Hello dear learners, as an EFL learner as well,  I need your opinion and suggestions to improve my essay. This is my first essay writing with the aim of taking a Cambridge exam in the future. If anyone of you are English teacher and could help me out assessing my essay which is meant to be at an advanced level I'm  much more than  open to receive your feedback. The topic of the essay is on  the biggest impacts of technology on our daily lives. Here it is:

Which aspect of our daily lives has been affected most by technology?

• Communication
• Relationships
• Working life

It goes without saying that technology takes part of our daily lives whether you wish or not. From education to health and finances there it is everywhere. The same technology which provides us with one-click communication benefits is the same that has been deteriorating interpersonal relationships at an unprecedented rate in modern human history.

The technology behind the instant communication process is definitely a breakthrough, because not only made personal relations easier, but also, accelerated the spread of knowledge drastically.

Having been regarded as a must for getting closer to your beloved relatives or friends, the technology used in social networks' apps, for example, has tremendously been getting together people that once were separated by thousands of miles of distance. They can now chat, make video calls and even seek for their soulmate in specialised dating apps. In the end, the word became much more connected by people’s desire to establish communication. In addition to this, there is a great deal of  scientific background, originated from communication on the Internet. Technology could allow us to communicate much more efficiently, knowledge related to new discoveries in health, politics, astronomy, history just to quote a few of them. We are constructing our skills based on communication, academic communication precisely.

The other side of the coin, however, is that all spectacular technological development has ironically been uncovering the apocalyptic end of human relationship as we know so far. It is not uncommon to see evidence for that. Today, we have got allarming rates of  social problems like phobias, depression, suicide, egocentrism increasing like an astounding avalanche. For instance, it is quite natural for teenagers these days to date by using online apps only. This, ultimately, can be the starting point for mass destruction of romantic relationships in our physical reality.

From what has been presented one might conclude that technology presented us improvements for human communication in multiple spheres, including  personal and scientific ones, whereas the interpersonal relationships are under a serious threat  of extinction if we take into account their original purpose to make us get in touch physically with others. All of this scenario demands from us to keep a balanced life between online communication and offline relationships.

If I could travel back in time I'd like to go to France in the year of 1906 and the United States in the year of 1903.Then,could you ask: what encourages me to wish to visit these countries in the last century? I readily answer you: find out the historical truth!

Most of you cannot know that between these years there were several little-known scientists trying out flying in equipments heavier than air, that is to say, there were aviators trying to create what we would came to call aircrafts or airplanes, as you wish.

A historical controversy is originated when both a brazilian called Alberto Santos Dumont and two americans called Orville and Wilbur Wright were in the eye of the storm when it comes to the ownership of the first flight in the human history.

In fact, the controversy is a bit complex and in my humble view is unacceptable not to consider technical factors. On one hand, the Wright Brothers didn't have official records by the time they flew in Dayton, in the state of Ohio in 1903. Some witnesses said their plane had to be catapulted to be in the air, besides being rather unstable. On the other hand, although the brazilian aviator "Dumont" had achieved his first flight only in 1906, he had taken part in several aeronautic contests in France, always making his inventions patented. His "14-Bis" aircraft climbed up in the air roaming 220 meters with self-propulsion.

The final argument was given by the International Aeronautic Confederation when granted Wright Brothers the first flight experience, because they had made it three years before Dumont. For me, a decision without take into account technical evidences and the fact they had no intention to be recognised as the first pilots at the time.

If I had the chance to meet Wright Brothers I'd ask them why they didn't want a broad audience to comtemplate their achievement in aviation and why they didn't soon registered his flight as the first one at the aeronautic history.

I would also ask the "Fédération Aéronautique Internationale" why they prefered to use the chronological argument rather than the technical criteria, since the brazilian aviator made a much more lasting and stable flight than the American brothers did.

Well, it seems this discussion could give rise to several other questions about the very beginning of flying , but to not prolong my thoughts on the topic I let you with just the two previous questionings.

Once upon a time a  squirrel called Albert who lived in the depths of a dense  forest in Germany. It was high winter and Albert was very sad. He felt so lonely that he hadn't point in living any more. His sadness came from the sadness of a beautiful lady that lived on the top of an icy hill.

That lady was Anne who lived with Theresa in a humble small cottage covered in snow. She was orphan since early childhood. This sadened her so much, because she really wondered who were her parents. All that she knew about her parents had been told by Theresa. According to Theresa's accounts, Gerald and Martina were arrested  right after she was born, charged with robbering a few apples to eat. Being their daughter, made Anne became  an incovenient child for the whole people of the village near where she lived. Thus, she ended up as a little orphan toddle raised by a poor but gentle woman called Theresa, cook that worked for a long time at the Gunther's house, the richest family in the Coldland village.

One night, Albert feeling deeply sad about Anne's tragic destiny decided to become a human to make company to Anne at least for one day. So, magically, his wish came true he became a beautiful prince, going to meet with their beloved princess, Anne.

Source: pexels.com

When arriving at the cozy cottage on the top of hill, he was received by kind Theresa who said Anne was working on a farm reaping apples, but promised that soon she'd be back there for having dinner. Theresa also ofered to Albert spend the night at that house as a guest if he wanted. Albert thanked Theresa for hospitality, and patiently waited for a few hours until the end of afternoon when the angelical Anne knocks at the door. Theresa opens up the door and Anne surprisingly looks an enchanted princess. When she look towards Albert the atmosphere of winter magic takes over the fragile cottage turning it into a beautiful castle full of glory and joy.

Undescribably, both of them, felt an immense happiness in their hearts so much that they started complimenting  each other's virtues as they knew themselves since birth. Albert said to Anne that he was one of the squirrels that inhabited winter forest and he had tranformed himself into a prince to relieve the pain she was feeling because she was a righteous girl. At the same time, Anne cries unceasingly at Albert's shoulders asking  him to break free her parents from prison because everything that had been done to them had been a terrible mistake.

The magic of winter was so intense Gerald and Martina, Anne's parents, were released immediately from prison and now there was no more accusations against them.   

From that moment on, Annes's parents were full of joy for their daughter  and she became queen and Albert king of Happy Winter Kingdom living happily forever and ever!

We are unavoidably in a fast-growing world. More and more we observe that new cities are expanding their limits beyond previously planned. In its turn, new buidings are "lifted" by engineers almost overnight and the old ones are knocked down in seconds. But, if we stop to think about that "crazy" movement of our society in search of economic progress, we can notice that when demolishing an old building we may be destroying historical memories at the same time.

As any other historical element, old buildings effectively take part from a certain people's historical heritage.

If we knock down an old historical building, we're destroying a part of  human history, that has  influenced the whole world. It's not just a question of protecting architectural structures, but, besides, keeping alive the way people lived for the new generations.

Old buildings like the complex of colourful houses in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, or the House of Parliament in London, England, wouldn't stand for a smbol of the Dutch and English culture respectively, if they had been knocked down on behalf of economic development.

Probably, the disadvantages surpass the advantages if we talk about knocking down an old building, since, as mentioned before, architecture make up history and there's no evidence that it can be separated from history.

Most of people should agree that a people without memories is a people without history, and consequently without culture. If we really want the tomorrow's world know how it was the life in the past, we must preserve all examples of old architecture, whatever be the country or nationality. The world is full of different ways of living, and architecture does express the world's diversity when it comes to live in a big planet like the Earth.

*This post was based on the folowing IELTS essay question: In many cities there is a lack of space to develop and as a result, in order to modernise, old buildings are demolished and replaced with new buildings. What are the disadvantages of knocking down old buildings? Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

I've been thinking about a topic to writer over here, and occured me the following questioning : What's the role of pictures/photos for me, for us as a society? And if we lived in a world with no pictures ? How would it be to exist so? Here, I'll try to outline my perspective about the importance of pictures and photographs in our modern society.

Image source: pexels.com / Markus Spiske

We are surrounded by pictures, photos and all sorts of image contents, sometimes even without noticing that reality!

Images in a general sense (including photos, pictures and drawings) play a big role in our daily life, role that sometimes produces effects that we might not expect at all.

If you stop to think over, we can convey the most secret things without needing to say any word, by just using a simple image. Some people say that an image bring to light  much more message(s) than a good text, produced by a great author, does.

 Photographs, particularly, depict reality in a more accurate way than words do. In my view, photograph is the art of describing reality using natural light and good lens through a sensitive human watcher. Photograph is the reality by reality!

Photos allow our society communicate their values, and so drive social relationships according to their interests. We always need to communicate, since we're social beings, and so we make use of images to make ourselves understood and seen.

Especially in a context of  a technologic society, where globalisation and Internet are the masters of our behaviour, photograph has worked for demonstrating what we are as individuals, that is, photos are shaping  the way we buy, listen to music, wear fashion trends, get informed and ultimately enjoy living our life. The visual content is increasingly influencing diverse aspects of your and my social life in advertising and news.

A world without photos would definitely be a world without memory and learning. And not just learning in a sense that is related to academic knowledge. We can't forget that photos take part in our personal memories, recalling us what happened with humankind in the past, and consequently how we should act to prevent from making the same mistakes again. Just imagine as example historic photos that depict a dramatic period of human existence. All this kind of photos should be seen as "tools for learning from mistakes".

In a more personal sense, photos show our earthly life trajetory, where we came from, how we were, how we are and how we want to be, simply because they depict our inner essence in just a flash away. Probably, if you hadn't had the possibility to look at you on a photo, you wouldn't imagine what are your strong and weak points as person and then wouldn't put a lot of effort to make changes to improve yourself as well.

Lastly, we can conclude that even though photos can influence us with bad habits or behaviours, they really do play a vital role in society, sometimes raising people's awareness to do good, sometimes making us feel fantastic with sweet familiar memories or simply giving us further information about a specific topic. Let's celebrate that "spell" photos play over us. They are emotional and rational by nature!

Thanks to all of you reading so far,

Daniel

It's not so difficult to really learn how to distinguish between it's and its. It's just an issue of paying attention and remember a few pieces of information about "it's" and "its".

Let me tell you first a bit about it's. "It's" is a contraction between the neutral second person singular personal pronoun "it" along with the verb "to be" conjugated in the third person singular (he, she, it - is). You use "it's" when reffering to a sentence subject, that is, you just use "it's" as  a neutral subject for a sentence, of course, in the third person singular conjugation of the verb to be. Exemplifying, I can say: "Pedro's boat is heading for Argentina, so, it's going to Argentina". I  used the personal pronoun"it" plus the verb "is" in the example,because a boat is a neutral subject, neither male (like "he" is) nor female (like "she" is).

On the other hand, "its"can be a possessive pronoun or adjective. As the very denomination suggests, possessive pronouns or adjectives show us a possession relationship between owner and something under its control, or better, its ownership.

As a possessive adjective "its" precede a noun (sth owned) qualifying it.  So, you could write or say to someone: " This is its place."

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 secret place of a pyramid;

From the day I go into that building I want to make history by myself.

Examples 2:

I need to go off right now because I'm so overloaded of work to send by email;

I couldn't understand why she went off our anual meeting at this moment to buy new clothes;

Maybe Claudius is getting tired, that' why he went off the company to get some sleep;

Hello folks, this time we're going to write three short stories using the phrasal verbs below:

- get up: to arise (from bed); to rise (for a standing position); to move to a higher  level or position;

- go back: to return (to a place)

- go in: to enter ( in a building)

Text 1:

Every morning I have to get up from my warm cozy bed to work and study. Sometimes I don't feel like getting up from my bed, but, my mother always force me to get up immediately, so that I don't be late for  the job. I have arrived countless times late at work, and I was told off a couple of times by my boss Greg too. Knowing my boss was angry about me, mom decided to buy me a new alarm clock  to get me up on time to work. Even though, sometimes the alarm clock seems doesn't work,  mum comes in action by making noise to get me up at 6 AM. After getting up from bed, I sit on a chair for a while, and try to get up again and go to bathroom to take a shower. When I come to the bathroom I have difficulty when getting up a few steps next to to my bathtub because they're very narrow to put up somebody's feet. In the end, I'm able to to take a hot shower and stay a bit more awake.

Text 2:

Have you ever had the feeling you forgot something at home after getting out? Probably, you have. Sometimes, we forgot important things at home and so we have to go back there. Some people can't remember they forgot something at home, like keys, for example, and they don't go back home. One good tip is always to put your daily belongings close to you when you have to go out. This way you won't need to go back home, everytime you forget something you'll need later. Another strategy is to make a list of things you always need to carry with yourself. So, before getting out, try to check them out.Thus, you avoid have to go back the place you were as well. But, one of the best methods is for sure to keep you brain fit, by making any intelectual activity, so, your brain won't have time to forget anything. Furthermore, not always we have enough time to go back  home amidst so much everyday duties.

Text 3:

Daily I go in several places. At morning, when I arrive at work I go in  the office I work and spend there about 9 hours. In the afternoon, I go back to home, and there, I go in my garage and park my red car. Then, I go in the kitchen, prepare some meal for me, and go in my bedroom and get some rest for 30 minutes. After this, I go in to the publich library, and I go to a specialised section meant for language books and study Hungarian for 2 or 3 hours. You know, I have a few Hungarian relatives and I hope to drop them in soon.

Hello guys, in this post I'll write some short stories using three common phrasal verbs.

Today we're gonna use the following phrasals:

- fall down: to drop to the ground;

- get off: to descend ( bus, train...);

- get out: to leave ( place, vehicle)

Text 1:

Carlos gets out his home at 6AM everyday towards school. In one of these days, he fell down because of a sharp rock on the sidewalk of his street. He was so angry, but, it seemed that nothing worse had happened to him. He rose and started walking  to the bus stop a bit awkwardly after such a sudden falling. After taking his bus , he gets off it at the Bay Street 121, and get into school. But, after a while in the class, he felt a bit of pain on his knees and had to get out classroom to go to the school ward. There, a careful nurse was awaiting for takig care of his hurt knees.

Text 2:

Last year, I fell down on the subway station. I was ashamed of that, because it looked like I was the most awkward person on the planet. Even though everyone have been staring scared at me at that moment,  some kind guys tried to rescue me from that cold, rough marble ground of the station . Thus, I was able to take my subway in Rockfelt district on time. When the subway was coming near of  Green City station I got out my seat, and as soon as the subway stopped, I got it off  still fairly ashamed but grateful to the guys who helped me out.

Text 3:

Camile was searching for a few notebooks and pencils at a bookstore shelf in Canada when all of a sudden a huge pile of language books fell down over her head. She fell down instantly amidst the crowd inside the store, without any chance of protecting herself. An old lady that was sitting in one chair close to her,  got out of her place kindly,  and gave it out to Camile. A few customers worried about Camile, put her up in that chair and also put lots of ice cubs on her forehead so that the pain was smaller. After twenty minutes, she was able to get out the bookstore by herself, and take a cab to home. The cab driver when noticing she was a bit injured didn't charge any money for the race. She was so thankful to the driver and got off his taxi.

The idiom in this post is "meet one's match", alright? So, do you really know this particular expression? I suppose most of us at least once met our match, whatever it was the context.

Anyway, don't worry because I'll try to explain a bit about this idiomatic expression for you.

The expression means "encounter someone who can match or outdo in some activity, talent, etc."  

The idiom is used when, for example, you think you know or have enough abilities to accomplish something, and, all of a sudden, you notice that there's someone much better at you propose to learn or practise.

You could encounter someone who's as good as you or better  in a specific ability or knowledge.

Take a look at the following examples:

I thought I knew a lot about English, but when I encountered Tom I met my match;

I know how to swim fast in pool, but I met my match when I went to my neighbour's house.

Now, I'd like you to drop me a few lines containing examples of this idiom's usage. Be creative, and learn this expression at the same time.

Thanks for reading!

Let's suppose you are listening to a conversation between two Japanese speakers and you don't speak Japanese at all. What the Japanese speakers could conclude about you?

They could come to the conclusion you haven't got the picture about what they were talking together.

This post's idiom is get the picture. It means "to understand a situation".

Let's imagine a few more examples:

It was coming so much news about the new president measures, that at first, I couldn't get the picture what was happening;

I was so sleepy, that I didn't get the picture about what Roger and Marck were arguing over;

The teacher taught so fast, that I think most of puplils couldn't got the picture the subject.

If you want try to write a few example sentences using the post's idiom. Let me know if you really got the picture.

Thanks for reading!

Text 1:

Tomorrow I will  do business with some Chinese investors at my company. It'll be a very important business to speed up product sellings this month. To be very relaxed at the very moment, and so, do my best at negotiations, I prefer do nothing before.  For example, I asked for my wife to book a visit in hairdresser to do my hair for the company meeting. I also asked my wife to do the cooking, do the housework, do the shopping and do the washing up without my company. She gets a bit angry with me, but, in the end, she understands my reasons to do so. It's worth doing  somebody favours at least one time.As to my two children, I even needed to ask for them to do their homework alone. They already do this alone for a long time.

Text 2:

Some people really want to make the difference in the language learning process. They don't care about making money from polyglotism at all. They  are people that don't like to make mistakes about grammar and don't let anyone to  make a mess in their studying time. All they want is to make an  everyday effort to learn correctly the language they aim to speak. Sometimes, they ask someone else to make a furniture, specially designed for they study quietly at home. If you make a noise near to people like that, they will ask you to leave to another place. You'll go to a different place, unless you want to make a trouble with them. These people just want to make progress by studying something, and hopefully, make room for a brilliant future in languages.

Text 3:

If you want to take a break from your daily routine and so take a rest, it's good idea to go to a beautiful country with paradisiac beaches. First, you should take a look at your work schedule, and try to call off possible meetings. Don't take a chance your trip concretion, by postponing things which could be called off at work immediately. Remember to take notes about what should be done by your reliable employers while you're away. It's also important to take with you some painkillers, in case of emergency. You know, you don't know if you'll have fever and have to ask someone to take your temperature. By following these tips, you're available to travel free of worries . Now, try to book a good hotel and  a comfortable place to sit on the plane. Usually, the best places to take a seat on a flight  are the ones close to the windows. Everybody wants them! So, stay tuned to choose that kind of accomodations. It's not fair to take someone's place on a plane only because you didn't  book it before. When arriving, only take a taxi , if you really don't think public transportation is safer.

Text 1:

You know, before knowing someone new, it's always advisable to have a haircut and have a bath because the first impression is what sticks. Try to have a rest before coming to get-together. Nobody wants to look at you with that sleepy face when talking. It's not that interesting indeed! New friendships can make you have a good time if you really want  how to have a healthy relationship. If you want to be a dear person try to have  sympathy for your new company, otherwise you'll always have a problem with your acquaintances . Caring about others will make him or her being affectionate with you. Without mentioning that loyal friends can enjoy having a lunch together and even have a holiday.

Text 2:

Have you ever broken someone's heart? Definitely, it isn't what it's expected to happen in your love life. But, unfortunatelly happens sometimes. Meddlesome people  are the first to break the news to everyone , telling you and her put an end to a lasting romantic relationship. When you start dating someone, most of people say you shouldn't break the rules. Loving rules, to be exact. But, people that have controversial personalities,  will unavoidably break the law of love one day or other. Not everyone understands how serious the engagement laws are. These kind of people will break a habit, the habit of loving someone unconditionally. To break the ice between people who has broken up, it's a fantastic idea they spend lots of time together. They should try to break a record in any sports, for example, golf. Of course, taking precautions to not break a window when throwing a ball. Furthermore, it's quite healthy for lovers say everyday "break a leg!"  to their beloved partners before going to work. But, the most meaningful rule is not to break a promise. Fulfilled loving promises assure you're a trustworthy person.

Text 3:

Vincent caught a bus at 9:30 AM, and noticed that most of people were frightened. He asks what had happened before he gets on, and surprisingly, it was answered that some people had tried to catch a thief. The thief  tried to steal the purse of a poor elderly woman. Passengers also told him, the thief caugh their attention because he was acting strangely and seem to handle a gun. In the end, the thief was able to get away with police.  Vincent also noted that the stolen elderly woman had caught the flu inside that bus. Curiously, some passengers were also starting showing signals of catching a cold. Probably, that would be a reminder of snow and cold temperatures to come. Vincent thought he probably would be next to catch that chill. But, there was a good-looking girl at the bottom of the bus, who had caught his eyes. Her name Elisa Thompson. That blue-eyed girl, was making his heart catch fire with so much love. Now, he  had completely forgotten all around him; Luckily, she let a ball fall outside of the bus, and they could talk each other , because he kindly was catch the ball when the bus reached the final stop.

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 about you.The result is the same: you'll probably get the sack. It's nice to keep a pleasant workplace, mainly if you recently got married, got divorced or your woman got pregnant. Unless you want to get worried much more about extra troubles. The psycological factors really influence your work efficiency, besides making you get upset . A messy life gets nowhere, and you start  getting frightened about future. It's relevant when getting home, think about if your work colleagues get the message you want to convey to them. In sum, you should be seen as productive, friendly and participative. These are a few tips to not get lost  in life and work.

Choosen Picture:

Image Source: gratisography.com/ Ryan McGuire

The picture shows three men sitting on the edge of what looks like a channel in some European city. It was taken by photographer Ryan McGuire. It's a black-and-white photo, what makes it a very nostalgic picture to contemplate details. In fact, it makes me remember older periods of the human history, even though I don't really know  what year or day this very photo was taken.

In the foreground, we can notice a stone causeway with a higher step and a grid behind, probably to avoid some kind of accident with people passing by there. Also in the foreground, there are three sitting men in the mentioned step, with light colour clothes, maybe white t-shirts and trousers together with black leather  belts, excepting for the middle guy, since we can't see if he uses a belt. The men are looking attentively at something unknown for us, simple picture watchers. It should be something or someone flashy, they can't keep their eyes out of it! Two of them, the ones on the  right and in the middle, have near to them kind of soft drink or juice bottles. The man on the left, is close to some food, a sandwhich to eat I believe.

In the background, we can notice a city of houses that aren't so high when comparing to the current highest buildings in the biggest global cities.The houses have chimneys, windows of several forms, mainly square-shaped ones and seem to be painted in white colour. It looks a quiet and peaceful city indeed.

In the centre of photo we can see a few people passing  on what I would call a small bridge with four visible streetlamps and on the opposite side, still in the centre, some light poles and a flag.

It seems as if the guys were in a daily moment hanging out and something serious or unexpected happens, or less tragic, someone very important comes there, making them stare at the right. Whatever have happened, drew all of their attention .

I like this picture because it can warns us how the things that surround us these days are fast and sometimes go unoticed. This happens due to several elements like intense work, lots of domestic appointments, heavy daily routine or just lack of attention.

Concluding, it makes me think of how ephemeral the things in our today society are, that most of us don't have enough time for just  go over details. Just a few ones have this ability, as these three men in this selected picture.

Do you know what's to be on the horn of dilemmas? If you don't, know it's preferable not to be on the horn of dilemmas. The expression on the horn of dilemmas is an idiom and means:

a)"faced with two equally undesirable alternatives";

b)"unable to decide between two things because either could bring bad results ";

c)"having to decide between two things, people, etc".

Probably, you're on the horn of dilemmas when you have too much homework to do and at the same time you have to do washing up.

You also can find yourself on the horn of dilemmas when you have to decide between leaving off to  Australia for a two-month free travel or win increase on salary during at the end of each month.

At last, you're caught on the horn of dilemmas, because you can't decide between to please your girlfriend or your dear mother. If you don't please one of them, you'll face some "consequences".

Do you see how many situations the expression "on the horn of dilemmas" is present in our lives? And you can even think about million others I wasn't able to quote here.

Now, let's get down to work by writing some example sentences using the selected idiom:

a) I'm on the horn of dilemmas! Or I study for Mathematics test or my father won't give extra money at the end of week;

b) I just have $50 dollars on my pocket to have lunch and pay my flat rent. Oh, I find myself on the horn of dilemmas;

c) Jade was caught on the horn of dilemmas because she had to decide whether she'd stay with her father or mother after their divorce.

If you want to write a few examples using the presented idiom, drop me one or two lines in the comment's section.

Cheers!

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 end. Just remember your memory of that  frightening day. So, if something makes your hair stand on end, it makes you frightened.

But, not just past things, make our hair stand on end. Maybe you're facing something that causes the refered effect today.

What about future? We still don't know what future will brings us. I hope it doesn't make our hair stand on end.

Now it's time to practise the idiom by writing some example sentences:

a) The spider on the window made Roger's hair stand on end;

b) Scientific fiction films make Antonella's hair stand on end;

c) Why don't you want to come in my castle Marina? Because the darkness of the waiting room make my hair stand on end, Claire! 

If you want to try to write a few sentences using the idiom, drop me a few lines in the comment's section. It'll be funny to see how creative you can be. Cheers!

Question: If someone offered to give you a free vacation trip anywhere in world, where would you go? Why do you want to go to this place? What would you do when you got there?

Source:http://www.enchantedlearning.com/essay/freetrip.shtml

I love to answer these kind of questions, because makes you imagine how uplifting is to travel. You know, it's like you've already had been there, that is, in your imagination you do have been to the places you wish before. We can even visualize the trip tour we could have made. It's impressive how mind can create extraordinary details about whatever we think.

So, probably I'd be in doubt about a few destinations. First, let me tell you what my contestant countries would be: Sweden, The Netherlands, France and England. Because of this list of countries it's so hard to make a right decision about what destination to choose. After all, all of them are good countries to know, mainly if you have the opportunity to win a pair of airline tickets for a free vacation trip.

Settling my doubt, once for all, If I won a free vacation trip I'd go to Sweden. For  a  first international travel, Sweden  seems to me an enchanting and stylish type of travel. At least, this is what crosses my mind when I hear about Sweden, specially Stockholm.

Particularly, talking about Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden, I think it's a good city to visit  because it has a strong historical background for who enjoys  historic tours through a certain people's culture. And this appeals  to me the most since I like historic tours.

I imagine to get to know famed museums, palaces, cathedrals and open-air parks of Stockholm. These kind of landmarks become this city so unique. Definitely, it's one of the best capitals in the culture circuit for tourists.

Moreover, it's a city with an amazing quality of life and a very polite, respectful and satisfied population thanks to the sense of government's organisation.

Selected question: What do you think is the best section in EC that has made your English learning improved? Why?

My answer:

Undoubtedly, the coolest section of MyEC is blogs. Here, we can put to the test what we know about the English language in words.

It's very important to practise writing very often, because it shows how wide our vocabulary is at a specific point of the learning journey. And when you have an environment specially thought for the writing purpose it is even better. You know, this makes you feel in a certain way, grateful for being able to write, being read for others and being able to eagerly  follow your progression in writing skills.

For sure, one of the  features of this community that  have drawn my attention since I entered here, was the possibility of writing. Writing whatever comes to your mind, anytime and anyplace. This  is marvellous!

In the end, expressing, communicating your points, ideas or feelings gives you  strenght to move on learning more and more.

And, just this "writing strength" has given me the opportunity of improving my English. It's fantastic! I'm surprised how powerful writing can be in  somebody's life.

So, without a shadow of a doubt, I can  credit my written English to the MyEC blogs' section. Thank you all the EC staff for the open door of opportunities that has let my ideas flow through letters and words. And the bonus: you receive a bunch of comments correcting, suggesting or appreciating what you've written along years of participation.

Hello everyone. I'm back to introduce you a curious English expression called "Bank Holidays".

Probably, the name will make you relate to some kind of holidays. And yes, it is! Mini-holidays, to tell the truth.

The expression refers to the public or national holidays in the UK, when banks close and financial transactions come to a halt. Most of workers get  days off, because offices don't work on these days.

Most of "bank holidays" in the UK are on Mondays, what turns normal weekends into long weekends, as the British people usually say.

The reason for Bank Holidays occur just on Mondays, is that the Queen in an official letter sent to the UK government communicates all the holidays for the coming year, making some foreseeable holidays to be moved so that they don't be on Saturdays or Sundays, for example.

You may want to know what people in Britain do during this period. So, people usually talk about the possibilities of weather. A cold, dark and rainy weather is  the main guess. The British media tent to feature the size of traffic jams on the motorways between the British Isles, since most of people go visiting their families on holidays.

Even though the catastrophic possibility of a chaotic traffic on the streets, shops in the biggest centres of the UK are staying opened that period increasingly more, causing people to take advantage of this free time to make some domestic activities like fixing something or painting a bedroom .

The Bank holidays tradition started in the nineteenth century after the approval of the Act 1871 and consists in  Saint's days and religious ones. Currently,England has eight official Bank Holidays.

If you want to know more about the  Bank holidays dates in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland consult the lists on www.gov.uk and about the difference from public holidays take a look here.

Have a nice day, afternoon or night and see you on my next blogpost!