ESL Blogs

Yes, when you want to quote someone's words or thoughts, you can do it in two ways: 'direct speech' (quoting the exact words that were said) or 'reported speech' or 'indirect speech' (without quoting the exact words).

In reported speech, the tenses, pronouns and other words may be different from those in the original sentence, for example:

She said (to me), 'I love you.'

She said that she loved me. 

Right, it can be so challenging for a learner to use a report structure correctly, but the good news

Do you have someone in your life whom you are truly thankful for?  Someone who blends warmth and love like a blanket for your soul?  Sadly sometimes those people we love most do not hear enough of our gratitude.   Well today I have decided to just blurt out some of those nice gooey facts about this person and openly make a declaration of why I am thankful for my hubby! 

 #1 Laughter...his zany sense of humor makes the good times so great and the bad times so much lighter.

#2  Support... We all hav

If you ask people whether they need a foreign language, most of them will answer negatively. Many people nowadays live with the feeling that knowledge of another language isn’t important. But I believe that if you really want to know whether or not to learn a foreign language, you should go to those who know at least one language, besides their mother tongue. Why? Because it is strange to ask about the benefits and values of a foreign language from someone who doesn't know it and therefore not a

Dear Readers,

Following is another letter of farewell written in 2014 by me, while I was in USA in 2014 for one of my bosses who was leaving the company in my absence.  He requested me via email to draft a farewell letter for him.  The extract is given below for your reading interest.

(My next blog will the 300^th blog.  This one is 299^th)

FAREWELL WITH ALL MY GRATITUDE

I wish to express my gratitude to the Management of the Company for providing me an opportunity to serve this organization for more

Lores and Tales

What I think be the rich heritage of a community is the lores and tales that had produced by the people of that society. Many of such art forms might have perish by the heavy flow of time and life. Still some of such things have protected by kind people. Any individual who is part and parcel of that particular society has a great responsibility to save and propagate such art forms. Such art forms may be well bonded with rituals and have a strong link with agricultural practices. A

“Part of the journey in life is slipping and falling along the way; in these times true friends are the ones who pick you up and dust you off.” ― Ken Poirot

Last year, 2015, was one of hardest parts of my life; there were so many things happened in my life. At that time, there were times when I thought about my life; I thought that I should not be here; I had chosen a wrong path for my life. I was so drown in the dark at that time, until a friend of mine talked to me and I shared my stories with

Learning a foreign language is not always easy. Not to mention that things get really complicated when it comes to certain expressions and cultural aspects. This is why the best solution is to keep in touch with native speakers or to travel in that particular country. In the end, who said this process had to be boring? There are several methods of learning a foreign language while still having fun and enjoying life! Check out the following solutions! And don’t forget to share your experience wit

My dear friends! I am proposing the test you know well. In such a test you should find and correct all possible mistakes. On the other hand, you shouldn’t change the structure of the sentence or the vocabulary but you may change the word order if it is wrong.. There may be more than one mistake in each sentence.

Let the deadline be August 24.

Here are the sentences.

1. It were much people and not buses on the stop.
2. He was laying still on the bed.
3. Her perfume smelled dizzily.
4. If I had thought I would be l

Hi, my dear friends! I think it is about time to propose you one more grammar test.  At Onee’s request, I will ask you to fill in the correct prepositions. You have two weeks to complete this test. So, there you go!

1. He is experienced  ___ teaching.
2. She was ashamed ___ asking money ___ her parents.
3. I am accustomed ___ reading.
4. He was right ___ acting ___ his own way.
5. I was surprised ___ seeing her  ___ so many years.
6. I am tired ___ doing nothing.
7. She is good __ singing.
8. He is famous ___ his inventions.
9. He

In continuation of blog series under title " A Brief History: Foundation Of Pakistan", Part Seven is presented and dedicated to my Indian friend who wanted me to write it.

The Congress, before forming its ministries, put a condition on government to give an assurance that the governors would not use their special powers of interference granted by the Constitution for the protection of minorities. In this connection, they issued a statement stating that they would special powers in the case of utm

Credits:

This story was originally written and published last year by one of our very own, RATU. Edited and audio recorded by yours truly. Ratu is an amazing writer. I adore her works. I love reading them. This one is my most favorite of all her proses. Not just because it is well written but also because it is a very personal story.

(So Ratu, just so you know, this one is for you. I really miss our Skype conferences.  I miss the good ol' times of reading poems and stories together, singing and la

How  would you describe your  self  addicted  on line 

Do you rush  to your favourite chat  room at My EC  to rewind your selves  with your  friends ?

I am sure you do while  enjoying  your  self  with  care free banter, you may come  across  a minority of  chatters  who wish to be  rude  or think  they rule 

Never  keep away from the chat  room  due  to those who want  to make some  noise ! Make  use  of the IGNORE BUTTON. It is all made  easy  so make  the  best of it  and  enjoy your time  here

"May you live interesting times"  is an expression known as a "Chinese curse". It's used ironically, with the clear implication that 'interesting times' in historical terms are those where lot of things 'happen' (turbulent times of danger and uncertainty: wars, riots and all kind of tragedies) while in times of peace and tranquillity, there are less 'remarkable' things to tell.

We're living "interesting times" now... And unfortunately, there will be more 'interesting' things coming soon. The worl

The Schwa /ə/

Welcome to our very first pronunciation lesson! If your goal is to enhance your accent and pronunciation skills, do join the activity. And if you’re brave enough, you can record your own voice pronouncing the schwa sound in our pronunciation challenge below. You can use Audioboom or any recording apps and you can upload your recording on the comment box.

Now, the schwa is a short vowel sound. Please watch the video below from Ms. Alex of BBC Learning English and imitate how she prono

Love, what is the secret that lies behind that word? I always try to avoid talking or even mentioning it. Of course, the subject needs more than a blog to write about. Naturally, we have to include the general concept of the word.  It is a feeling of liking someone or something very much.  They say that love is a feeling of deep regard, devotion, and fondness. A strong feeling of affection, attraction, and eagerness, you name it, a strong desire to be with someone, and share feelings. I tried i

Please see the following sentence:

I had had an English training for one year long since I joined in the company five years ago.

And what exactly I want to say is:

I had an English training five years ago when I joined in the company. And the training lasted for one year.

So, question comes. Is my sentence correct? And how should I correct it?

Thanks in advance.

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Hi all,

First of all, many thanks to rysperski, cause I think he just answered my question. And I'd like to qu

This time, it's the time we get to know a few  phrasals by using it in some exmple sentences:

go into: to enter(a place);

go off: to leave ( a place) to do sth;

keep*down: to not raise ( a part of your body)

Examples 1:

I used to go into the strangest places you could imagine;

She always was brave enough to go into the crime scenes and look for clues;

I can go into the area reserved to passengers only at the internaional airport because I'm a flight attendant;

The archaeologists went into the most secre