We Love English ♥

domingo, 29 de abril de 2012

True Story

In a common day of class, correcting a composition, I've noticed that a student wrote: “She gave me the cake”. I immediately thought where the cake could be in that context, then, I realized that the student was trying to say that a person didn’t arrive where he/she was waiting, “giving him the cake”.



This is a common mistake in English, because the students don’t know that for many expressions in Portuguese there is another one totally different in English.

Give the cake is only one example.
When someone doesn’t appear in a meeting, we usually say in Portuguese that he/she gave us a cake. But in English the expression is “Stand somebody up”.


E.g.: “John stood me up at the mall”.




After all we laugh at the situation!!


Do you want to know a specific expression? Send us an e-mail: nataliadenisethais@gmail.com!

See you!

quarta-feira, 25 de abril de 2012

Phrasal Verbs, Idioms and Collocations

Have you already heard about these three topics above?
Do you know the difference among them?
Well, what we can say is that the more you get to know them, the more you will be able to speak English fluently as a native.
So let’s start:
Phrasal Verbs are the verbs which are formed by two words and we can use them when we want to have an informal conversation. By using them, you show that you can talk to natives in their own way (as well as using the idioms and collocations).

Examples:
To call off: to cancel
To find out: to discover some information
To get up: to arise from bed/couch/chair
To look after: to take care of somebody or something

Idioms are figures of speech that always play a trick on second language learners.
We must pay attention to them because they’re expressions compounded by two or more words and the real meaning doesn’t have anything to do with the isolated meanings of the words involved.

Examples:
Never mind: forget it
Take your time: no need to rush
Act your age: don’t be a child
How are you doing?: to ask somebody if everything is okay

Collocations are two or more words that are often combined. It’s a sequence of terms that is very used by native speakers. If you don’t use them correctly, probably people will understand what you mean, but it would sound unnatural for them.
Examples:
·         Money
Easy Money
Dirty Money
To make Money
To earn Money          
·         Door
Big Door
Sliding Door
To Shut the door
To unlock the door

After this explanation, we can now understand the difference among idioms, collocations and phrasal verbs. In spite of all this, we must bear in mind that all of them are very useful and can give us the fluency we wish.
The Collocations, Idioms and Phrasal Verbs help us to learn a more natural Spoken English.

Any doubts? Please contact us: nataliadenisethais@gmail.com