Tips in learning English

Tip6-Mad, Crazy and Stupid

tips4en — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:11:22 +0000

Crazy (informal) and mad mean ‘not sensible or practical; a bit stupid’.

Both words can describe a person or an action or idea, but the meaning is not always negative. They can describe someone who is a bit out of control but just wants to enjoy life! Stupid is always negative.

Glossary:

Sensible: reasonable, having or showing wisdom or common sense.

Practical: workable, applicable; useful

Tip 5: -ish

tips4en — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:01:00 +0000

The suffix –ish is used with some adjectives to mean ‘quite’. A roundish face is a face which is quite round. Also: tallish, youngish, fattish, etc.

Glossary:

Suffix: Letter (s) added at the end of a word to form a derivative(obtained from another source)

Quite: Completely, entirely

Tip4-stress and emphasize

tips4en — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:51:17 +0000

Both verbs mean to say a syllable, or phrase with extra loudness. The related nouns are stress (on sth) and emphasis (on sth).

The stress is on the first syllable. Don’t emphasize every word.

They are also used to say that sth is important.

The newspapers stressed the need for urgent action.

The emphasis is mainly on education.

Tip 3

tips4en — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:26:03 +0000

3-1 Contain and include

We can often use contain or include with the same meaning.

Example:

The film contains/includes scenes of violence.

Sometimes we can only use one of the verbs.

Example:

1- The box contains magazines. (There are magazines inside the box)

2- The price includes services. (Service is one part of the price.)

———

3-2 Past simple and Past continuous

We are using past simple when we talk about a “complete action” eg. What did you do yesterday morning? We played tennis.(from 10 to 11.30)

We are using past continuous when we talk about an “unfinished action” eg. What were you doing at 10.30? we were playing tenis.

Tip 2: difference between conversation, chat, discussion and argument

tips4en — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:42:55 +0000

A conversation is a talk between two or more people. You can also have a chat with sb, (note that right form for chat is ‘have a chat with sb‘) which us a friendly informal conversation. A discussion about sth is when you talk about something seriously. An argument is a discussion in which people disagree, often angrily.

Glossary:

Seriously: thoughtfully , not funnily

Introduction and Tip 1: FORMAL/INFORMAL

tips4en — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:37:22 +0000

Hi everybody. My name is bahman. I’m an English learner like you. English is a simple, sweet language that (I think) every people should learn it. But we have to know many tips and spotlights that can improves our speaking and writing. e.g difference between similar words and some grammatical point that may make us mistake(not ‘do mistake‘) . So I start to share some of these tips with you.

Be aware that first tips might be easy for you.

FORMAL AND INFORMAL

We use formal language to appear serious or official, or sometimes when we don’t know people well. For example I usually just say ‘hello’ to my friends but I use ‘how do you do’ to my colleague. We also use formal and informal in clothing. For example we wear suit at work and T-shirt at weekend trip!

GLOSSARY:

Introduction: Explanatory section at the beginning of a book etc.

Spotlight: center of attraction.

Colleague: fellow worker, esp. in a profession or business.