July 4th, Bastille Day, and the language ofrevolution.July 1, 2015 by Liz Walter

With the USAs Independence Day on the 4th and Frances Bastille Day on the 14th, July certainly has a revolutionary theme, so this blog looks at words and phrases we use to talk about the dramatic and nation-changing events that these days celebrate. In particular, it focuses on one of the most important skills for advanced learners of English, which is collocation, or the way words go together.July 4,1776 was the day on which Americans declared independence from Great Britain. When a country becomes independent, it gains independence, and if a ruling country allows another one to become independent, it grants independence to it.Bastille Day marks the beginning of the French Revolution. On July 14,1789 a group of rioters attacked the Bastille fortress in order to seize weapons and explosives. We refer to this event as the Storming of the Bastille, and it is still common to talk about troops or gunmen storming a building when it is a fast, violent attack.Revolutions happen when a group of people want to overthrow a government or the monarchy. They usually occur after a period of unrest, and when people become more and more angry, we say that tensions escalate. Often, something happens to trigger or spark riots. We talk about people inciting riots or inciting violence if they deliberately try to cause them. We say that riots (and wars) break out, and if we want to emphasize how sudden and violent they are, we often use the verb erupt.In addition to revolution, words such as rebellion, revolt and uprising describe violent actions by a group of people trying to change a political system. The verbs quell, put down, or crush are often used to talk about defeating them.At the end of such a struggle, the winning side claims victory. We also say it inflicts defeat on the other side. Meanwhile, fighters on the losing side suffer defeat, and if they reach a point where they have to admit they have lost, they concede defeat. If one side has been very badly beaten, we talk about a heavy or crushing defeat or a decisive or resounding victory.And what about the results of revolution? Well, the Americans gained independence, and the French abolished the monarchy. Both events led to huge social and political upheaval, and both demonstrated the power of the will of the people. There have of course been many revolutions and attempted revolutions since then, some successful and some disastrous, but these two are both celebrated with national holidays and help to make July special!

Think long and hard; the language ofdecisionsJanuary 28, 2015 by Liz Walter

One of the best ways (perhaps the best way) to improve your English is to learn how words go together in phrases, idioms, or other patterns such as verb/noun or adjective/noun pairs (often called collocations).This blog looks at some useful phrases and collocations connected with the subject of decisions, something we often discuss.Firstly, make is the verb most often used with decision, but we often say that we reach or come to a decision too, especially when we need to put a lot of thought into it (= think about it carefully).If we have a difficult/tough decision to make, we will want to take time to consider the pros and cons/advantages and disadvantages of the possible choices (= the good and bad things about them). We will weigh them up (= decide which are most important) carefully. When there is more than one thing we could do in a situation, we have to consider our options.If we mull something over, we take time to think about it calmly and carefully. When it comes to a particularly difficult decision, people often want to stress how seriously they have thought about it. They may say that they have thought long and hard about it or that they did not take the decision lightly.We use phrases such as bear something in mind and take something into consideration to talk about how we think about a particular fact when we are making up our mind (= deciding).If you are torn between; two options, you find it very difficult to decide which one to choose. You might decide to seek (= try to get) advice or do some research in order to help you make an informed decision (= with all the facts you need). You might also decide to talk it over with someone else, to see what they think.If you toy with the idea of doing something, you consider it, but not very seriously, and if you have second thoughts about something, you realize that you are not happy with a decision, and may decide to change it.This may be because you made a hasty decision (= decided too quickly). A snap decision is also a very fast decision, but is usually used in a more positive way to describe something you decide very suddenly.Finally, if you do not agree with a decision and if you have the power! you can overturn or reverse it (= change things to the way they were before).

You remind me of someone (Words forremembering)May 13, 2015 by Kate Woodford

Do you have a good memory? Is your memory so good, its photographic, allowing you to remember precise things in exact detail? Perhaps your memory is good at particular things. You might have a good memory for faces or a good memory for names. Or you may not be so lucky. You might be forgetful, (often forgetting things). Worse, you may have a memory/mind like a sieve. (A sieve is a piece of kitchen equipment with a lot of little holes in it!) Whether your memory is good or bad, you will find yourself using words and phrases to describe the process of remembering. This post aims to increase your word power in this area.Lets start with useful words and phrases for remembering. Two other ways of saying remember are recall and recollect: I seem to recall she was staying with Rachel./I dont recollect her precise words. If you cast your mind back, you make an effort to think about something from the past: Cast your mind back to that evening we spent with her. Do you remember how sad she seemed? If you succeed in remembering something, you might say you bring or call it to mind: I remember that name, I just cant call his face to mind. If something for example a name rings a bell, it sounds familiar to you, but you cant remember quite why: The name rang a bell, but I couldnt remember where Id heard it.Of course memories vary in how clear and precise they are. You may have a vivid memory, meaning that it is clear and powerful: I have a vivid memory of my first meeting with him. The opposite is a vague memory: I have a vague memory of going there after school. Both vivid and vague are used as adverbs before remember: I vividly/vaguely remember visiting her. Of course, a memory even a vivid one may fade (=become less clear) with the passing of time.Sometimes we experience sudden memories, perhaps caused by being in a particular place or seeing a particular thing. A sudden, clear memory, especially of something unpleasant, can be called a flashback: I had a flashback to my first day at school. If you suddenly experience lots of memories, you may say that memories come flooding back to you: The smell of the building brought the memories flooding back. A humorous expression to mean someone or something from the past that you are reminded of is blast from the past: I was amazed to see Andrew there. Talk about a blast from the past!

Are you a glass-half-full person? (EverydayIdioms)July 29, 2015 by Kate Woodford

A reader of this blog recently asked for a post on idioms that are used in everyday English. This seemed like a reasonable request. After all, if you are going to make the effort to learn a set of English idioms, you want those idioms to be useful. The question, then, was how to decide which idioms to write about. There are a great number of idioms in the English language, but some are rarely used. In the end, I decided to keep an idioms diary for a week, and make a note of any idioms that I heard people use in conversation. From this set of idioms, I chose a few that I considered to be common in contemporary, conversational English and have presented them here.Early in the week, a radio presenter told his colleague that she was opening up a can of worms when she said something that many people would disagree with. A can of worms (informal) is a situation or subject that causes a lot of problems or arguments when you start to deal with it or discuss it. The verb open (up) is often used with this phrase. The same presenter later talked about occasions when he really wanted to say what he thought, but instead bit his tongue. To bite your tongue is to stop yourself from saying something that might upset someone or make them angry.A friend commented that her husband was a glass-half-full person. This idiom (which has a number of variations) is heard so often, it has become a clich. A glass-half-full person is an optimist, someone who always thinks that good things will happen. Meanwhile, as you might imagine, a glass-half-empty person is a pessimist, someone who always thinks that bad things will happen. (The idea here is that two people can look at the same glass and see completely different things. The optimist sees only the drink that is still there and the pessimist only the drink that has gone.) To express the same idea, people sometimes remark that a particular persons glass is always half full/empty.Another friend, speaking about her plans, said that she would kill two birds with one stone by leaving her car at a garage and then visiting a friend who lived near the garage to return a book that she had borrowed. To kill two birds with one stone is to succeed in achieving two things at the same time.On the same day, a woman sitting near me on the train told her friend that she didnt see eye to eye with her sister-in-law. If you dont see eye to eye with someone, you have different opinions. She also complained about her brother, saying that she was tired of waiting for him to get his act together. If you get your act together (informal), you start to do things in an organised and effective way. The idiom can refer either to a particular piece of work or to someones whole life.At the end of the week, my sister reported that she had bitten off more than she could chew with a project at work. To bite off more than you can chew (informal) is to try to do something that is too difficult for you or involves too much work. This idiom reminded me of something that I frequently say to my food-loving 8-year-old son: Your eyes are bigger than your stomach! This is said to a person who has put too much food on their plate and cannot eat it all.

Whats that lovelysmell?October 29, 2014 by Kate Woodford

As adult humans, we can distinguish about 10,000 different smells. Its no wonder, then, that we have so many words and expressions to describe them. This week were taking a look at those smell words words that describe good smells and words that describe bad smells.Most smell words are either positive or negative. Smell itself, however, can be either good or bad, depending on the words around it. I love the smell of baking bread. is perfectly possible, as is Its a horrible smell, like rotten eggs. Interestingly, without an adjective before it, or some other information, it seems usually to refer to a bad smell: Have you noticed the smell in the bathroom?/I cant get rid of the smell. The derived adjective smelly, meanwhile, is always bad: smelly feet/smelly socks.Staying with bad smell words, then, (and there are more of these than good smell words), if something stinks, or reeks, its smells very strongly of something unpleasant: Eww, whose trainers are these? They stink!/The whole house reeks of smoke. Stink, and less commonly, reek are also nouns: Theres a real stink coming from the wash basin. (Note that stink in both verb and noun forms is slightly informal.) The derived, informal adjective stinky is defined in most dictionaries as having a very strong and unpleasant smell, though, funnily enough, its often used quite admiringly of strong-smelling cheeses: The Worlds Top Ten Stinky Cheeses. Whiffy, an informal, British adjective, is always negative: He hasnt had a bath for a couple of days and hes starting to get a bit whiffy. There is also a noun whiff, though this can be neutral. It is often used in the phrase catch a whiff or get a whiff: I caught/got a whiff of aftershave as he walked past. The noun stench, meanwhile, refers to a very strong, unpleasant smell: the unmistakable stench of rotting flesh.Moving on to specific bad smells, a pungent smell is very strong and sharp: the pungent whiff of goats cheese. An acrid smell is strong and bitter, causing a burning taste or feeling in the throat: Clouds of acrid smoke rose from the building. Fetid means smelling extremely bad and stale: Inside the cave, the air was fetid. Musty is a little similar, but less strong, describing the slightly unpleasant smell of something that is old and rather damp: musty old library books. Putrid, meanwhile, means smelling of decay: the putrid smell of rotten meat.And so to nice smells: An aroma is a strong but pleasant smell, usually coming from food or drink: the aroma of freshly baked bread. We also use the derived adjective aromatic, often for the sort of food and drink in which taste and smell seem combined: aromatic teas, such as Earl Grey. Scent is similar to aroma: Both products have a lovely scent. The noun fragrance and the adjective fragrant are also used for sweet, pleasant smells and are associated with flowers: This flower is noted for its delicate fragrance./fragrant herbs. The noun bouquet, meanwhile, is quite specialised, being the characteristic smell of a wine or liqueur: a dry white wine from the Umbria region, with a fruity bouquet and intense flavour.Finally, there is a useful phrasal verb associated with smells. Something that produces a smell is often said to give off a smell: The iron gives off a strange smell when its heating up.