Toil (verb) – work hard Toil (noun) – hard work Here are some examples of how you can use toil: Foreign labourers were toiling in the burning sun to finish the stadium on time for the World Cup. A group of ants toiled at lugging a crumb from one end of the room to the… Continue reading Word to the Wise: Toil
These words may look the same, but they mean something different. Fleet (noun) – a group of boats or airplanes (sometimes also used for cars) Fleet (verb) – pass (in time) Fleeting (adjective) – passing quickly (in time) David Yu Here are some examples of how you can use fleet and fleeting: The Armada was… Continue reading Word to the Wise: Fleet and Fleeting
Last time we discussed evolve and involve. Now about devolve. devolve (verb) – to give to someone else (of a task or responsibility, or inheritance) devolvement (noun) – the giving of a task to someone else Here are some examples of how you can use devolve: The manager devolved the problem with the servers to a… Continue reading Word to the Wise: devolve
Two words that are often confused: involve (verb) – to include or get inside evolve (verb) – develop or change gradually Involvement and evolvement are the nouns. Here are some examples of how you can use involve and evolve: Involve I opened my neighbour’s letter and now I’m afraid to get involved in a fight when she… Continue reading Word to the Wise: involve and evolve
You might know some examples where you asked yourself: “Do I need to use make or do?” At the end of this article I’m adding links to some quizzes about make or do. But now we’ll talk about make or take. This week I heard someone make a mistake with make and take. Instead of take… Continue reading Expressions with Make or Take
pitch (noun) – how high or low a tone is (in music or acoustics) pitch-perfect (adjective) – (sound) exactly right Note: Pitch can have a number of other meanings. Here are some examples of how you can use pitch: An alto sings in a low pitch, whilst a soprano sings in a low pitch. The pitch… Continue reading Word to the Wise: pitch
devour (verb) [pronounce with the ou like in house] – eat (too) quickly or a lot This word is also often used figuratively: to devour a book means to read it quickly and with much interest and/or read a lot. Here are some examples of how you can use devour: I was so hungry when… Continue reading Word to the Wise: devour
scythe (noun) [pronounce: saith] – a tool (see picture) with a long rounded blade, used for cutting grass or grain Scary, right? I mean the scythe, not the woman of course. And here are two verbs for things you can do with a scythe: mow (verb) – cut grass mowing (noun) – cutting the grass 2. reap (verb)… Continue reading Word to the Wise: scythe
poignant (adjective) [pronounce: poin-yent] – moving, emotional, and/or painful poignancy, poignance (noun) – being moving, emotional, and/or painful poignantly (adverb) – in a way that is moving, emotional, and/or painful Here are some examples of how you can use poignant: I had to wipe away a tear when I listened to her poignant story. It was a poignant scene when… Continue reading Word to the Wise: poignant
Your task is to read a short story, “The Dwarf,” which you can find here. Then answer the vocabulary questions. I’ll tell you briefly what the story is about and what you can expect. About the writer Ray Bradbury: Alan Light Ray Bradbury (died in 2012) was an American writer best known for his surrealist… Continue reading The Dwarf by Ray Bradbury: Story + Vocabulary Quiz
English with a Smile 