Search results for 'tag:Idioms tag:English vocabulary' matching tags 'Idioms' and 'English vocabulary'

Re: I m new user of this Site...

English_Learner — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 05:11:41 GMT

Hello, yadav.
Welcome to the forums.
I'm agree with Francesca: Barbara is right and I'm another one of those who practice their English here.
Ask your questions, read threads on different forums: basic english vocabulary, idioms (meaning and using) will help you to increase your vocabulary. You will find something useful in every question & answer.
But to improve your speaking skills, you need to speak.
From my personal point of view I can add that it's helpful to read phrases/sentences out loud and then repeat them out loud, because it helps you to concentrate on the uses of English words.
Don't be afraid to speak, this is a good chance to practice and improve your English.

Re: What's in a word?

milky — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:29:08 GMT

Try this link, Jim:

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/MED-Magazine/August2003/10-MED-Magazine-cover.htm

Really? Not for me. If I ask for the meaning of a word in Spanish, my teacher normally gives me the general dictionary definition. Here too, posters such as you give basic meanings when asked.

< Constant contact with a word in its various contexts brings out the answers to all those questions, and more, in a way that a specific discussion of these five items would never do.>

The above is seen as a part of a whole and not as the only way to discover the use of a word. And, as far as I know, most native teachers have had constant contact with English vocabulary, but still can only give basic advice, or even bum steers, on meaning and usage. So, how can only constant contact help students?

Problem is, when students are given that "basic" meaning, the word is often primed at that point and further research comes to a halt.

And if this is true "it depends on the student; many pick up these things quickly and quite intuitively", why is the situation desribed below the case regrding advanced learners?

"Collocations and idioms are of the greatest importance to the language learner; one of the things that distinguishes an advanced learner's language from that of a native speaker is that advanced learners often manifest grammatical correctness but collocational inappropriateness." (Hoey)

What are collocations and comocations

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 09:37:45 GMT

Can someone explain to me what collocations are and connocations are.Im writing a report about English vocabulary and i need to explain 5 different things.

-Idioms

-synonyms

-homonyms

-collocations

-connocations

I`ve already got 3 of the 5 but i cant find the l;ast 2 because everything i find is in difficult english so can someone explain me in some sentences what collocations and connocations are and can he/she give me a example to

PLZ i really need this so i would be very grateful if someone could give me some help with this

THX

Re: How to answer a vocabulary question

Englishuser — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:35:02 GMT

Hi Grammar Geek,

Thank you for your reply. Like you said, no one would know all the entries in the OED by heart. That's why I think people should realise that their knowledge of English vocabulary is limited, and the only way of giving satisfactory explanations when people ask about a word is to look it up in the OED. The OED is not availble free of charge online.

Also, it annoys me when native speakers write 'we say' instead of 'English speaking people in the San Fransisco area often say', for instance. I think using 'we' is a bit pompous as very few native speakers are aware of how common a certain expression is in other parts of the English speaking world. This is especially true for rather unusual idioms some people ask about. When a person would like to know what an archaic idiom means, I think you should also state that it's used very rarely amongst native speakers these days. It might also be good to refer to a corpus in such cases.