In this post I want to look at how to use the phrase brainstorming correctly, for my YouTube video lesson on the subject click here.
For more lessons click here to go to my website.
Brainstorming is used, usually in business situations, to describe when a group of people come together to solve a problem.
Normally a problem is identified and then a group of people come together and think about the problem and express their ideas to fix the problem. How good or how bad the ideas are, is not important. A list is made of all the ideas and then best ideas are the ones chosen one to be used to solve the problem.
BECAREFUL some people think that the phrase brainstorming is offensive to people who suffer from epilepsy, however in a 2005 UK survey of epilepsy sufferers 95% said they did not find the word offensive.
Click here to go to my website for more:
www.smartlanguagesolutions.com
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Tuesday, 18 December 2007
Question Tags
Question Tags.
In this post I want to talk about using question tags. To see my YouTube video on the subject, click here or click here to check out my website.
In English we use question tags as a way of moving a conversation on (i.e. keeping it going).
To use a question tag, we make a statement then we put a two word tag at the end of the statement, which we hope will make the other person or people in conversation with us continue the conversation.
For example:
Statement:
“It’s a beautiful day”
Question tag:
“Isn’t it?”
Answer:
“Yes it is. (or no it’s not)”
Q: “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
A: “Yes it is”
Statement:
You’ve been to Spain
Question tag:
Haven’t you?
Answer:
Yes I have. (or no I haven’t)
Q: “You’ve been to Spain, haven’t you?”
A: Yes I have.
How to make a question tag.
The first part of the any sentence using question tags is a statement, and it is the statement that is the key to the question tag.
In our example statement, “It’s a beautiful day”, we can see that the first part of the statement are the words “It is”.
To make the question tag, we use these two words and do two actions to them!
The first action is to reverse the word order:
“It is” = “is it”
The second action is to change the verb from positive to negative, if the verb is positive, or from negative to positive if the verb is negative.
In this example the verb is positive so we change it to negative.
“Is” = “isn’t”
This then gives us the question tag; “isn’t it?”
“It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”
In our second example, the statement is:
“You’ve been to Spain”
So to make the question tag we take the first two words in the statement; “You have”, reverse the order, “have you” and make the verb negative “haven’t” which makes the question tag “haven’t you”
“You’ve been to Spain, haven’t you?”
If the sentence is negative, the same rule applies:
Example:
“You don’t like wet weather, do you?”
The first two words in the sentence are “You don’t”.
Applying the rule we reverse the order, “You don’t” = “don’t you”, now we make the negative verb positive, “don’t = do”, this gives us the question tag “do you”
Remember English is Easy, especially if your teacher is good!
If you would like to know more then click here to check out my website:
www.smartlanguagesolutions.com
In this post I want to talk about using question tags. To see my YouTube video on the subject, click here or click here to check out my website.
In English we use question tags as a way of moving a conversation on (i.e. keeping it going).
To use a question tag, we make a statement then we put a two word tag at the end of the statement, which we hope will make the other person or people in conversation with us continue the conversation.
For example:
Statement:
“It’s a beautiful day”
Question tag:
“Isn’t it?”
Answer:
“Yes it is. (or no it’s not)”
Q: “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
A: “Yes it is”
Statement:
You’ve been to Spain
Question tag:
Haven’t you?
Answer:
Yes I have. (or no I haven’t)
Q: “You’ve been to Spain, haven’t you?”
A: Yes I have.
How to make a question tag.
The first part of the any sentence using question tags is a statement, and it is the statement that is the key to the question tag.
In our example statement, “It’s a beautiful day”, we can see that the first part of the statement are the words “It is”.
To make the question tag, we use these two words and do two actions to them!
The first action is to reverse the word order:
“It is” = “is it”
The second action is to change the verb from positive to negative, if the verb is positive, or from negative to positive if the verb is negative.
In this example the verb is positive so we change it to negative.
“Is” = “isn’t”
This then gives us the question tag; “isn’t it?”
“It’s a nice day, isn’t it?”
In our second example, the statement is:
“You’ve been to Spain”
So to make the question tag we take the first two words in the statement; “You have”, reverse the order, “have you” and make the verb negative “haven’t” which makes the question tag “haven’t you”
“You’ve been to Spain, haven’t you?”
If the sentence is negative, the same rule applies:
Example:
“You don’t like wet weather, do you?”
The first two words in the sentence are “You don’t”.
Applying the rule we reverse the order, “You don’t” = “don’t you”, now we make the negative verb positive, “don’t = do”, this gives us the question tag “do you”
Remember English is Easy, especially if your teacher is good!
If you would like to know more then click here to check out my website:
www.smartlanguagesolutions.com
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
How to use So and Neither
In this post I would like to look how to use “so” and “neither” to express agreement with someone.
If you want to see my YouTube video on the subject, click here.
For more lessons click here to go to my website
When someone makes a statement, you might want to agree or disagree with them. If the statement is a positive statement, and you want to agree with the statement then you use so, if the statement is negative, and you want to agree with it then you neither.
The positive statement:
I’ve got a new car.
You agree with it:
So have I
The negative statement:
I don’t have a TV
You agree with it:
Neither do I.
When we use so and neither, our answer must use a positive auxiliary verb.
So have I NOT So haven’t I
Neither do I NOT Neither don’t I
If we want to disagree with a statement then we use the opposite auxiliary verb from the original statement:
The positive statement:
I’ve got a new car
You don’t agree with it:
I haven’t
The negative statement:
I don’t have a TV
You don’t agree
I have
If you want to more lessons click here to go to my website:
www.smartlangaugesolutions.com
If you want to see my YouTube video on the subject, click here.
For more lessons click here to go to my website
When someone makes a statement, you might want to agree or disagree with them. If the statement is a positive statement, and you want to agree with the statement then you use so, if the statement is negative, and you want to agree with it then you neither.
The positive statement:
I’ve got a new car.
You agree with it:
So have I
The negative statement:
I don’t have a TV
You agree with it:
Neither do I.
When we use so and neither, our answer must use a positive auxiliary verb.
So have I NOT So haven’t I
Neither do I NOT Neither don’t I
If we want to disagree with a statement then we use the opposite auxiliary verb from the original statement:
The positive statement:
I’ve got a new car
You don’t agree with it:
I haven’t
The negative statement:
I don’t have a TV
You don’t agree
I have
If you want to more lessons click here to go to my website:
www.smartlangaugesolutions.com
Friday, 23 November 2007
Using future will
In English we have five different future tenses;
Future will,
Future going to,
Present continuous used as future,
Future prefect simple and
Future perfect continuous
However the subject of today’s post is future will. Click here to see my mini lesson on Youtube about the subject.
First lets consider the construction of future will.
When we construct will in the future tense we use will + the infinitive, without “to”.
For example:
I think the team will win the game.
In this example you can see will + the infinitive of win, used without “to”
It is wrong to say:
I think the team will to win
There are three possible ways of expressing will in the future tense.
1) When we want to express a prediction
Example:
I think the team will win the game.
This means I am not 100% sure the team will win, but I am confident that they can win the game.
2) When we make a decision at the moment of speaking
Example:
I ask you, “Would you like to come to the cinema with me tonight?”
This is the first time you have heard me ask you this question and you decide your answer as I finish my question, so you answer
“Yes I will” or “No I won’t”
3) When we make a promise
Example
“I promise when I am elected I will lower the taxes”
As you can see will is used to express three different situations in English.
If you would like to learn more then click here to go to my website http://www.smartlanguagesolutions.com
Future will,
Future going to,
Present continuous used as future,
Future prefect simple and
Future perfect continuous
However the subject of today’s post is future will. Click here to see my mini lesson on Youtube about the subject.
First lets consider the construction of future will.
When we construct will in the future tense we use will + the infinitive, without “to”.
For example:
I think the team will win the game.
In this example you can see will + the infinitive of win, used without “to”
It is wrong to say:
I think the team will to win
There are three possible ways of expressing will in the future tense.
1) When we want to express a prediction
Example:
I think the team will win the game.
This means I am not 100% sure the team will win, but I am confident that they can win the game.
2) When we make a decision at the moment of speaking
Example:
I ask you, “Would you like to come to the cinema with me tonight?”
This is the first time you have heard me ask you this question and you decide your answer as I finish my question, so you answer
“Yes I will” or “No I won’t”
3) When we make a promise
Example
“I promise when I am elected I will lower the taxes”
As you can see will is used to express three different situations in English.
If you would like to learn more then click here to go to my website http://www.smartlanguagesolutions.com
The Phone!
My latest post on Youtube is about the phone, click here to see it.
I have two phones, one is in my house, it is my landline, the other is in my pocket.
The phone I keep in my pocket I take everywhere with me. Because I live in the UK I call this phone my mobile phone. If I wanted the phone number of the phone a British person takes everywhere with them I would ask them for their mobile phone number.
However when I go America I don’t call it my mobile phone anymore, I call it my cell phone. So if I wanted to ask an American person for the number of the phone they take everywhere with them I would ask them for their cell phone number!
If you would like to learn more, click here to go to my website www.smartlanguagesolutuions.com
I have two phones, one is in my house, it is my landline, the other is in my pocket.
The phone I keep in my pocket I take everywhere with me. Because I live in the UK I call this phone my mobile phone. If I wanted the phone number of the phone a British person takes everywhere with them I would ask them for their mobile phone number.
However when I go America I don’t call it my mobile phone anymore, I call it my cell phone. So if I wanted to ask an American person for the number of the phone they take everywhere with them I would ask them for their cell phone number!
If you would like to learn more, click here to go to my website www.smartlanguagesolutuions.com
Thursday, 22 November 2007
Part of the car!
In this post I would like to look at six words that are used to describe the same three parts of a car depending on whether you are speaking British English or American English.
Click here and you can see the mini lesson I posted on YouTube.
The reason I decided to write about this subject is due to the amount of American and British movies and TV shows that are seen around the world and how ubiquitous the car is in movies & TV shows.
The first part of the car I want to look at is the space at the back, where we might put our shopping or bags (or where in the movies or on TV the “bad guy” or mafia hit man might put a body!)
In British English this space is called the BOOT, so a British person would say, “I put the bags in the boot”
While in American English this space is called the trunk, so an American would say, “I put the bags in the trunk”
The second part of the car I want to discuss is the front end, where the engine is. The piece of metal that covers the engine has, like the space at the back, two different words describing it depending on where you come from.
In British English this piece of metal is called the BONNET, so a British person would say, “The engine is under the bonnet”.
While in American English this piece of metal is called the HOOD, so an America would say, “the engine is under the hood”.
Finally for now, I want to discuss the matter of speed. When an English person wants you to go faster they would say “I want you to accelerate”.
However if an American wants you to go faster they would say “I want you to give gas”.
If you want more then click here to check out our website www.smartlanguagesolutions.com
Vocabulary:
Ubiquitous – To be seen to be everywhere at the same time
Shopping – Items bought in a shop and stored together for transport by an individual
Bad Guy – In a movie, TV show, book, play etc. the person who is the evil character.
Click here and you can see the mini lesson I posted on YouTube.
The reason I decided to write about this subject is due to the amount of American and British movies and TV shows that are seen around the world and how ubiquitous the car is in movies & TV shows.
The first part of the car I want to look at is the space at the back, where we might put our shopping or bags (or where in the movies or on TV the “bad guy” or mafia hit man might put a body!)
In British English this space is called the BOOT, so a British person would say, “I put the bags in the boot”
While in American English this space is called the trunk, so an American would say, “I put the bags in the trunk”
The second part of the car I want to discuss is the front end, where the engine is. The piece of metal that covers the engine has, like the space at the back, two different words describing it depending on where you come from.
In British English this piece of metal is called the BONNET, so a British person would say, “The engine is under the bonnet”.
While in American English this piece of metal is called the HOOD, so an America would say, “the engine is under the hood”.
Finally for now, I want to discuss the matter of speed. When an English person wants you to go faster they would say “I want you to accelerate”.
However if an American wants you to go faster they would say “I want you to give gas”.
If you want more then click here to check out our website www.smartlanguagesolutions.com
Vocabulary:
Ubiquitous – To be seen to be everywhere at the same time
Shopping – Items bought in a shop and stored together for transport by an individual
Bad Guy – In a movie, TV show, book, play etc. the person who is the evil character.
Monday, 19 November 2007
In this post I would like to talk about the idiomatic expression, “Part of the Furniture”.
The other day while teaching an online lesson at Smart Language Solutions I was asked by a student, why, in English the expression “part of the furniture” is used to talk about people and not about the furniture. I have a short video lesson on the subject on YouTube and you can find it by clicking here.
At first glance it would seem that the expression “part of the furniture” would refer only to a piece of the furniture, and this would be the case when we are directly talking about the furniture. However in English when describing a piece of furniture we would normally name that piece of furniture
For example we went to a furniture store and bought a new sofa. When we got home and put the sofa home together we saw some screws on the ground and we realised that the screws were part of the sofa. As you can see here we say part of the sofa, and not part of the furniture!
So when we use the expression “Part of the furniture” we are not talking about furniture at all! In fact we use the expression, “part of the furniture” to describe a person.
When we say someone is “part of the furniture” it means that the person in question has been in a position in any organisation such as job or voluntary group for a long, long time.
So for example, you are in your job and there is one person who has worked in the company for a long time then we can that person is part of the furniture.
In other words, “John has worked in this company for 20 years, in fact John is here so long he is part of the furniture”
If you want more on this or any other English matter click here to visit my website, www.smartlanguagesolutions.com
The other day while teaching an online lesson at Smart Language Solutions I was asked by a student, why, in English the expression “part of the furniture” is used to talk about people and not about the furniture. I have a short video lesson on the subject on YouTube and you can find it by clicking here.
At first glance it would seem that the expression “part of the furniture” would refer only to a piece of the furniture, and this would be the case when we are directly talking about the furniture. However in English when describing a piece of furniture we would normally name that piece of furniture
For example we went to a furniture store and bought a new sofa. When we got home and put the sofa home together we saw some screws on the ground and we realised that the screws were part of the sofa. As you can see here we say part of the sofa, and not part of the furniture!
So when we use the expression “Part of the furniture” we are not talking about furniture at all! In fact we use the expression, “part of the furniture” to describe a person.
When we say someone is “part of the furniture” it means that the person in question has been in a position in any organisation such as job or voluntary group for a long, long time.
So for example, you are in your job and there is one person who has worked in the company for a long time then we can that person is part of the furniture.
In other words, “John has worked in this company for 20 years, in fact John is here so long he is part of the furniture”
If you want more on this or any other English matter click here to visit my website, www.smartlanguagesolutions.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
