Search results for 'tag:Vocabulary tag:Idioms' matching tags 'Vocabulary' and 'Idioms'

proofreading needed

changeling — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:17:16 GMT

Hi everybody!

Could you, please, check my grammar and vocabulary in the following sentences?

Every now and then you will want to enjoy a whole chunk of baked meat. First, you should learn about making your meat soft and tender instead of dry and tough one. The top tip for a succulent baked ham is the right marinating process. It's better to buy fresh and low-fat ham. To make it really tasty, try to get cooled meat, not frozen one. Make this dish for Christmas party when the whole family gathers around the table. Your family and friends will eat it up! (will eat heartily? Could you suggest any idioms to say âto enjoy mealâ)

Thanks in advance

Re: Standard spoken English

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 08:57:36 GMT

"In turn, standard spoken English is said to have its own 'grammar, vocabulary and idiom'. How do we know what is to be excluded from the standard vocabulary of spoken English? And how are its idioms to be decided on?"

Bex, Watts. 1999

Re: Please help Urgent - Letter to Human Resource

noob_plz_dun_laugh — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 04:56:13 GMT

This is a classic case of a non-English speaker unfamiliar with the idioms of the English language. Of course, this is entirely not your fault because it is not your first language. Instead of correcting this letter, I suggest you improve on your overall usage of vocabulary in the English language. Reading English books such as novels, prep books for TOEFL, idioms, grammar will help as well as watching English movies as well.

One tip I would like to let you know. In the English society, "communication skills" are very important. What does "communication skills" mean? It means how to express your deepest emotions, interests, and objectives in the most boring and unemotional way possible so that your target audience does not think you're an emotional nutcase.

If you're looking for an increased pay, you may say things such as "My performance has been held steady by the support of this organization and your continued support in the future will reinforce the confidence I have in my abilities. Thus, I feel that being a valuable asset to the organization may entitle me to the same benefits as the other workers that have made the growth of the organization possible."

Good luck buddy.

Re: The new EF is not as good as it was before, I feel

Pter — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 03:50:31 GMT

Yes, this also happens to me. I have been receiving notifications from Vocabulary and Idioms, Speech and Pronunciation, but never from General English Grammar.

Re: If I'm used only to Standard English, might I have trouble understanding dialects?

Mr Wordy — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:26:35 GMT

There are some differences in vocabulary and idiom across the British Isles, and you might encounter some regional words and expressions that you're not familiar with. But the core vocabulary and grammar are not hugely different, and you might find that a bigger problem is pronunciation. If you're only familiar with the sort of English spoken by middle class people from the south of England, and you go into a pub in a rough part of Glasgow, say, then you might not even realise that the people there are speaking English at all.

The native speakers I (as a native speaker myself) have most difficulty with are young urban working class people. In this case, vocabulary (lots of "yoof slang" I've never heard of) and pronunciation both cause problems. I might overhear, say, a group of youths chatting in a London suburb and only catch about 50% of it.

There's no need to try to speak regional dialects of British English yourself (unless you're particularly interested in doing so, of course). If you speak something approximating to "standard" British English then you should be able to make yourself understood anywhere in the British Isles.

Re: At the stationery shop

RayH — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:51:13 GMT

Barbara, Delmobile and anyone else who cares to comment,

This probably isn't the best place to ask but this post and the responses bring up a question I've been wondering about. The dialog here is a perfect example of correct grammar and vocabulary but it contains several examples of what a native speaker would consider stilted phrasing. When checking someone's language do you simply check for grammar and vocabulary or do you also attempt to correct it for "colloquialness" or "idiomaticness", if you will? And if so, how far do you go? I seems unfair to rewrite someone's work just because he doesn't use the contractions and idioms a native speaker would use. I look forward to any guidance anyone cares to offer.

Re: Native-speaker/native language

Tanit — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:03:57 GMT

Forbes

I remember listening to a radio programme about the varieties of forms of speech in Italy ... They simply change language like they change clothes without worrying about the status of their "home" speech.

There's some truth in that article. My parents, for instance, used to speak in Sardinian (not a dialect, but recognised as an endangered language by the UNESCO) when talking to each other or to their relatives, but they would only speak Italian with my brother and me. I grew up monolingual, and although I can understand Sardinian, I am unable to articulate a sentence that contains more than a few words!

Many people who speak both Italian and their dialect, although able to switch from the first to the second depending on the context, speak a form of Italian that I would classify as regional and sub-standard. I noticed that people from Southern Italy (I have little experience of Northern Italy) who speak also a dialect usually don't speak standard Italian, but a form of language deeply affected by their dialect. Accent is not an issue. I find some grammatical structures odd, as well as the choice of some verb modes, tenses and aspects (ex. past simple versus present perfect, indicative versus subjunctive), and have problems with some vocabulary (let alone idioms, of course). I am usually able to understand the general meaning, though.

Re: Idioms and vocabulary

Mister Micawber — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:22:15 GMT

.
1) Air pollution irritates our respiratory systems or Air pollution irritates our respiratory system ? -- Both are OK. I'd use the former.

2) Could you tell me the idiom of which the meaning is: You are angry about something and you blame it on something else?-- I can think of no single idiom for both ideas.

3) The average number of the population of a nation (number) divided by the area (km), how do we call the result? -- Population density.

4) What is the Aussie way of saying good-bye ? -- Dunno, mate

5) Do we ever add s to vocabulary, ie vocabularies? -- Only rarely

Idioms and vocabulary

Belly — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:02:44 GMT

1) Air pollution irrates our respiratory systems or Air pollution irrates our respiratory system ?

2) Could you tell me the idiom of which the meaning is: You are angry about something and you blame it on something else ?

3) The average number of the population of a nation (number) divided by the area (km), how do we call the result?

4) What is the Aussie way of saying good-bye ?

5) Do we ever add s to vocabulary, ie vocabularies?

Re: it's ten of 5.00

Yankee — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:04:08 GMT

Hi Openmind

Have you ever considered changing your moniker to "DoubtingThomas"? (Just teasing you a little!)

To put it in the simplest possible terms, using 'of' instead of 'to' when telling time is basically simply a matter of replacing the word 'to' with the word 'of'.

Since of basically follows the same "rules"/pattern as to, I'd say an Ameican ESL teacher is likely to treat this usage of of a bit like an idiom since it is usually covered only after the basic mechanics of time-telling with 'to' have been mastered, and also because this usage is a special characteristic of American English. (By the way, the words til and before are also sometimes used instead of to). As I mentioned, I would not expect this usage to be covered in a beginner level lesson on telling the time. Therefore, by the time an American teacher presents the usage, there is no need to rehash all of the basics of how to tell time in English. If I went into all of the basic details of telling time with students who had already mastered the basics, they'd not only be bored silly, but would probably think I was nuts to boot. On the other hand, if I had a beginner-level group and attempted to teach them 'to', 'of', 'til' and 'before' all at once, they'd only end up totally confused -- and they'd probably think I was nuts, too.

This usage of 'of' does tend to be a spoken one since people normally use numbers rather than words when writing the time. In other words, in written English you're likely to see 5:45 instead of 'five forty-five' and '(a) quarter to/of/till/before six', or 2:55 instead of 'two fifty-five' and 'five of/to/till/before three'. However, if you read novels (by authors such as Steven King, for example) or spend time talking with lots of Americans, you will be able to see/hear this usage of the word 'of' in action.

Here is a German ESL site that mentions the use of 'of' instead of 'to':

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary/time

And here are some more sites to look at:

http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2006/08/telling-time-and-dates.html

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/ask_about_english/pdfs/aae_ag_uk_us_070424.pdf