English language club

2018-09-02 17:39:30

#Confusing_Words



“Fix,” “repair” and “mend” have very similar meanings, but there is a difference in how we use them and what we use them for.


The main difference

Take a look at this machine. What needs to be fixed? What needs to be repaired? What needs to be mended?


We fix the whole thing/situation.

We repair a part of the thing.

We mend something less complicated.



  So the machine needs to be fixed.

The broken part needs to be repaired.

The flag needs to be mended.



The details


1. Fix

We usually use “fix” to focus on the general problem. It means we want something to go back to how it was before.

Do you know anyone who can fix my phone?

We also use it to talk about relationships between people.

He said he’s really angry with me. I need to fix this.



2. Repair

When a machine or technological device doesn’t work, it’s usually because one part of it is broken. This is when we use “repair”:

If you want to fix your bike, you’ll have to repair the wheel.



3. Mend

Remember that this one is a little old-fashioned and we don’t use it so much anymore. We usually use “mend” when we want to describe something easier and quicker to fix. 

We don’t need a professional to mend something.

She asked him to mend her doll for her.

I was always good at mending clothes when I was a kid.

We can also use it to describe relationships, but only in very formal (often political) situations, with the phrase “mend relations with”:


After 10 years of war, the president made a move to mend relations withthe neighbouring country.


@Englishlanguageclub Open / Comment

2018-06-21 10:35:58 #conversations




How to say football scores in English?



“What’s the score?”



You might hear this a lot in the next couple of months as everyone goes football mad over the World Cup.

Or at least until their team gets knocked out.

But how do you answer the question “What’s the score?”

It seems easy, doesn’t it?

But there are very specific ways to talk about football scores in English. Here they are:





How to Say Football Scores in English:

A Draw

 


OK. So no one won the match. How annoying!

We can describe this result generally:

It was a draw.

We can also be a little more specific and mention the teams:

Scotland drew with England.

Or we can say it with numbers. There’s a rule for describing draws: we just say the number and add “all.”

one all

two all

three all

… or eighteen all — if you’re watching a children’s match.




How to Say Football Scores in English:

No Goals

 


But be careful. For some secret reason known only to the football masters, we don’t say “zero all.”

For a start, when talking about football scores, we don’t say “zero,” but we say “nil” instead.

Secondly, we don’t do the “all” trick, but just say it how it’s written:

nil nil




How to Say Football Scores in English:

One Team Wins

 

Say the larger number first — and remember to say “nil” instead of “zero.”

If you want to say who won the match, you can add “to” and the name of the winning team:

two nil to Scotland

You can also use the verbs “beat” or “defeat”:

Scotland beat England two nil.

Scotland defeated England two nil.

Or you can forget about the score and just say who won.

You can use a verb:

Scotland won.

Or a noun:

a win for Scotland

If you’re feeling more like focusing on the embarrassment for England, which you might, then you can focus on the fact that they lost, again with a verb:

England lost.

Or a noun:

a defeat for England





How to Say Football Scores in English:

One Team Wins (By a Lot)

 


In the unlikely event of this score, there’s another verb we can use to show the huge difference between the number of goals.

It really shows how amazingly Scotland won and how badly and embarrassingly England lost.

That verb is “thrash.” Yep — like thrash metal. But with football.

We tend not to add the score with this one, just focusing on how dramatic the result is:

Scotland thrashed England!

You can also speak more generally about the results, especially dramatic ones like these, with words like “victory”:

a victory for Scotland

Or “triumph”:

a triumph for Scotland

The word “resounding” is also used with extreme results. You can use it for the winners:

a resounding victory for Scotland

For losers, we can use the phrase “crushing defeat”:

a crushing defeat for England




OK. Now you know how to say football scores in English.


As the World Cup enters its first stages, listen out for that question: “What was the score?”

You’ll know how to answer.



@Englishlanguageclub Open / Comment

2018-05-12 17:02:27 #Conversations



Different ways to say “I don’t like”

There are a lot more ways to talk about negative things than positive things.

This makes sense, right?

I mean, it’s fine to be direct if you’re being positive, but you might want to be more indirect (and more polite) when you’re talking about negative things — like when you don’t like something.


I’m not fond of …

No special place in your heart for this!

Like with “I’m fond of,” we can use this for people, things or actions.

“Don’t invite Clancy. Jasmine’s not very fond of him.”


I’m not a big fan of …

This sounds quite soft, right? I mean, there are lots of things we’re not big fans of. In fact — almost everything.

However, when people use this phrase, what they often mean is “I hate this. Please don’t make me do this.”

“I’m not a big fan of Star Trek.”

“I’m not such a big fan of playing Tetris.”


I’m not really into …

This is the same as “I’m not a big fan of.” Use it to reject something politely.

“Let’s go somewhere else. Most of the kids aren’t really into this.”
“Into what?”
“Into bowling.”


I’m not big on …

Again — you can use this phrase to soften your rejection of something.

“Sorry — I’m not really big on insect museums. Can we do something else?”


I’m not crazy about …

You’re not crazy about it? Great! Then let’s stop!

“Sorry. I’m not crazy about this idea. What about chess instead?”

“Then she told me that she wasn’t crazy about hippo wrestling! I mean — what’s wrong with hippo wrestling?”


It’s not for me.
I like this one.

If you want to tell your excitable cousin that the swimming-with-sharks holiday in Florida is a terrible idea, you can say this.

It puts the focus on you, not on the terrible idea, so she won’t be offended.

Although that might not matter too much if she really does decide to take that holiday. She’ll have other things to worry about.

“Sorry. I’m going to pass on your offer — mountain trekking holidays are just not for me.”


I’m not much of a … person.
This is the same as “It’s not for me.”

We often use it with the word “people” to describe shy people:

“Yeah — you won’t see him out much. He’s not much of a people person.“

But we can use it with almost any kind of activity:

“Me? No, I’m not really much of a cinema person.”

“Mike won’t want to come. He’s not much of a camping person — not since what happened at Beanfield.”


It’s not my thing.
This is like “It’s not for me.”

You can also make it even softer by saying “It’s not really my thing.”

It can be used with “it” if the context is clear:

“Wanna come to the reggae gig?”
“Nah — it’s not really my thing.”

Or just change the subject if the context isn’t that clear:

“These ideas are all great. But doing anything outside isn’t my thing.”

Swimming with sharks isn't really my thing.


I can’t stand …

But sometimes you just want to be direct, right?

So use this one!

It basically means “I hate it!”

You can use it with things:

“I can’t stand his laugh.”

Or actions:

“Ha ha! Yeah, I’m not surprised she said that! She can’t stand dancing with people!”


@Englishlanguageclub Open / Comment

2018-05-11 19:46:29 #Conversations





Different ways to say “I like”
Sometimes we need to talk about how we like something, but we don’t just want to keep saying “I like it,” “I like it,” “I like it.”



And what about when there’s something you really like? It gets a bit boring to say “I really, really like it” all the time.



I’m really into …

This is a little informal. It also shows dedication.

So you can say:

“I’m really into 1970s Japanese underground noise music.”

… because that takes a lot of dedication.

But it’s a little strange to say something like “I’m really into this vegetable curry. It’s delicious.”


You can also be into an action:

“He’s weird. Recently he’s been into hiding behind doors and jumping out at people to surprise them.”

We're really into Star Wars.



I’m a big fan of …

Like “I’m into,” use this one to talk about something you’ve liked for a period of time. It can range from something big, like Star Wars, to something more everyday, like using a shaving brush to clean your laptop.


You can be a big fan of a person or thing:

“I’m a big fan of David Crystal.”

Or an action:

“Toby? Yeah … he’s OK. He’s a big fan of skateboarding. Is that a good thing?”


I’m fond of …

This means “I like” but with a little extra emotion.

Does something have a special place in your heart? Then this is the phrase to use!


We’re often fond of people:

“Cool! Toby’s coming! I’m quite fond of him!”


But we can be fond of things, too:

“I didn’t like it at first, but I’m fond of hot yoga now.”


And we can be fond of actions:

“He’s quite fond of waking up early and meditating for an hour.”


Notice that we often use “quite” with this phrase — at least I do.


I’m big on …

Similar to “I’m into” and “I’m a fan of”: use it for something you’ve got experience with.


You can be big on a thing:

“Japanese underground noise music? Oh yeah — I’m big on that.”


Or an action:

“As a company, they’re really big on putting small family shops out of business.”


@Englishlanguageclub Open / Comment

2018-04-26 18:18:38 ‌ #Applications

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نرم افزار انگلیســـــے داستاهای کوتاه همراه با listening و دیکشنری انلاین به طوریکه با لمس کلمه ی مورد نظر معنی آن به نمایش در میاد


@Englishlanguageclub Open / Comment

2018-04-18 15:01:05 #Common_Mistakes




Use “reply” correctly


What you might be saying:

I emailed him asking when the internet would be working again, but he never replied me.


What you should say:


There are two ways we can fix this.



In the example sentence above (the one about the emails), we just don’t need an object:



What’s an object? Here’s a 1-minute grammar lesson:

Most full English sentences have at least three parts — a subject, verb and an object (SVO).

Harry (subject) met (verb) Sally (object).

This is very, very simple, but also — especially for English — very important.

Most English sentences follow this SVO structure.


I emailed him, but he never replied.



But sometimes, we use “reply” to describe exactly what he said.

So we use our good old friend, “that.”

reply + that + SVO

Then he came to my office, and I asked him again. He replied that he couldn’t respond to my email because the internet wasn’t working.


He replied that he couldn't respond to my email.



@Englishlanguageclub Open / Comment

2018-04-10 15:32:20 #Common_Mistakes



Common English Mistakes With Direct And Indirect Objects



DIRECT OBJECTS

Can you find the mistakes in these sentences? They are all incorrect. They don’t sound natural.

“I bought yesterday a new t-shirt.”

“Please finish quickly the report.”

“I’ll put on the table the dishes.”



What’s wrong with these sentences?

Well, each sentence has a verb – bought, finish, and put – and each sentence also has a direct object. A direct object is the object that is acted upon by the verb.

So, the direct object in the first sentence is, “a new t-shirt.” In the second sentence, the direct object is, “the report.” And in the third sentence, the direct object is, “the dishes.”

It doesn’t sound natural when we have a word in the middle between the verb and its direct object. That’s why these sentences sound strange.



Here’s the correct way to say them:

“I bought a new t-shirt yesterday.”

“Please finish the report quickly.”

“I’ll put the dishes on the table.”


So, whenever we have a verb with a direct object, keep the verb and direct object together, and don’t put any words in the middle.



INDIRECT OBJECTS

Now, there’s one exception and that is indirect objects. An indirect object is the person who receives the action, or receives the direct object:

“I gave John the books.”
gave = verb; John = indirect object; the books = direct object
“Please send me the report.”
send = verb; me = indirect object; the report = direct object
“I’ll lend you my car.”
lend = verb; you = indirect object; my car = direct object
It’s okay to have an indirect object in the middle between the verb and the direct object.


Here’s one more mistake. Sometimes students say,

“I gave to John the books.”

“Please send to me the report.”

“I’ll lend to you my car.”

These sentences are also incorrect. If you want to use the word “to,” then you should put the indirect object at the end of the sentence:

“I gave the books to John.”

“Please send the report to me.”

“I’ll lend my car to you.”

These sentences are the same as when we have the indirect object in the middle:

“I gave the books to John“
= “I gave John the books.”
Both versions are correct.



REVIEW

When a verb has a direct object, keep the direct object immediately after the verb:

“Please finish the report quickly.”


It is possible for an indirect object to come in the middle:

“Please send me the report.”


The indirect object can also be at the end with “to.”

“Please send the report to me.”


But you can’t put it in the middle with “to.” Don’t say, “Please send to me the report.” That’s not correct.

We often put the indirect object at the end of the sentence with “to” if the indirect object is a long phrase.

“Please send the report to the managing editor of the newspaper.“

“The managing editor of the newspaper,” is quite a long phrase, so it’s best to put it at the end of the sentence after “to,” and not in the middle between the verb and the direct object.


@Englishlanguageclub Open / Comment

2018-03-29 22:10:30 #Common_Phrases





TAKE PICTURES / PHOTOS OF



This is very common. It means use your camera! I’m sure you already know this, so let’s look briefly at another common use of this phrase:



you take a picture/photo = you are using the camera



have your picture/photo taken = someone else is taking a picture of you



Examples

Peter and Christina are having their photo taken.


Helena is taking a photo.


@Englishlanguageclub Open / Comment

2018-03-23 14:38:57 Open / Comment