📗 “Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) One of the most famous children’s books in the word is certainly Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), which has been translated into at least 174 since it was first published over […]
Every single language that is spoken today has undergone (gone through) many changes over the years, over centuries. This is also true of English, which could be described as having several phases or historical stages of development: 🪔 c. 500-1150 AD: Old English This is made of the dialects of Anglo-Saxon tribes, with a very few words
Lesson #177: Appreciating a Medieval English Poem: William Langland’s ‘Piers Plowman’ Read More »
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
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
As promised, here are some observations on the passage from Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford, as referenced in the previous post: 🖋️ Gaskell’s approach here is more conversational than the style of other classic novels. This is because the story is told by one of the characters in the book. 🖋️ Gaskell uses the word ‘very’ several times
Lesson #119: Teatime Literary Reflections (and the Power of Good Storytelling) (Part 2) Read More »
As mentioned in the previous post, where I quoted from Thomas Hardy’s Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), here is a short list of vocabulary to help with understanding the same passage. 🍃A quick question: how did you find the text? Was it challenging in terms of vocabulary? Did you understand most of it? ✨Did you enjoy his
When we are learning a language, we often memorise new vocabulary by using flashcards or repeatedly writing out lists of words. These methods can be helpful, but not everyone remembers what they have so diligently studied afterwards! 🤔 A French teacher once shared a very helpful tip with me, and I want to share it
Lesson #115: Some Tips for Memorising Even More Vocabulary Read More »
Mini-lesson Monday, Part 2: 2) While having the definitions of difficult vocabulary does help us to understand the passage, the most important thing when reading this paragraph from the opening pages of Bleak House ( as seen in the previous post) is to focus on the repetitive word ‘FOG’ particularly in the context of London’s setting, establishes
Another Monday, another mini-lesson (in 2 posts; this is part 1): My inspiration today comes from Charles Dickens, one of the most popular authors in the English language. Bleak House (1853) is a favourite of mine, a long, two-volume novel that interweaves two narrative voices in an intriguing story. I will quote from its opening pages:
This morning, we picked some flowers from our garden to brighten the kitchen. I think one of them is a carnation, the other a dianthus, but I am open to correction! It brought to mind a passage in one of my favourite books, Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South (1854): ‘… the sun-flower, shining fair, Ray
Lesson #113: Searching for the Best Words to Describe the Small Things in Life Read More »
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL Seeing this rose in my garden reminds me of the process of learning and improving our competence in any language. We learn one language word by word, step by step, layer by layer, just like these rose petals overlay each other. Another point of similarity: as these petals are relatively small, the slow
Lesson #109: Steps for Enriching Your Writing with the Right Vocabulary Read More »
ADVANCED LEVEL More autumnal fruits from the garden! I hope to make applesauce by peeling these apples, chopping them into small chunks, then placing them in a saucepan with a little water and allowing them to simmer for about 10 minutes while stirring them gently. It reminds me of how the British novelist George Eliot
Lesson #102: Enjoying Autumn Fruits with George Eliot’s ‘Middlemarch’ Read More »