Saturday, November 28, 2009
English Grammar Lessons
Here, I focus on specific problems people have with English grammar.
Parts of speech:
Verbs
Have or Have got?
Have to and Have got to
Future – Using the present simple to talk about future events
Future – What are you doing this weekend?
Gerunds and Infinitives – Gerunds and infinitives for purpose
Gerunds and Infinitives – Combinations with gerunds
Present Perfect – Have you ever ________ ?
Present Perfect – How long have you ____________?
Modal Verbs
Using ‘Could’ to Guess Information
Nouns
Adjectives that act like nouns
When NOT to use ‘the’
Adverbs
So or Too? – intensifiers
*this also includes such, so much, so many, too much and too many!
Conjunctions
Using ‘as if’ as a conjunction and exclamation!
Sentence Structure:
Conditional Sentences – An Introduction
Conditional Sentences – 0 (Zero) Conditional
Conditional Sentences – 1st (First) Conditional
Conditional Sentences – 2nd (Second) Conditional
Conditional Sentences – 3rd (Third) Conditional
Tell me what you think of the movie after you’ve seen it!
What goes better with a barbecue on a beautiful summer day than beer?
English Vocabulary
A Chip on Your Shoulder
Metaphor Explained: ______ is the ________ of _________ !
Better Late Than Never!
5+ creative expressions to say that someone is dumb!
Phrases and expressions with ‘king’ and ‘queen’
Phrases and expressions with ‘dog’
Different Ways to Say that Something Is Expensive!
Expressions with ‘bake’ and ‘kitchen’
Expressions with ‘garden’ and ‘backyard’
Expressions with ‘laundry’ and ‘wash’
Do Not Call It a Toilet!
Vocabulary:
The Backyard
Using Verbs Correctly:
Listen or Hear?
Explain
Play ~ Do ~ Go – Verbs used to talk about sports!
Like
Go
Confusing Words:
Everyday or Every Day?
Sometimes, Sometime or Some Time?
How to:
How to Laugh in English!
Talk about Transportation
How to relax!
Spotlight on:
The Olympics
Weddings
Relationships
Fashion Week
The Academy Awards / Oscars
Going to the Movies!
Baking
Pop Culture:
A Whisperer
9/11 and 911
Social Media
English Reading
Repetition is also essential for learning English – the more times you see a word, an expression, or a particular sentence structure, the easier it is to remember!
I write about life in Canada because understanding the lifestyle and culture in a country helps to understand the language!
Read about life in Canada . . .
O Canada!
Do All Canadians Speak English and French?
Things to Do in the Snow!
The Olympic Torch Relay
Canadian Holidays
Canadian Thanksgiving
Trick or Treat – It’s Halloween!What is Christmas?
Who is Santa Claus?
Valentine’s Day
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
It’s Easter Time!
English Listening Lessons
- a short story about life in Canada
- discussion questions
- a short pronunciation lesson
On each page here on my website, you’ll find the complete transcript for each listening lesson, as well as listening comprehension questions and vocabulary definitions.
If listening is your worst English skill, try this activity:
How to Practice Listening
The more listening you do in English, the more comfortable you will become with the language. Try to do as much listening as possible every day. Make sure you listen to native speakers.
All my listening lessons are available on YouTube.
NEW! My listening lessons are now available as a podcast! Download the lesson in .mp3 form from itunes or podbean.com
Lesson #12 – “The Laundromat!”
Lesson #11 – “The Chair!”
Lesson #10 – “The Soccer Game!”
Lesson #9 – “At the Hospital”
Lesson #8 – “Chocolate Apples”
Lesson #7 – “It’s Summer!”
Lesson #6 – “Sex and the City 2!”
Lesson #5 – “Thor to the Rescue!”
Lesson #4 – “What So Special About May 24th?”
Lesson #3 – “The Worst Bus Ride. Ever!”
Lesson #2 – “What Would We Do Without Mothers?”
Lesson #1 – “Stars on Ice”
English Pronunciation Lessons
Forget about how to pronounce words in your own language – English pronunciation is completely different from your language! The letters may be the same, but they are pronounced very differently in English. Focus on correct English pronunciation!
The Alphabet
How to Say the Alphabet
Numbers
How to Say Numbers 0-99
How to Say Numbers 100 – 1 trillion
How to Say Different Numbers (Time, Money, Years, Sports Scores, Population)
Vocabulary
11 Words with Silent Letters
7 Commonly Mispronounced Words
5 More Commonly Mispronounced Words
Words That Look the Same but are Pronounced Differently!
The Sounds of English
50 English Words with ‘ch’ Pronounced /k/
25 English Words with ‘ch’ Pronounced ‘sh’
Practice the ‘sh’ and ‘ch’ Sounds
If you have any requests of something you would like to see in a pronounciation video, please leave a comment!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Grammar – Have or Have Got?
In this post, I answer these questions and more! I explain when you can use have or have got, the correct form of have got (hint: “does she have got?” is NOT the correct question form!), and also when you can’t use have got!
In spoken and informal written English, have got can be used instead of have in these four situations:
We have a house in Vancouver.
We’ve got a house in Vancouver.
She doesn’t have any money.
She hasn’t got any money.
He has a new car!
He’s got a new car!
Do you have a minute?
Have you got a minute?
I don’t have time right now.
I haven’t got time right now.
I have an idea!
I’ve got an idea!
I have a new boyfriend.
I’ve got a new boyfriend.
Mike doesn’t have any brothers.
Mike hasn’t got any brothers.
Do you have any children?
Have you got any children?
Carol has brown eyes.
Carol’s got brown eyes.
He doesn’t have blond hair.
He hasn’t got blond hair.
Does your sister have long hair?
Has your sister got long hair?
I have a bad cold.
I’ve got a bad cold.
She doesn’t have a headache anymore.
She hasn’t got a headache anymore.
Do you have the flu?
Have you got the flu?
Notes:
*Have got CANNOT be used for any other use of have (for example, talking about actions and experiences):
I usually have dinner at 18:00.
NOT: I usually have got dinner at 18:00
*Have got is ONLY used in the present simple tense. It CANNOT be used in any other tense:
I had a bad cold last week.
NOT: I had got a bad cold last week.
*Continuous / progressive forms are NOT possible with these meanings of have and have got.
*Have got has NOTHING to do with get. It is NOT the present perfect form of get. [In North American English, have gotten is the present perfect of get.]
*Sometimes the have is left out of have got in SPOKEN English (it is not acceptable to leave out have in written English):
(This is a popular advertising campaign for milk in North America. It should be “Have you got milk?)
(In English ‘a minute’ is often used to mean ‘a short amount of time.’ People often say: ‘Got a minute?’ which is short for ‘Do you have a minute?’ or ‘Have you got a minute?’)
(A song by the Black Eyed Peas. It should actually be ‘I have got a feeling.’ Gotta is not a proper English word. It is what native speakers sometimes say instead of ‘got a’ or ‘got to.’)
Now that you understand when to use have or have got, let’s move on to have to and have got to!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Reading – The Olympic Torch Relay
Canada’s torch relay is the longest one ever held in a single country. By the time the relay is finished, the torch will have travelled 45,000 km over 106 days, and it will have been carried by 12,000 torchbearers [people carrying the torch] through over 1000 towns and cities in all 13 provinces and territories. Each torchbearer will carry the torch for approximately 300-400 metres. [A relay is when something is passed from one person to another (think of the relay events in running or swimming).]
The torch will mostly be carried by runners on foot, but it will also be transported by canoe, rowboat, skateboard, logging truck, fishing boat, sea plane, mountain bike, bicycle, surf board, dog sled, chuck wagon, horse and buggy, and many more forms of transportation!
Seeing the torch being carried through your hometown is an incredibly exciting moment for Canadians! We are so proud to host the Olympic Games, but most Canadians will only be able to watch the Olympics on TV. Seeing the torch so close is our connection to the Olympics! As you can see from the photo above, I got to see the Olympic Torch when it passed through my town in December! It was so much fun.
The relay started on October 30th in Victoria, British Columbia on the west coast of Canada. The torch has already travelled to Alert, which is the northernmost habited place in the country (and the world!), and only 800 km from the North Pole. It has also been to Cape Spear, Newfoundland, the easternmost point in North America. Soon it will arrive at Point Pelee, the southernmost point in Canada (just below the northern California border!), and finally it will end up back on the west coast in Vancouver on Feb 12, 2010 to light the cauldron at the Opening Ceremonies. The cauldron will remain lit until the end of the Games, when it will be extinguished during the Closing Ceremonies.
In ancient Greece, fire was considered sacred and a fire was kept burning in Olympia, Greece for the duration of the Olympic Games. Fire has been part of the modern Olympic Games since being reintroduced at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is a link between the ancient and modern Olympics. The torch relay event was actually introduced at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany as a propaganda exercise to showcase Adolf Hitler’s Germany to the world. Even with such a nefarious beginning, the torch relay has become an important part of both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
Related Post:
The short version from Reuters
You can read more about the history of the torch here:
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