Tag Archives: vocabulary

Word of the day : Win and Beat

General, ,

Do you know the difference between the verbs “win” and “beat”?

Which is correct ..?

  • Real Madrid beat FC Barcelona(by) 3-1
  • Real Madrid won FC Barcelona (by) 3-1

Study the difference .

  • Win/wɪn/, won/wʌn/, won/wʌn/ means to achieve first position and/or  get a prize in a competition or competitive situation. You win a game or a competition
  • Beat/biːt/, beat/biːt/, beaten /ˈbiːtn/ means to defeat or to do better. You beat a person or a team you are playing against

So now, which of the two sentences above is correct? Well done , the first sentence “Real Madrid beat FC Barcelona (by)  3-1 “ is correct

Test yourself with these exercises:

He ___ first prize in the raffle

won

[collapse]

Everybody likes ___ an argument

winning

[collapse]
She has ____ her own record of three minutes ten seconds.

beaten

[collapse]
Spain ___ Belgium by 5-4

beat

[collapse]

He ___ her at tennis

beat

[collapse]
He ___ first place in the competition

won

[collapse]

Thanks for reading! 🙂

Source: Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

Blog de Cristina is also on facebook 

Did you Know….Aged?

Did you know?, The English language, ,

Did you know that the word “aged” has two different pronunciations?

 

1.It’s pronounced /eidʒd/ when it means “years old” or when it is the verb in its past or past participle form

♥a woman aged 40

♥she has a son aged eleven

2. It’s pronounced /ˈeɪdʒɪd/ when it is the adjective (formal)

♥an aged professor

♥ my aged computer is very slow

Also : The aged in this country need more services. /ˈeɪdʒɪd/ = very old people

Hope it helps! Keep posted!

Knoword: A Fun Highly Addictive Game to Help you Expand your Vocabulary

General, , , ,

Wanna have some fun with words?

Knoword is a fast-paced word game that helps boost vocabulary and spelling . It is  highly addictive , a lot of fun  and  a game of quick thinking.

How does it work?

Once you hit the LET’S GO button , it gives you a dictionary definition randomly generated  and the first letter of the word you need to guess. You are given a minute to guess the word . If you don’t know , click on the X and you’ll briefly see the word before a new definition is presented to you. Every single time you guess a word , you get an added time bonus (5 seconds) + 20 points  and every time you skip a word -10 points

From the Menu on the right you can choose from three levels of difficulty: Novice, Hotshot and Wizard.

You don’t need to register to play the game although if you do , you can keep track of your statistics.

Seen on Free Technology for Teachers, a blog written by Richard Byrne, which I highly recommend.

Like my Blog? Follow me on Facebook.

Two Wonderful Sites to Practise Listening and other skills

Audio, Grammar, Listening, Resources, Speaking, Vocabulary, Writing skill, , , , , , ,

So, you’ve done all the listening exercises in your textbook, workbook and on my website 😉  but still, you feel you really need to go the extra mile?

Here you are two wonderful websites where you can find tons of Listening exercises to practise before the exam.

1. ESOL COURSES. Choose your level and then choose the skill you want to practise; they are all great!

2. ESL Lounge Students: on this site, you can also practise all skills. Scroll down the page and on the right sidebar, choose the skill you want to practise and your level.

 

Blog de Cristina is also on Facebook. Follow me! 🙂

Word of the Day: Teacher , Professor and Lecturer

Word of the Day, ,

Do you know the difference between these three seemingly identical terms?

Let’s start by stating the obvious, all of them are related to “teaching”; but is there a difference between them? Indeed there is, as otherwise I wouldn’t be bothering you with this issue and well you know it!  🙂

Alright,  let’s get down to the point. I know you’re all on tenterhooks and I don’t want to see you suffer.

At school, there are teachers. At university , there are lecturers and professors.

♥A lecturer  is a university teacher who has just started teaching at college or university. Lecturers do not have tenures ( permanent position) and they are at an early stage of their careers.

Some words that collocate with lecturer are:

I was a junior  lecturer in Spanish at Oxford  University when I was in my 30s

♥A professor, on the other hand,  is the principal teacher in a department and he usually has a doctorate degree. When he   first gets his doctorate degree, he becomes an assistant professor  and teaches  for 5 or 6 years. Then, he is  given tenure and  becomes an associate professor and finally he  can promote to become a  full professor. So, professor is the highest rank an academic can get.

Some words that collocate with professor are

I spent  a year as a visiting professor at Oviedo University. He is a distinguised professor of history.

 To finish, I would remind you that teachers give  lessons and lecturers and professors  give lectures.