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vocabulary

Cartoon - English Joke 2

Average: 3.8 (14 votes)

"What do you mean, he rides his bike like lightning?"

"He's always hitting trees!"

 

Explanation:

Today's joke is based on the expression ...like lightning. We usually use this metaphor to mean that something happens quickly or fast. For example:

What are 'extreme adjectives'?

Average: 2.5 (547 votes)

packed subway

'Tokyo's subway is packed at rush-hour.'

Oversuing the word 'very' when talking can be boring for the person listening. For example:

Prepositions of Time

Average: 2.9 (320 votes)

Independence Day

'Americans celebrate Independence Day on July 4'

Here are the basics for using in, on, at, for and since in time expressions:

Using 'in' 

In - is used with parts of the day, months, seasons and  years.

Canadian English

Average: 2.9 (18 votes)

 

Canada  Day

'July 1 is Canada Day, eh?'

Cartoon - English Joke

Average: 3.2 (18 votes)

"What makes the Leaning Tower of Pisa lean?"

"It never eats!"

 

Explanation:

The key to understanding this joke is the word lean.

Lean has two meanings:

Lean (verb) means 'to slope to one side/ not straight' (as you can see, the tower isn't straight).

Using 'used to' for past habits

Average: 3.6 (101 votes)

I used to snowboard

'I used to ski, but now I snowboard.'

Irregular Verb List

Average: 3.6 (67 votes)

 wrestling

'Fight / fought / fought'

Most  English verbs take -ed for the past tense or past participle. The problem is that many verbs do not follow this rule. Here is a good list of irregular verbs for you to refer to.

Add this page to your favourites so you can quickly find out those tricky verbs as and when you need to!

'There' and 'Their'

Average: 1.6 (2332 votes)

 There goes your brother!

'There goes your brother.'

English learners (and native English speakers) can get confused by these two words as they have the same pronunciation, but different spellings and meanings. Here's a review and a couple of hints to help you remember:

Their is a possessive adjective like 'her', 'his', or 'our'.

French expressions in English

Average: 2.7 (11 votes)

 

French phrases we use in English

The English language has taken 'loan words' and phrases from other languages which are now part and parcel of the language. Here are just a few examples of French expressions which we use in English.

Faux pas

Faux pas: An embarrassing small mistake. Usually used for social settings.

Summer - 'sun', 'shine' and 'summer' idioms

Average: 3.5 (11 votes)

 Stonehenge at sunrise

Stonehenge at sunrise.

The summer solstice, also known as ‘the longest day’, is celebrated this year on June 20, 2008. This day of the year  has the most hours of daylight and shortest night. In the Northern Hemisphere it always occurs in mid-June, while in the Southern Hemisphere it occurs in December.