What do you make of this? What do you make of that? Which one is correct? this - determiner/pronoun [singular] - plural 'these' that - determiner [singular] - plural 'those'[ This/these is used when something is close How much is this bear please? [or...
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Phrasal verbs 2/2
Fill Before going to the interview, people need to fill out the questonaire. [to provide written information] Maybe it is a good idea to fill up the glass the glass with ice before pouring a drink so there will be more left over in the bottle for later. ...
Comment adverbs
Although comment adverbs most appear at the beginning of sentences, they can sometimes also appear at the end. They are separted from the rest of the sentence with a comma or by intonation in speech. If we are judging [positively or negatively] Stupidly,...
Synonyms: Expanding vocabulary and saying things in different ways
There are often many ways of saying the same thing. Being able to paraphrase enables us to move onto another level in our English speaking. to understand something We are trying to workout the best way to go forward. It will take some time for me...
Reported speech
Reported speech is what we use to report what someone has said making changes to the words that the original speaker actually used. She told everybody that she will 'step down' [resign] in the coming weeks. Reported speech is used: when the exact words are not...
The Law!
Whether we are a lawyer or not, there is a level of legal vocabulary which is at it's least, useful; if not surprising! What is the difference between robbery, theft , mugging, looting or a burglary? Robbery A robbery is an act where...
Past perfect
When describing a sequence of events, rather than explaining 'first this happened, then this..' etc we can use past perfect to start the sequence. The first event we use had + past participle then the simple past, watch this video:...
Gerund or to infinitive use?
When more than one verb are used together, the second verb changes depending on what the first verb is. Unfortunately there is no rule to learn, we need to remember what follows the verbs that we are using. The context can sometimes provide the reasons behind the...
More Phrases
Below we will look at some phrases which are not normally possible to translate as complete phrases; nor are they possible top translate if the words are separated as you will get a completely different translation. There are many but below are some common ones which...
Legal letter writing
When writing a letter, the salutation and closing ifs of significant importance. Generally speaking, the salutation depends on if we know the recipient or not. The closing of the correspondence is decided by the salutation. When contacting a law firm or company...
do, play go or go to
When we refer to some activities in expressions, it is only possible to certain verb combinations before them. The good news is that it is not always necessary to remember the expression as there are some rules that can help us. we use 'go to' with places and...
Reported and direct speech
Direct speech describes the exact words that is said or written by someone. When written, direct speech is normally written inside quotation marks: 'do you understand the above?' 'does that make sense?' 'I understand this' Reported speech ...