Languagelab.com Blog

One of our students Energizer Aboma came to me a few days ago with a great idea – a writing contest. This is a great way to improve your writing and get critical feedback that can help you improve.

Many of our students have been writing on the English City News Blog a newspaper run by the students and Lane Jarman, reporter at the City News.  If you would like to write something for the blog come to one of Lane’s activities or comment on another student’s article and we will get back to you.

Ok so here are the rules:

• Below there is a list of 50 words, you must look up their meanings.
• Students must write a fictional story,  news style report or discursive essay using at least thirty words in the list.
• Points will be given for originality, style, grammar and structure.
• The winner’s profile will be featured on the new Languagelab website and also displayed all over English City.
• Everyone who enters will be given detailed feedback and those who choose to share their feedback with the group will be posted on the blog for all students to benefit from.

The words:

1. advice
2. benefit
3. liaise
4. compete
5. effect
6. relate
7. budget
8. discreet
9. regard
10. respond
11. comply
12. procure
13. paradigm
14. defy
15. assess
16. criterion
17. appreciate
18. jingoism
19. analyse
20. retain
21. affect
22. enhance
23. podcasting
24. acquire
25. oblige
26. information
27. use
28. intend
29. ecopolitics
30. endeavour
31. continue
32. provide
33. allege
34. emphasize
35. aesthetic
36. empathy
37. request
38. pragmatic
39. despite
40. ubiquitous
41. sceptic
42. propose
43. assume
44. ambiguous
45. competence
46. irony
47. subtle
48. implement
49. concur
50. general

The deadline is 9th March and all submissions should be made on the English City News Blog or to jessie@languagelab.com

Good Luck !

Hi Everyone,

This week is assessment week at Languagelab and there are test activities going on all over the city.

So if you want to:

• Check your progress
• Check your speaking level
• Know what you need to improve on

Come and visit the teachers and English City People who are all there to help you know what to improve – good luck!

There are also certificates available for all those who take part in the test activities.

Join now and get 100’s of hours with native speaker teachers doing great test activities, there isn’t a better place to do your tests.

Click here to join now if you are not a student already.

If you are studying with us click here to see the schedule.

See you soon!

Jessie Teacher

A wise woman once said that both ‘who’ and ‘whom’ mean the same thing.  When you choose one over the other, all you are doing is changing the word order and the formality or informality of the sentence.

Personally, I find ‘whom’ very nineteenth century and would like to throw it in the bin BUT if you are writing for an international examination (like IELTS), writing a thesis or an academic article, you might want to vary your sentence structures with a little bit of ‘whom.’

Here is the answer and an example of each one.

Use the he/him method to decide which word is correct.

he = who
him = whom

Examples:     Who/Whom wrote the letter?

He wrote the letter. Therefore, who is correct.

For who/whom should I vote?
Should I vote for him? Therefore, whom is correct.

We all know who/whom pulled that prank.
This sentence contains two clauses: We all know and who/whom pulled that prank. We are interested in the second clause because it contains the who/whom. He pulled that prank. Therefore, who is correct. (Are you starting to sound like a hooting owl yet?)

We want to know on who/whom the prank was pulled.
This sentence contains two clauses: We want to know and the prank was pulled on who/whom. Again, we are interested in the second clause because it contains the who/whom. The prank was pulled on him. Therefore, whom is correct.

And there you have it.  There is more to ‘who’ or ‘whom’ than that of course, but this little method should send you in the right direction.

Bye for now,

Grammar Girl

Want to come and visit English City ?

Never learned English in a virtual world ?

If you want to visit English City for one day and meet our ‘English City People’, students and teachers why not get a Day Pass – for the special reduced price of $2,500 Lindens which is less than $10 US dollars you can try all the classes and activities for 24 hours and also get help from our team on how to use your voice and move around in English City.

So to visit us:

1. Register

2. Visit our welcome area

3. Join the group Languagelab Day Pass

Start learning now !

Jessie Teacher

Last month I wrote about the spelling of words with long and short vowels.

I think that the best way to improve your spelling is to read, observe the spelling of new or difficult words, copy them down and learn them.  Keep doing a ’spell-check,’ which my recommendation for the week should help you with.
Check out this site - Fun brain

Rules can be very difficult to follow unless you have got the concept itself in your head.  So today, I’m going to keep it short and sweet.

I want you to think about how reading and observing the spelling of a word can help you with grammar.

I’m going to give you 8 words.  Look at the letters at the END of each word to tell me whether it is a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb.

The first one has been done for you:
1.    advertise – VERB
2.    musical
3.    dangerous
4.    nursery
5.    already
6.    recommendation
7.    recommend
8.    audible

Do look them up in a dictionary to find out what they are and/or what they mean.  The answers are below.

Now, when you see words ending in ‘ise,’ ‘al,’ ‘ous, ‘ery,’ ‘y,’ ‘ion,’ ‘end’ or ‘ible’ you’ll know what they are.

Answers:
1.verb 2.adjective 3.adjective 4.noun 5.adverb 6.noun 7.verb 8.adjective

Hi Students,

There is scheduled maintenance on the Second Life Grid so SL will be closed until 8am PST (4pm UK time).

See here for more information.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused and if you have booked a lesson and cannot get in email us on info@languagelab.com and we will give you back the lesson you missed.

Hope to see you all later !

Jessie Teacher

In my last blog I mentioned commas and apostrophes.  Of course, we’ve all used commas and apostrophes.  Try the game on this site to see how comfortable you are with them.

How did it go?
Today, we could have a wee bit of a closer examination of apostrophes, which you will have found at the end of the game.  There are 13 apostrophe rules but since 7 is a luckier number than 13, I’ve only written the 7 most important ones.

Rule 1.
Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter(s) has been removed.
Examples:     don’t, isn’t
You’re right.

Rule 2.
Use the apostrophe to show possession. Place the apostrophe before the s to show singular possession.
Examples:     one boy’s hat
one woman’s hat

Rule 3.
Use the apostrophe where the noun that should follow is implied, in other words we know what the noun should be.
Example:     This was his father’s, not his, jacket.

Rule 4.
To show plural possession, make the noun plural first. Then immediately use the apostrophe.
Examples:
two boys’ hats
two women’s hats

Rule 5.
Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of a name.
Examples: We visited the Sanchezes in Los Angeles.
The Changs have two cats and a dog.

Rule 6.
With a singular compound noun, show possession with ’s at the end of the word.
Example:     my mother-in-law’s hat

Rule 7.
If the compound noun is plural, form the plural first and then
use the apostrophe.
Example:     my two brothers-in-law’s hats

Don’t worry about the other 6 rules.  Pay particular attention to these 7 tips and you’ll be apostrophe-perfect.

Good luck,

Grammar Girl

Do you want to know which country has the most English speakers?

Which type of English is better – American or British?

What about the future of English and why should everyone learn English and not Chinese?

If you have questions about the English language and how it is used around the world come and talk to language expert Samuel Teacher.

This event is open to all students and their friends so come along and enjoy the session.

Where : Languagelab welcome area

When: 8pm UK time/12pm PST

Who: English Expert Samuel Teacher

Answers to our Twitter Quiz:

There are a few grammar, spelling and vocabulary differences  a UK or USA? and what is the equivalent?

1)apartment = USA/ flat = UK

2)diaper  = USA/ nappy  = UK

3)lift = UK/elevator = USA

4)bloke = UK/guy = USA

5)pram = UK/stroller = USA

6)bathroom = USA/ toilet or loo = UK

7)argument = USA/ row = UK

8)band-aid  = USA/ plaster = UK

9)jelly = UK/ Jell-o = USA

10)trousers = UK/ Pants = USA

Now guess the word, give the USA and UK word:

What is a ticket for two journeys: out and back called? – UK – Return  USA – round trip

What is flavoured ice on a stick called? – UK – ice-lolly  – USA – popsicle

What is an arthropod with six legs called? UK – insect – USA – bug

What is a self contained section of television called? UK – programme – USA – show

What is a type of house connected to one other called? UK – semi-detached – USA – duplex

What is a contest between two teams called? – UK – match  – USA – game

What is a group of people waiting for their turn called? – UK – queue – USA – line

What is a multi-lane road for cars called? – UK – motorway – USA – highway

What is payment in a restaurant called? – UK – bill – USA – cheque

What was there was before email? – UK – post – USA – mail

Teachers and Learners: This is for you

How to become a good academic writer

This post might be clearer if you are studying in university or are an advanced learner of English.  But even if you aren’t preparing for your IELTS, TOEFL or TOIC exam or studying in university, you might find these suggestions useful.  Teachers of English could also use these tips if they are preparing a writing course.

Below, you’ll see some examples of poor writing with answers that hint at how you might want to improve them.

1. Don’t abbrev.
Answer: I do not is better than I don’t.

2. Check to see if you any words out.
Answer: Check to see if you have left any words out.

3. Be carefully to use adjectives and adverbs correct.
Answer: Be careful to use adjectives and adverbs carefully.

4. About sentence fragments.
Answer: Do not use sentence fragments. Visit this site to learn more about sentence fragments.

5. Don’t use no double negatives.
Answer: Do not use double negatives.

6. Don’t use commas, that aren’t necessary.
Answer: Do not use commas that are not necessary.

7. Its important to use apostrophe’s right.
Answer: It is important to use apostrophes correctly.

8. Only Proper Nouns should be capitalised. also a sentence should begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop .
Answer: Only proper nouns should be capitalised.  Also, a sentence should begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop.

Use hyphens in compound-words, not just in any two-word phrase.
Answer: Use hyphens in compound words, not just in any two-word phrase.

There are, of course, more golden rules.  Try these grammar and punctuation suggestions and let me know how it goes.

Good luck,

Grammar Girl