

6 Audience Rapport

You need a warm and friendly relationship with your audience. How do you achieve this? Well, enthusiasm is contagious. If you are enthusiastic, your audience will be enthusiastic too. Try to make eye contact with each member of your audience. Each person should feel that you are speaking to him or her personally.

7 Body Language

What you do NOT say can be more important than what you say. Your BODY is speaking to your audience even before you open your mouth. Your clothes, your walk, your glasses, your haircut, your expression: it is from these that your listeners form their first impression as you enter the room.

Time and Space

Definition of Time:

Time is what allows two objects to occupy the same space.

Definition of Space:

Space is what allows two objects to exist at the same time.

Why is Word Stress Important?

Word stress is not used in all languages. Some languages, Japanese or French for example, pronounce each syllable with eq-ual em-pha-sis.

Other languages, English for example, use word stress.

Word stress is not an optional extra that you can add to the English language if you want. It is part of the language! English speakers use word stress to communicate rapidly and accurately, even in difficult conditions. If, for example, you do not hear a word clearly, you can still understand the word because of the position of the stress.

Think again about the two words photograph and photographer. Now imagine that you are speaking to somebody by telephone over a very bad line. You cannot hear clearly. In fact, you hear only the first two syllables of one of these words, photo... Which word is it, photograph or photographer? Of course, with word stress you will know immediately which word it is because in reality you will hear either PHOto... or phoTO... So without hearing the whole word, you probably know what the word is ( PHOto...graph or phoTO...grapher). It's magic! (Of course, you also have the 'context' of your conversation to help you.)

This is a simple example of how word stress helps us understand English. There are many, many other examples, because we use word stress all the time, without thinking about it.

What is Word Stress?

In English, we do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, we accentuate ONE syllable. We say one syllable very loudly (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables very quietly.

Let's take 3 words: photograph, photographer and photographic. Do they sound the same when spoken? No. Because we accentuate (stress) ONE syllable in each word. And it is not always the same syllable. So the shape of each word is different.

PHO TO GRAPH

PHO TO GRAPH ER

PHO TO GRAPH IC

This happens in ALL words with 2 or more syllables: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etCETera, etCETera, etCETera

The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet. Native speakers of English listen for the STRESSED syllables, not the weak syllables. If you use word stress in your speech, you will instantly and automatically improve your pronunciation and your comprehension.

Try to hear the stress in individual words each time you listen to English - on the radio, or in films for example. Your first step is to HEAR and recognise it. After that, you can USE it!

There are two very important rules about word stress:

One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.)

The stress is always on a vowel.

Understanding Syllables

To understand word stress, it helps to understand syllables.Every word is made from syllables.Each word has one, two, three or more syllables.

word number of syllables

dog==========dog=============1
green========green============1
quite=========quite============1
quiet=========qui-et===========2
orange=======or-ange===========2
table=========ta-ble===========2
expensive=====ex-pen-sive=======3
interesting=====in-ter-est-ing======4
realistic=======re-al-is-tic4
unexception====alun-ex-cep-tion-al==5

Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o or u) or vowel sound.

أنا وأبي
Me and My Father

وأنا عمري 4 أعوام : أبي هو الأفضل
When I was 4 Yrs Old : My father is THE BEST

وأنا عمري 6 أعوام : أبي يعرف كل الناس
When I was 6 Yrs Old : My father seems to know everyone

وأنا عمري 10 أعوام : أبي ممتاز ولكن خلقه ضيق
When I was 10 Yrs Old : My father is excellent but he is short tempered

وأنا عمري 12عاما : أبي كان لطيفا عندما كنت صغيرا
When I was 12 Yrs Old : My father was nice when I was little

وأنا عمري 14 عاما : أبي بدأ يكون حساسا جدا
When I was 14 Yrs Old : My father started being too sensitive

وأنا عمري 16 عاما : أبي لا يمكن أن يتماشى مع العصر الحالي
When I was 16 Yrs Old : My father can't keep up with modern time

وأنا عمري 18 عاما : أبي ومع مرور كل يوم يبدو كأنه أكثر حدة
When I was 18 Yrs Old : My father is getting less tolerant as the days pass by

وأنا عمري 20 عاما : من الصعب جدا أن أسامح أبي ، أستغرب كيف إستطاعت أمي أن تتحمله
When I was 20 Yrs Old : It is too hard to forgive my father, how could my Mum stand him all these years

وأنا عمري 25 عاما : أبي يعترض على كل موضوع
When I was 25 Yrs Old : My father seems to be objecting to everything I do

وأنا عمري 30 عاما : من الصعب جدا أن أتفق مع أبى ، هل ياترى تعب جدى من أبي عندما كان شابا
When I was 30 Yrs Old: It's very difficult to be in agreement with my father, I wonder if my Grandfather was troubled by my father when he was a youth

وأنا عمري 40 عاما: أبي رباني في هذه الحياة مع كثير من الضوابط، ولابد أن أفعل نفس الشيء
When I was 40 Yrs Old: My father brought me up with a lot of discipline, I must do the same

وأنا عمري 45 عاما : أنا محتار ، كيف أستطاع أبي أن يربينا جميعا
When I was 45 Yrs Old: I am puzzled, how did my father manage to raise all of us

وأنا عمري 50 عاما: من الصعب التحكم في أطفالي، كم تكبد أبي من عناء لأجل أن يربينا ويحافظ علينا
When I was 50 Yrs Old : It's rather difficult to control my kids, how much did my father suffer for the sake of upbringing and protecting us

وأنا عمري 55 عاما: أبي كان ذا نظرة بعيدة وخطط لعدة أشياء لنا ، أبي كان مميزا ولطيفا.
When I was 55 Yrs Old: My father was far looking and had wide plans for us, he was gentle and outstanding.

وأنا عمري 60 عاما: أبي هو الأفضل
When I became 60 Yrs Old: My father is THE BEST

جميع ما سبق إحتاج إلى 56 عاما لإنهاء الدورة كاملة ليعود إلى نقطة البدء الأولى عند الـ 4 أعوام .
Note that it took 56 Yrs to complete the cycle and return to the starting point 'My father is THE BEST' !

فلنحسن إلى والدينا قبل أن يفوت الأوان ولندع الله أن يعاملنا أطفالنا أفضل مما كنا نعامل والدينا.
Let's be good to our parents before it's too late and pray to Allaah that our own children will treat us even better than the way we treated our parents .

قال تعالى:

' وَقَضَى رَبُّكَ أَلاَّ تَعْبُدُواْ إِلاَّ إِيَّاهُ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا إِمَّا يَبْلُغَنَّ عِندَكَ الْكِبَرَ أَحَدُهُمَا أَوْ كِلاَهُمَا فَلاَ تَقُل لَّهُمَآ أُفٍّ وَلاَ تَنْهَرْهُمَا وَقُل لَّهُمَا قَوْلاً كَرِيمًا '

' وَاخْفِضْ لَهُمَا جَنَاحَ الذُّلِّ مِنَ الرَّحْمَةِ وَقُل رَّبِّ ارْحَمْهُمَا كَمَا رَبَّيَانِي صَغِيرًا'

الإسراء (23 + 24)

Rules for Sentence Stress in English

The basic rules of sentence stress are:

@content words are stressed
@structure words are unstressed
@the time between stressed words is always the same

The following exemples can help you decide which words are content words and which words are

structure words:

Content words - stressed

Words carrying the meaning

Example
main verbs:========SELL, GIVE, EMPLOY
nouns:============CAR, MUSIC, MARY
adjectives:=========RED, BIG, INTERESTING
adverbs:==========QUICKLY, LOUDLY, NEVER
negative auxiliaries:==DON'T, AREN'T, CAN'T

Structure words - unstressed

Words for correct grammar

Example

pronouns========he, we, they
prepositions======on, at, into
articles=========a, an, the
conjunctions=====and, but, because
auxiliary verbs===do, be, have, can, must

Exceptions

The above rules are for for what is called "neutral" or normal stress. But sometimes we can stress a word that would normally be only a structure word, for example to correct information. Look at the following dialogue:

"They've been to Mongolia, haven't they?""No, THEY haven't, but WE have.

Note also that when "be" is used as a main verb, it is usually unstressed (even though in this case it is a content word).

Sentence Stress in English

Sentence stress is the music of spoken English. Like word stress, sentence stress can help you to understand spoken English, especially when spoken fast.

Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat". You remember that word stress is accent on one syllable within a word. Sentence stress is accent on certain words within a sentence.

Most sentences have two types of word:

content words
structure words

Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important words that carry the meaning or sense.

Structure words are not very important words. They are small, simple words that make the
sentence correct grammatically. They give the sentence its correct form or "structure".

If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will probably still understand the sentence.

If you remove the content words from a sentence, you will not understand the sentence. The sentence has no sense or meaning.

Imagine that you receive this telegram message:

SELL CAR GONE FRANCE.

This sentence is not complete. It is not a "grammatically correct" sentence. But you probably understand it. These 4 words communicate very well. Somebody wants you to sell their car for them because they have gone to France. We can add a few words:

Will you SELL my CAR becauseI've GONE to FRANCE.

The new words do not really add any more information. But they make the message more correct grammatically. We can add even more words to make one complete, grammatically correct sentence. But the information is basically the same:

Content Words: SELL CAR GONE FRANCE.

Structure Words: Will you my because I've to

In our sentence, the 4 key words (sell, car, gone, France) are accentuated or stressed.
Why is this important for pronunciation? It is important because it adds "music" to the language. It is the rhythm of the English language. It changes the speed at which we speak (and listen to) the language.

The time between each stressed word is the same.

In our sentence, there is 1 syllable between SELL and CAR and 3 syllables between CAR and GONE. But the time (t) between SELL and CAR and between CAR and GONE is the same. We maintain a constant beat on the stressed words. To do this, we say "my" more slowly, and "because I've" more quickly. We change the speed of the small structure words so that the rhythm of the key content words stays the same.
syllables

American English slang beginning with the letter C 1

call===prediction
The weatherman made a good call about the weather.

can===toilet
Do you know where the can is?

cheesy===cheap and out of fashion
That is really a cheesy looking outfit.

chintzy===cheap
That really was a chintzy present you got him.

clip===cheat
Watch out or they will clip you at that bar.

clunker===old car
I can't go on a date in that clunker.

coke===coca-cola
I think that coke is my favorite soda.

cold fish===boring
My date for the dance was a cold fish.

collar===apprehend
I knew they would collar the robber sooner or later.

American English slang beginning with the letter B

bad===good
Wow, that movie was really bad.

ball===great time
We really had a ball at the party.

bang===great time
Going to Las Vegas is a real bang.

bang===strong effect
Japanese wasabi has a real bang.

barf===vomit
He had to barf because he drank too much alcohol.

barf-out===disappointment
That movie was a real barf-out.

bashed===crushed
The boat was bashed beyond recognition.

bazillion===infinite number
She can eat a bazillion cookies.

B-ball===basketball
After school, let's play some B-ball.

beans===small amount of money
I like this company but they pay beans.

beat===exhausted
After working all day I am really beat.

beemer===BMW
He just bought a new beemer to drive to work in.

bench===not allowed to play
He was benched during the basketball playoffs.

bent===angry
It's OK. Don't get so bent.

big guns===powerful people
The president brought two big guns to the meeting.

big mouth===talk too much
Shut up! You really have a big mouth.

bikermotorcycle rider
He decided to talk to the biker.

blade===knife
He carried a ten inch blade with him.

blimp===fat person
I always seem to have a blimp sitting next to me when I travel.

blowleave
I'm going to blow now.

blew===lost
He blew all his money gambling.

bomb===bad
The movie was a bomb.

bonkers===insane
I think I am going bonkers.

boo boo===mistake
If you make another boo boo like that, you won't have a job.

boob===stupid person
Your friend is such a boob.

boob tube===television
He spends the entire day watching the boob tube.

boss===great
Your car is boss.

bread===money
I need some bread to pay for my car.

break===opportunity
A lucky break helped him get the job.

brew===coffee
Hey, let's go to the coffee shop and get a fresh cup of brew.

bucks===dollars
Do you have a few bucks that I can borrow?

BS===lies
That story is total BS.

bummed===depressed
I was really bummed after I heard the news.

bummer===bad experience
My trip to New York was a bummer.

bushed==really tired
Every day after work she is really bushed.

bust==failure
The whole idea was a bust.

American English slang beginning with the letter A

ace===very good
He's an ace reporter who always gets a good story.

action===excitement
Do you know where the action is in this town?

airhead===a stupid person
My sister's boyfriend is an airhead.

all wet===completely wrong
Your ideas about politics are all wet.

all-nighter===studying all night
I almost fell asleep during the test after an all-nighter.

ammo===ammunition
The gun was useless after the killer ran out of ammo.

awesome===great
What an awesome sunset today.

As .....as

As thick as thieves
As thick as two short planks
As thin as a rail
As thin as a rake
As tight as a drum
As tough as old boots
As tough as tough
As true as the day is long
As ugly as sin
As useless as a chocolate fireguard
As useless as a chocolate teapot
As warm as toast
As well as can be expected
As white as a ghost
As white as a sheet
As white as snow
As wise as an owl

As regular as clockwork
As right as ninepence
As right as rain
As safe as houses
As safe as the Bank of England
As scarce as hen's teeth
As sharp as a tack
As sick as a dog
As sick as a parrot
As silent as the grave
As skinny as a rake
As slippery as an eel
As slow as molasses in January
As sly as a fox
As snug as a bug in a rug
As sober as a judge
As solid as a rock
As soon as you like
As sound as a bell
As straight as a die
As straight as an arrow
As strong as an ox
As stubborn as a mule
As sure as God made little green apples
As sure as eggs is eggs
As sweet as pie

As .....as

As patient as Job
As plain as a pikestaff
As plain as day
As plain as the nose on your face
As playful as a kitten
As pleased as Punch
As pretty as a picture
As proud as Punch
As proud as a peacock
As pure as the driven slush
As pure as the driven snow
As queer as a chocolate orange
As queer as a nine bob note
As queer as folk
As quick as a flash
As quiet as a mouse

As .....as

As near as dammit
As neat as a new pin
As nervous as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs
As nice as ninepence
As nutty as a fruit cake
As often as not
As old as Methuselah
As old as the hills

As .....as

As keen as mustard
As large as life
As light as a feather
As long as a month of Sundays
As long as my arm
As loose as a goose
As mad as a bear with a sore head
As mad as a hatter
As mad as a march hare
As mad as a wet hen
As many chins as a Chinese phone book
As merry as the day is long
As mild as milk
As miserable as sin

As .....as

As gentle as a lamb
As good as gold
As good as it gets
As good as new
As good as your word
As green as grass
As happy as a clam
As happy as a dog with two tails
As happy as a lark
As happy as a pig in shit
As happy as a sandboy
As happy as Larry
As hard as a rock
As hard as iron
As heavy as lead
As helpless as a baby
As high as a kite
As honest as the day is long
As hot as Hades
As hot as blue blazes
As hungry as a hunter

As .....as

As easy as ABC
As easy as falling off a log
As easy as pie
As easy as taking candy from a baby
As far as the eye can see
As fast as greased lightening
As fast as his legs could carry him
As fine as frog's hair
As fit as a fiddle
As flat as a pancake
As free as a bird
As fresh as a daisy
As fresh as a mountain stream
As full as a fat lady's sock
As full as an Alabama tick

As .....as

As dead as a doornail
As dead as mutton
As deaf as a post
As deaf as a stone
As different as chalk and cheese
As difficult as nailing jelly to a tree
As drunk as a lord
As drunk as a skunk
As dry as a bone
As dry as a pommy's bath towel
As dull as ditchwater
As dumb as a box of rocks

As .....as

As camp as a row of tents
As cheap as dirt
As clean as whistle
As clear as a bell
As clear as crystal
As clear as day
As clear as mud
As cold as a well digger's arse
As cold as a witch's tit
As cold as blue blazes
As cold as charity
As cold as ice
As common as muck
As crazy as a loon
As crooked as a dog's hind leg
As cross as two sticks
As cunning as a fox
As cute as a bug's ear
As cute as a button

As .....as

As American as apple pie
As Irish as Paddy's pig
As alike as two peas in a pod
As black as coal
As black as pitch
As black as the Earl of Hell's waistcoat
As black as the ace of spades
As black as thunder
As black as your hat
As blind as a bat
As blind as a mole
As bold as brass
As boring as a wet weekend in Wigan
As boring as watching paint dry
As brave as a lion
As bright as a button
As bright as a new pin
As broad as it is long
As busy as a beaver
As busy as a bee
As busy as a one armed paper hanger
As busy as a one legged arse kicker

In the English language there are eight parts of speech. These are:

• Adjective
• Adverb
• Conjunction
• Interjection
• Noun
• Preposition
• Pronoun
• Verb

These eight categories can be expanded e.g. by Article and Numeral. We concentrate on the eight main categories.

Parts of Speech Examples

Adjective Look! He is sitting on an old chair and is snoring loudly.

Adverb Look! He is sitting on an old chair and is snoring loudly.

Conjunction Look! He is sitting on an old chair and is snoring loudly.

Interjection Look! He is sitting on an old chair and is snoring loudly.

Noun Look! He is sitting on an old chair and is snoring loudly.

Preposition Look! He is sitting on an old chair and is snoring loudly.

Pronoun Look! He is sitting on an old chair and is snoring loudly.

Verb Look! He is sitting on an old chair and is snoring loudly.

Parts of Speech Explanation

Adjective-----------describes a noun or a pronouns (how something or someone is)
Adverb-------------describes a verb, an adjective or an adverb (how someone does something)
Conjunction---------joins words or phrases
Interjection--------expresses a feeling
Noun---------------names a person or a thing
Preposition---------expresses a connection between persons or things
Pronoun------------can substitute a noun
Verb----------------expresses an action or a state

Nursery Rhymes 5

1/
A rabbit ran around a rock
Around a rock a rabbit ran.

2/
'One-One-One' was a racehorse,
'One-One' was one too.
'One-One-One' won one race,
'One-One' won one too.

3/
Betty bought some butter,
but the butter Betty bought was bitter,
so Betty bought some better butter,
and the better butter Betty boughtwas better
than the bitter butter Betty bought before.

Nursery Rhymes 4

1/
One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
The little finger on the right.

2/
Three swiss witches watch
three swiss swatch watches.
Which swiss witch watches
which swiss swatch watch?

Nursery Rhymes 3

1/
The south wind
brings wet weather,
the north wind
wet and cold together.
The west windalways brings us rain,
the east wind
blows it back again.

2/
Father, mother, sister, brother,
hand in hand with one another.

3/
Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown.
And Jill came tubling after.

Nursery Rhymes 2

In winter I get up at night
and dress by yellow candle light.
In summer quite the other way
I have to go to bed by day.

2/
What do people say

On a rainy day?

Rain, rain go away,
come again another day.

3/
Rain on the green grass,
and rain on the tree,
rain on the house-top,
but not on me.

Nursery Rhymes 1

1/
As Tommy Snooks and Bessy Brooks
Were walking out on Sunday,
says Tommy Snooks to Bessy Brooks,
tomorrow will be Monday.

2/
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper
A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper
Where’s the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?

3/
Down, down, yellow and brown,
the leaves fall down,
all over the town.

paltalk

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Saturday, January 31, 2009

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