How many people are in a group?

When talking about a group of people, express the quantity by using there are (or there were for the past tense).

It seems obvious, but many languages literally translate this incorrectly. For example, I often hear "we are in five" when it should be "there are five of us".





If you are part of the group, of us will explain that.
If you are talking about other people or other things, of them is used to indicate that.

Incorrect: They were in two.
Correct: There were two of them.

So when you talk about group experiences, be aware of the correct usage and try to practice in any situation: There are three of us in the elevator. There are ten of us in the office. There were four of them in the car.

Sentence Variety

Diversity in your speech or writing requires a good knowledge of vocabulary, phrasal verbs, and idioms; otherwise you'd say the same thing in the same way every time. How boring is that?! Think about adding variety to your new language (and your mother tongue too) to increase complexity and interest for yourself and your audience.

Let's create some sentence variety to this basic sentence: I play soccer.

1. Turn it into a question: Do you know what my favorite sport is? Soccer.

2.Turn it into a passive sentence: The soccer match was won by my favorite team.

3. Turn it into an exclamatory sentence: We scored another goal!

4. Combine it with your next sentence: I played soccer on Saturday afternoon and went to the cinema on Saturday night.

5. Use a transitional phrase: Even though I like playing soccer, I sometimes enjoy being a couch potato.

6. Start with a participle: Riding the bus, I daydreamed about being a soccer star.

7. Put modifiers in different places: My favorite soccer player generously signed multitudes of autographs for his adoring and excited fans.

Play instead of work

For most of us, learning a foreign language is work. You must find time in your busy day to study, memorize, practice grammar rules, speak, listen, and improve. It's a challenge.

I say play instead of work. Participating in learning activities that you like is more attractive, obviously, so play a game of Scrabble, tell a joke, watch that good movie, learn the words to a new song, do a crossword puzzle, whatever it is that you consider a pleasure, relaxation. Doing something you like every day to learn your new language. The best methods for me are songs and crossword puzzles. Music really helps me learn new vocabulary and verb forms in Italian and Spanish. I like it so I do it. What works for you?

I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.

Really? Do you have such a large appetite that you could eat an entire horse? I don’t think so. What you are using here is a figure of speech known as hyperbole (pronounced: hy-PER-buh-lee) which is an exaggerated or extravagant statement used to create a dramatic or humorous effect.

Surely you will get a strong reaction when you speak this way. Not meant to be taken literally, using hyperboles is simply a way to be dramatic or humorous with overstatements. I like using hyperboles because they’re funny, excessive, and entertaining. Sometimes people think I'm serious so that gives me an extra laugh. How could someone take you seriously when using exaggerations? I don’t know, but here are some examples of hyperbole:

I had to wait an eternity for the file to download.




He has tons of friends
.

He ate a mountain of mashed potatoes.




I will die if she asks me to dance.


I have told you a million times not to use my car!

There's a spider in my bathroom that's the size of a Buick (line from a Woody Allen movie)

Try applying hyperbole to your conversations and see what kind of reactions you receive....and don’t wait an eternity. Start today!

Pardon me?

When learning a language, listening can be just as challenging as speaking because it often seems like native speakers talk too fast, doesn’t it? I’m always trying to improve my skills in Italian and Spanish and, when conversing, I usually think, “What did they just say???”

Of course it’s normal to ask someone to repeat something but politeness is important. It's best not to simply say, “What?” on its own. It can sound rather harsh, blunt, and informal. Here are some suggestions to ask for repetition:

Could you repeat that, please?

Pardon me? I beg your pardon? Pardon?

Would you mind repeating that?

Excuse me?

(I’m) sorry?

Sorry, what did you say? What was that again?

Sorry, could you say that again please?

Sorry, could you repeat it more slowly?

Sorry, would you mind speaking a bit slower?

I’m sorry, I couldn’t/didn’t hear (what you said).

Sorry, did you say…?

I didn’t quite catch that.

Did you catch that?

Shape Words

Do you know what a “shape word” is? It’s a single letter and a word, where the letter describes the shape of the object. There aren’t many shape words although I wish there were more: the shape makes them easy to remember.

T-shirt: a short-sleeved casual top having the shape of a T when laid out flat

A-frame: the structure of a house that is shaped like a capital A

U-turn: a turn by a vehicle, completely reversing the direction of travel

V-neck: clothing with a neckline in a V-shape

A-line: clothing that has a fitted top and a flared bottom, like an A-line dress

T-bone: a thick steak containing a T-shaped bone

Do you have any shape words in your native language?

What is interesting about the word interesting?

Nothing. I wrote about the word nice in a previous post and my opinion is the same about the word interesting. It’s an easy, safe word but it doesn’t offer any information about your opinion or how you feel about something.
How does my pesto taste? It’s interesting. (Is that good or bad? Do you like it or not? What does interesting mean? Nothing.)
How was the movie? It was interesting. (Is that good or bad? Did you like it or not?)
How do you like my new boyfriend? He’s really interesting. (Is that good or bad? Do you like him or not?)
I guess you can consider interesting to be a diplomatic response if you don’t like something and you want to be polite, or perhaps you can’t come up with any reasons why you think something is interesting. I recommend that you explain why something is interesting because, although it takes a little more effort and brain power, people will greatly appreciate it.
ps: If you think this post is interesting, don't forget to tell me why.

American Kitsch: Pink Flamingos

Imagine an exotic pink flamingo - made of plastic - proudly adorning your garden or lawn.

Imagine an exotic pink flamingo - made of plastic - proudly adorning your garden or lawn.

The plastic pink flamingo is considered bad taste by many people and admired by others as retro cool. As a symbol of American kitsch, it has remained inexplicably popular for 53 years. The original flashy flamingo was sculpted in 1957 and 30 million have been sold since then.

Pink flamingos have a special place in the history of my old school, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1979, as students walked the campus on their first day of classes, they were greeted by an unbelievable sight: 1,008 pink flamingos covering Bascom Hill (see photo). The idea was devised by two students and is remembered as a wildly popular and legendary prank (joke).

If you have any examples of kitsch in your country, please let me know!

Home Sweet Home

There are days when all you want to do is stay home and do nothing. For me, bad weather is always a good excuse. What’s yours?

There are some unusual words to describe a lazy day at home, a busy day at home, or when you’ve spent too much time at home. Which one best describes your situation?

couch potato: someone who likes to spend a lot of time sitting or lying down while watching television. (Other words for couch are sofa or divan.)

Fabio is a couch potato who refuses to move when football is on TV.

nesting: Some people enjoy spending a lot of time in their homes to make them nice places to live. This is called nesting. Birds build nests out of sticks to hold their eggs and baby birds. Nests provide security for wildlife so people like the idea of nests too. The word nesting became popular more than twenty years ago. It describes people buying their first homes and filling them with many things.

Pregnant women practice nesting to prepare for the birth of their baby.

cabin fever: Too much time inside the house using a computer or watching television can cause someone to get cabin fever. A cabin is a simple house usually built far away from the city.  People go to a cabin to relax and enjoy quiet time. Cabin fever is not a disease. However, people can experience boredom and restlessness if they spend too much time inside their homes.  This is especially true during the winter when it is too cold or snowy to do things outside.

Federica suffered from cabin fever during the long winter.

It’s Columbus Day!

Every year, on the second Monday of October, we celebrate Columbus Day to honor the Italian explorer who discovered America.

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451. He wanted to discover a trade route to the East because India, China, and Japan offered many goods Europeans craved, but traveling around the southern tip of Africa to get them was difficult and dangerous.

Columbus believed there was a better route and proposed sailing west 3000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, thinking he would circle the globe and arrive in eastern Asia. At 2:00 a.m. on October 12, 1492, land came into view. Columbus did not realize that he had arrived in a new part of the world. He was convinced that he was in India. For this reason, he called the natives who lived there the Indians.

Columbus returned to the Americas three more times, each time believing that he was in India. During his life, he never realized what he had discovered.

How and when to use THAN and THEN

Than and then are two separate words.

THAN is used when making comparisons.

Italy is smaller than the USA. The USA is smaller than Canada.

Other than his love for football, Massimo has no interests.

The price of gasoline is lower than it was yesterday.

Stefania plays the piano better than I do.

THEN

1) Indicates time or a sequence of events.

I ate a salad, then a pizza, then some chocolate cake, and then I took a nap.

Will Nicola be home at noon? I’ll call him then.

2) Meaning therefore, in that case

I’m hungry! Then eat something.

If you want to go, then you’ll have to finish you’re homework.

What could be easier than that?

The Origin of a Sandwich

Sometimes it’s easy to know the meaning of English words if you recognize their Latin roots:

bene --> means good --> English word = benefit

manu --> means hand --> English word = manual

There are other times when we’re not so lucky, especially when the word doesn’t give you any clue at all. Sandwich is a perfect example with a funny story to explain its name.

The word sandwich originated in London one night in 1762 when John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, was too busy gambling to stop for a meal. He ordered a waiter to bring him roast beef between two slices of bread. The Earl was able to continue his gambling while eating and, from that incident, the sandwich was born. He put the meat on slices of bread so he wouldn’t get his fingers greasy while he was playing cards.

The sandwich food is a noun. Sandwich can also be a verb, which means to be squeezed between a tight or restricted space. Example: She sandwiched her little car between two SUV’s in the parking lot.

Italian Kitsch?

Do you have any examples of Italian kitsch? I would love to hear about it!

Languages Today

This is my old textbook and dictionary from when I studied Italian in college. I don’t look at these books very much anymore, not because I’m a fluent Italian speaker (I’m not) but because I prefer using the internet to improve my language skills.

I’m Laura and I’m writing this blog because I’m a perfect example of how the internet can help you do something better: learn a language. A textbook really can’t compete with great web sites, Skype, web cams, podcasts, instant messenger, photo sharing, audio bytes, video clips, music, and I use all of these elements in my work: English conversations.

I’m an American living in the USA and although I live 7000 km away I speak with Italian professionals, artists, and students every day to help them improve their English conversation skills. It’s extremely productive, convenient...and enjoyable too!

I studied journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and I’ve always loved words, vocabulary, and writing. I’ll be posting on this blog regularly to offer tips on English grammar, speaking and writing, and, for some variety, I’ll share some good stories about American culture, news, history, and lifestyle.

I’ll always have sentimental feelings about my old Italian textbook, but the internet offers speed, variety, and interactive possibilities which makes language learning more stimulating....and fun.