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

Re: Some problems with plural noun?

Avangi — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:39:27 GMT

Hi h & k, WELCOME TO THE FORUMS ! ! ! Thanks for joining us.

I guess we'd consider as irregular plurals, things like deer, deer; man, men; child, children; hoof, hooves.

"Vocabulary" can be either countable or uncountable. His English vocabulary comprises only a hundred words, but he has extensive vocabularies in French and German.

Improving vocabulary is a major goal of the new reading program.

Best wishes, - A.

Re: Some problems with plural noun?

Mr Wordy — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:13:30 GMT

The plural of "vocabulary" is "vocabularies". This word follows the normal rules for forming plurals.

The other two that you mention are not "irregular plural nouns". They are called "uncountable nouns", and they do not have a plural form. If you search Google for "countable and uncountable nouns" then you will find lots of information. See, for example, http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslcount2.html

Some problems with plural noun?

hugsandkissess — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:00:36 GMT

Ok! Is "vocabulary" a plural noun?

Vocabulary not Vocabularies

Can you please give a list of irregular plural nouns?

Furniture not Furnitures
Information not Informations

and so on...

using photoalbums from the net-ideas for teachers

linguaprof — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:24:40 GMT

My tips:
Look at the photoalbum: http://picasaweb.google.com/Sean.Pigg/MimsAndSeanSHouse
With an elementary/pre-intermediate student these pictures could be used to teach:
1. The vocabulary of house and living.
2. Present simple by asking: What do they usually do in this room/ place? (interrogative, negative too)
3. Present continuous, by using the pictures with people, asking What are they doing?, etc.(interrogative, negative too)
4. The use of There is, There are. (interrogative, negative too)
5. Countable, uncountable nouns- much and many- Many chairs, much space
6. Prepositions of place.
7. Comparatives and superlatives- This room is bigger than that one. This is the largest room., etc.

These are just a few ideas. Have fun!
Peter

Re: MM's 10-letter word

Grammar Geek — Sat, 31 May 2008 17:49:39 GMT

It's not actually in my active vocabulary, but the concept was. My husband gave me a book of mangled song lyrics with cartoon pictures to match. I always did hear "There's a bad moon on the rise" as "There's a bathroom on the right." (I guess the living room was on the left? But then, if you consider that the line about the bustle in your hedgerow is correct, who knows what these crazy rock-n-rollers are up to?)

Anyway, I knew I had heard it, so I just had to look it up to remember the correct word. (And saying it was related to Spoonerisms was a big clue.)

Okay, this one is for Tanit.

14 letters. 6 syllabiles. Abstract noun.

Re: MM's 10-letter word

Mister Micawber — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:34:26 GMT

.
pejoration -- No. What happened to pluperfect?
Is it ... an adjective? a noun? a verb? -- A noun

Would you say it's related to ... grammar? vocabulary? pronunciation?-- Pronunciation.

I'm not going to be very coy with this one, because I don't think it's in anyone's active vocabulary. I just happened to think of it because it's related to Spoonerisms... and I had to look it up to check the spelling. It is a phenomenon which produced this mouldy old joke:

A Latino named Jose went to America to see the Yankees vs. the Red Socks. When he got his ticket, it was in the nosebleed section. He did not care what section he was in. Anyway, it was game day. Everyone stood for the National Anthem. When Jose got home, he said, "Mama, they made a song in America just for me." -- "How does it go, hijo?" -- "It goes, 'Jose, can you see?'

Re: MM's 10-letter word

Tanit — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:36:52 GMT

Is it ... an adjective? a noun? a verb?

Would you say it's related to ... grammar? vocabulary? pronunciation?

Re: Differences between English and your native language

Cool Breeze — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:49:42 GMT

Finnish is extremely rich in compounds. This because all concepts are written as one word. Therefore all of these examples are compounds in Finnish: a collection of butterflies, a heap of sand, a bottle of beer, a department store, foreign policy, air force, labour permit, night train etc. Since countless nouns can be added after "a collection of" and after similar expressions, there is no limit to compounds and it would be impossible and pointless to try to include them in a dictionary.

Another convenient thing is that it is always possible to form an adjective and a noun from a place name. There must be more than a million towns and villages in the world, which means that in the Finnish vocabulary there are more than a million words to denote people who live in these places. Even if a person has never heard the name of a foreign village, he knows what to call a person who lives there. English is extremely awkward in this respect. If you live in New York, you are a New Yorker. Those who live in London are Londoners, but those who live in Moscow are Muscovites and those who live in Grantham are Granthamians. I wonder what to call anyone who lives in Uppsala or Kauniainen?

Cheers

Vocabulary--Conformity

ceo101 — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:46:09 GMT

Hello everyone. It has been a long time since I posted. Since my last post I have been working hard on improving my vocabulary and writing skills.
I still have trouble understanding and using some words, mainly nouns ending in ity like the word conformity. I have written a few sentences using this word, but I am unsure if I am using it correctly. I am convince that I am using the first two sentence correctly--A &B but I am not to sure about C&D.

Conformity. N. being like other things or people

In this definition does people refer to a group or can it mean a single person (being like someone).

A. Johnâs conformity has gotten out of control that he doesnât know who he is anymore.

B. Judge Mathew told the plaintiff he hated conformity and to be himself.

C. In conformity to the Mexican mafia gang, Tony started dressing and acting like them.

D. The conformity of his clothes to Elvis is evident.

Re: What makes English so difficult to learn?

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 18:34:01 GMT

Hello, another English teacher here. I have been teaching English in China for about 2 and a half years now and also speak fluent French, decent Spanish and am learning Chinese (not as hard as you may think once you get the hang of those tones, easy grammar). Now I'll start off by saying that English seems to be an incredibly easy language to communicate with (and by this I mean to give the general idea of what you're trying to say). However, if you want to learn English like a native speaker then it's a completely different story. The pronunciation CAN be difficult to learn depending on your native language and also the age you attempt to learn it at. Training your tongue and mouth to move the same way a native speaker does can be difficult to do, especially if you're like many of my students who got their start at an older age or didn't have good teachers. I've also noticed that my younger students are able to mimic my speech much easier than the older ones speaking, both of whom are studying at the same level. I started learning French when I was 4 years old (Quebec French, I'm Canadian) and because of the quality of my teachers and my young age I was able to become quite good with my pronunciation. With my Chinese because I'm learning from scratch from native speakers my pronunciation is also decent (notice I said decent, not great, although when speaking Chinese I'm always understood). Native language has a lot to do with it too as the sounds you use in one language may be very different for another. I've taught in both the north and south of China and find that the people all have the same problems. Chinese people have problems with s (they often pronounce it as a sh sound) and with closing their mouth for the letter m ("sometimes" is a nightmare for them and they often say it like "suntine"). L and R can also be troublesome. One can't forget sentence stress as well as well as linking words together to make it go smoothly.

The vocabulary can also be a pain. Someone here mentioned 150,000 words in the English language but the number is actually much higher. The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition) contains over 600,000 definitions. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged contains 475,000 main headwords and it is believed the language grows by 25,000 words a year. Don't believe me, check Wikipedia. There's also the difference in spelling and vocabulary between the different forms of English. British English and American English use different words and the words that are the same can be spelled differently. American English and Canadian English essentially share the same vocabulary to a large degree but the spelling of Canadian English in many ways is closer to British English. British English is pretty much the English form most Asian and European countries will learn but American pop culture will also have an influence, not to mention the American economy and it's impact. This can all be very confusing. To the person saying they are tired of using "well" as in "well, then..." there are many substitutes you could use.

The grammar is also a nuisance. It's not the hardest of things but certainly isn't the easiest. Sure French has a gender attached to all of it's nouns (which I hated when learning it), but English still has more exceptions to it's rules that need to me memorized. So many even native speakers have trouble with it. A language like Chinese that may seem hard to speak actually has very simple grammar. For example if you wanted to ask someone where they are you would say "ni zai na li" or simply "ni zai nar" (you where?). To ask a question in Chinese you merely ad "ma" to the end of a statement. "Ta hui shuo zhongwen" is "he/she speaks Chinese whereas "ta hui shuo zhongwen ma" is "does he/she speak Chinese?". Also in Chinese as there are no forms of he or she.

It's impossible to say which language is easy and which is hard when compared to each other because there are so many things that need to be taken into consideration. Let's just say that English has it's easy parts and it's ridiculously difficult parts as well. Speaking at a native speaker level can be done and I know people who have done this, but it takes a lot of hard work, good instruction, and a good learning atmosphere. I hope all that made sense, I stumbled onto this site a 2 in the morning and am quite tired.