Every week, we’ll be sharing a list of posts, stories, news, or opinions that we've run across the Internet during the past week or two. We won't be discussing them in detail here, but we do encourage you to check them out as they could contain valuable ideas and insights for your
IELTS exam.
If you're ready, here we go...
GRAMMAR
The author shares some grammar jokes to make us laugh.
The author shares: "It can be tricky identifying these 'dummy' prepositions. It’s easy enough to discard clear cases of meaningful prepositions, in verb phrases like walk to school, but it gets harder as the prepositionals become metaphorical, in phrases such as stare at him."
How do we solve the problem of having unreferenced demonstrative pronouns?
What is a noun? What is a verb? What is an adjective? AHHHHH!!! Learn how to recognize nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in this important basic grammar lesson.
Apostrophes are probably the most misused punctuation marks in contemporary written English. When used correctly, they enhance language by providing extra information in a sentence to better convey your meaning. When not used correctly, they can muddle your message.
The author writes: "We comedy Wednesday? Really? We comedy Wednesday! Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you: since when is comedy a verb?"
A new book details the crime de la creme of typographical errors, from hotel brochures advertising a 'French widow in every bedroom' to Tea Party signs declaring President Obama's 'crisis of competnce'. Here are some of the finest.
Do slang and vulgarity belong in the dictionary?
READING
Try these ideas to rediscover the joy of reading books.
The author shares the benefits he's received from using Twitter.
How people get mentally stuck, why, and how it happens.
For productivity and collaboration, using digital tools to jot down notes is great. But there's one thing that will surely suffer.
Language difficulties may not be as high profile as dyslexia or autism, but they should be say Dorothy Bishop and Becky Clark.
SELF-IMPROVEMENT
We all tend to think we’re invincible until, well, life happens. If only we had listened to sage advice. But the truth is, we’re not hardwired to learn that way.
The motivation to think and the motivation to act strike us at different times. Plan your day accordingly.
SPEAKING
The author shares his findings on body language.
The author offers tips for public speaking and removing filler words like “um” from your speech.
VOCABULARY
The author shares her views on the word "dude."
Some words are often confused by language learners – because they are similar to another word or because they look like a word in your own language but have a different meaning. Here are some words that often cause confusion.
Oddly enough, it may be that the word 'Nincompoop' has biblical associations.
Sometimes dictionary entries have errors, and sometimes those errors turn into real words. Find out which words that you use had such an inauspicious start.
The author shares some typical mistakes when English words are learnt and how to avoid them.
The author shares some methods to help students deal with problems about multi-word verbs.
The author shares a number of words and their corresponding translations.
WRITING
If you're a writer, blogger or journalist, pay close attention to this list so that you can avoid these common writing errors in your own work.
