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An Old Friend

Posted by Kaoru on September 14, 2010

Hey, it's been a long time since I last saw you!How have you been?It looks like a person, isn't it?When I saw "her" for the first time, I somehow felt like "she" was my friend!Actually, "she" is an old telephone!I don't know how old it is, but I think this kind of thelephone was used about 100 years ago. Can you see a handlebar which is on the right hand side of its face? When you made a phone call, you had to turn it at that time. Of course you don't have to do it now. Just put some coins in, a
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Cyprus. The island of Love

Posted by Artem Prygin on September 13, 2010

Good morning/afternoon/evening to all! :)I want to share with you my feelings and write a few words about my recent vacations on the beautiful island of Cyprus with my sweetheart. It was our first experience of travelling abroad (I don't count Ukraine as it is just the country of the former USSR).Our trip started in Moscow, we went there by train to visit famous Ostankino Tower, one of the highest buildings in the world (height of about 550 metres). After an exurcion we stayed at the Izmailovo H
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When we should use commas ( simple sentences).

Posted by Natasha on September 13, 2010
There are two main ways for using commas:1. Commas separate the things in a list.They are real ones.E.g. "I need some pencils, an exercise book and a calculator before I start my homework"."I must buy a dozen eggs, coffee, sugar and tea."Sometimes these items are things you do, or places you go.E.g. "Yesterday I went to the University, played tennis, went to the cinema and then went to bed.""I'm going to spend my vacation swimming in the sea, walking on the beach, sleeping in the sun and reading
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Confusing Words 4

Posted by marzie rezapour on September 12, 2010
act / behave (v.)AmE; BrE: /ækt/ - /blˈhelv/The way someone behaves is the things that they do and say, and the effects these things have on other people:• How does Sam behave at school?• Oh, be quiet! You're behaving like a two-year-old.• The next time I saw him, Frank behaved as if nothing had happened.• I'm not going to talk to him until he starts behaving reasonably.Act means to behave in a particular way, especially in a way that seems unusual, surprising, or annoying to other people:• She
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Confusing words 3

Posted by marzie rezapour on September 11, 2010
acceptable / permissible (adj.)AmE:/ əkıseptəbəl/ - /pərˈmısəbəl/BrE:/ əkıseptəbəl/ - /pəˈmısəbəl/Acceptable means good enough to be used for a particular purpose or to be considered satisfactory.• It's a cheap and acceptable substitute for rubber.• How do we reach an acceptable level of data security?Permissible means allowed by law or rules(= allowable; ≠ impermissible):• The use of racial preferences is not permissible under the new law.• the maximum permissible level of radiation
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A Cover Up.

Posted by Lynne on September 11, 2010

There are people who pretend as friends but actually are trying to get information about you. Be ready to see that character out and one day realize that you don't own yourself anymore. Two events took place in that situation; a cover up and an over-riding. ^_^

This happened in actual not here in the internet. Could you please give me your opinion on this?
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Understanding and Misunderstanding Other Cultures

Posted by Mr. Bob on September 11, 2010
My culture is better than yours and my way of doing things is the only correct way [yes most people tend to believe this]. Ethnocentrism is one of the first terms that I ever define to students when we study cultures. It is something that is normal for every culture and is something we all must try to overcome. Simply put, it means that we view our own culture as superior to other cultures.It is only natural that when you are brought up in a society, that the things you were taught were proper b
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FREE VIDEO RESOURCES FOR PRONUNCIATION

Posted by Mr. Bob on September 11, 2010
AN INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN PRONUNCIATION VIDEOSI want to dedicate this blog post to all of my friends who have expressed concerns about learning to speak English without their own language accent.Most of them have requested information on American accents. Here are some videos for you by several English teachers and these are focused on American accents.These are all free, but many will suggest that you buy their book or video series.SECTION I. IMPORTANT EXERCISES AND INFORMATION ON ANATOMYArti
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The Rainbow in SAINT- PETERSBURG

Posted by Irina on September 11, 2010

Hello everybody! My favourite natural phenomenon is rainbows,which I always take as a sign that some kind ofmiracle is happening somewhere nearby.What do you think or feel when you see this phenomenon.
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Here Are Two More Sites ...

Posted by Frank DiSalle on September 11, 2010
One site is called OneLook Dictionary Search, and you may find it difficult to use, but I believe that learning to use it will provide you with an extremely valuable tool for vocabulary building.It has indexed over 1000 different dictionaries at the time of this writing. You can use OneLook not only for simple definitions, but also for related words, related concepts, phrases that contain a certain word, translations, and more.Where is the best place to go to learn about people, places and thing
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Confusing words 1

Posted by marzie rezapour on September 10, 2010
accept (v.) / expect (v.) / except (conj.) / aspect (n.)AmE; BrE: /əkˈsept/ - /ıkˈspekt/ - /ıkˈsept/ - /ˈæspekt/Expect means to think or believe something will happen or somebody will do something:• Don't expect sympathy from me!• That's not the sort of behavior I expect of you!• The company expects to complete work in April.• I didn't expect him to stay so long.Except used before you mention the only thing or person which a statement is not true; apart from:• We work everyday except Sunday.• Yo
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Confusing words 2

Posted by marzie rezapour on September 10, 2010
accept / agree (v.)AmE; BrE: /əkˈsept/ - /əˈgriː/Accept means to take something that someone offers you, or say yes to do something that someone asks you to do:• Rick accepted her offer of coffee.• He accepted the invitation to stay with us.• Please accept this small gift.• They offered me a job and I accepted.• After a three week strike, the company has finally accepted the workers' pay demands.• Do you accept travelers' checks here?• She succeeded in persuading the jury to accept her version o
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Never too late to learn

Posted by Fe on September 10, 2010
Some people say "it's never too late to learn." I was amazed at the perseverance and determination of old people getting education even when old. One lady I viewed on our evening television news recently featured a 78 years old woman who graduated from elementary school.It was a most refreshing sight to see the old woman - in her white toga and holding a rolled white paper with pink ribbon waving above her head, and then, flipped her toga and the rest of the graduating students followed suit.She
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How to Control the Mind?

Posted by sanjay rje on September 10, 2010
What is the obstacle to one-pointed meditation? The answer is the unstill mind. All problems are caused by the mind, by the desires arising in it. It is not easy to control the mind and keep it away effectively from desire. If we ask the mind to think of an object, it seems to obey us for a moment, but soon it takes its own course, wandering off. When I speak to you about meditation and tranquillity, for a moment your mind will perhaps become still and you will be happy. But in a trice it will g
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Chat Room for English Learners

Posted by Tara Benwell on September 8, 2010
chat room

When the chat room went down for a short time this week, some of you were very upset! It was interesting to see how important the chat room is to many of you. Thanks for your patience during the technical glitch. It was fun reading your thoughts about chat on Nadira's blog.I'd also like to thank all of the members who were chatting in the MyEC chat room with me last night. Your thoughts and feedback about the chat room were very helpful. Here are my observations about the MyEC chat room, along w
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