Search results for 'tag:Tips' matching tag 'Tips'

Re: Writing skills tutorials request

trysb — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:35:49 GMT

Hello Maha, Happy to make your acquaintance. I'm a professional writer and editor at a university and a native English speaker. Our department has many foreign faculty members and students who need help writing grants, papers for peer-reviewed journals and powerpoint presentations. I edit their writing and try to teach them how to focus on the two most important things, simplicity and clarity. I will be happy to talk to you about your writing and give whatever advice i can. Writing is like playing the violin. You have to practice a lot and listen to good musicians until your ear and your mind know what good playing sounds like. In writing, find good writers and read them carefully. See how they introduce a topic, give examples, use...

Re: How to pronounce the th after an s or f

dokterjokkebrok — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:27:37 GMT

Hi 1) was there --> You could try making the 'th' sound a bit more like a /z/. Then the tongue won't necessarily touch the back of the upper teeth anymore, but that's quite acceptable in my opinion. Note: the 's' in ' wa s ' is actually a 'z' sound, similar to 'zz' in ' bu zz '. So there's a clear distinction there. 2) If this --> probably a matter of careful pronunciation. - articulate your 'th' very gently; it's a very subtle sound, and it's certainly not a /t/ or /d/. - place the tip of your tongue just behind your upper front teeth and keep the rest of your tongue relatively stable and anchored to the upper molars . - try not to place the tip...

Re: On the tip of my brain/tongue

philip — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:55:52 GMT

I've never heard tip of the 'brain'. One might say that something I've forgotten is at the 'back of my brain'. There are a few examples of it on Google, but I seems that it's just a version of the 'tongue' expression. I have trouble picturing the tip of my brain like I can the tip of my tongue.

Vocabulary exercise 56

successor — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:33:39 GMT

Hello, I composed a vocabulary exercise. Could you please tell me if you agree with the suggested answers? What do you think of the level of this exercise? Thank you! 1. The crowds lingering on the streets were …………………. by heavy rain. A.dislocated B.deposed C.detached D.dispersed 2. The earliest American composers ………………….. their attention to settings of hymns and patriotic songs. A.contained B.confined <

Ring, cracked down on the ring

user_gary — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:12:38 GMT

A match-fixing ring with more than 200 suspected members fixed or tried to fix around 200 matches across Europe, including three in the Champions League, in what UEFA called the biggest betting scandal in Europe. Bochum state prosecutor Andreas Bachmann said at a news conference on Friday initial estimates put the illegal gains at about 10 million euros ($14.85 million) but he added that the figure was just "the tip of the iceberg". Police in Germany, Britain, Austria and Switzerland cracked down on the ring on Thursday, staging simultaneous raids that resulted in 15 arrests in Germany and two in Switzerland. source : http://in.news.yahoo.com/137/20091120/375/tsp-police-expose-europe-s-biggest-match.html Please tell me the...

Re: Leave the rat race

clive — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:26:21 GMT

Hi, Do you know what the rat race means in the quote? Hint - It doesn't mean that people get together to have races with their pet rats. If you don't know, I'll be happy to expalin. Best wishes, Clive

Re: On a speech

mister micawber — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:08:51 GMT

Google SPEECH MAKING , and you will find many pages of tips and techniques.

Re: Past and Present tense together in one sentence

clive — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:47:52 GMT

Hi, Are these sentences right given they have mixed past and present tense- 1.While asking her broker to sell her shares immediately, it looks like it didn’t cross her mind even once that she was acting on an insider tip. Should it be - While asking her broker to sell her shares immediately, it looked like it didn’t cross her mind even once that she was acting on an insider tip. Both are OK. In the former, it looks that way today. In the latter, it looked that way in the past, ie at the time she asked her broker. 2.I believe she wasn’t even in any kind of dilemma to begin with since she acted really fast in selling to sell. Should I say - I believed she wasn’t even in any kind of...

Re: Test Your Ears #1

kooyeen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:28:33 GMT

But here the problem is different. The problem is not production, the problem is perception. I expect virtually all native speakers to be able to make a distinction in production : you can say NPR, or say MPR, and that's easy and only depends on whether you raise the tip of your tongue or not. What I don't know is how many native speakers are able to make a difference in perception : can they distinguish NPR from MPR when they hear them? And how easily? I think they should be able to distinguish them in some way, in some circumstances, otherwise the difference in production would be completely useless and wouldn't make sense. How would children be able to pick up a distinction they can't hear? So I expect native...

Too often TV

stevenukd — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:06:21 GMT

- Here are some tips parents can take to help reduce television's negative effect on their children : Watch televison with your child - too often TV is used as a cheap babysitter. Know what your child is watching and don't be afraid to turn off the TV if you think there's nothing good on. - "too often TV is used as a cheap babysitter" in this context means "you're not a good babysitter when you watch TV too much with your child", right? :) Thanks a lot to Teachers, Stevenukd

Re: Nick Hornby

wcmartell — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:53:06 GMT

He took my screenwriting class at Raindance one year. Really weird, because I use HIGH FIDELITY as an example in the class, and no one has ever said, "Hey! That's not what I meant at all!" so I must have used the example correctly. I had no idea he took the class. After this year - when it seemed like half of the films at the festival were written by people who had taken my class - they decided to search for other students who may have made it big since then... and discovered Hornby's name (and info that proved it was actually him, not some imposter) in a past class. I make absolutely no claim that Horby learned a damned thing in my class - I've learned more from reading a couple of his books and watching some...

Re: Dark L or Light L after final L + new word

kooyeen — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:02:54 GMT

Hi, with questions like this, you are getting into trouble, lol. I remember asking the same kind of question in the past. I've never gotten a clear answer, because this can get very complicated, as you can see from raindoctor's answer. It depends on what you want to know and why. If you just need some tips to improve your spoken English then you don't need to know any complicated stuff. What I can tell you, as a non-native speaker, is that every feature of a spoken language can vary. Take the dark-L for example: ok, it's dark, but how dark? It's impossible to tell how dark an L should be, because it varies from accent to accent, depending on what comes before or after the L, and sometimes it might not even be an L...

Re: Underline the words used as metaphors

dimsumexpress — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:49:11 GMT

Anon, Is this an order?. Or are you requesting help? Here are a few helpful hints: Learn to use the word "please". Capitalize the proper places. Your article had quite a collection of "big words" which were used very awkwardly. Are you trying to say "we become enslaved by the inventions and machinery" which we have created? But I couldn't understand the meaning of this collection of profound words! Maybe it's me. the car is only a simple example of more general enslavement . for years we lived unawre of our chains when at last consciousness of our predicament dawns and this is in the case of cars has already begun to happen. we think it is too late to free...

Re: 7 Tips for speaking English Fluently :)

shellyxiong — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:31:08 GMT

thanks very much.. Your tips really works for me.

Re: Negative Letter

clive — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:05:46 GMT

Hi, I would like to improve on my letter. This letter is to a pastry shop owner, who isn't pleased with the comments on the my blog. I'm trying to resolve this dispute, as best as i can. Where can I improve? How do I sound convincing, persuasive yet firm. What do you mean by 'convincing' and 'pesuasive'? To be truthful with you, the main tone of this letter seems to me to be supercilious, bordering on arrogant. Should there be any change of words? Particularly in, "By resolving this dispute, I like to present two options", is option a right word to use here? Thanks for the help. Dear Ms. June Lee: First and foremost – I have to proclaim my love for pastry and de s sert. There is...

Introducing 'lisascott'.

lisascott — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:06:59 GMT

I work with professionals and students whose accent interferes with their ability to communicate. I help them speak English more clearly and feel more confident when they speak English. For a free accent screening and personalized practice tips, visit www.accentuatecommunication.com.

Negative Letter

eugenelee — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:54:12 GMT

Hi, I would like to improve on my letter. This letter is to a pastry shop owner, who isn't pleased with the comments on the my blog. I'm trying to resolve this dispute, as best as i can. Where can I improve? How do I sound convincing, persuasive yet firm. Should there be any change of words? Particularly in, " By resolving this dispute, I like to present two options", is option a right word to use here? Thanks for the help. /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15...

Re: 7 Tips for speaking English Fluently :)

vic_bubble — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:06:02 GMT

In summary, we who want to speak English fluently mustn't read text book. Listen and answer. Don't study a single word... Everthing has to start at hearing and dissecting from native English speakers. Is that right?

Re: Allophone [t] at end of short words

kooyeen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:56:43 GMT

What do you mean? There are allophones of /t/, yes... At the end of a word (if nothing follows), /t/ can be pronounced in three different ways, as far as I know: 1) Released: you can hear the /t/, which is sometimes aspirated to some extent 2) Not released: you can't hear the /t/, but the tongue touches the roof of the mouth anyway. 3) Glottal stop: you can't hear the /t/, which becomes pretty much of a glottal stop (and so the tip of your tongue doesn't even move) I get the impression #2 is the usual one in American English, #1 is only used occasionally, or when speaking carefully (or frequently in posh RP), and #3 is common in several British accents and some American accents (maybe African American Vernacular...

Help me....

anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:29:18 GMT

I had been shortlisted for the indian bank written test and my personnal interview is on28 oct. So please kindly give me some tips to attend the interview. Please i need an bank frequently asked question for clerical post.. please help me ... thanks

Re: 7 Tips for speaking English Fluently :)

anonymous — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:06:37 GMT

Thanks alot. These 7tips will be useful to speak english verywell.

I s it possible to think in English?

anonymous — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:24:47 GMT

Is it possible for non-native speakers to learn to think in English? I am required to white a composition about this topic. I would appreciate it ig you can give me some hints . Thank you in advance.

Re: How to improve the voice of my characters?

macdaffy ron drake — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:50:12 GMT

I struggle with giving each of my characters a unique voice and while I realize there are books and articles covering this, I don't feel like my characters have a great voice. Can anyone offer any tips or insights? I'm doing something that I've never done with a project: I'm writing a treatment. (Those of you muttering "about goddamned time" can just save it). The subject of the screenplay is immediate and is something that's going on in my life. What I've found is that starting with the protagonist the person the screenplay's about has given the treatment a life that some of my other screenplays didn't have. The specs I've written for "The Simpsons", "Columbo", and...

Re: English

clive — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:22:24 GMT

Hi, Can you begin by suggesting at least one or two yourself? Hint - don't forget about abstract nouns. Best wishes, Clive

Re: English

clive — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:22:15 GMT

Hi, Can you begin by suggesting at least one or two yourself? Hint - don't forget about abstract nouns. Best wishes, Clive

Re: To be commissioned an ensign

clive — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:21:05 GMT

Hi, I have problems trying to understand the sentence "He was commissioned an ensign" (in a naval context). Why is the article "an" there? I googled it with and without the article and the option "an" has more hits hints . What is the difference between that expresion and "he was commissioned as an ensign" and "he was commisioned ensign"? . . . an ensign - the word is a common noun. . . . ensign - the word is being used as a name, eg a 'job title', which is why it would normally have a capital 'E'. Consider these examples. He worked as a president of a company. Obama was elected President. Clive

To be commissioned an ensign

camaranti — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:27:44 GMT

Hello everybody: I have problems trying to understand the sentence "He was commissioned an ensign" (in a naval context). Why is the article "an" there? I googled it with and without the article and the option "an" has more hints. What is the difference between that expresion and "he was commissioned as an ensign" and "he was commisioned ensign"?

Re: For being great and helpful

califjim — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 07:06:41 GMT

You have more words than you need. The man helped Susan repair the car. She was glad and thanked him for his help. She gave him a tip. A tip is money, so there is no need to mention money when talking about a tip. CJ

For being great and helpful

vincent teo — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:44:05 GMT

can I say, The man helped Susan repair the car. She was glad and thanked him for being great and helpful . She gave him some money as a tip.

Re: How to improve the voice of my characters?

steven j. weller — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:27:31 GMT

I struggle with giving each of my characters a unique voice and while I realize there are books and articles covering this, I don't feel like my characters have a great voice. Can anyone offer any tips or insights? Table readings, table readings, table readings. Get the dialogue up on its feet and into other people's mouths, and listen to it. Rewrite from there. Life Continues, Despite Evidence to the Contrary Steven

Re: How to improve the voice of my characters?

nmstevens — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:20:27 GMT

I struggle with giving each of my characters a unique voice and while I realize there are books and articles covering this, I don't feel like my characters have a great voice. Can anyone offer any tips or insights? It's very easy to become lost in surface stuff when you're talking about "voice" and by surface stuff I mean things like accent and background rich, poor, Northern, Southern, city boy, country boy. And yes, obviously those things are going to affect the "voice" of your character to some degree. But that's not the fundamental stuff. What I'm talking about is the difference between personality and character. Personality is the gloss. Character defines the fundamentals. Let me explain this...

Re: How to improve the voice of my characters?

skipper — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:23:06 GMT

I struggle with giving each of my characters a unique voice and while I realize there are books and articles covering this, I don't feel like my characters have a great voice. Can anyone offer any tips or insights? Do a staged reading of your script. That's what the pros do. You'll be amazed at what people will think is funny that you didn't, and vice versa. There's a whole chapter about this in one of my books. http://tinyurl.com/yfe45sd

Re: How to improve the voice of my characters?

paulo joe jingy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:16:30 GMT

I struggle with giving each of my characters a unique voice and while I realize there are books and articles covering this, I don't feel like my characters have a great voice. Can anyone offer any tips or insights? Do you mean dialogue? If you do, you have to listen to a lot of it and write a lot of it. Before I start any story I'll normally write pages of my characters talking to each other. Nothing else. Straight dialogue. Be selective of what you listen to. Two girls in a mall saying: "Like, you know" to each other over and over again, isn't going to help much. Consciously differentiate the dialogue. If you have two characters talking, and you can't tell who's who when you remove the character names, they...

Re: How to improve the voice of my characters?

alan brooks — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:04:59 GMT

I struggle with giving each of my characters a unique voice and while I realize there are books and articles covering this, I don't feel like my characters have a great voice. Can anyone offer any tips or insights? * Read your screenplay out loud. * Imagine each character as a friend or family member whose voice you're familiar with. * Write each character with a specific actor in mind, and try to hear it in their voice. * Rewrite like crazy. Don't lie to yourself that something's working if you can hear that it's not. * Over-write. Exaggerate every emotion, every stance, every statement. Force your characters into extreme views that you, yourself don't hold. You can always pull back from an over-written piece,...

How to improve the voice of my characters?

fleis92 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:40:34 GMT

Re: Meaning of sentences...

grammar geek — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:05:10 GMT

Poor Richard's Almanack was published in the 1700s by Benjamin Franklin. This is from Wikipedia: Franklin, the American inventor , statesman , and publisher , achieved success with Poor Richard's Almanack . Almanacks were very popular books in colonial America , with people in the colonies using them for the mixture of seasonal weather forecasts, practical household hints, puzzles, and other amusements they offered.

Re: English tongue position

kooyeen — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:44:45 GMT

I actually disagree with you on that issue. I think tongue position is actually very vital, because it facilitates smooth, fluent motion of the tongue in your mouth, Well, that's actually true. What I was saying was I would avoid spending too much time on complicated details, for example. There are a lot of variations, and no book or course covers them. You can only get the basics, and then you might improve and pick up the variations you like over time. For example, every course will tell you that to make an L-sound your tongue needs to touch the roof of your mouth, but that's not always true in several dialects/accents. When I say "real", the tip my tongue gets very close to the roof of the mouth, but doesn't...

Tell your interesting speaking or conversation activity

stella282 — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:40:03 GMT

hi~! I have a HW and have to make a new plan of conversation or speaking activity for 20minitutes. I want to know 'what's your interesting speaking or conversation activity? Please give me some tips!!!

Re: Tall nose

anonymous — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:35:31 GMT

Yes, a nose is three-dimensional- as you mentioned, length, and depth. But you would not say he/she has a "deep nose", so if you're not refering to the length (bridge to tip) nor width (left to right) but rather how far it protrudes from the rest of the face, wouldn't you use "tall"?

Re: Past papers CPE listening exam.

dokterjokkebrok — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:05:09 GMT

Hi Tanit Okay. So they come with the listening part as well. You see, I didn't know that. Thank you very much for that one! A second question for you: could you please provide me with some tips on how to prepare sufficiently for a CPE test? That is, I've done several CPE tests now (practice exams), and in most instances I got a pass. But could you perhaps give me some specific advice for the listening part, and in particular strategies to increase efficiency during the test? Thanks again. Kind regards

Re: Looking for a noun

philip — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:23:27 GMT

You really should try it yourself, first, and then we'll help you out if needed. Hint: there are two proper nouns and one common noun.

Re: Star Trek story

avoid normal situations. — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:12:35 GMT

This is getting to be an ongoing tradition for me... waiting to see a big summer movie until the last second of its theatrical run. 2. How Spock Prime and Spock Jr. can occupy the ... all leads to a predetermined destiny that can't be altered. I sort of liked how they handled that one. Spock Prime originally hints that he and Spock Segundo can't occupy ... to try and explain how anything happens and what's allowed or not allowed. Within the context, this was fairly elegant. "We don't know one half of one percent about anything." Besides, it was swell to see Leonard Nimoy take one last bow as Spock and even chat with his replacement. Sort of like a changing of the guard. I thought the camera solar flares,...

Scene to be done using best action verb in present tense

virendrakumarsahu — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 17:07:47 GMT

Chase is on for Veronica & Suzan. Finally, they manage to interrupt them with their cars. Both Michael and Paul get down out of their cars and walk towards the girl's car. The girls look confident and stunning with cunning looks on their faces. Both reach the two sides of the car. They open both sides of the doors simultaneously and hold the girls and plant a smooch. Paul picks Suzan up and takes her to the back seat and Michael takes the driving seat with Veronica on the side and again a deep smooch goes on between Michael and Veronica on one side and Paul and Suzan on the back seat. Paul Who wants the first ride then? Girls scream loudly in affirmation. Michael...

Introducing 'Bob M'.

bob m — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:56:20 GMT

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE AR-SA

Curl up with

beatutiful heart — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:17:24 GMT

Hi, this is a phrase from a piece from New York Times, which got me confused about what it really means. - Curling up with hybrid books, Videos included. It seems that I have ever come across Curling up with somewhere in the past, but I just had it going unsolved in its meaning because looking up everything never worked out. Any of you bringing me any kind of hints or answer to my question would be appreciaeted. Thanks

Re: In a way vs So that

mister micawber — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:15:38 GMT

The nail capsules are made in a way that/so that you place the capsule at the tip of your nail and not at the end of it. They place the nail at the tip of your nail and then file it so that you can't see where the real one meets the fake one .

Re: What the Hell?

wordsmith — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:25:43 GMT

So now I'm persona non grata because: There you go, with the legal terminology again. :-) I think what some people here are objecting to that the preponderance of your posts seem to be off topic. However, the Roman Polanski debate is kind of on topic, isn't it? In fact I'm the first person who posted here about it. I don't see what you've written here in the past few days that's so out of bounds. Sure you get a little, er, spirited, at times, but so do some people who take contrary views. Hint: never say that something said about you is potentially libelous. Everybody, take a chill pill. Psst! Hey, there's a guy named Roger that killed someone. W ; )

Re: What the Hell?

philby — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 02:00:51 GMT

In a way vs So that

alc24 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:07:17 GMT

Which would you say? (Talking about putting fake nails on) The nail capsules are made in a way that/so that you place the capsule at the tip of your nail and not at the end of it. They place the nail at the tip of your nail and then file your nail so that you can't see where the real one meets the the fake nail/so you can't see the delineation. Can you help me correct this, I found this on a site and though some of the parts were a bit off. Thanks

Re: GRAMMAR & PUNCTUATION CHECK

mister micawber — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:08:20 GMT

Hello ladies, I'm taking advantage of Vesper's nap to write this. Today , my husband Sam came home from a gig and informed me that his sister Lillie is getting married on very short notice. The wedding is in six weeks . Lillie's fiance is originally from Berlin, Germany, and the wedding will be held at his parents' Villa. This wouldn't be a problem for Sam and me if we didn't have Vesper, but since we do , we are unsure if we will be attending, because we are dreadfully scared of taking our daughter on a plane. Vesper is one month old. I am curious whether any of you have travelled with your children as young as my daughte r. We are planning a trip to England in the spring of 2010, because part of my family lives there, but by then ,...