Welcome to my English Stuff Blog

For many years I have been using a nice tool. This is a monolingual Dictionary. That is what we need !!! If we are learning English, then, we must understand all new vocabulary in English. Don’t you think ?

It is not easy at the beginning, but the key is we do not want depend on our native language.

Here’s a screenshot for you.

As you can see, it has many features . What I like the most is the explanations in the same language. You can also see the difference between a noun and a verb for the word you are looking up.

JUST CRTL + W on a word

From their website:

WordWeb is a free English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows, and can be used to look up words from within almost any program in just one click. It works off-line, but can also look up words in web references such as the Wikipedia encyclopedia. Features of the free version include:

You can visit their Website. Remember you can use the free version.

Free^*. No SpyWare. No AdWare. No viruses. Works off-line.

THIS IS THE LINK : http://wordweb.info/free/

Present perfect & past simple; have & have got; irregular verbs.

1) BrE sometimes uses the present perfect while AmE use the past simple:

BrE: Have you eaten all those biscuits?
AmE: Did you eat all those cookies?

BrE: Have you ever seen the film, Casablanca?
AmE: Did you ever see the movie, Casablanca?

2) BrE uses have got while AmE tends to use have:

BrE: Have you got new training shoes?
AmE: Do you have new sneakers?

BrE: I’ve got some wellington boots you can borrow.
AmE: I have some rubbers you can borrow.

BrE: I haven’t got time for a holiday this year.
AmE: I don’t have time for a vacation this year.

3) There are some differences in irregular verbs between AmE and BrE. Two major differences are:

BrE: dive - dived - dived She dived into the pool.
AmE: dive - dove - dived She dove into the pool.

BrE: get - got - got The baby has got a lot bigger.
AmE: get - got -gotten The baby has gotten a lot bigger.

A: In my opinion income taxes are too high.

B: I agree with you.

A: I think alcohol is just as bad as marijuana.

B: Well, I don’t know about that.

A: The ads encourage children to eat junk food.

B: I can’t go along with you on that point.

A: Do you agree with my opinion?

B: Yes, I do.

A: Do you think this will work out?

B: I doubt it.

A: I think all we have to do now is cut down on our expenses.

B:  I agree with you.

A: Let me get down to the main business.

B: Okay.

A: Are you for or against this plan?

B: I’m for it.

Activities:

1) Practice with a partner.

2) New vocabulary and expressions

A: Can you help me? My car has run into a ditch.

B: Oh, you’re bleeding a lot. I’ll phone for an ambulance.

A: Police Department.

B: Hello. A gun fight is going on here in the Owl Cafe.

A: What’s wrong?

B: I’ve got to report a car missing.

A: Police Operator 117. (you can use your country emergency phone numbers)

B: I want to report a fire.

A:  Where is it?

B:  McLeod factory on Meridian Street. ( use known places )

A: He’s absolutely boiling!

B: Bring him right into the examining room.

A: How did it happen anyway?

B:  I was checking the city map at the corner and I slipped and fell.

A: What’s going on?

B: I’m not sure, but there seems to have been a traffic accident.

Activities:

1) Practice with a partner.

2) New vocabulary and expressions

http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bl_confusing1.htm