The Notes from English Classes

one's jaws drop

2011-05-31T16:35:00.002+03:00

jaws drop — челюсті відпадуть;

I can’t wait to see our user’s jaws drop to the floor.

jalopy, A1

2011-04-27T00:35:00.000+03:00

1. jalopy = old car usually in poor condition — розвалюха, драндулєт.

Синоніми: junker, beater, "lemon". Являються більш розповсюдженими. Вживаються не тільки стосовно автомобілів.

2. A1 = excelent — першокласний, першосортний

Синоніми: top notch, mint. Більш вживані.

the wear and tear above his head

2011-04-26T01:12:00.002+03:00

above his head — недоступно — He finds business school above his head;
to convince — переконувати — She is unlikely to be able to convince him to put in a new toilet;
demanding — вимогливий — He finds life in the army demanding;
to determine — встановити, визначити — He still determines to get used to taking orders;
to be disgusted — відчувати огиду, обурюватися; — She'll be disgusted if she doesn't convince her landlord to put in a new toilet;
to figure out — розібратися — He is unlikely to be able to figure out the subway system;
frustrating — розчарований, зневірений — He finds living in New York frustrating;

guardhouse — гаупвахта;
to intend — мати намір, планувати;
intimidating — що (яке) лякає — She finds being single again intimidating;
to keep up with — триматися на одному рівні з, "іти в ногу з" — He's unlikely to be able to keep up with the other students. [more];
major — спеціальність — He is unlikely to be able to change his major;
to maintain the joy of leaving — He has to keep busy if he wants to maintain the joy of leaving;
to put in — She still hopes to convince him to put in a new toilet. — How much does it cost to put in central heating? — We put in 20 rows of pine trees.
rigid — строгий — He finds the college rigid;
to rot — гнити — The floor in the bathroom will rot from the overflowing water;
slow-paced — млявий, повільний, млявоплинний — He finds retirement slow-paced;
to strive — старатися, прагнути, боротися — He still strives to hide its wear and tear on him from the press;
stubborn — впертий — She finds her new landlord stubborn;
taxing — виснажливий — He finds the presidency taxing.
weak points — слабкі місця — His weak points wouldn't have been exposed if he had hidden the wear and tear on him from the press;
the wear and tear — спрацьо́вування, спрацюва́ння;

the forms of the infinitives

2011-04-25T20:38:00.000+03:00

Форми інфінітивів на прикладі дієслова to write:

to write — to have written — to be writing —
to have been writing — to be written — to have been written

to write — the simple infinitive;
to have written — the perfect infinitive
to be writing — the continuous infinitive;
to have been writing — the perfect continuous infinitive;
to be written — the passive infinitive;
to have been written — the perfect passive infinitive

list of touch and quantity adjectives

2011-04-21T01:22:00.001+03:00

Quantity

abundant
empty
few
heavy
light
many
numerous
substantial

Touch

boiling
breezy
broken
bumpy
chilly
cold
cool
creepy
crooked
cuddly
curly
damaged
damp
dirty
dry
dusty
filthy
flaky
fluffy
freezing
hot
warm
wet

list of taste/touch adjectives

2011-04-21T01:19:00.000+03:00

bitter
delicious
fresh
juicy
ripe
rotten
salty
sour
spicy
stale

sticky
strong
sweet
tart
tasteless
tasty
thirsty
fluttering
fuzzy
greasy
grubby
hard
hot
icy
loose
melted
nutritious
plastic
prickly
rainy
rough
scattered
shaggy
shaky
sharp
shivering
silky
slimy
slippery
smooth
soft
solid
steady
sticky
tender
tight
uneven
weak
wet
wooden
yummy

list of sound and time adjectives

2011-04-21T01:17:00.001+03:00

Sound

cooing
deafening
faint
harsh
high-pitched
hissing
hushed
husky
loud

melodic
moaning
mute
noisy
purring
quiet
raspy
resonant
screeching
shrill
silent
soft
squealing
thundering
voiceless
whispering

Time

ancient
brief
Early
fast
late
long
modern
old
old-fashioned
quick
rapid
short
slow
swift
young

list of shape and size adjectives

2011-04-21T01:10:00.000+03:00

Shape

broad
chubby
crooked
curved
deep
flat
high
hollow
low

narrow
round
shallow
skinny
square
steep
straight
wide

Size

big
colossal
fat
gigantic
great
huge
immense
large
little
mammoth
massive
miniature
petite
puny
scrawny
short
small
tall
teeny
teeny-tiny
tiny

list of good feelings adjectives

2011-04-21T01:02:00.000+03:00

agreeable
amused
brave
calm
charming
cheerful
comfortable
cooperative
courageous
delightful

determined
eager
elated
enchanting
encouraging
energetic
enthusiastic
excited
exuberant
fair
faithful
fantastic
fine
friendly
funny
gentle
glorious
good
happy
healthy
helpful
hilarious
jolly
joyous
kind
lively
lovely
lucky
nice
obedient
perfect
pleasant
proud
relieved
silly
smiling
splendid
successful
thankful
thoughtful
victorious
vivacious
witty
wonderful
zealous
zany

list of bad feelings adjectives

2011-04-21T01:00:00.000+03:00

angry
annoyed
anxious
arrogant
ashamed
awful
bad
bewildered
black
blue

bored
clumsy
combative
condemned
confused
crazy, flipped-out
creepy
cruel
dangerous
defeated
defiant
depressed
disgusted
disturbed
dizzy
dull
embarrassed
envious
evil
fierce
foolish
frantic
frightened
grieving
grumpy
helpless
homeless
hungry
hurt
ill
itchy
jealous
jittery
lazy
lonely
mysterious
nasty
naughty
nervous
nutty
obnoxious
outrageous
panicky
repulsive
scary
selfish
sore
tense
terrible
testy
thoughtless
tired
troubled
upset
uptight
weary
wicked
worried

list of condition adjectives

2011-04-21T00:57:00.000+03:00

alive
annoying
bad
better
beautiful
brainy
breakable
busy
careful
cautious

clever
clumsy
concerned
crazy
curious
dead
different
difficult
doubtful
easy
expensive
famous
fragile
frail
gifted
helpful
helpless
horrible
important
impossible
inexpensive
innocent
inquisitive
modern
mushy
odd
open
outstanding
poor
powerful
prickly
puzzled
real
rich
shy
sleepy
stupid
super
talented
tame
tender
tough
uninterested
vast
wandering
wild
wrong

list of appearence adjectives

2011-04-21T00:51:00.002+03:00

adorable
adventurous
aggressive
alert
attractive
average
beautiful
blue-eyed
bloody
blushing

bright
clean
clear
cloudy
colorful
crowded
cute
dark
drab
distinct
dull
elegant
excited
fancy
filthy
glamorous
gleaming
gorgeous
graceful
grotesque
handsome
homely
light
long
magnificent
misty
motionless
muddy
old-fashioned
plain
poised
precious
quaint
shiny
smoggy
sparkling
spotless
stormy
strange
ugly
ugliest
unsightly
unusual
wide-eyed

chew out, scold, tell off, yell at

2011-04-17T20:26:00.002+03:00

to chew smbd out (idiom, slang)
to scold smbd
to tell [told, told] smbd off
to yell at smbd

Слова-синоміми, приведені вище, перекладаються як вилаяти, насварити, накричати на когось.

to yell to — кричати комусь;

Ще синоніми: bawl out, blister, call down, castigate, censure, chide, cuss out, eat out, give one hell, give what for, jaw, jump all over, rail at, rake over the coals, rate, rebuke, reprimand, reproach, reprove, revile, scorch, tongue-lash, upbraid, vituperate [source].

fair enough

2011-04-09T18:02:00.002+03:00

Вираз взятий з корпоративного листування. Після довгих з'ясовувань хто/що винний в проблемі, неправа сторона погодилася: "Ok, fair enough, seems like... but when I..."

Lingvo:

fair enough! — an expression of agreement;

Well, that's fair enough — Що ж, це цілком справедливо

dictionary.com

That's reasonable; I agree.

I'll wait just one more day. Fair enough, you've been very patient.

urbandictionary.com

1. What you say when you initially disagreed with another's opinion or behavior, but after hearing their explanation can now see their point of view.

— Why did you go to that lame school?
— Because they gave me a full ride.
— Fair enough.

2. Your opinion is wrong, but proving it will take so long and accomplish so little that I'm not going to bother.

— I think the Red Sox will win the World Series this year.
— Fair enough.

Visit urbandictionary.com to get more explanations.

to be to blame for

2011-04-04T00:12:00.000+03:00

Here is the explanation for the structure "to be to blame for". It's been just copy-pasted from usingenglish.com/forum

Example: He is to blame.

be to blame for is synonymous with be at fault for. It means, (in a) state of being at fault, and it's an idiomatic expression:

He is to be given the blame (by us) for what happened.

"to" is an infinitive marker. It marks the base verb "be", and "blame" is a noun; note the article "the". If we omit the passive verb "be given", the resulting form "to" + "blame" is an infinitive verb in form, and functions as an adjective:

Test:
Q: What is he?
A: He is (the person) to blame. "to blame" modifies "He"

We blame him. (active voice)
He is to be blamed. (passive voice; the accuser is left unsaid)
He is to blame (active voice, with the accuser left unsaid)

leave (for)

2011-03-26T15:45:00.001+02:00

leave the theater — піти з театру;
leave for the theater — піти до театру;
leave home for the theater — піти з дому до театру;

rem(a)inder

2011-02-06T17:36:00.001+02:00

reminder — нагадування;
remainder — залишок, The remainder of this chapter describes each of these steps in details.

25 назв снігу

2011-01-26T23:57:00.002+02:00

Artificial snow, Blowing snow, Chopped powder, Corn, Cornice, Crud, Crust, Depth hoar, Finger drift, Hail, Heavy crud, Ice, Firn, Packed powder, Packing snow, Penitentes, Pillow drift, Powder, Slush, Snirt, Snowdrift, Surface hoar, Watermelon snow, Wind slab, Wind-packed powder [source].

to borrow -vs- to lend

2010-11-24T04:09:00.003+02:00

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be" [William Shakespeare Hamlet]

To borrow та to lend (lent, lent) українською можна перекласти як позичати, але значать вони не одне й те саме.

To borrow — брати в борг, позичати в когось.
To lend — давати в борг, позичати комусь.

— May I borrow as much money as possible from you?
— Sorry, but I can't lend you as much money as you need.

Наступний діалог є ідентичним за змістом до попереднього, відрізняється хіба що емоційним забарвленням.

— Could you lend me as much money as possible?
— Sorry, but you can't borrow as much money as you need from me.

Idioms:

borrow trouble — to take an unnecessary action that will probably engender adverse effects.

living on borrowed time:
a. living an unexpected extension of life
b. close to death

lend a hand — to be of assistance.

lend itself to — to be suitable for or adapt easily to. Example: The play lends itself to performance by children.

кукіз, caring, me neither

2010-10-31T22:36:00.008+02:00

1.
— Sometimes, I don't want to correct your pronunciation :) Yours кукіз sounds so cute :)))
Так приколювався на одному з занять наш native English teacher Cory.

Просто, cookies має вимовлятися трохи м'якше — кьокіз :)

2.
caring — уважний, дбайливий;
careful — обережний;

3. me too — також так;
me either — також ні.

4. трохи нових слів

fibbing — нісенітниця, наївна брехня;
drag queen — трансвестит;
Tuxedo — дуже святковий, шикарний костюм, який вдягається, наприклад, на власне весілля;
to stab smbd. — проткнути когось, наприклад, ножем.
obsessed = addicted;
siblings = brothers and sisters;
Ebola — страшна африканська хвороба;
in the sun — загорати на сонці;
on the Sun — перебувати на Сонці;
to vaporize — випаровуватися, наприклад, після перебування на Сонці;
stem — пар;
moustache (brit), mustache (amer) — вуса;
Stroking my Ego — гладити моє Его (ідіома).

take the piss

2010-10-27T00:26:00.004+03:00

Декілька сленгових виразів, які мають різні значення в американській англійській та британській.

British

pissed = drunk
take the piss = make fun of
mad = crazy

American

take a piss = urinate
pissed (pissed off) = very angry
mad = angry

a rip off = overcharge

Прикметники настрою

2010-10-25T03:23:00.007+03:00

Список прикметників, що описують настрій, психологічний стан:

agitated — роздратований
angry
astonished — здивований
bored — нудьгуючий
agitated — схвильований, стурбований
anxious — занепокоєний, заклопотаний
bitter — дуже засмучений
cheerful — веселий, радісний
concerned — зацікавлений, занепокоєний
confused — заплутаний, збитий з пантелику
content — задоволений
decisive — рішучий
defensive
delighted — в захопленні
devastated — спустошений
disappointing — розчарований
distraught — збожеволівший, зненавіснівілий
distressed — засмучений
disturbed
ecstatic — радісний, в екстазі
elated — в захваті
embarrassed — не комфортно почуватися
excited
exhausted — втомлений, виснажений
frightened — наляканий
furious
happy
heart-broken, broken-hearted
impatient — дратівливий
in a good mood
irritated — сердитий, роздратований; розгніваний
irritable — нестриманий, роздратований
mad — розлючений
miserable — нещасний
nervous
panicked
pleased — задоволений
psychotic
puzzled — заморочений
relaxed
relieved — відчуваючий полегшення
restless —
scared
shocked
surprised
thrilled — схвильований, в захваті
worried

come back

2010-10-16T23:09:00.003+03:00

Знову почав вчити англійську. Тепер в школі American English Center.

Every cloud has a silver lining. Все що не стається — на краще, — якщо по-нашому.

few, a few, little, a little, quite a few

2009-03-31T13:33:00.004+03:00

Слова few і little можуть надавати твердженням протилежного відтінку, в залежності від того вживати їх з невизначеним артиклем чи без.

Твердження в яких few і little використовуються без артиклю часто несуть негативний характер:

I have few friends. — В мене мало друзів.
There was little food on their party. — На їхній вечірці було мало їжі.

Твердження, в яких few і little вживаються з артиклем, негативного характеру не несуть і є більш позитивними:

I have a few friends. — В мене є декілька друзів.
There was a little food on their party. — На їхній вечірці було трохи їжі.

Різниця ж у вживанні власне few і little в тому, що few вживається зі злічуваними (countable) іменниками, а little - з незлічуваними (uncountable). Але це й так всім відомо :)

До речі, словником Lingvo вживання few і little без артиклю визначається як формальне, і в щоденних розмовах там радять їх замінювати на подібні not much, only a few, any.

Вираз quite a few перекладається як "достатньо", "досить багато".

to talk, to say, to tell, to speak

2008-11-10T00:56:00.005+02:00

When you speak/talk to the God, what will you say/say to him/tell him?

Ще декілька давніх нотаток про різницю між схожими на перший погляд словами.

To say і to talk — майже синоніми. Треба всього навсього запам'ятати:

to say something
to talk to somebody

Детальніше і з прикладами є тут і тут. Вичерпна цитата знайдена за другою лінкою:

Talk and speak are very similar; speak is more formal and less commonly used.

I want to talk/speak to/with you after work today.
When my father was unhappy with me, he always talked/spoke to me very formally.
What did the guests talk about? (here speak is too formal)
How long did the president talk/speak?
Don't talk/speak for more than 20 minutes.

Talk and speak are often followed by words like to, with, about and for. We also say things like 'talk/speak slowly and clearly.'

You can say 'speak English'. We don't normally say 'talk English' unless one means talk about English.

You cann't say 'say/tell English', but you can say 'say it/something in English' and 'tell me something in English'

Say is very commonly used:

What did he say?
I didn't understand what he said.
Say that again.
Say it more slowly.
I almost always agree with what he says.
The weather man says it will be much colder tomorrow.

Say and tell are more commonly used for written things than talk and speak are:

What did John say in his letter?
The second chapter of the book will tell us about Napoleon's childhood.

Tell is almost aways immediately followed by a noun or pronoun that serves as a direct or indirect object:

Tell us more about yourself.
Tell me/Kate/the class what you did on Christmas Day.
I told the police what I saw.
I told my story to anyone who would listen.