Curiosities!

Here you will find interesting things related to the most varied topics: nature, news, science, literature, ...


Remember that everything matters...                                     
                            Let's navigate through different seas!!

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                Pronunciation                            

Consider this sentence:

To pronounce well or not to pronounce well... that is the question! 
That's what makes us be understood. What's the matter on knowing hundreds of grammar rules? on learing endless lists of vocabulary writing them down once and again? If you can't pronounce them properly it's needless. Even if your range of vocabulary is short, and you still make grammar mistakes; if you pronounce well you have the chance to be understood perfectcly well.

Let's then work on that!
Here you have some of my tips:

1. Firstly, to pronounce well we don't need our EYES, we need our EARS! So, take any listening exercises that you have in your course book, or that you find on the internet, and try to repeat what the native speaker says. It doesn't matter if you don't understand word by word. 
- Listen to a sentence, stop the recording and try to imitateEXACTLY what you hear. Go back and repeat again... After practising 3 or 4 times you'll be pronouncing it better.

Here you have an example of exercises: 
Listen and repeat: Listen and Repeat
Listen and repeat and repeat (short, funny and useful): Irregular verbs, Adjectives...Pronunciation

2. Pay attention to word and sentence stress:
English
Computer

Be careful, in English if you change the stress you may change the word meaning:

*Complex = Psychological problem or a colection of buildings

Complex = not simple; difficult

*Object = A thing, an item

Object =  (verb) to disagree, say no to an idea

In spoken natural English, sentences are also stressed. We don't speak like robots.

"I saw her husband with another woman!"

What are the important words? I? saw? No way!

                                  I saw HER HUSBAND with ANOTHER WOMAN.

Giving emphasis to the right words is crucial to transmit meaning.

3. Native speakers link words in everyday spoken English. 
The words get "connected" together, and some sounds change and disappear when spoken at normal speed. We don't pronunce every individual word clearly. Here are some examples:

"How are you feeling today?"
Sounds like: "Howrya feelin' today?"

"I'm going to have lunch"
Sounds like: "I'm gonna-avlunch"

Mastering these 'links' and 'reductions' will help your English sound more continuous and natural.

4. Lots of practice makes perfect!
How did you learn to speak you mother tongue? By listeing, imitating, repeating and making mistakes, didn't you? Or did you read loads of grammar rules first?

The key to improving your pronunciation in English is lots of practice - just like physical exercise makes your body stronger, pronunciation practice trains your mouth to speak correctly.

Remember that you are "re-training" the muscles of your lips, mouth, and tongue to make different sounds, after many years of speaking your native language.

This takes time and many repetitions!

Let's pronounce!!!!!

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Just one month for Christmas...! 
Do you have 30 minutes? Let me recomend you to do this activity based on Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.

*Watch the video  (11 min.)

*Watch it again and try to read and understand the poem (11min): 
The Nightmare Before Christmas Poem

*Check the new words, expressions ... (5 min.)




12 Stereotypes About The Spanish That Are NOT True

What do you REALLY know about Spanish people? If you were to ask a foreigner, his response would probably consist of one accurate statement and many, many misconceptions. That’s how it appeared to us in a cliche-ridden New York Times article called “Spain, Land of 10 P.M. Dinner, Asks if It’s Time to Reset Clock."






SORRY!
I'm sorry! are simple words to say but sometimes it's difficult to pronounce them... If you want to appologize, there are many different ways. Here you will find the most typical ones:

How to say Sorry in English - Appologize

Infinitive or -ing?

Sometimes we need to decide whether to use a verb in its:

•   -ing form (doing, singing)
  
             or
•     infinitive form (to do, to sing).

For example, only one of the following sentences is correct. Which one?

             I dislike working late. (???)    VS.      I dislike to work late. (???)

INFINITIVE:

When to use the infinitive

The infinitive form is used after certain verbs:
       - forget, help, learn, teach, train
       - choose, expect, hope, need, offer, want,                     would like
       - agree, encourage, pretend, promise
       - allow, can/can't afford, decide, manage, mean, refuse

• I forgot to close the window.
• Mary needs to leave early.
• Why are they encouraged to learn English?
• We can't afford to take a long holiday.

The infinitive form is always used after adjectives, for example:
- disappointed, glad, happy, pleased, relieved, sad, surprised

• I was happy to help them.
• She will be delighted to see you.

This includes too + adjective:

• The water was too cold to swim in.
• Is your coffee too hot to drink?

The infinitive form is used after adjective + enough:

• He was strong enough to lift it.
• She is rich enough to buy two.

-ING FORM

When to use -ing

The -ing form is used when the word is the subject of a sentence or clause:

• Swimming is good exercise.
• Doctors say that smoking is bad for you.

The -ing form is used after a preposition:

• I look forward to meeting you.
• They left without saying "Goodbye."

The -ing form is used after certain verbs:
- avoid, dislike, enjoy, finish, give up, mind/not mind, practise

• I dislike getting up early.
• Would you mind opening the window?

PREPOSITIONS:
At .... In .... On
Most of us have problems differenciating the uses of these preposiotions for time and place reference... let's clarify this.

Prepositions of Place: 

at, in, on

In general, we use:

• at for a POINT
• in for an ENCLOSED SPACE
• on for a SURFACE

at	in	on
POINT	ENCLOSED SPACE	SURFACE
at the corner	in the garden	on the wall
at the bus stop	in London	on the ceiling
at the door	in France	on the door
at the top of the page	in a box	on the cover
at the end of the road	in my pocket	on the floor
at the entrance	in my wallet	on the carpet
at the crossroads	in a building	on the menu
at the front desk	in a car	on a page

Look at these examples:

• Jane is waiting for you at the bus stop.
• The shop is at the end of the street.
• My plane stopped at Dubai and Hanoi and arrived in Bangkok two hours late.
• When will you arrive at the office?
• Do you work in an office?
• I have a meeting in New York.
• Do you live in Japan?
• Jupiter is in the Solar System.
• The author's name is on the cover of the book.
• There are no prices on this menu.
• You are standing on my foot.
• There was a "no smoking" sign on the wall.
• I live on the 7th floor at 21 Oxford Street in London.

Notice the use of the prepositions of place at, in and on in these standard expressions:

at	in	on
at home	in a car	on a bus
at work	in a taxi	on a train
at school	in a helicopter	on a plane
at university	in a boat	on a ship
at college	in a lift (elevator)	on a bicycle, on a motorbike
at the top	in the newspaper	on a horse, on an elephant
at the bottom	in the sky	on the radio, on television
at the side	in a row	on the left, on the right
at reception	in Oxford Street	on the way

Prepositions of Time: at, in, on

We use:

• at for a PRECISE TIME
• in for MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS
• on for DAYS and DATES

at	in	on
PRECISE TIME	MONTHS, YEARS, CENTURIES and LONG PERIODS	DAYS and DATES
at 3 o'clock	in May	on Sunday
at 10.30am	in summer	on Tuesdays
at noon	in the summer	on 6 March
at dinnertime	in 1990	on 25 Dec. 2010
at bedtime	in the 1990s	on Christmas Day
at sunrise	in the next century	on Independence Day
at sunset	in the Ice Age	on my birthday
at the moment	in the past/future	on New Year's Eve

Look at these examples:

• I have a meeting at 9am.
• The shop closes at midnight.
• Jane went home at lunchtime.
• In England, it often snows in December.
• Do you think we will go to Jupiter in the future?
• There should be a lot of progress in the next century.
• Do you work on Mondays?
• Her birthday is on 20 November.
• Where will you be on New Year's Day?

Notice the use of the preposition of time at in the following standard expressions:

Expression	Example
at night	The stars shine at night.
at the weekend*	I don't usually work at the weekend.
at Christmas*/Easter	I stay with my family at Christmas.
at the same time	We finished the test at the same time.
at present	He's not home at present. Try later.

Notice the use of the prepositions of time in and on in these common expressions:

in	on
in the morning	on Tuesday morning
in the mornings	on Saturday mornings
in the afternoon(s)	on Sunday afternoons
in the evening(s)	on Monday evening

When we say last, next, every, this we do not also use at, in, on.

• I went to London last June. (not in last June)
• He's coming back next Tuesday. (not on next Tuesday)
• I go home every Easter. (not at every Easter)
• We'll call you this evening. (not in this evening)

   Beg you didn't know!

Halloween history

Adjectives Placement:

In English the adjectives take different places before the nouns depending on the type of adjective they are... Have a look at these rules.

1.     Opinion and general description

Example: nice, funny, lovely

2.     Dimension / Size / Weight

Example: big, small, heavy

3.     Age

Example: old, new, young, ancient

4.     Shape

Example: round, square, oval

5.     Colour

Example: green, red, blue, black

6.     Country of origin

Example: Italian, Polish, English 

7.     Material

Example: wooden, cotton, woollen, plastic

8. Purpose and power

Example: walking (socks), tennis (racquet), electric (iron)

Here are some examples of nouns modified with three adjectives in the correct order based on the list above. Notice that the adjectives are not separated by commas.

·         A wonderful old French clock. (opinion - age - origin)

·         A big square blue box. (dimension - shape - colour)

·         A disgusting pink plastic ornament. (opinion - colour - material)

Here you have a funny rhyme to remember the order of adjectives:

                                                                     In my nice big flat

There's an old round box

For my green Swiss hat

And my woolly walking socks.

Do you want to improve your English? 

Give a huge jump:

Link to English professional 

course online by the UNED (FREE)

Facebook: a great learning oportunity

OnlineEnglishLessons

whatsyourenglish

ILM




Expand you knowledge:


Practice your listening, speaking, reading... through these links:
                             
                         La Mansión del Inglés

                          Vaughanclassroom

                                       Oxford English testing

                                      Listening the news










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Literature

Something to read this Christmas!

A Christmas Carol 
by Charles Dickens.   

Ebenezer Scrooge is a penny-pinching miser in the first degree. He cares nothing for the people around him and mankind exists only for the money that can be made through exploitation and intimidation. He particularly detests Christmas which he views as 'a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer'. Scrooge is visited, on Christmas Eve, by the ghost of his former partner Jacob Marley who died seven Christmas Eves ago.

   

   Marley, a miser from the same mold as Scrooge, is suffering the consequences in the afterlife and hopes to help Scrooge avoid his fate. He tells Scrooge that he will be haunted by three spirits. These three spirits, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, succeed in showing Scrooge the error of his ways. His glorious reformation complete, Christmas morning finds Scrooge sending a Christmas turkey to his long-suffering clerk, Bob Cratchit, and spending Christmas day in the company of his nephew, Fred, whom he had earlier spurned.

   Scrooge's new-found benevolence continues as he raises Cratchit's salary and vows to assist his family, which includes Bob's crippled son, Tiny Tim. In the end Dickens reports that Scrooge became ' as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew'.

Want to read it?    Read A Christmas Carol online


To know more about it, click watch to the Thriller of the film

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Getting to know what's above our heads:

Walking the Path
Photograph by Jack Fusco, My Shot

A star-gazer in Cherry Springs State Park, Pennsylvania, stops in his tracks to look at the zodiacal light—a faint cone of light that rises from the horizon along the ecliptic. This imaginary line—the plane of our solar system—is the path the sun and planets appear to travel in the sky.

Venus and Jupiter are also visible along the ecliptic in this frame.

Zodiacal light is caused by sunlight reflecting and scattering off dust grains that lie between the inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars.


Published February 24, 2012