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Showing posts from May, 2021

Tips for making English easier to learn

Why is Learning English so Important today? Although learning English can be challenging and time-consuming, it is also very valuable to learn and can create many opportunities! English is the language of science, of aviation, computers, diplomacy, and tourism. Knowing English increases your chances of getting a good  job in a multinational company within your home country or especially abroad. It’s also the language of international communication, the media and the internet, so learning English is important for socialising and entertainment as well as for work and education! An estimated 600 million people use the internet every day, and an estimated 52% of the world’s most visited websites are displayed in the English language. This an amazing figure when you consider that there are roughly 6500  spoken languages  in the world today. Learning English is important as it gives you access to over half the content on the internet. Knowing how to read English will allow you access to bil

Using Subjunctives: Understanding "The Mood"

  Is the subjunctive really necessary? We don't use the  subjunctive  very often in English unless we wish to sound formal. With verbs like suggest, recommend, insist, and adjectives like important, essential, imperative, crucial, vital, we often use should + infinitive instead of the  subjunctive  or we can use the normal tense form. The  Subjunctive  in English is the MOOD of a verb that always comes in the simple/base form. The subjunctive mood of verbs comes after  certain verbs  indicating  that  one person wants/insists/desires another person to do something.  Those  certain verbs  are called  subjunctive verbs. Subjunctive Verbs: Advise Demand Prefer Require Ask Insist Propose Stipulate Command Urge Recommend Suggest Decree Order Request The Structure of Subjunctive Mood: Sub (1) +  Subjunctive Verb  (any te

Why are many teachers developing prediabetes and type-2 diabates during the era of virtual classes?

  This article is about a very important subject that could affect a high percentage of teachers who are presently teaching for extensive hours a day online. I am not a doctor, I am not selling a product, or recommending a service, I am a pre-diabetic English teacher, and this article is based upon my own research to discover the changes that have affected my own health during more than a year of teaching every day online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The reason why I started investigating was that I found that my own health had slowly, and progressively started to suffer during this period of extended physical inactivity. After going to the clinic and having a medical checkup, I was shown that I had unknowingly progressed from prediabetes, a condition that I have had for about 6 years, and which is not uncommon at my age, to full type-2 diabetes.  In addition, my own 25-year-old daughter, who is also an English teacher, started to feel unwell, tired, and mentally lethargic, and after

Interjections: Understanding how to correctly use them plus 8 downloadable study slides to use in the classroom or for self-study.

  What are interjections? Interjections are words that you can use to express a strong sense of emotion or feeling. An interjection is usually just a single word – and unlike any other part of English grammar, it doesn’t influence the grammar of a sentence in any way. It doesn’t matter what tense the sentence is, who or what the subject is, what verbs you are using, or anything else. You can use interjections at any time, to add an extra touch of meaning. Lots of different kinds of words can act as an interjection, from words like “yes” or “no”, to more emotive words such as “ouch”, “hurray”, or “hey”. Different interjections can be used to express different kinds of emotions or feelings – from anger, happiness, surprise, to enthusiasm, boredom, and more. Let’s take a look at some examples: “Ouch! That really hurt.” “Wow, that’s so beautiful!” “Yuck, that tastes really disgusting.” Interjections aren’t just for strong or extreme emotions though. They can also be used more mild or polit