Advanced English Language Tips

Lesson #243: Observations on How Austen Reported Speech (Free Indirect Speech in ‘Emma’)

📗 “You had better explore to Donwell,” replied Mr. Knightley. “That may be done without horses. Come, and eat my strawberries. They are ripening fast … ” [Mrs Elton replied]: “It is to be a morning scheme, you know, Knightley; quite a simple thing. I shall wear a large bonnet, and bring one of my […]

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Lesson #236: Three Ways To Use ‘Been’, The Past Participle Of ‘To Be’

📙 “My dear Miss Catherine,” I began, too vividly impressed by her recent kindness to break into a scold, “where have you been riding out at this hour? And why should you try to deceive me by telling a tale? Where have you been? Speak!” – Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847) … You may remember

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Lesson #235 (Part 2): Being or Been? What you need to know about the present participle of ‘To Be’

📙 ‘“… Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He’s always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don’t talk of our separation again …”’ – Cathy Earnshaw in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847) In this second Part of our Lesson

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Lesson #235 (Part 1): Being or Been? What you need to know about the present participle of ‘To Be’

📙 ‘Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling. “Wuthering” being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather.’ – Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847) Have you ever been confused about the differences between ‘being’ and ‘been’ in English? 🤔 ✍️ Both of these

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Lesson #223: Avoiding confusion in your writing: 3 Punctuation Tips

📗 “I don’t understand you,” said Alice. “It’s dreadfully confusing!” “That’s the effect of living backwards,” the Queen said kindly: “it always makes one a little giddy at first—” “Living backwards!” Alice repeated in great astonishment. “I never heard of such a thing!” – Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass (1871) … Have you ever read

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Mini-Lesson Monday, Lesson #222 (Part 2): ‘At Home, In Days Gone By’ – 9 prepositions that express time

📙 ‘There was all the more time for me to hear old-world stories from Miss Pole, while she sat knitting, and I making my father’s shirts.’ – Elizabeth Gaskell, Cranford (1853) … ✏️ (If you missed the first part of this Lesson on prepositions of time, you can find it here). ✏️ … 📝 #5

Mini-Lesson Monday, Lesson #222 (Part 2): ‘At Home, In Days Gone By’ – 9 prepositions that express time Read More »

Mini-Lesson Monday, Lesson #222 (Part 1): ‘At Home, In Days Gone By’ – 9 prepositions that express time

📙 ‘Miss Matty and I quietly decided that we would have a previous engagement at home: it was the evening on which Miss Matty usually made candle-lighters of all the notes and letters of the week; for on Mondays her accounts were always made straight— not a penny owing from the week before; so, by

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Lesson #219: ‘Annabel Lee’: Edgar Allan Poe’s Melodious and Melodramatic Poem

‘Annabel Lee’ (1849) It was many and many a year ago,    In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know    By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought    Than to love and be loved by me. .. I was a child and she was a

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Mini-Lesson Monday, Lesson #217 (Part 2): ‘I want an appropriate simile’: Popular Similes English Speakers Use

📗 “I am very glad to hear it indeed, and now I shall never be ashamed of liking Udolpho myself. But I really thought before, young men despised novels amazingly.” “It is amazingly; it may well suggest amazement if they do— for they read nearly as many as women. I myself have read hundreds and

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Mini-Lesson Monday, Lesson #217 (Part 1): ‘I want an appropriate simile’: Popular Similes English Speakers Use

📗 Thorpe told her it would be in vain to go after the Tilneys; they were turning the corner into Brock Street, when he had overtaken them, and were at home by this time. “Then I will go after them,” said Catherine; “wherever they are I will go after them. It does not signify talking.

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Mini-Lesson Monday, Lesson #212 (Part 2): Multiple Verbs and Correct Word Order

This is Part 2 of our complete Lesson in which we look at past perfect verb form + adverbs past participles + infinitives present participles + infinitives simple past tense + 2 infinitives 2 simple past tense constructions in a row 2 different verb forms (simple past + present participle) in a row … 📝

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Mini-Lesson Monday, Lesson #212 (Part 1): Multiple Verbs and Correct Word Order

📙 Many American ladies on leaving their native land adopt an appearance of chronic ill-health, under the impression that it is a form of European refinement, but Mrs. Otis had never fallen into this error. She had a magnificent constitution, and a really wonderful amount of animal spirits. Indeed, in many respects, she was quite

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