The English Blog: septiembre 2015

martes, 22 de septiembre de 2015

Words with more than one spelling

Some words have two possible spellings in British English, for example analogue, disc, enquire.
Sometimes the second spelling comes from American English.
Disc can be spelt d-i-s-c or d-i-s-k for computing terms.

Some words ending in -ise or -yse are spelt -ize and -yze in American English. That spelling is generally accepted in British English too.
apologise (BrE) / apologize(AmE/BrE)

The past form of some verbs can be spelt in two ways in British English. But the -ed ending is preferred in American English.
Spelled / spelt (BrE) / spelled(AmE/BrE)

Other words have two spellings, not from any American influence.
all right / alright, barbecue /barbeque, racket / racquet

Some American English spellings are not accepted as correct in British English. Two common examples are words with ou in them and words ending in -re.
colour (BrE) / color (AmE), centre(BrE) / center (AmE)

Theatre or theater?

Where would you go to watch a performance of Hamlet? To the theatre. Or is that...theater? Both spellings of this word are used, but the first one is British English and the second one is American English.

In 6 Minute Vocabulary we heard that there are a lot of words which are often speltdifferently in British and American English. Spelt was one of them. Take a look:

More common in British English

spelt
learnt
burnt

More common in American English

spelled
learned
burned

What other tips do we have? Well, words which end -our in British English are usually spelt-or in American English. The -re ending in lots of British English words becomes -er. And verbs which end -ise in British English are spelt -ize in American.

British English

colour
flavour

theatre
centre

apologise
organise

American English

color
flavor

theater
center

apologize
organize

Activity

martes, 15 de septiembre de 2015

How to make a point in English

Video

Make a point of someone or something and make an issue of someone or something:

to turn someone or something into an important matter.

Make a point of doing something: to be certain to do something that you think is important.

Conceding to Make a Point:

This is a list of vocabulary related to sounds of animals:

Funny English Idioms And Their Meanings

When I stopped to think about some English idioms and their literal meaning, I found some of them very funny and thought it would be a nice idea to pick a few of the most common idioms and illustrate them.

Common English Idioms To Describe People

Speaking game with personality adjectives

This is a game for upper-intermediate and advanced students. It was designed as a speaking game and serves as a revision tool for two lexical sets: professions and personality adjectives. The main focus is a better understanding of the subtleties of personality adjectives through group discussion. The cards are available for download at the end of the post.

This is a game developed using a format I outlined in a previous post – Apples to apples – adapting-games. There are two sets of cards: professions and personality adjectives. The game is played in groups of four to six students. There are 60 profession cards and 40 personality cards.

Each player is dealt six cards from the professions deck. A starting player is chosen, who will be judge for the round, and that player takes a card from the personality deck. They reveal the card to the other players, who then each choose a profession card in their hand which best matches the personality adjective. Then, players take turns explaining why their profession card is the best match to the judge’s personality card. After everyone has had time to explain their reasoning (including a degree of debate) the judge picks a winner.

Here is an example round of the game: There are five players, four players who are competing and one judge. The Judge’s card is ‘wise’.

The four players select professions which fit this criteria and reveal their cards. The four cards the judge has to choose between are surgeon, newspaper editor, lawyer and diplomat. Each player gives their reasons for their selection and the judge asks a few follow up questions. After a short discussion the judge then picks a winner (the judge’s decision is final).

The winner is given the personality card to show they won the round. Then the role of judge moves clockwise and the next judge picks up a personality card. Each player draws profession cards until they have a full hand of six cards (players sometimes miss this step so will occasionally need to be reminded). The game continues until a player has won three rounds.

The game is very simple to follow and generates interesting conversations and unusual arguments. The great variety of jobs and personalities in the game means that the game will be different every time. Students are encouraged to rationalise and justify their card any way they can, which means that they can try to gain the judge’s favour by being the funniest or most inventive. This gently competitive edge pushes students to think creatively and means they are more inclined to generate less conventional ideas. Players don’t win by having the right card, they win because they give the best or most interesting explanation.

The cards are available for download [Here]. The card sets include some tongue in cheek professions like drug dealer, queen and magician. It also includes personality adjectives like forgetful and insecure. This creates a lot of fun combinations and unexpected debates. After a couple of weeks of play-testing I have received a lot of positive feedback from students.