Succeed In English

Quick Tip: Adverbs + Focusing Auxiliaries

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:50:00 +0000

Here's one quick tip about "focusing" ADVERBS with AUXILIARY VERBS:

NOT: This only will help to lessen your burden... :-(

BUT: This will only help to lessen your burden... :-)

"This only helps lessen..." becomes "This will only help lessen..."

So, what are "focusing" adverbs?

They are adverbs which "point to" one part of a clause, and include only, also, just, even, mainly, mostly, either, neither.

Hard and Soft Sounds: Pronunciation Practice - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:59:00 +0000

SOFT SOUNDS are marked with an asterisk * HARD SOUNDS have no asterisk

P* Pip, pop, pip, pop Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers – a peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers – where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

B Black, babbling brooks broke brawling o’er their bounds.

T* A tell tale tattling torment that troubled all the town.

D Down dingy doorways dived the dastard.

Ch* Cherish cherries.

J Judge not that ye be not judged.

K* Sink; think; wink.

G Gregory going gaily, galloped gallantly to the gate.

F* Four-fifths of the fifers are famed for their fun.

V The vile vision lived vividly. Nephew (note the “ph” is pronounced as “v”). The voice of many waters and the noise of thunder.

Th* The Thane saw the thief in the thicket and thrashed and thumped him on the path.

Th These then are the Father and the Mother of thy Brother.

S* She sells sea shells on the sea shore.

Z The zeal was blazoned from zone to zone.

Zh* Measure; pleasure; treasure.

M* Minim; minimum;

N Noun; night; new

Ng* Singing; playing; dancing.

R Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.

Here are two more tongue-twisters for you to practise:

The Leath Police dismisseth us.
Lord Long’s library is literally littered with literature.

David Hurley

http://succeed-in-english.com

What's the Difference Between "All" and "Whole"?

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:32:00 +0000

In the Hebrew language the same word is used for "all" and "whole". I only know this because I was asked about the difference between the two words by an Israeli recently. I responded by turning to Practical English Usage by Michael Swan. This is what I found:

2. word order
All (of) and whole can both be used with singular nouns to mean 'complete', 'every part of'. The word order is different.

determiner + whole + noun
all (of) + determiner + noun

Julie spent the whole week at home.
Julie spent all (of) the week at home

my whole life
all of my life

3. indefinite reference

All is not generally used before indefinite articles.

She's eaten a whole loaf. (NOT ... all a loaf.)

4. uncountable nouns

With most uncountable nouns we prefer all (of)

I've drunk all (of) the milk. (NOT ... the whole milk.)

5. the whole of

Instead of whole we can generally use the whole of.

Before proper nouns (names) and pronouns we always use the whole of, not whole. all (of) is also possible.

The whole of/All of Venice was under water.
Ive just read the whole of/all of 'War and Peace'.

6. plural nouns

With plural nouns, all and whole have different meanings. All is like every; whole means 'complete', 'entire'. Compare:

All Indian tribes suffered from white settlement in America. (= Every Indian tribe suffered...)
Whole Indian tribes were killed off. (= Complete tribes were killed off; nobody was left alive in those tribes.)

Practical English Usage is a dictionary of common English language problems for English language learners and teachers. It has been the first choice of students and teachers for over 20 years.

David Hurley
http://succeed-in-english.com

Long & Short Sounds: Pronunciation Practice - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 14:33:00 +0000

How good is your pronunciation of English? In each of the following sentences the vowels in bold have the same sound.

Practise reading them out loud:

Long Sounds

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
The leaves of the trees shook in the breeze.
How bright the moonlight shines.
Cold, cold is the stony floor.
The duke duly paid the money due to the Jew before the dew was off the ground on Tuesday.
How far and fast the ship recedes.
Her tall and stalwart pillars falling down.
The noise of many waters and the voice of thunder.
The howl of the wolves as they prowled around.
How cool is this gloomy pool.

Short Sounds

A glad batch of lads standing with a man at the match.
A red thread well stretched.
I sit and knit, while the birds flit and twit.
A hot spot on the grass plot.
She took and shook her good book.

David Hurley

Succeed-In-English.com

English Tongue Twister: Betty Botter Bought Some Butter

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 15:19:00 +0000

This English tongue twister tells the story of a woman called Betty Botter who wanted to make some pancake batter.

Eleven of the end words have a letter missing. In each case, is it "a", "e", "i", or "u"?

Betty Botter bought some b-tter,
"But," she said, "the butter's b-tter;
If I put it in my b-tter,
It will make my batter b-tter;
But a bit of better b-tter,
That would make my batter b-tter."
So she bought a bit of b-tter,
Better than her bitter b-tter,
And she put it in her b-tter,
And the batter was not b-tter;
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better b-tter.

===
batter x 2
better x 1
bitter x 3
butter x 5
===

Check here for the correct solution and listen to a recording of the tongue twister!

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

There Was An Old Woman Who Lost Her Whip...

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:47:00 +0000

Nursery rhymes are songs and verses for children. If you love playing with words you will enjoy Mother Goose nursery rhymes, but you may also be surprised at how violent some of the rhymes are.

For example, this nursery rhyme about an old woman who lived in a shoe ends with a violent whipping:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do;
She gave them some broth without any bread,
She whipped them all soundly, and put them to bed.

Modern editors tend to bowdlerize the nursery rhymes to make them suitable for modern sensibilities. Here, for example, is a modern version:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do;
She gave them some broth without any bread,
She kissed them all gently and sent them to bed.

Vocabulary Notes

bowdlerize - to cut rude or unsuitable words from a text. Origin: Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), English editor of an edition of Shakespeare with all the rude words cut out.

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

Talking About Rope And String...

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:01:00 +0000

I'm still thinking about Spike Milligan. Last week I asked some of my students to complete the poem "String":

String
is a most peculiar thing.
Rope is thicker,
but _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

One student suggested, "string is slicker". Very nice. Perhaps it is even better than the original, "string is quicker".

Let's make some more comparisons of string and rope:

String is quicker than rope, so

Rope is _ l _ _ _ _ than string.

Rope is _ _ _ _k _ _ than string, so

string is _ _ _ _ n _ _ than rope.

Rope is r _ _ g _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ / _ t _ _ _ _, so

String is _ m _ o _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _.

_ _ _ _ is _ _ _ _ _ g _ _ than _ _ _ _ _ _, so

_ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ ak _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _.

===
CONTACT ME
Click here, and fill in the form. Type "'String and Rope' answers please!" into the "Message field" and I'll send you the solution.
===

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

Silly Verses for Kids, and English Students!

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:37:00 +0000

I was eight years old when I first read Spike Milliagan's "Silly Verses For Kids". It was my friend's copy. We used to read it together during playtime. I liked it so much I asked my parents to buy me a copy of the book, and eventually they did.

I still have the book, many years later, in a box somewhere in the attic of my mother's house.

Spike Milligan (1918-2002) was an Irish citizen who was one of Britain's best-loved comedians. He made radio and television shows, as well as writing books of verse and his war-time memoirs.

Last week I was about to teach an English class at a community centre in Hiroshima but I had not prepared anything to talk to them about.

Then, on the bus up to the community centre, I remembered Spike Milligan and some of his "silly verses". I immediately decided to teach the class three of the verses that I can still remember.

As it was a rainy day, the first verse I taught them was:

There are holes in the sky
where the rain gets in,
but they are ever so small,
that's why rain is thin.

Do you ever think about string? Funny stuff, isn't it. What is the difference between string and rope? Spike Milligan had the answer, and very philosophical it is too:

String
is a most peculiar thing.
Rope is thicker,
but string is quicker.

Here is my favourite verse by Spike Milligan. It is about a little girl called "Mary Pugh":

Mary Pugh was nearly two
when she went out of doors.
She went out standing up, she did,
and came back on all fours.
The moral of the story, please meditate and pause -
never send a baby out with loosely waisted drawers.

Language Notes for "Mary Pugh"
on all fours = crawl on hands and knees
meditate and pause = stop and think
loosely waisted = not tight around the waist
drawers = underpants

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

End Of Term Scrabble!

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:58:00 +0000

On Thursday 20th December 2007 one of my English classes in Hiroshima celebrated the end of the year by playing Scrabble. Scrabble is a popular board game in America, Britain and much of the English-speaking world.

Members of the English Class get stuck into Scrabble - or just get stuck?!

Two to four players score points by making words on a 15-by-15 grid. The words may be connected like a crossword, across and down the board. Each player starts with seven tiles. Each tile has a single letter on it and the players use them to make words on the board.

Players score points according to the value of the letters and where they are placed on the board.

The rules are quick and easy to learn, but learning to play well is more difficult, especially if English is not your first language, as the class members discovered!

A game in progress. Strangely, the board has been set up sideways!

We set up three games and the most experienced student and myself acted as referees while the other class members cheerfully struggled to make English words with their letter tiles and the tiles on the board...

For the first time in the whole of 2007, the whole of the class is deep in concentration!

It was hard work, but cheerfully undertaken! The verdict was that it was quite difficult to make words because you had to think about connections and the position of letters on the board, not just the letters in your hand.

However, if you keep on playing you soon get used to making connections and your vocabulary will also improve from your own efforts and by learning from other players.

You can find out more about how to play Scrabble and the history of the game at these sites:

www.mattelscrabble.com
www.hasbro.com
wikipedia.org

Play Scrabble online!

The online game is called Scrabulous. You can play free after you have registered.

Take the challenge and test your English vocabulary like never before! Go to: Scrabulous.com

Happy New Year!

David Hurley
Succeed-in-English.com

Are You a Winner or a Loser?

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 13:25:00 +0000

In his book, "How to Unleash the Power of Your Subconcious Mind," James K. Van Fleet writes about how winners and losers think about their lives.

"Winners evaluate themselves on what they are, not on what other people think they should be. They do not allow themselves to be guided by other people's standards or beliefs. Winners do not allow others to act as their judge and jury.

"Losers constantly worry about what they think other people are thinking about them. For instance, if your boss looks at you and frowns or if he sounds a little gruff in the morning, that's no reason to think he's angry with you.

"He probably had a few cross words with his wife about the household bills before he came to work...

"I'll admit that years ago I too, used to be concerned about what other people might think of me. Then I happened to see a movie in which the hero, an Easterner, had come west to marry his sweetheart, a girl born and raised on a Texas ranch.

"One of the cowboys, the ranch foreman, made fun of the Easterner because of his city clothes and his city ways. He even challenged him to a fight, but the Easterner refused.

"Aren't you going to fight him?" his fiancée asked.
"But what will people think of you?" she asked.
"I'm not responsible for what other people think of me," he answered. "I'm responsible only for what I think of myself."

"Although I have forgotten the rest of that movie and I'm not sure whether the hero was Gary Cooper or Gregory Peck or someone else, I've never forgotten that one statement. It has helped me tremendously through the years in my relationships with other people.

"You see, to worry and fret and stew about what other people might think about you is a complete waste of time. You never become what other people think of you. You become only what you think of yourself..."

Hidden Power, p. 71

James K. Van Fleet,
Hidden Power - How to Unleash the Power of Your Subconcious Mind.

Vocabulary

unleash - release. The image comes from letting a powerful dog off its lead so that it can run freely.

genre' - type of literature.

judge - in a court the judge decides what punishment a criminal deserves.

jury - a group of ordinary people who listen to a case and decide if a person is innocent or guilty.

frown - look angry.

gruff - speak in a short angry-sounding way.

happened to see - saw by chance.

Easterner - someone from the East Coast of America.

sweetheart - the girl he loves.

fiancée - the girl he plans to marry.

fret and stew - worry.

The First Christmas Card

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 23:24:00 +0000

In Britain many people send Christmas cards to their friends and relatives. Christmas cards are sent from late November until just before Christmas Day.

People began sending cards to friends and relatives over 150 years ago. The first commercial Christmas cards were produced by Sir Henry Cole in London, 1843. The artist, John Callcott Horsley drew a picture of a family with a small child drinking wine together. 1000 cards were printed and sold for a shilling each.

The card was printed in black and white and then coloured by hand.

On the front of the card there is a picture of a happy family. Each person in the picture is holding a glass of wine. On either side there are pictures of people giving food and clothing to the poor. A message on the card, beneath the family, says

"A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU."

A thousand copies of the card were made. The cards that Sir Henry Cole did not need were sold for one shilling each. They sold quickly, and a new "tradition" was born.

Early British Christmas cards rarely showed winter or Christmas themes. Instead, flowers, children, animals, fairies, and scenes of spring were popular.

Questions

A.

1. Who do British people send Christmas cards to?

2. Who produced the first commercial Christmas card?

3. Who designed the card?

4. When were the first commercial Christmas cards sold?

5. Was the card printed in colour?

6. What is in the picture?

7. What is each person holding?

8. How many cards were printed?

9. How much did they cost?

10. Did they sell quickly or slowly?

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

Why The Wright Brothers Succeeded

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:14:00 +0000

The Wright brothers' first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, December 1903

When the Wright brothers were boys they loved fixing and repairing things. The boys earned money by making home-made mechanical toys. When bicycles became popular, they opened a bicycle shop. They worked well together and were a good team. They read the same books and shared the same interests. and began to develop an interest in the challenge of manned flight. They used their successful cycling business to fund their growing interest in experimenting with aircraft design.

They studied birds and how they flew. They contacted other people who were trying to fly and talked incessantly about the possibility of manned flight and began to build and fly kites and gliders. This gave them practical experience of flying. Each time they built an aircraft they incorporated the knowledge they had gained from previous failures to make it slightly better then anything they had built before. They learned that the most serious problem they faced was steering the aircraft once it had taken off.

The Wright brothers also made a wind tunnel and tested over two hundred different wing designs. They recorded the effects of each variation in design on the flow and pressure of the air as it passed over the wings. The data from these experiments enabled them to construct a viable aircraft, that is, one that would be able to take off and stay airborne.

They were lucky to have been working at a time when engine design had improved to a point where a relatively light internal combustion engine capable of lifting more than its own weight could be built. The Wright brothers had an engine with a block cast from aluminum made especially for their first successful engine-powered flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903.

Questions

1. Which of the following is the main topic of the passage?

Reasons why Wright brothers were interested in mechanics.
Reasons why the Wright brothers succeeded.
The Wright brothers' luck.
The Wright brothers' business success.

2. Which of the following does the passage NOT discuss?

They worked together as a team.
They invested all their money in flying.
They tested a lot of wing designs.
They studied the flight of birds.

3. What does "incessantly" mean in paragraph 2?

angrily
uncertainly
without ceasing
without hesitating

4. What is the meaning of the sentence in bold in paragraph 3?
They made progress because they made no mistakes.
They tested their new designs by mistake.
They made deliberate mistakes in order to make progress
They learned from their mistakes.

5. What was special about the engine the Wright brothers used for their first successful flight?
The engine block was made of aluminium.
The engine was made by the Wright brothers.
The engine was too light to lift its own weight.
The engine was too heavy to lift its own weight.

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

A Young Woman's Success Story, Shamshatoo, Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (David Hurley) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:58:00 +0000

I am 16 years old now. I got married last year. My husband is 21 years old and is working abroad as a driver. Since my marriage, I have lived with my in-laws in Shamshatoo. Shamshatoo is in the North Western Frontier Province of Pakistan, close to the Afghan border.

I come from a very poor family. My father words on daily wages in a brick kiln and earns 150 rupees a day, depending on the weather. He works long hours when the weather is good. Rain means no work for him. I have five brothers and four sisters and two mothers. I am the eldest of the girls.

These difficult conditions meant that only three of my elder brothers could go to school. Only one of my brothers completed primary education. There was no way that any of the girls would be able to go to school due to the economic hardship our family faced.

HOPE'87
The primary schools set up by HOPE'87, supported by UNESCO, for children in need have helped poor families in our area, particularly the girls. The free education they offered has enabled my sisters and I, with our parents' permission, to enrol and seek a basic education, starting in 2003.

Accelerated Learning
Since I was an older pupil the teachers put me through an accelerated learning programme for the first two years. Thanks to their help and support, I have now graduated from primary school with distinction. I dream of sending my daughters and sons to high school one day.

Notes

in-laws - parents of your husband or wife.
brick kiln - a place where bricks are made for building houses. Kiln = a big oven (for baking the bricks).
150 rupees - approximately 1.7 euros, 300 yen.
primary education - school for 5-11 year olds, or basic reading and writing skills training for older pupils.
hardship - suffering; difficulty; poverty.
enrol - join a school; become a member of an school, club etc.
accelerated - faster than usual; go faster.

Questions

Does the narrator live (a) alone, or with (b) her parents, (c) her husband's parents, (d) her brothers and sisters?
How many children do the narrator's parents have?
How many of her brothers went to primary school?
How many of them completed primary education?
What did HOPE'87 set up?
What is the narrator's dream?

About HOPE'87
Primary Education Schools are being run for Afghan Refugees and Pakistani Children near Shamshatoo, Peshawar, Pakistan. Students are being provided quality education at no cost. Supported by Foundation of UNESCO – Education for Children in need and Austrian Development Agency, project worth of 220,000 €. Starting form July 2006 the schools are supported by a local Pakistani philanthropist for a period of one year. HOPE'87 Shamshatoo Schools Project

David Hurley
Succeed-in-English.com