short 'the' (before a consonant sound) French le Oddly e nough, a large p e r centage of unstressed English vow e ls "reduce to schwa" in rap i d speech, including those underlined here. It varies, depending on the

I think we should keep the discussion in the context of "english as a second language". I think idioms can be very difficult for the individual whose native tongue is not English. It can be very difficult to teach the meaning of these

Please, I need a hand with my letter of motivation to apply for a Ph D Program. Could you help me to correct orthography and other things you think it could sound better? Thank you! I am writing to express my interest in applying for the PhD

1 real 1: of or relating to fixed, permanent, or immovable things (as lands or tenements) 2b (2): of or relating to practical or everyday concerns or activities <left school to live in the real world> 1 yellow 1 a: of the color yellow Which

"Considering that I didn't study, I did pretty well on the test" I think "considering" is an participle adjective phrase, but I don't know what it modifies... Believe it or not, considering is a preposition. According

Sometimes, in spoken english, I'm not able to distinguish whether it's "I'd have to" or "I have to". I once was not able to hear the difference at all, but with time I learned to figure it out from the context, and

Thanks for your replies. So in everyday speech past perfect isn't necessery? Is it only used in written and formal (for example novels, TV news etc.) english? Is it true that it's used more often in british english? Im Polish and in my

Hi guys, I am not quite sure what the following sentence really means: When he was alone, he drank gin rather than wine, which he preferred. A. He preferred wine. B. He preferred drinking gin rather than wine. In other words, does

Hey! That's a little tricky. You can say CAN AS /kæn/ and kɛn as weakened, but you can pronounce the negative the same way in fast speech. all depends on the context. That's the reason you sometimes hear "I can't do it the same

I doubt I'd say 'I' as /ai/ in fast speech. More like just / ə /. That's a good point too, but it's not a schwa in my opinion. For me, it's the first vowel in the diphthong /aɪ/, as in "eye". In other words,