Spoken English

Lesson #139: Mini-Lesson Monday (Part 1): All About The Unmissable Conjunction ‘And’

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🌺 “It’s the Magic and— and Mrs. Sowerby’s buns and milk and things,” said Colin. – Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden (1911). Before we dive into today’s lesson, I have a question for you: is the quotation above, taken straight from an English classic, grammatically correct? Whether you answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’, why do […]

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Lesson #138: Common Mistakes Corrected: Apostrophes, Possessive Pronouns And Possessive Apostrophes (It’s vs Its)

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Is it ‘its’ or ‘it’s’? If you have ever asked yourself that question, you are in the right place! Even if you are uncertain of the answer, know that by asking that question, you show more awareness of the possibility of making a mistake here than many people do – native English speakers included –

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Lesson #137 (Part 2): Understanding The Differences Between ‘Borrow’ And ‘Lend’ (Through Thomas Hardy’s ‘The Woodlanders’)

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Part 2 of our lesson looking at the differences between ‘to lend’ and ‘to borrow’. ✍️ ‘to borrow‘: This verb means to take something from another person with their permission and consent, usually for a short period only. For example, we borrow books from the library – we don’t own them, neither does the library

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Lesson #137 (Part 1): Understanding The Differences Between ‘Borrow’ And ‘Lend’ (Through Thomas Hardy’s ‘The Woodlanders’)

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As mentioned in our Mini-Lesson Monday this week, I would like to address some common mistakes that I sometimes see English language students making. One mistake I encountered in a few places was a tendency to mix up the verbs ‘lend’ and ‘borrow’. I met even advanced English speakers who tripped up on these two words.  There are

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Lesson #133: Common Mistakes Made With Comparative Adjectives (Part 2)

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Comparative adjectives can also work for describing lesser amounts of something. Again, from Gaskell’s Mary Barton: 📗 ‘The friend whom they met was more handsome and less sensible-looking than the man I have just described; he seemed hearty and hopeful, and although his age was greater, yet there was far more of youth’s buoyancy in his appearance.’

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Lesson #133: Common Mistakes Made With Comparative Adjectives (Part 1)

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A common error made by English Learners is the INCORRECT DUPLICATION of comparative adjectives. This is partly due to a lack of complete comprehension of the distinctions between the primary types of comparative adjectives.  To recap, comparative adjectives are variations of adjectives that describe a larger quantity of that particular thing. For example, the comparative of ‘good’

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Lesson #132: Mini-Lesson Monday (Part 2): A Look At The Imperative Tense Through Emily Bronte’s Description Of A November Day

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One thing we might overlook when reading the first stanza of Emily Bronte’s poem, ‘Faith and Despondency,’ is how the poet used the imperative tense consistently. When we are first taught the imperative tense, we are usually given examples that emphasise a command or order: ‘Stop that!’ or ‘Listen to her!’ or ‘Buy now!’ As

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Lesson #132: Mini-Lesson Monday (Part 1): A Look At The Imperative Tense Through Emily Bronte’s Description Of A November Day

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Mini-Lesson Monday: (Part 1) 🍁Welcome November!🍂 As I sit at my desk, gazing out of the window at the wind and rain (yes, it is stormy here in Ireland as I write), I appreciate the warmth and cosiness indoors.  Often, during weather like this, the adjective ‘wuthering’ comes to mind – the same adjective that

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Lesson #131: All Hallow’s Eve Reflections On Autumn, With Scottish Poet James Thomson

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The last day of October, Halloween, or ‘All Hallow’s Eve’ as it used to be called! I personally don’t like dark and spooky stories, so to end the month of October, I’m going to share with you something bright and cheerful: a picture of the sun shining on the birch trees at the bottom of

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Lesson #125: How Reading Rhythmically Can Improve Your English Intonation

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As I sit at my desk, I can see how windy, even stormy, the weather is outside. Sometimes, the sun breaks through the clouds for a while, but it doesn’t last long! This changeable windy weather is very common here in Ireland during the autumn months, but it is one of the reasons that I

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Lesson #124: Some Ways British English Expressions Can Differ From American Expressions

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Over the last few days I have been listening to several podcasts and YouTube videos while doing housework.  Almost all of these are hosted by English speakers from the U.S.A., and I noticed how many expressions are used in conversational American English that aren’t typically employed in the U.K. or Ireland. Many English language learners

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Lesson #123: Discovering a Writing Style or Voice That Reflects Personality (Part 2)

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In the previous post, we began looking at a passage by Jane Austen (continued below) to consider how she created distinctive voices for different characters: 📙 ‘Marianne was astonished to find how much the imagination of her mother and herself had outstripped the truth. “And you really are not engaged to him!” said she. “Yet

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