ESL Blogs

Here are five other expressions for you to guess.

1. to hold over.

They are going to hold that movie over for another week and we will be able to see it next Friday.

2. to set forth.

The speaker set forth his arguments in a convincing manner.

The details of the agreement are set forth in the contract.

3. to take/ be taken in.

He certainly took us in with his stories about Mexico.

First, I was taken in by his appearance, but later on I realized what kind of person he was.

4. to make one tick.

If I knew wha

Studying Grammar vs Using Grammar. (ESL)

By Dayne Collins.

I think I could spend my whole life studying the patterns and structure of a language without learning how to speak, write, or read it. I would probably know every little detail of the language, but never be able to use my knowledge and understanding in a practical way. Before I go any further, I would like to clarify that English grammar is important. In this post I simply want to share my views on learning about grammar, and learning ho

If you really want to get a job, you need to get ready for it, so that you don't get a shock when seeing other job contestants are far better than you. It's so important that your boss  get the impression you are aware and skillful at the activity you proposed to apply for. Remember that at work, you also must get permission to get into the boss' office, avoid getting drunk, and make sure your clothes don't get wet . Uniforms are the visual identity of a company. Otherwise, he  will get angry ab

I guess 2016 really brings out another side of me.. In my last blog, Running Towards Happiness, I said, maybe I'm facing a mid life crisis of which I'm changing my lifestyle. Hmm... come to think of it, I think I'm having a mid life crisis at the cross road of my life. Not only nowadays I love running and hiking, that's already a total alien experience for me, but I started a new hobby, 'colouring for adults'. 

Some people say it's a form of therapy, a stress release mechanism, but for me, it's j

To put it simply, collocation means 'some words are often used/placed together', for example, 'make a mistake', 'make your bed', 'do the warshing up', etc. 

Some people may not agree that collocation should include idioms, fixed expressions or phrasal verbs, such as 'keep it up', 'here and there', 'shut up'. So, what's really a collocation is still arguable. 

It makes sense, however, to take the time to learn about collocation if you really want to sound natural. You say 'fast food' or 'heavy smok

Hi, my friends! This blog is a continuation of the previous with the same title. I was recommended to do it and I completely agree So, I am adding five more expressions for you to have something to think about! LOL!!!

1. to have it in for.

He expected to lose his job because the boss had had it in for him for a long time.

2. to take on.

We have to take on somebody to take care of our pets.

3. to break in.

It is better to break in a new car slowly.

4. to be bound to.

With business improving they are boun

Yes, you can see the profile pictures or avatars of our new members in the upper-left area of the MyEC main page. 

You may find there's no comment on the new member's page if you try to click on a new member's profile picture. That means nobody has visited their page, or at least, nobody has left a comment for them. 

Imagine you are one of the new members or newbies who just signed up to become a member of MyEC. You don't know where to start - you could be so confused. You don't know where to find

My dear friends! I came across the similar discussion a few days ago and it gave me an idea of starting mine. Honestly, I didn't like that discussion as its author just said we use Latin abbreviations, but didn't explain their meanings. So, I am going to explain what they mean and how to use them. I have a list of such words and abbreviations in a paper book, but I don't have its digital copy. So, I decided to type them here from time to time with my explanations. Today I am posting the words fr

I should like to thank Expector Smith for kindly agreeing to become Group Administrator for the Official MyEC Welcoming Committee.

This group, started by Tara, has been very helpful in encouraging members to welcome new members and "show them the ropes".

Expector and other existing group members have many good ideas on this subject. If you would like to participate, please feel free to join the group. I know that Expector - and other members - will welcome you to the Welcoming Committee :)

As a lot of you know the Latin people occupied Great Britain for centuries. So then a lot of people spoke Latin and a lot of prest words in English come from Latin. For example, "street" comes from "strata", which means "camp". Then there are alot of English words which are Latin forms. Especially in medicine, there are a lot of them, like "pneumonia, bronchitis, thyroid, penis, appendicitis", and so on. As well as, words like "album, pendulum, addendum, auditorium", etc. 

If you see the work ref

At the start of 2016, I said to myself to take simple things in life and be happy. I never thought that it will involve changing my life style. I never thought that I could find happiness in running and hiking too.

Like many women, I always bemoaned about my weight, while chugging down a lot of yummy food. Diet is just a fancy word, more like a myth rather than a reality. After my surgery last year, exercises are too few and far in between. Don't get me wrong. I'm not obese, though I'm not at my

My dear friends! I managed to get sick and to lose my voice a few days ago. So, if I can't teach either my students or my band, I decided to teach you some American and British sayings, idioms and proverbs. My idea is the following. First, I will post a few expressions with the examples asking you to explain what they mean. I'd like to say there are so many English idioms that you can't know them all! So, the idea of speaking/listening any foreign language well is to be able to understand the ge

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PART 1, the first time I was hospitalized. :D This time, I won’t tell you about the same case but the foolish ones that I can’t forget. :D

When I was at the college, I was a secretary of the student organization. On the active day, I went everywhere with much cash in my wallet. It was in the evening when I was home that I found there’s no wallet anymore in my back pocket of my jeans. I searched through my room, around the house, and also the park of my motorbike. No hope. I lost it. I calmly face

My name is Max. I am two years old. I am living with my mummy Michelle, in London. My mummy is a teacher and she is lovely. She looked after me very well. Weather its rain or snow my mummy takes me out every day before she goes to work. Because I was little rude to other dogs, my mummy takes me early in the morning before the other dogs go to the park.

I love park it's my favorite place. I run around but check in on mummy, when she calls me. I am a good boy when it's just me and my mummy. When I

Has something ever made your hair stand on end? I explain. This expression is the idiom make someone's hair stand on end which means "to cause  someone to be very frightened".

So, now, you already know what this expression really is, probably you'll agree that at least one time in your life, you felt like something made your hair stand on end.

It's not difficult really! Maybe a sci-fi film that you watched very late on telly or a friend or cousin that played a trick on you, made your hair stand on

Yes, it's an idiom, which means 'there is no limit to something'. 

You can use the idiom to say there is no limit to someone's success or achievement, for example, you can say 'The sky's the limit for anyone who really wants to excel at English'. 

The idiom can be so useful - it depends on how well you get it. You can also use it to say you can write whatever you want or talk about anything you like. 

However, that's not what I'm trying to say. What I mean is how much hard work we need to master En

Yes, 'gave you away' means 'showed something about you that was a secret'. 

Some members here on MyEC keep copying other's writing from the Internet instead of writing their own. They might have wanted to share what they thought was worth sharing, or they might have tried to fool us into believing the blog was written by themselves. 

But we're not allowed to do that -  not to copy a piece of writing from the Internet without the permission from the author. Don't plagiarize! 

I know it may be so har

Yes, Josef Essberger, the founder of both EC and MyEC,  just liked my blog post. That really made my day! What an honour - I do appreciate it!

I still remember it was Josef who invited me to MyEC -  I used to be active in the forums of EC.  Now, I've been so actively involved in MyEC, and really enjoyed being the blog mod(moderator). I'd also like to thank Tara, the former admin of MyEC, who thought I was such a keen learner of English, and recommended me for the blog mod. 

My English wouldn't hav

How ‘HE’  ‘turns tables’ on……:

Once a very rich but arrogant man was having lunch with his beautiful and gentle wife.  They heard the voice of a beggar at the door who was begging to give him the food.  The wife asked the permission from her husband whether she could give the meal to the beggar.  The husband very unwillingly allowed her.  When she came back after giving the meal to the beggar she found her husband not in good mood.  He was murmuring and cursing the beggar who disturbed him during