Quick Tip: Adverbs + Focusing Auxiliaries

Here's one quick tip about "focusing" ADVERBS with AUXILIARY VERBS:

NOT: This only will help to lessen your burden... :-(

BUT: This will only help to lessen your burden... :-)

"This only helps lessen..." becomes "This will only help lessen..."

So, what are "focusing" adverbs?

They are adverbs which "point to" one part of a clause, and include only, also, just, even, mainly, mostly, either, neither.

Hard and Soft Sounds: Pronunciation Practice - Part 2

SOFT SOUNDS are marked with an asterisk * HARD SOUNDS have no asterisk

P* Pip, pop, pip, pop Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers – a peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers – where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

B Black, babbling brooks broke brawling o’er their bounds.

T* A tell tale tattling torment that troubled all the town.

D Down dingy doorways dived the dastard.

Ch* Cherish cherries.

J Judge not that ye be not judged.

K* Sink; think; wink.

G Gregory going gaily, galloped gallantly to the gate.

F* Four-fifths of the fifers are famed for their fun.

V The vile vision lived vividly. Nephew (note the “ph” is pronounced as “v”). The voice of many waters and the noise of thunder.

Th* The Thane saw the thief in the thicket and thrashed and thumped him on the path.

Th These then are the Father and the Mother of thy Brother.

S* She sells sea shells on the sea shore.

Z The zeal was blazoned from zone to zone.

Zh* Measure; pleasure; treasure.

M* Minim; minimum;

N Noun; night; new

Ng* Singing; playing; dancing.

R Round and round the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.

Here are two more tongue-twisters for you to practise:

• The Leath Police dismisseth us.
• Lord Long’s library is literally littered with literature.

David Hurley

http://succeed-in-english.com

What's the Difference Between "All" and "Whole"?

In the Hebrew language the same word is used for "all" and "whole". I only know this because I was asked about the difference between the two words by an Israeli recently. I responded by turning to Practical English Usage by Michael Swan. This is what I found:

2. word order
All (of) and whole can both be used with singular nouns to mean 'complete', 'every part of'. The word order is different.

determiner + whole + noun
all (of) + determiner + noun

• Julie spent the whole week at home.
• Julie spent all (of) the week at home

• my whole life
• all of my life

3. indefinite reference

All is not generally used before indefinite articles.

She's eaten a whole loaf. (NOT ... all a loaf.)

4. uncountable nouns

With most uncountable nouns we prefer all (of)

• I've drunk all (of) the milk. (NOT ... the whole milk.)

5. the whole of

Instead of whole we can generally use the whole of.

Before proper nouns (names) and pronouns we always use the whole of, not whole. all (of) is also possible.

• The whole of/All of Venice was under water.
• Ive just read the whole of/all of 'War and Peace'.

6. plural nouns

With plural nouns, all and whole have different meanings. All is like every; whole means 'complete', 'entire'. Compare:

• All Indian tribes suffered from white settlement in America. (= Every Indian tribe suffered...)
• Whole Indian tribes were killed off. (= Complete tribes were killed off; nobody was left alive in those tribes.)

Practical English Usage is a dictionary of common English language problems for English language learners and teachers. It has been the first choice of students and teachers for over 20 years.

David Hurley
http://succeed-in-english.com

Long & Short Sounds: Pronunciation Practice - Part 1

How good is your pronunciation of English? In each of the following sentences the vowels in bold have the same sound. 

Practise reading them out loud:

Long Sounds

• The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.
• The leaves of the trees shook in the breeze.
  
• How bright the moonlight shines.
  
• Cold, cold is the stony floor.
  
• The duke duly paid the money due to the Jew before the dew was off the ground on Tuesday.
  
• How far and fast the ship recedes.
  
• Her tall and stalwart pillars falling down.
  
• The noise of many waters and the voice of thunder.
  
• The howl of the wolves as they prowled around.
  
• How cool is this gloomy pool.

Short Sounds

• A glad batch of lads standing with a man at the match.
  
• A red thread well stretched.
  
• I sit and knit, while the birds flit and twit. 
  
• A hot spot on the grass plot.
  
• She took and shook her good book.

David Hurley

Succeed-In-English.com

English Tongue Twister: Betty Botter Bought Some Butter

This English tongue twister tells the story of a woman called Betty Botter who wanted to make some pancake batter.

Eleven of the end words have a letter missing. In each case, is it "a", "e", "i", or "u"?


Betty Botter bought some b-tter,
"But," she said, "the butter's b-tter;
If I put it in my b-tter,
It will make my batter b-tter;
But a bit of better b-tter,
That would make my batter b-tter."
So she bought a bit of b-tter,
Better than her bitter b-tter,
And she put it in her b-tter,
And the batter was not b-tter;
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better b-tter.

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batter x 2
better x 1
bitter x 3
butter x 5
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Check here for the correct solution and listen to a recording of the tongue twister!

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

There Was An Old Woman Who Lost Her Whip...

Nursery rhymes are songs and verses for children. If you love playing with words you will enjoy Mother Goose nursery rhymes, but you may also be surprised at how violent some of the rhymes are. For example, this nursery rhyme about an old woman who lived in a shoe ends with a violent whipping: There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, She had so many children, she didn't know what to do; She gave them some broth without any bread, She whipped them all soundly, and put them to bed.

Modern editors tend to bowdlerize the nursery rhymes to make them suitable for modern sensibilities. Here, for example, is a modern version:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do;
She gave them some broth without any bread,
She kissed them all gently and sent them to bed.

Vocabulary Notes

bowdlerize - to cut rude or unsuitable words from a text. Origin: Thomas Bowdler (1754–1825), English editor of an edition of Shakespeare with all the rude words cut out.

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com

Talking About Rope And String...

I'm still thinking about Spike Milligan. Last week I asked some of my students to complete the poem "String":

String
is a most peculiar thing.
Rope is thicker,
but _ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

One student suggested, "string is slicker". Very nice. Perhaps it is even better than the original, "string is quicker".

Let's make some more comparisons of string and rope:

String is quicker than rope, so

Rope is _ l _ _ _ _ than string.

Rope is _ _ _ _k _ _ than string, so

string is _ _ _ _ n _ _ than rope.

Rope is r _ _ g _ _ _ /_ _ _ _ / _ t _ _ _ _, so

String is _ m _ o _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _.

_ _ _ _ is _ _ _ _ _ g _ _ than _ _ _ _ _ _, so

_ _ _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ ak _ _ / _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _.


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CONTACT ME
Click here, and fill in the form. Type "'String and Rope' answers please!" into the "Message field" and I'll send you the solution.
===

David Hurley
Succeed-In-English.com