Lend or Borrow

Lend and borrow are some of the most frequently confused verbs.  Look at the image above.  There, you can see the direction of the actions. There are some example sentences in the past tense below.  

• Mr. Green typed an email and sent it to Mr. Red.  
• Mr. Red received the email from Mr. Green.
• Mr. Green lent his car to Mr. Red last weekend.
• Mr. Red's car was in the repair shop, so he borrowed Mr. Green's car.
• Mr. Red sold a computer to Mr. Red.
• Mr. Red's computer was old, so he bought a new one from Mr. Green.
• Last month, Mr. Green gave Mr. Red a birthday present.
• Mr. Red got a birthday present from Mr. Green last month.

I hope this helps clear the confusion a little!

A couple of related questions I have been asked recently:

① Why do we borrow a book from a library but rent a movie from the video store?

② What is the difference between rent and lease?

Think about these questions and I will post answers soon.

English Pronunciation

Are you having difficulty with English pronunciation?  You are certainly not alone! Here is short clip from the film Pink Panther (2006). Inspector Clouseau (Steve Martin) is trying to master American pronunciation by practicing a short, simple sentence.  

Adjective Order

Adjectives are used to give more information about a noun.  Look at the sentence below.

The children are playing with a ball. 

Does that sentence describe the picture on the right very well?  Not really.  One way to improve the sentence is to use an adjective to describe the ball.  For example:

The children are playing with a big ball. 

The children are playing with a red ball.

That's easy, right?  How about when you want to describe the ball's color and its size.  Or its color, size and the material it is made of, in this case rubber?  Do you know what order the adjectives should be used?

As a general rule adjectives appear in the order in the table below. Click on the table to see a larger version.

Adjective Order in English

Travel English

I have had a request to put some useful travel English here. Instead of writing a long list of useful phrases and key vocabulary, click on the picture below to go to the travel section of TalkEnglish.com.  Here you can click on the topics in blue, Airport, Car Rental, Hotel, etc.  This will take you to another page with useful phrases etc. You can then click on the sentences in blue to hear a recording.

TalkEnglish has lots of other great study material too. Take your time and have a look around the site!

NOTE: If you are an iPhone or iPad user, you will not be able to hear the audio files because they require a Flash Player Plugin. You should be able to hear them on any computer though!

CLICK PICTURE

Tag Questions

What are tag questions?

Tag questions are positive or negative statements with a short question at the end.  Being able to use them correctly will greatly improve your spoken English by making conversations more natural. Broadly speaking, there are three reasons to use tag questions.

① When we want to check that a piece of information is correct, for example:

You were born in Hiroshima, weren't you?

He is from the USA, isn't he?

You don't work in a bank, do you?

Because these are real, yes/no questions they have rising intonation at the end.

② When you want to keep the conversation moving along, you want the other person to say something.  In this way, tag questions are used as a communication strategy.

The weather is nice today, isn't it?

The man over there is very tall, isn't he?

The music is very loud, isn't it?

These are not real questions. When you say something like this it is not to check if the information is correct, you know that the weather is nice, you can see the man is very tall and you can hear the very loud music.  Because they are not real questions they have falling intonation at the end. 

③ There is a third kind of tag question the will will look at later, (see the bottom of this post).

How do we make tag questions?

• Usually, a positive statement, (You were born in Hiroshima...) is followed by a negative tag, (...weren't you?). 
• A negative statement, (You don't work in a bank...) is followed by a positive tag (...do you?).
• If there is no auxiliary verb ( 助動詞 ) we use do in the tag.
• He plays soccer, doesn't he? = (He does play soccer, doesn't he?)
• They like beer, don't they? = (They do like beer, don't they?)
• The verb in the statement and tag should be the same tense.
• The music was very loud, wasn't it? (past tense)
• The music is very loud, isn't it?  (present tense)
• You have listened to the music, haven't you? (present perfect tense)
• He will listen to the music tomorrow, won't he? (future tense)

CLICK HERE for a tag questions quiz at EnglishClub.com 

③ The third kind of tag question is the most difficult to master. When we want to be sarcastic, or express disbelief, it is possible for a positive statement to be followed by a positive tag. Below are some examples.

A: Mary says that she is the best looking woman in the school.

B: Oh she does, does she?

A: I will earn one million dollars next month.

B: Oh you will, will you?

A: He says he's the best, does he?

A: You think your funny, do you?

TV Commercials

I have been thinking about an engaging way to introduce global issues into an integrated studies through English course.  I started to look at TV commercials, or adverts in the UK, (short for advertisements), as an interesting way, not only to introduce different issues, but also highlight cultural differences.  

One commercial from the USA, for the Nissan Leaf, caught my attention.  I thought you might be interested in it and I have little challenge for you:

After watching the commercial: 

1. Summarize it and explain what global issue it highlights.

2. Do you think it is a good commercial for Nissan Leaf?  Why or why not? 

If you interested in learning about how this was made, click on the video below.

How often do you...?

I was asked a question yesterday about How often do you...?

There are a couple of ways to answer questions like this.

① The first way would be to use adverbs of frequency like the ones below:

Always

Usually

Often

Sometimes

Occasionally

Rarely

Seldom

Never

Have a look at the simple Q&A dialogue below.  Notice that the adverb of frequency comes after the be verb and before the main verb!

② The second way is to give a more concrete answer by saying how many times you do something. Look at the patterns below:

Notice the 'Hmm, about...'  

You use about when the number of times you do something is NOT decided exactly.  So, for example, I eat sushi about three times a month, but I go to guitar lessons twice a week. (My guitar lessons are decided, Thursday and Saturday, every week but when I eat sushi is not decided.) 

I hope this helps you, for more information CLICK HERE to go to ESL Gold.

Gender & Job Titles

Today I had a conversation about job titles. Recently there is a lot of confusion about the correct names to use when describing occupations. In some English speaking countries there has been a shift towards gender-neutrality.  Gender- neutrality challenges the use of male and female nouns and pronouns.  This is especially noticeable when we look at jobs.

Of course, there are many jobs that do not imply any gender, teacher, singer, author, poet, musician etc. There are also some that have both a male and a female job title but recently women have rejected the female title, preferring to use the male title. A few examples are:

Actor & Actress

Recently actor is being used by many women

Fisherman & Fisher Woman

There is a gender-neutral job title, fisher, however this has been rejected by many women who prefer the title fisherman

Horseman

Horse Rider is the gender-neutral title, however, like fisherman, many female horse riders prefer the title Horseman

The three examples above seem to be exceptions to the general trend of gender-neutrality.

In & On; Prepositions for Transportation

Do you know why we say the following?

Get in a rowing boat. BUT, Get on a ferry. (both sea)

Or

Get in a taxi. BUT, Get on a bus. (both land)

Or

Get in a fighter jet. BUT, Get on a 747. (both air)

Many students learn that you get ON a bus or ferry but IN a car or taxi.  However, when they come across an unfamiliar form of transportation they are not sure what the correct preposition to use is. (Even many high level, or advanced students have some difficulty)  This is because they have never been taught the rules about when to use in & on with transportation.  Instead, they have just memorized example sentence patterns.  So, here I will give you the rules.

Rules for using ON

If passengers can stand up, use on.

*skateboard

*train

*bus

*tram / streetcar / trolley

*coach

*cruise liner

*ferry

*surfboard

*escalator

*plane

Rules for using IN

In is used for enclosed spaces that are impossible, or difficult to stand up in.

*car

*taxi

*limousine

*kayak

*Toyota Prius

*jet fighter

*helicopter

I hope this helps!  Oh, and if your looking at the picture at the top of the page and thinking about the bicycle...can you stand up when riding a bicycle, or a motorbike, or even a horse?

AED Training

Last week I had a refresher training course in CPR and how to use an AED.

(CLICK HERE FOR JAPANESE INFORMATION ABOUT CPR).

(CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION IN JAPANESE ABOUT AEDs).

After the training I began to think that not enough people know how to do CPR, and even if they do, they may panic and forget what to do.

I was looking on line and found a TV commercial by the British Heart Foundation. The actor, and former footballer, Vinnie Jones teaches how to give CPR. (Cultural note: In the commercial he is playing a gangster.)  The British Heart Foundation is putting an emphasis on giving an effective heart massage.  After watching this, even if you don't understand the English, (the accent is very strong), you surely will not forget.  

HINT:  Listen to the song!

Click to watch it below.

Play Go & Do

This is an answer to a question about the correct verbs to use for sports or similar leisure activities. The three most common verbs for such activities are Play, Go & Do.   Have a look at the slide below (you can click it to make it larger). 

The next slide, (again, you can click on it to make it larger), explains the rules for using play, go & do.  Of course there are some exceptions, but generally these rules apply.

Now, think about the rules.  You can print off the slide below. Draw lines from each sport, or activity to the correct verb.  Good look, and if you have any questions feel free to use the comments below.

Music

I always tell people who are learning English to find something that they are interested in and ‘do it’ in English.  For example, if you love manga, find some in English, (actually, you would be surprised how many Japanese manga have been translated into English!)  If you like movies, watch them in English, with English subtitles.  If your hobby is cooking, watch cooking shows from English speaking countries on You Tube and make the recipes yourself.

Another popular way to learn English is through songs.  I have found a really fun site, LyricsTraining.com 

On this site, you can choose a song video you want to watch, and listen to.  Press play, listen to the song and type the missing words into the lyrics.  The songs are divided into Easy, Medium & Hard and the games are divided into Beginner, Intermediate & Expert.

Click on the picture below to go to the site and challenge yourself! 

Finnair Cabin Crew

I came across this video whilst reading Metro Magazine, an on line magazine that can also be picked up for free all over London, (paper versions).   Staff on a Finnair flight from Helsinki to New Delhii performed a Bollywood dance to celebrate India's Republic Day. The video below was posted on You Tube and has already been viewed by more than 1.5 million people. To read the Metro Magazine article CLICK HERE, or just watch the video below. 


Imagine if the staff did that on your flight!