Weekly Finds: May 18, 2013

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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

9 Grammar Games That Are Really Addictive

Online grammar games are a new and painless way to refresh your grammar skills. Check out the surprisingly addictive grammar games listed by the author.

The Most Common Grammar Gaffes Writers Make (and How To Avoid Them)

To avoid committing grammar gaffes, you could check out these tips that the author has discovered.

Tuxedo Verbs

Sometimes you should avoid long, fancy verbs. Examples.

4 apostrophe mistakes to avoid

Here's a quick primer on the omnipresent punctuation mark's functions, its misuses, and how to know when (and when not) to insert them.

Antecedent Agreement

The word antecedent is a fancy name for a substantive word, phrase, or clause whose denotation is referred to by a pronoun. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, gender, and person.

Weekly Finds: May 11, 2013

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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

Avoiding Common Grammar Mistakes

Here are some errors to check when doing a self-edit of your writing task.

Customize Word’s Grammar Checker

Here are good suggestions to make MS Word's grammar checker more useful when it comes to our writing tasks.

4 Apostrophe Mistakes to Avoid

Misusing an apostrophe can change the meaning of words and an entire sentence, and it just matters.

Grammar nerds, this post is for you

The author invites us to this activity. Do you know the correct use of these words?

When Breaches of Grammar Are Acceptable

The author argues that there are grammar rules that you could deviate from when the situation allows.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

10 Inspiring Quotes for Uninspiring Times

Just a little dose of inspiration for those moments when you need it most.

VOCABULARY

How to talk about sports in English

Do you like sports? Do you know the difference between playing Call of Duty and training in sports? With just a little study and practice youll be able to play with the pros... or at least talk about it.

10 Language Mistakes Kids Make That Are Actually Pretty Smart

The author believes that kids' mistakes show they know a lot more about the rules than we think. The mistakes are evidence of very smart hypotheses the kids are forming from the limited data they've been given so far.

WRITING

This 'Transformer' Robot Can Shape Shift Into Almost Anything

Observe how the robot is described in this article. It could be useful for describing objects in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1.

Weekly Finds: May 4, 2013

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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...

SPEAKING

How to Introduce Yourself

Get The Public Speaker’s take on what makes a good first impression. Learn how to introduce yourself in person or by letter to individuals and groups.

VOCABULARY

Why Do New Words Survive? 5 Rules

The author argues that words have a chance of becoming permanent if they have certain characteristics. Read the article for details.

Telephone Vocabulary

The author invites us to have a look at the various words and phrases we use when we use the telephone.

10 Colloquial Terms and Their Meanings

Why is there a taint surrounding ain’t? Why do editors get ornery or riled, or have conniptions or raise a ruckus, if writers try to use these and other words?

10 Commonly Misunderstood Words In English [Infographic]

There are a lot of people who use these misunderstood words in their every day lives. This list helps explain the most commonly used misunderstood words.