A few years ago the BBC reported that 15,000 British people voted for their favourite English word. Below you can see the top ten words. Strangely, this list contains 2 words which are not real English words, but come from the Harry Potter books! The information on this list does not reflect the views of English language learners, so what is your favourite word? Tell us favourite English word in the comments box below (no bad or rude words, please)!
James Baldwin was an American writer and a civil rights activist who was born in 1924 and died in 1987 at the age of... well, you do the maths. He wrote a number of novels which dealt mainly with sexual and racial issues in the United States...
Can you guess what the missing words are in this sentence:
Did you guess right? The correct sentence should read '52 weeks in a year'.
Are you planning to take a flight anytime soon? Here are some of the questions you'll probably hear in the airport and some example answers:
How many pieces of luggage do you have?
Only one.
Did you pack your luggage yourself?
Yes, I did.
Has anyone given you anything to take on the flight?
No, they haven't.
Do you have any hand-luggage?
Yes, I have one bag.
When we want to compare two things we use comparative adjectives. For example:
'Canada is colder than America.'
'Tokyo is more expensive than Barcelona.'
'Barcelona is less expensive than Tokyo.'
'Paul is always late for work. He is in danger of losing his job.'
Imagine that you have a friend called Paul. Paul is being lazy in work - he is often late and is in danger of losing his job. The following idioms can all be used when we want to warn Paul that he is in danger.
Take a look at the following two sentences - which one is correct and why?
Are you interested in studying English?
Are you interested in study English?
That's right, the first sentence is correct. But why?
Take a look at the two sentences. They are similar; yet, they have different meanings. What is the difference?
'Throw it to him.'
'Throw it at him.'
As you can see the prepositions in each sentence are different. Here's how the prepositions change the meaning:
