'Any' can be very tricky to use.  It's not uncommon for a learner to make mistakes when using the word 'any'. First, I'd like to give you some sentences for you to get the picture:

Have you got any books to read?

I haven't got any (books).

I haven't got any help, either. 

Are you feeling any better now?

Any book will do - I just want something to read. 

If any of them want(s) to join in the discussion, just let me know. 

Is it any good/use crying over spilt milk?

So, you can see, 'any' is usually used i

Dear friends! Having been teaching English for so many years, I see that many students have true problems with adverbs. I hope you will read what I have written and ask me questions if you have some. The following are basic grammar rules. Of course, in some particular sentences they may be violated because of this or that reason. So, I would like you to ask me the particular questions with examples, OK? Well, I am starting!

The greatest problem with adverbs is where to place them in a sentence.

He took one cigarette and inhaled it very fast. Then he took another one. He coughed and coughed again. The nervousness was clear. He tried to open the window to smell the fresh air, but he was not able to. Then he thought of reaching the phone to call her. That was also a failure. Then he thought seriously of opening the window, but to his surprise, he could not and his limbs seemed to fail him too.  He began to cough again and again. His body began to shiver. His doctor had, thousand times, to

Distinction

People always look for distinction because they think it makes life easier.  In fact life is not always that simple. Who know’s there is something under the surface? Having been hiding and yet waiting for the right time to show up. Let’s take a closer look to image of Yin-Yang, black and white in the same shape and proportion are flowing together in a full cycle. Each color represent the good and bad in this life, well it is called ‘distinction’. Oh wait! There is a black dot inside t

Eva's 

Writing Challenge - Contrasting words,

Love in contrast:

It made no difference between night and day for me since I fell in love with you. You must see that it is my blind love.  Be sure that I am not going to drag your name to mud by publicizing my love.  But the fact is like snow white. On the contrary I find myself unable even to express before you.  There is a burden on my heart. To those who think in black-and-white terms, my love may be either entirely good or entirely bad for you. Whe

Evangelina has just published a writing challenge. The reason she did so may be due to the encouraging comments on her previous blog in which she asked if we were ready for or welcome a writing challenge. 

While it seems most of the members think it helpful to take part in a writing challenge, some members may be doubtful about it. They may try to ask this question: what's a writing challenge really for or what's the point?

Tara, the former admin, used to encourage us to write more with her monthl

I've just bought a book on English grammar to celebrate World Book Day. 

I enjoy reading books on English grammar and have bought scores of such books. I even thought I had enough and the bookstore seemed no longer attractive - I used to be a regular visitor there. 

The fact that I've got enough grammar books, however, doesn't mean I don't need to learn more grammar. I know there's still confusion, or rather, I know there's still something I don't really know about the grammar. 

I just finished rea

Aloha lovely EC people!

I'm having problems to load this site lately, so today is a lucky day for me. 
I hope everything is going super duper for you guys! 

Yesterday was the World Book Day. I wasn't able to come here to wish you a happy reading, but since today I could log in... well... Here it is! A VERY MERRY UNBOOKDAY TO YOU ALL!

So tell me... What book are you reading now?
And What was the last book you read? It was 'woah!' or it was 'meh'? 

Maybe you didn't read any book lately? Oh so bad! But

Yes, 'to be readable' means 'to be enjoyable and easy to read'. 

I can tell that you do have a great idea or topic or something fun to share with us. You even managed to write a blog about it, but only to find that other members don't seem to be so interested in it. You're so frustrating and wonder what's wrong with your blog. 

If that's true for you, you're not alone in feeling that. It's not easy for a learner to write something readable, even though they may have a wide vocabulary and know all

HOW TO TAKE CARE OF HEALTH?

"Health is better than wealth" is a very apt saying. Health of the body is essential for us, for without it, our life will be a burden both to ourselves and to other family members and friends. So we should take a great care of our health, and to secure a sound mind in a sound body it is very important to follow the general rules. There is a very close connection between the body and mind, and both are interdependent. It the body is not sound, our mind cannot work prop

It happened In a restaurant in China. We went there to have our lunch. We all were  hungry and anxious (about the menu). Our guide ordered for us. I guessed that we were going to have chicken- burger. But, I wanted a fish- burger for me.  Anyway we were sited and talking with our mates. Suddenly one of my colleagues ( who was a lady) went to her next table. There first she smiled to a baby boy then took a picture of him! And, can you imagine what happened next? The father of the baby scolded and

As you know, you can adjust your emails from MyEC in your Settings. You can adjust everything from receiving an email for almost everything that happens on MyEC, to receiving only certain emails to receiving NO emails.

Some Members are reporting that they are not receiving emails even when they request them in Settings.

Could you please comment below on whether or not you are receiving emails as requested. Thank you!

Dear friends! Today I am posting the test on the prepositions of time as I promised you yesterday. Your task is the same as in two previous blogs. You should fill in blanks with the prepositions of time. In the brackets are some explanations in italic. They are supposed to help you find the correct answers. Of course, we will help you as usual.

So, here is the test.

1. I have a day off ___ a day. (the day after tomorrow)
2. The negotiations will take place ___Tuesday morning.
3. The conference will be held _

I noticed many my.EC members are using their real name. They write it fully, half of it, nick name only and maybe using abbreviation of their name. That’s no fancy for me, but when it comes to such a philosophy's name, I wonder why did that person choose that name. I hope I am not alone here so I post this to know if some people here feel the same with me. Long time ago I’ve got an experience relate to this, here is it.

Don’t judge a book by its cover, I think i should apply this idiom more often

My dear friends! I see you have some problems with using English prepositions. Tomorrow I will post the correct answers to the first test. And now, I'd like to propose you one more test on prepositions. Your task is the same: just fill in blanks with the prepositions only. Don't try to fill them with some other words like nouns, verbs, etc. Besides, you can't change the text.

So, here is your new task.

____ the summer, we went___ vacation ___ Miami. We stayed ____ a lovely motel there. ____ the mo

HOW I WROTE THE BLOG, 'BROKEN HEART'

I was looking for the articles through the link provided by Expector, the challenger.  I was scrolling and reading the detail for articles "a, an and the".  I stopped at the portion where the article ‘an’ was mentioned.  There was also an example given: “an umbrella”  I stopped there for a while.  Since this article is rarely used along with the noun starting with a vowel.  I was thinking how to use this phrase, “an umbrella” in my next blog in response to Exp

                                   In Suzhou

I just got back from Suzhou. It is a City near Shanghai. But it is not as busy as Shanghai. Instead it is a city which has the flavor of a village.

We liked the vibes and everything over there. On the way from Shanghai to Suzu there were many things to see. It looked like the country side. We enjoyed fisherman's houses, ducks and ducklings, meadows,  cherry blooms and so on.

One day we went to a Lake side. There we enjoyed the scenic beauty of the lake.

My dear friends! I see  you liked my grammar test so, I am posting one more. Your task is the same: to find and to correct the mistakes. Such tests without underlining are the most complicated as any word may be wrong including articles and prepositions. There may be a few mistakes in each sentence. I’d like to pay your attention to the following: it a grammar test, so the used vocabulary is out of the question, it is correct. I’ve seen that in the previous blog some learners tried to change the

Broken Heart

I was born with a broken heart.  I had a hole in my heart.  I survived with the hole for quite  a long time.  But once I had to go to the hospital where the doctor/s diagnosed the problem. This type of hole is called ASD (Atrium Septal Defect).   After the general physician, I was referred to a heart specialist.  He told me that if the hole is small, they could mend it by ASD Plasty.   This is a procedure by which they enter a cable along with camera in to the body and take the cable