I receive a lot of messages from English learners like you. Many, many English learners like you feel the same frustration: you want to speak English better. There are three main parts to speaking English: knowing the right words (vocabulary), putting the words in the right order (grammar), and saying the words properly (pronunciation). Speaking […]
Category: Blog
English Grammar: Adverbs of Frequency
Adverbs are very important words in English! They are one of the 8 parts of English speech. However, there are many different types of adverbs. It’s often difficult to remember where to put adverbs in a sentence. In this grammar article, you’ll learn specifically about adverbs of frequency and how to use them in a sentence. […]
English Vocabulary: Don’t Call It a Toilet!
In Canada and the US it is impolite to use the word toilet. You can call the actual physical thing a toilet, but if you want to say that you need to use the toilet, you must say something else. We have all sorts of other polite names for it! You can start by saying: Where is […]
English Vocabulary: Makeup! (Video)
This is an intermediate/advanced vocabulary lesson for people learning English as a foreign language. In this video, you’ll learn some common makeup vocabulary. You will learn the correct names for different makeup products, parts of the face, as well as verbs and adjectives to use to talk about makeup. This video is also a good […]
5 Funny Phrases to Use When You Want to Say that Someone is Dumb!
In English, we have lots of creative and colourful ways of saying that someone is not very smart! It’s not very nice to call someone ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’, so in English we have a lot of funny expressions to use instead. 1. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed! There are many other versions […]
English Grammar: How to Use Present Simple to Talk about Future Events
The present simple can be used to talk about talk about scheduled future events. These are events that happen according to a schedule or timetable. They are usually scheduled by someone else and they are usually public events. Tomorrow is Friday. I fly to Paris next week. The plane departs at 8 p.m. The train to Ottawa leaves at 11:30 a.m. When do you leave for NYC? […]
English Pronunciation: An Introduction to the IPA
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a set of symbols that represent all the sounds in a language. All the sounds that make up American English pronunciation can be represented by symbols. I strongly believe that all English learners should learn the IPA. I use the IPA in many of my pronunciation video lessons and in the […]
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English Grammar: When to Use “Have Got” November 27, 2009 by Melanie Is have got acceptable English grammar? When can you use have or have got in English? 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 […]
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English Grammar: How to Use “So” and “Too” January 7, 2010 by Melanie I’ve put so and too together in this lesson because I have heard so many English learners confuse them! Why do the smallest words always cause the most trouble? In this lesson we will focus on so and too as adverbs and […]
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English Grammar: The Second 2nd Conditional October 3, 2010 by Melanie Conditional sentences in English are used to talk about events and their results. The second (2nd) conditional is the present hypothetical conditional. Hypothetical means imaginary or not real. Use the second conditional when you want to imagine that the present, right now, is different […]