#books #grammar
@worldspeaksenglish

📣 SPEAKING PRACTICE

Grab a friend and start practicing this speaking sample from a recent exam

Section 1
– Where are you from?
– Do you work or study?
– What subjects do you study?
– Why did you choose these subjects?
– Do you have any plants in your house?
– Did you ever grow any plants?
– Why is it important to grow plants?
– Do you usually have a plan for everything?
– What are some things that you plan ahead?
– What do you plan for the next weekend?

Section 2
Talk about your favourite magazine or a book for 1-2 mins. Please say:
– What is the book about?
– When did you read it?
– Why do you like it?

Section 3
– Would you recommend this book to others?
– Do you read a lot in general?
– What is your favourite genre?
- What literature drives innovation?

Don't have a friend to practice? Don't worry, you can find a speaking partner in our chat @worldchatgroup or just talk to a mirror!

#speaking #ielts
@worldspeaksenglish

🤖 AT / ON / IN EXAM

What is the correct preposition?
All of them are possible!

IN
The normal preposition is in. It is used when speaking about taking an examination or during an exam.
You are allowed to use a calculator in the exam.

AT
You use at, for example, for being present at an exam. This is when you think of the exam as an event (like at a concert, at the play (in a theatre)).
At the exam there was an invigilator, who walked around the room to see that no one cheated.

ON
We can use on the exam in the example "On the exam there was a question about xxxxx". This is short for exam paper and perhaps should not count, since we could also say in the exam. You can also "score high marks/in on the exam".

#grammar #feel_English
@worldspeaksenglish

📓 New Idiom

TO TAKE STOCK OF SMTH
to think carefully about a situation or event and form an opinion about it, so that you can decide what to do.

💬 After two years spent teaching overseas, she returned home for a month to take stock of her life.

💬 Typically I take stock of the previous year on the 1st of January.

#idiom
@worldspeaksenglish

🙄 MISUSED WORDS & EXPRESSIONS

1. Allusion – an indirect reference
Illusion – an unreal image

2. Being is not appropriate inside the phrase 'regard....as'.
Wrong: He regarded as being clever
Right: He regarded as clever

3. But is unnecessary after 'doubt' and 'help'.
Wrong: I have no doubt but that
Right: I have no doubt that

4. Compare to – to point out similarities between objects.
Paris has been compared to ancient Athens
Compare with – to point out differences between objects.
Paris may be compared with modern London.

5. Data and also strata, phenomena, media – are plural nouns. They are used with plural verbs.
Wrong: The data is misleading
Right: The data are misleading

#feel_English
@worldspeaksenglish

📓 New Idiom

BOB'S YOUR UNCLE
used to say that something is easy to do or use. An equivalent of "and there you have it".

💬 Just complete the form, pay the fee, and Bob's your uncle!

💬 You just put these parts together like this, and Bob's your uncle - you have a working model!.

#idiom
@worldspeaksenglish

🙅🏻‍♀️ RESTRICTIVE and NON-RESTRICTIVE adjective clauses

Sounds tough, yeah? In the reality, it's a basic concept that we encounter in our daily speech.

The nonrestrive clause provides infomation (separated by commas) that doesn't restrict or limit the noun it modifies (Old Professor Legree). The commas signify that the adjective clause provides added, not essential, information. We can omit this information and still understand the sentence well.

 Old Professor Legree, who dresses like a teenager, is going through his second childhood.

Restrictive clauses, on the other hand, are not separated by commas and provide infomation that is essential for understanding the main idea of a sentence and that can't be omitted.

 An older person who dresses like a teenager is often an object of ridicule.

Don't mess up your commas 😉
#grammar
@worldspeaksenglish

🌿 WEATHER WORDS YOU DIDN'T KNOW

Petrichor
You know how it smells outside after a rainstorm? Petrichor is the distinct scent of rain in the air. Or, to be more precise, it’s the name of an oil that’s released from the earth into the air before rain begins to fall.

Sastruga
This word sastruga (sastrugi in the plural form) means "ridges of snow formed on a snowfield by the action of the wind." It's beautiful in an open field, and a different kind of awe-inspiring in the parking lot you're supposed to plow.

Derecho
It is a widespread and severe windstorm that moves rapidly along a fairly straight path, and it is associated with bands of rapidly moving thunderstorms. In some instances, the media will refer to derechos as inland hurricanes!

Gloriole
We define gloriole as "a halo, nimbus, or aureole." When ice crystals are suspended in the atmosphere, light catches them causing a bright halo or even a rainbow.

Swullocking
You've probably experienced that hot, sticky, humid weather during the summer. And, that's just what swullocking means: humid weather.

Moonbroch
Have you ever looked up at the night sky and seen a large halo around the moon? This is what's termed a moonbroch, and it is a sign of an approaching storm.

Virga
The virga phenomenon is when you can see that it is raining, but it evaporates on the way to the ground and ends up changing back to water vapor before you can feel it.

#feel_English #vocabulary
@worldspeaksenglish

👻 LEARNING STRUGGLES

I receive an enourmous number of messages from people asking for help in improving their vocabulary and grammar. But there is nothing more effective than constant learning and revision. In the end of the day, it always gets down to memory. If you feel like words fall out of your head, try to improve your memory.

6 tips for better memory:
1. Sleep well. If we don't sleep properly, we lose many of our memories.
2. Do physical exercise. When you exercise, more oxygen goes to your brain and that makes your memory work better.
3. Do mental exercise. It's important to exercise your brain just like your body. New activities are more challenging than familiar ones.
4. Be interested. Ask yourself questions about what you're learning. We learn better if we are interested.
5. Keep reviewing. Review information regularly rather than trying to remember it all at once.
6. Form a mental picture. Whether you're learning new words or trying to remember a new person's name, make sure you imagine a related picture in your head.

I hope these tips will help you to think sharper and focus on your memory! 💪🏻

#vocabulary #grammar
@worldspeaksenglish