See you on the march! (The language of protests)

On October 23, 2019October 22, 2019 By Kate WoodfordIn the English language, Vocabulary20 Comments

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On September 20^th, four million people across the globe expressed their concern and anger about climate change by demonstrating (=gathering or walking in a public place to show their opinion). We thought this a good time to look at the language of demonstrating.

First up, the verb protest is a synonym for ‘demonstrate’: Employees are protesting against the cuts. In US English especially, ‘protest’ is often used transitively: Students protested the laws. A phrase that is frequently used, especially in newspapers, to mean ‘protest’ is take to the streets: Millions took to the streets in the largest environmental protest in history. Continue reading “See you on the march! (The language of protests)” →

Flaring up or bubbling over? Phrasal verbs to express emotions, part 2.

On October 16, 2019October 22, 2019 By Liz WalterIn Idioms, Phrasal verbs, the English language, Vocabulary28 Comments

by Liz Walter

My last post was about phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs connected to sadness and happiness. This post will look at some other emotions.

Let’s start with anger. If someone suddenly becomes angry, we can say that they flare up. Blow up is similar and often describes an even angrier outburst. We use the preposition at if that anger is directed at a particular person: Continue reading “Flaring up or bubbling over? Phrasal verbs to express emotions, part 2.” →

Weighed down or perking up? Phrasal verbs to express emotions, part 1

On September 18, 2019August 31, 2019 By Liz WalterIn Idioms, the English language, Vocabulary27 Comments

by Liz Walter

Phrasal verbs are a very important part of English (even if students hate them!) and I have written several posts explaining useful ones. I realised recently that there is a surprisingly large number of phrasal verbs and prepositional verbs relating to emotions. Today I am going to concentrate on happiness and sadness. My next post will cover some other emotions, and a final post will present a selection of phrasal verbs for talking more generally about emotions. Continue reading “Weighed down or perking up? Phrasal verbs to express emotions, part 1” →

Couch potatoes and peas in a pod: more food idioms

On September 11, 2019August 31, 2019 By Kate WoodfordIn Idioms, the English language, Vocabulary11 Comments

by Kate Woodford

Last month, we looked at idioms featuring words for sweet items of food. Changing the order in which we usually eat food, (savoury, then sweet), we’re now focusing on idioms that feature words for savoury (UK)/savory (US) food. Continue reading “Couch potatoes and peas in a pod: more food idioms” →

Eggs are in aisle 3: the language of supermarket shopping

On September 4, 2019August 31, 2019 By Liz WalterIn Idioms, the English language, Vocabulary33 Comments

by Liz Walter

Food shopping is something that nearly all of us do, and it is the kind of basic topic that is often quite difficult in another language. This post looks at some words and phrases you might need if you go to a supermarket in an English-speaking country. Note that — as so often with everyday language — there are lots of differences between UK and US vocabulary. Continue reading “Eggs are in aisle 3: the language of supermarket shopping” →

Pieces of cake and sour grapes: food idioms

On August 28, 2019August 26, 2019 By Kate WoodfordIn Idioms, the English language, Vocabulary55 Comments

by Kate Woodford

This week, we’re looking at English idioms that feature food and drink words. As there are lots of these idioms, we’re focusing today on idioms containing words for sweet food. Next month, we’ll publish a post on savoury (UK) or savory (US) food idioms.

Continue reading “Pieces of cake and sour grapes: food idioms” →

Rising sea levels, endangered species and renewable energy: talking about climate change

On August 21, 2019July 30, 2019 By Liz WalterIn the English language, Vocabulary16 Comments

by Liz Walter

I’ve written a couple of posts on collocations (word partners) recently, and a reader suggested some specific collocation topics, one of which was the environment. Climate change is in the news a lot, particularly because of the campaigning of the Swedish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg. So here are some collocations to help you talk about this vitally important topic.

Continue reading “Rising sea levels, endangered species and renewable energy: talking about climate change” →

Absorbing and thought-provoking: words meaning ‘interesting’

On August 14, 2019July 30, 2019 By Kate WoodfordIn the English language, Vocabulary41 Comments

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by Kate Woodford

On this blog, we often look at the various English words and phrases that we use to express the same concept. This week we’re focusing on the word ‘interesting’. There are lots of synonyms (or rather, ‘near-synonyms’) for this adjective but most carry an extra meaning. In this post, I’ll try to show the differences in meaning between these near-synonyms and provide you with a range of ‘interesting’ vocabulary!

Continue reading “Absorbing and thought-provoking: words meaning ‘interesting’” →

The ball’s in your court now: idioms with ‘ball’

On August 7, 2019July 30, 2019 By Liz WalterIn Idioms, the English language, Vocabulary24 Comments

by Liz Walter

There are a surprising number of idioms that contain the word ‘ball’. This post looks at some of the most useful ones.

It seems appropriate to start with the idiom get/start the ball rolling, which means to do something to make an activity start or to encourage other people to do something similar to you:

I’m hoping we can all share our ideas today. Who would like to start the ball rolling? Continue reading “The ball’s in your court now: idioms with ‘ball’” →

Working flat out and flagging: describing how we work

On July 31, 2019July 15, 2019 By Kate WoodfordIn the English language, Vocabulary14 Comments

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by Kate Woodford

How was your day at work or college? Was it useful (=giving positive results)? Did you get a lot done? Perhaps you had a lot of work to do but, for some reason, found it hard to get down to it (=start working with effort). Some days, we work effectively, finding it easy to concentrate. Sadly, not all days are like this! In this post we look at the language that we use to describe good days at work and bad. Continue reading “Working flat out and flagging: describing how we work” →