I once had a student named Marketa. Her energy and passion for learning English were incredible. If she couldn't find the right word, she'd say 27 other words to describe exactly what she meant.
"What's your secret?" I asked her one afternoon over coffee. After she told me her story, I realized just how important English was for traveling.
This is video number 2 in a 2-part series about the verbs MAKE & LET. If you haven't watched Part 1, I recommend you do that now, and then come back.
Today we're going to talk about verb LET. Now, as we learned in the video about MAKE, two things are important to consider. First, who has the most power in the relationship between the two people? And second, what does each person want? Now, LET usually has a more positive connotation than MAKE, for example: My boss MAKES me stay late on Friday nights. It's not something I want. Whereas LET...My boss LETS me go home early on my birthday. That's something I want. It's a little more positive. Let's get started.
This video is part of a 2-Part series on MAKE & LET and the difference between them.
Now, today we will focus on MAKE. MAKE can be kind of difficult to understand because in English we use it with so many different meanings. For example, you can MAKE a mistake, you can also MAKE dinner. You can also MAKE your husband make dinner. That third meaning is what we're going to talk about today.
To understand MAKE & LET, we need to look at two factors: First, who has the power in the relationship? Second, What does each person want?
Today were are talking about Halloween!
Halloween is a holiday on October thirty-first. Children dress up in costumes, knock on strangers' doors and yell, "Trick or Treat!" and the strangers give them candy. Basically, it's the best day of the year.
The official fruits of Halloween are pumpkins. But we don't eat them, we carve them. To CARVE means to cut a hard material, like a pumpkin skin, to produce an object or design.
Last week we learned what SEE, LOOK & WATCH literally mean. Today we're going to learn 21 expressions commonly used by native English speakers.
SEE
To see eye-to-eye means to agree with someone. I see eye-to-eye with my boss. We usually agree on most topics. When you tell someone I see your point, it means they have just said something and you agree with that thing. See you later is an informal way of saying goodbye. As you are explaining something and someone says I see at the end of your explanation, it means they understand you, they can relate to what you are saying.
SEE, WATCH and LOOK are all things we do with our eyes. But which verb should we use, and when? Well, it depends on a few things: First, do we intend to focus on something? Or, did we only notice something, accidentally? Second, was the thing we were looking at still, like a statue? Or was it moving, like a theater performance? Third, were we focused on how it looked? For example, the color, the shape? Or, were we focused on how it moved? Lastly, I'll show you a few exceptions. Let's get started.
This week, we'll learn about the difference between FOR and SINCE. FOR and SINCE are always very difficult for my students. In fact, I hear students mistaking them almost every day. In this video, I'll teach you a trick for remembering the difference. We use FOR and SINCE to answer the question "How long?" FOR can be used in the present, the past, and the future. I studied FOR 9 hours….past. We’ve been on holiday FOR 2 days.…present perfect. I’ll be in China for 4 weeks.…future.
A student of mine was really excited to tell me, "I worked HARDLY on my homework." I think I know what she meant, but that's not what she said. What do you think the problem with her sentence was? Today, we'll learn. This is something I teach at the pre-intermediate levels. But even my advanced students make this mistake. What's the difference between HARD and HARDLY? Easy, right? One's an adjective and one's an adverb. Well, it's not so simple...
Religion can be a hot button topic. But it’s also a topic with some great vocabulary! So let’s get started!