expire (verb) – end and become invalid expiration (noun) – the end of something expired (adjective) – ended and not valid anymore because time has run out expiration date (noun) – the day on which something ends, or: when products in a shop can no longer be sold because they aren’t fresh anymore (also called… Continue reading Word to the Wise: expire
To learn something by ____________ – to memorize completely, to learn something so well that you don’t need to look in the book Choose the right answer: A mind B book C head D heart scroll down for the answer scroll some more The right answer is: heart.… Continue reading Back to School Idiom: learn something by ____________
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A for ____________ – said to someone when they tried hard but the result wasn’t quite wonderful. Choose the right answer: trying effort doing your best hard work scroll down for the answer scroll some more The right answer is: effort. (effort means try.) So the idiom is… Continue reading Back to School Idiom: A for ____________
Participles ending in –en: driven, ridden, spoken. By Jacqueline Schaalje Have a look at this infographic for a quick reminder on some common irregular verbs. If you need help with the tenses, check this out. This article explains about the differences between past simple (in which you need V2) and present perfect (in which you use… Continue reading Irregular Verbs with –en Infographic
Period or Full Stop When I read students’ work, I see too many sentences that never end. This makes one’s work unreadable or at least annoying to read. So this is really one of the first things you should fix in your writing. Let’s see if we can find a rule for putting a full stop… Continue reading Punctuation – Where to Put In Full Stops
feat (noun) – a strong or remarkable action Note: Don’t confuse this word with feet, which is the plural of foot. Here are some examples of how you can use feat: The cat jumped from the tall building and landed on its feet; now there’s a feat. Usain Bolt isn’t only the fastest person on… Continue reading Word to the Wise: feat
ajar (adjective) – a little bit open George Grinsted Here are some examples of how you can use ajar: The manager left the door ajar, so people on his team could feel they were welcome to come in. Children, leave your bedroom doors ajar at night.
defect (verb) – stop being loyal to a country or group and leave them defector (noun) – a person who leaves a country or group of people because he or she doesn’t believe in it defection (noun) – an act in which a person leaves a country or group because he does no longer believe in… Continue reading Word to the Wise: defect
capsize (verb) – to overturn (= to turn upside down) Ruth Hartnup Here are some examples of how you can use capsize: Due to a leak, the cruise ship capsized and its passengers had to be rescued. Our raft capsized in the part of the river that was nicknamed “washing machine.” We all fell off… Continue reading Word to the Wise: capsize
English with a Smile 