Tag Archives: fun

Improving your writing skills

Lesson Plan: Advanced, Resources, Writing, , , , ,

You know that I have been for some time now trying to improve your written work making you aware of the fact that you always tend to use the same simplistic words when you write, even though we both know that you have a wider range of vocabulary. So why not use it? Look at this text and try to replace the verbs “say” and “look” with some others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here when you finish to see my suggestions.

“Watch out” ! I said at the top of my voice; but it was already too late. Jim and I both stood there looking at the cyclist flying off his bike and hitting the enormous hole in the road. “Is he hurt?” Jim said quietly, trembling with fear. “I don’t know” I said softly. At that moment the young man slowly lifted his head and looked at us in confusion. “What happened?” he said, in pain. “Where am I?”

Here’s another one. This time replace the words underlined to make it more interesting to the reader. Click here when you finish to see my suggestions.

It was a nice sunny morning when we set off on our journey. The sky looked very blue with only a few small clouds on the distant horizon. The ship we travelled on was big and had good cabins. We must have been halfway there when I was roused from my nap by a bad scream. It took me a while to come to my senses, but then I saw a small woman in front of me, looking very scared.

And now an entertaining task online that shows you how you can develop a simple sentence like ‘I made tea.’ into a detailed text. Go to the website: http://www.telescopictext.com/. You will see the sentence with shaded words, click ing on a shaded you’ll see that part of the sentence expand. Read the new sentence and then choose another part to click on

Homework: Create your own detailed sentences from one of these:
– I went to the beach.
– I saw a film
Once you have finished your sentence you can post it in the comments below and I’ll publish it.

Word of the day: Fuck you

Funny Stuff, The English language, Word of the Day, ,

It is my firm belief that you can never learn too much. But if you feel this is too much or if you are under 18, stop reading right now. Perhaps one of the most interesting and colourful words in the English language today is the word FUCK. It is the one magical word which, just by its sound, can describe pain, pleasure, love and hate. In language “fuck” falls into many grammatical categories. It can be used as a verb, both transitive and intransitive (I’m not going to give you an example, in case my mother ever reads this), as an adverb ( Mary is fucking interested in John), and as a noun ( also, and for the same reason above I am not going to give you an example) and as an adjective ( Mary is fucking beautiful). As you can see, there are very few words with the versatility of “fuck”.

Beside its sexual connotations, this incredible word can be used to describe many situations

•Greetings                       How the fuck are you?
•Fraud                               I got fucked by the car dealer
•Dismay                             Oh, fuck it
•Trouble                           Well, I guess I’m fucked now
•Aggression                     Fuck you!
•Disgust                             Fuck me
•Confusion                        What the fuck…?
•Difficulty                          I don’t understand this fucking business
•Despair                             Fucked again
•Incompetence               He fucks up everything
•Displeasure                     What the fuck is going on here?
•Disbelief                           Unfuckingbelievable

•It can be used in an anatomical description – He is a fucking asshole
•It can be maternal – as in motherfucker
•It can be used to tell the time- it’s five fucking thirty
•It can be used in business- How did I wind up with this fucking job?
•It can be political – Fuck George Bush

And never forget General Custer’s last words: “Where did all these fucking Indians come from?”
And the famous last words of the Major of Hiroshima:”What the fuck was that?”
And last but not least, the Captain of the Titanic: “Where is all this fucking water coming from?”
How can anyone be offended when you say FUCK? Use it frequently in your daily speech; it will add to your prestige.

Today , say to someone- “FUCK YOU”

Some interesting or , at least, unusual facts about the English language

Funny Stuff,

•Facetious and abstemious are the only words that contain all the vowels in the correct order.
•”Adcomsubordcomphibspac” is the longest acronym. It is a Navy term standing for Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command.
•”Almost” is the longest commonly used word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.
•”Canada” is an Indian word meaning “Big Village”. •”Dreamt” is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt”.
•”Asthma” and “isthmi” are the only six-letter words that begin and end with a vowel and have no other vowels between.
•”Fortnight” is a contraction of “fourteen nights.” In the US “two weeks” is more commonly used.
•”Ma is as selfless as I am” can be read the same way backwards. If you take away all the spaces you can see that all the letters can be spelled out both ways.
•”Ough” can be pronounced in eight different ways. The following sentence contains them all: “A rough-coated, dough-faced ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough, coughing and hiccoughing thoughtfully.

Adapted from www.bored.com

Monty Python :Silly Job Interview

Funny Stuff, Listening, , ,

The thing is, this time I was looking for the real thing, I mean, a proper job interview but when I saw this sketch from Monty Python I just couldn’t help myself . I wanted you to watch it and have a big laugh.  I am going to keep on searching the Net for a serious job interview, I promise.

Watch the hilarious interview from this English comedy troupe , one of the best , in my opinion .

A Practical Joke

Funny Stuff, Students' Corner

According to the definition of the Wikipedia a practical joke or prank is a stunt or trick to purposely make someone feel foolish or victimized, usually for humor. The term “practical” refers to the fact that the joke consists of someone doing something (a practice), rather than a verbal or written joke.
In Western culture, April Fools’ Day is a day traditionally dedicated to performing practical jokes. Another day common for pranks and practical jokes is Halloween, in the form of Trick ot Treat.
And… I fell prey to practical jokers, namely , my closest friends. . I’ll tell you what happened.

It was Christmas time and I had decided to invite my friends for dinner on New Year’s Eve. They were about 14 people .My friends tried to put me off the idea of celebrating at home because they thought it was going to be too much work for me. But I happily told them that I was going to have everything delivered to me by the Corte Inglés Catering Service.So, I called this company and agreed on the menu and on having it delivered on the afternoon of the 31st .And I proudly told my friends that I had everything under control. Silly of me!
On the morning of that very same day I got a phone call, very businesslike by the way, where a very professional voice, or so it seemed to me, asked to talk to Ms Cabal and told me that she was going to put me through the Catering Department of El Corte Inglés. I thought it was to confirm the delivery time. To my surprise , I was told that my menu could not be delivered as I had failed to book it within the deadline. Politely, I told them I had phoned them within the right period but they apologised and said it couldn’t be done. The more I tried to convince them, the angrier I got until finally I threatened to sue them. I was so angry and frustrated. I asked to talk to whoever was in charge of The Customer’s Service .When they put me through and I started to complain I heard people laughing. It had all been a practical joke from my friends phoning from the office they work in and everybody in the office had listened to me as they had set the phone in the hands-free mode and about 10 people were laughing at my frustration.
What about you? Have you ever played a practical joke on someone or maybe been the victim of one?