Early thinking about materials

The first explanation of the atom
In Ancient Greece there were people who spent time thinking about the world they lived in. Democritus was one of these thinkers and he believed all matter was made up of very small particles called atoms. These ‘atoms’ could not be divided into smaller particles. This idea probably came from his teacher Leucippus of Melitus. The word 'atom' comes from the Greek word ‘atomos’, which means indivisible.
Aristotle and the elements
About the same time Aristotle, another great Greek thinker and scientist, said that all matter was made of a combination of four elements, which were earth, air, fire and water. Each of Aristotle's elements had two properties. The properties were shared with another element, for example Fire could be hot and dry, and dry was shared with Earth. Aristotle attacked the idea of Democritus and his four elements were accepted and believed for centuries in Europe
Zou Yan and the elements
In China around 250 BC Zou Yan, a Chinese thinker, believed that all material was made up of five elements – earth, fire, water, wood and metal. His ideas did not reach Europe where people there still followed the ideas of Aristotle.
Using the best material
For centuries people used materials and they knew what to use and where to use them. For example, they used rocks and bricks for building houses, wood for furniture, metal for swords, fabrics for clothing and leather for harnesses and saddles. They knew each material was the best one to use, but they did not know why it was so good. Some of the first tools were made out of thin pieces of very hard rock called flint.
Alchemy
One group of people believed the ideas of Aristotle and they used them to study and experiment with materials. These people were called alchemists and what they did was known as alchemy. One of the things alchemists tried to do was to make precious metals such as gold out of more common materials. At that time only seven metals were known and they were likened to seven heavenly bodies. The alchemist also used symbols to describe each metal. Quicksilver was the name of the metal we now know as mercury.
We know now that alchemy could not create gold out of sulphur and mercury, but the alchemists did examine and test just about every substance known at that time. They gave names to all the substances they studied.

THE STEPHEN KEELER COLUMN

THE STEPHEN KEELER COLUMN

Fingers crossed I've tried. Believe me, I really have tried. I started a couple of days ago and wrote more than two pages. But it wasn't good, and that's an understatement. So I deleted the lot and started again. Yesterday I even got up especially early, to write when it is still quiet in the house and there's no traffic outside. Once again, I managed a couple of pages. This time it was worse. Thank goodness for the 'delete' key. Today it is raining. It's cold and grey and no one is going anywhere. So I thought I'd try once more. The truth is, however, I can't put it off any longer: I simply have to admit to you that I cannot make Lucy's 'A'-levels sound interesting. I even tried interviewing her: DAD: Lucy, what's the worst thing about 'A'-levels? LUCY: Not knowing whether you're going to pass or fail. Promising . Next question. DAD: What's the best thing about 'A'-levels? LUCY: Dad, there is no best thing about 'A'-levels. Not so promising. So now I have to agree with Lu that it isn't easy to make examinations sound interesting. None of this helps you, though, does it? My solution (because several of you have written asking about Lucy's exams and university application) is to add an information box at the end of this column, and to promise to keep you informed about how things are going, every couple of weeks. Right now, there's a big sign on Lucy's bedroom door. It says: Warning! You are now entering 'A'-level hell! I think that tells you all you need to know for the moment. Poor Lucy! She doesn't seem to have had her nose out of a book for most of the last month. Never mind , it'll all be over soon. Her first exam is on 24th May and her last will be on 21st June. Then everything can go back to normal – at least until she gets her results on 19th August. And that's a long time to keep your fingers crossed. Lucy studying hard, as usual. Don't feel too sorry for her. She's going to Spain for a week with seventeen, yes seventeen, of her school friends, after their exams (should I apologise to Spain in advance?), and yesterday I finally bought our tickets for our summer in New York (I'm still in shock from the price I had to pay!). Lucy will fly out with me and stay for a couple of weeks until she's spent all my money. Then she'll fly back home to wreck the house and neglect the garden, leaving me penniless in Manhattan (sounds like the title of a bad novel, Penniless in Manhattan) for another three weeks. And, talking of daughters spending all their father's money, here's a depressing little tale. My girlfriend – if you can call a 48 year-old woman a 'girlfriend' – bought a new car yesterday. (Perhaps I shouldn't have mentioned her age. Please don't tell her I told you!) When she got home the first thing she did was telephone her parents. Her mum's reaction was, “How much does she want this time?” and her dad's reaction was to start writing a cheque. Does this mean that I'll never be free from having to spend all my money on Lucy – even when she's 48? Please, if there is someone reading this column who has grown-up children who no longer need their parents' money, write to me to reassure me it is possible! Strawberries in punnets, ready for Wimbledon Lucy and I have still got lots of tickets for more summer concerts here in London, and we even have a pair of tickets for the Wimbledon tennis championships next month. In Britain, we manage to forget international tennis even exists for fifty weeks of the year and then every June we go crazy expecting and demanding anyone who is British and can hold a tennis racquet the right way to win Wimbledon. Only one thing would make my summer complete, and that's a pair of tickets for the FA Cup Final (our domestic football championship) at the new Wembley Stadium. My beloved Arsenal aren't playing, but it would be great to see a match – even if it has to be one in which Chelsea are playing – at this fantastic new stadium. Wembley Stadium and, inset, the FA Cup There's something very exciting about having a pile of tickets on your desk (although, of course, you don't get real tickets for plane journeys now, just so-called e-tickets). Jill Huang, from Beijing, obviously understands this. I loved her cheeky little note suggesting I send her a concert ticket “as a gift for my comments and loyalty”. Too bad you're so far away, Jill. I had a spare ticket for a concert just last week. And what is it about tickets that's so exciting? I suppose it's the promise of something new, something unpredictable, a complete change from our daily routines, a treat. I can still remember the excitement of getting my tickets for the train journey home from Xi'an, in China, where I'd been working for over a year, back in 1982. We travelled on the Chinese Trans-Siberian Express, through Mongolia and across what was then the Soviet Union. The tickets were pink and flimsy and looked just like a supermarket receipt. But they took us almost half-way round the world in style and comfort and with a few adventures on the way. So what, if you could choose a pair of tickets for anything at all, would make your year complete? A holiday here in sunny London (the rain has stopped, by the way, and it's suddenly warm and fragrant)? Tickets for the Olympic Games in China, next year? How about a journey into space or a world cruise? What do you think about our spending the summer in New York? A travel writer friend of mine wrote to me recently and ended her letter with “Enjoy New York in mid-summer (I wouldn't!)”. Where would you choose? Fantasise a little and post your comments to share with all our readers. I just love reading what you have written. Like Farida ( Pakistan ) I go to this website every morning to read your comments – so keep them coming. I admire your courage in writing in English for the whole world to read. Don't worry Claudio (Chile), your writing is fine: the important thing, here, is to communicate and share your ideas. And it is beginning to feel a bit like a family: Marula, in Scotland, remembered that I cry when Arsenal lose (can I confess now, Marula, that that was a small exaggeration?); Kriszta, from Hungary, sent greetings to Lucy (very kind, thank you); Marianna, from Slovakia, who I now know is quite an accomplished artist, is a loyal and generous reader who shared some very personal feelings last time. But it's also great when 'new' people post comments, too. Our little band of 'friends' is growing all the time. I'm afraid I've just heard Lucy's bedroom door open, upstairs. That means it's time for a break. Any second now she'll appear, like a zombie, in my little study (where I'm writing this), looking pale and exhausted and, let's be honest, a little bit bored. Time for me to perform my parental duties – a cup of tea, a chocolate biscuit and a pep talk. I'll save the gin and tonic for when she's gone back to her books. Cheers! Some useful words and expressions understatement a statement which does not fully express the degree to which something is true If you understate something, sometime for effect, you suggest that it is less important or significant than it really is. the lot everything put it off postpone or delay it If you put something off you decide to do it later. to admit confess If you admit something embarrassing, bad or unpleasant, you say or agree that it is true. Promising Likely to be very good or successful Never mind It doesn't matter; don't worry keep your fingers crossed This is a colloquial expression which is used when you want to wish someone good luck. For example, if your friend is going to take his driving test you can say, “I'll keep my fingers crossed” or “I'll keep my fingers crossed for you”, and that is another way of saying 'good luck'. Here, because I want Lucy to pass all her exams, I can say, “I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her” or “I'll keep my fingers crossed for her” until 19th August. feel…sorry for feel sympathy for in shock in a state of shock; stunned; unpleasantly surprised penniless without any money domestic concerning matters within a country; home (i.e. not international) Here it means the national football championship of England. so-called You use 'so-called' in front of a word or term to show that it is usually referred to in a special way, for example, The earth is experiencing so-called global warming . cheeky (affectionate) 'Cheeky' usually means rude or disrespectful but it can be used in an affectionate way (as I am using it here) to mean socially daring or adventurous in a friendly way. spare extra; not needed; unwanted unpredictable impossible to know how it will develop or end a treat something special to enjoy flimsy thin; not very strong or durable; easily damaged by the way incidentally fragrant pleasantly perfumed cruise holiday spent on a large, usually luxurious, ship premiere first performance (of, for example, a movie or a piece of music) Fantasise Imagine; use your imagination creatively accomplished If you are 'accomplished' at [note the preposition] something you are very good at it (for example, an accomplished writer, an accomplished singer, etc). Any second now Soon; in just a moment zombie 'Zombie' literally means a dead person who has been brought back to life by supernatural magic. If you describe someone as looking like a zombie it means that s/he seems completely unaware of things around her/him, and seems to act without thinking about what s/he is doing. It is generally used to suggest that someone is completely exhausted as a result of some kind of extreme effort or experience. pep talk An informal expression which means a motivating talk or speech intended to encourage someone (or a group) to make more effort. 'A'-levels and university application Prince William on his graduation day at St. Andrews So what does 'A'-level mean, how important are these exams and (don't even think about it) what happens if Lucy fails? 'A'-levels (the 'A' stands for 'advanced') are the final examinations in our school system. In Scotland there is a different system, but in England and Wales students who leave school at 18+ have usually studied three or four 'A'-level subjects, together with something called General Studies, for the preceding two years. Lucy has studied History, English Literature and History of Art during this two-year period. General Studies is designed to offer a broader education to 'A'-level students and includes work on citizenship, politics, maths and science. 'A'-levels are qualifying examinations for university. Students here apply for a place to study at a university and the universities either reject them or make them an offer . Lucy was rejected by Cambridge (the mad fools, don't they realise how brilliant she is?!) but received an offer from the ancient (1411) Scottish university of St Andrews (look at a map of Britain and you will find St Andrews to the north-east of Edinburgh, across the Firth of Forth ). An offer is when the university tells you they will give you a place there so long as you achieve certain results, or grades, in your 'A'-levels. St Andrews will accept Lucy so long as she gets two As and a B (for example, an 'A' in History of Art , an 'A' in History and a 'B' in English Literature). There are five pass grades, from A to E. You can see, I think, that Lu has a tough target to reach. If all goes well , she will study for a degree in History of Art, with subsidiary studies in Russian and Philosophy. She plans to continue studying French, too. If all does not go well…actually I prefer not to think about that right now. Some useful words and expressions stands for represents; is short for (i.e. 'A' is an abbreviation for 'advanced') subjects fields of knowledge, such as geography, history, mathematics, chemistry, etc apply for a place write formally asking to be allowed to become a student make…an offer accept (them) Firth of Forth the River Forth ('Firth' is not a synonym for 'river', but it is used about certain rivers with very wide estuaries, in Scotland.) an 'A' in History of Art the top grade possible in the History of Art examination pass the opposite of 'fail' (You should only use the word 'pass' about an examination when you have received a [pass] result. You can use two verbs for the activity of participating in an exam or test – 'take' or 'sit'. EXAMPLES: When are you going to take your driving test? I have to sit an entrance exam before I can apply for a university place. If all goes well If everything is successful subsidiary minor; opposite of major More phrasal verbs with 'put' In the first paragraph I used the expression 'put it off', meaning postpone or delay. There are many phrasal verbs which use 'put'. Read the sentences below and select the correct definition for the phrasal verb in each sentence. Use a dictionary to make sure you understand the definitions, first. Then check your answers in a dictionary, or a dictionary of phrasal verbs, before you read the answers below: [1] The professor's theories were extremely complex but he put them across to his students in a way which made them easy to understand. [2] When I was a student I always tried to put a little money by every month so that I would be able to buy a small car when I left university. [3]Why can't you put your toys away when you've finished playing with them? [4] Our dog was so ill we had no choice but to have him put down . [5] Now that I've got a power drill I'm going to put up some bookshelves in the living-room. [6] I find it very difficult to put up with his rudeness. [7] We bought this new bed at half-price and now we can't put it together . [8] Since I injured my leg, and have not been able to go jogging every day, I have put on quite a lot of weight. [9] I'll pour us a couple of drinks if you put on some music. [10] Is it going to be a formal party? What should I put on ? (a) Legally killed (b) Keep or save (c) Play (a record, cassette or CD, for example) (d) Assemble (e) Succeeded in explaining (f) Wear (g) Tolerate (h) Return to the correct place (i) Construct, build or erect (j) Become heavier ANSWERS: 1e, 2b, 3h, 4a, 5i, 6g, 7d, 8j, 9c, 10f

Collected by camaraderie237@gmal.com

Human antibodies protect mice from avian flu

Human antibodies protect mice from avian flu

Washington (VNA) - An international team of scientists have used antibodies derived from immune cells from recent human survivors of H5N1 avian influenza to successfully treat H5N1-infected mice and perhaps lay the building blocks for a potential cure for the virus. “The possibility of an influenza pandemic, whether sparked by H5N1 or another influenza virus to which humans have no natural immunity, is of serious concern to the global health community,” said Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the US. “If the success of this initial study is confirmed through further laboratory and clinical trials, human antibodies could prove to be valuable therapeutic and public health interventions for pandemic influenza,” the director added. The research represented a three-way collaboration among researchers at NIAID, the Institute for Research in Switzerland, the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, and the Ho Chi Minh City’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases. The authors are already planning to further develop the research.-Enditem Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

'Dans le Noir'

Hi everyone,

Well, I promised to tell you about ‘Dans le Noir’, the pitch-black restaurant, and so I shall. When we arrived in the well-lit foyer the restaurant, the first thing we had to do was take all our valuables out of our pockets and put them into lockers. If we dropped our wallets or our house-keys in the darkness of the dining-room, the waitress explained, it would be very difficult to find them. Then she explained the menu; in this restaurant, you don’t order the particular dishes you feel like eating; instead, you just choose between four ‘surprise menus’ (one with meat, one with fish, one with both, and one with neither). When we had chosen our menus and also ordered ‘surprise cocktails’, the hostess introduced us to our waiter (who was, I think, blind). The waiter told us all to stand in a line and put a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us. Then he lead us, very slowly, into the darkness.

At first, as we shuffled through the dark restaurant towards our table, I felt disorientated and slightly panicky. However, this soon passed, and within a few minutes we were all laughing and joking about how cheap it must be to decorate a restaurant like that.

It was really very, very dark in there; you could close your eyes and open them again, and you wouldn’t notice any difference at all. Most of us found it impossible to use knives and forks in the darkness, so we ate with our fingers, and one of my friends took great delight in describing, in disgusting detail, how she was holding a big slab of meat in both hands and gnawing it like a hungry cavewoman.

The whole experience seemed to pass very quickly, and I think the lack of light must have altered our perceptions of time; we spent about an hour and a half in the darkness, but it felt like about fifteen minutes, and of course none of us could look at our watches.

To be honest, I don’t really think ‘Dans le Noir’ gave me a deeper understanding of blind people’s lives. I was only‘blind’ for a very short period of time, and I didn’t have to do anything more difficult than pouring wine into a glass. In fact, that wasn’t really the reason I went there anyway – I went because I enjoy ‘weird’ new experiences, and ‘Dans le Noir’ was satisfyingly weird.

Anyway. Again, good work on the blogs, James – your grammatical accuracy has improved significantly. You also have very good taste in cats. You asked if I could send Friday to you through the internet – well, the USB port in this computer is quite small, but I’ll try and fit her in there. Please send her back soon, though – Lottie is away at the moment (in Namibia, photographing elephants, the lucky cow), but she’ll be back tomorrow and she’ll be cross if she comes back and discovers that I’ve emailed her cat to Taiwan.

All the best,

Alex

PS Well done Adek, you got me, bang to rights. We use ‘downright’ with adjectives, and occasionally with adverbs. Well done!


Ooh, look at all this lovely vocabulary!

The entrance hall of a cinema, a hotel, a restaurant, etc., is sometimes called the foyer.

‘Valuables’ is a plural noun which means, simply, the valuable items which you own or which you are carrying.

If you go to the swimming pool, you probably leave your clothes in a kind of metal cupboard called a locker.

The word dish has several meanings; here, I’m using it as a noun to mean food cooked to a particular recipe, maybe as part of a meal. As I mentioned a week or two ago, my favourite dish is Thai prawn soup.

Cocktails are drinks (normally alcoholic drinks) made by mixing several drinks together. We can also use the noun ‘cocktail’ in a more general sense, just meaning a mixture of different things.

If you lose your sense of direction and feel confused about where you are, you feel disorientated (unless you’re American, in which case you feel ‘disoriented’).

The noun ‘panic’ means a sudden feeling of fear which is so strong that you can’t think straight. The adjective from this noun is panicky.

To take great delight in something means to enjoy doing something very much.

A slab of something is a large, flat piece of something.

The verb ‘to gnaw’ means to bite or chew repeatedly. For example, dogs like to gnaw bones.

Long ago, in prehistoric times, our distant ancestors lived in caves. We call people from this earlier stage of human development ‘cavemen’. Obviously, the female version of a caveman is a cavewoman.

Cross is another word with many meanings; here it’s an adjective meaning ‘angry’.

‘Bang to rights’ is a phrase you might hear if you watch British gangster movies. When the criminal says to the policeman, “you’ve got me bang to rights,”he means something like, “you’ve caught me, I’m obviously guilty, and I can’t deny it.”

Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

Adventures in Paris

Adventures in Paris

Hi James, and everyone else,

I'm worried that you didn't receive Friday, James. I wonder if I emailed her to the wrong person by mistake. If any readers have received a small, cruel, but very beautiful cat as an email attachment, please shove her into the socket in the back of your computer and email her back to me pronto! If I have to tell Lottie that I've emailed her cat to a stranger, she'll be livid.

Sorry to hear that you were so short of money in Paris, James, but glad to hear you had a good time there anyway. Your story reminded me of the time I first visited Paris. I was nineteen years old, and I was spending a month travelling around Europe on the train with a group of my friends. Of course, like most nineteen year olds, we were pretty skint. Paris was the first city we visited, and we soon realised that we didn't have enough money for a meal and a bed for the night; we had to choose one or the other. We chose to spend our money on food, and after our meal we decided to spend the night at one of the main railway stations in Paris, the Gare du Nord, because we had to catch a train from that station the next morning. Admittedly, spending the night on a railway station was a pretty stupid plan, but we were nineteen-year-olds from a provincial English town, and we were quite naïve. Of course, I woke up in the morning to find that my rucksack had been stolen, with all my clothes and other belongings inside it. It was a pretty bad moment. But the rucksack and its contents were insured, so I just went out and bought a new rucksack and some new clothes, and we continued our trip and had a wonderful time.

In fact, every time I go to Paris, terrible things happen to me - either I get robbed, or I have terrible transport problems, or something like that. These days I avoid Paris. Note to Parisians: please don't misunderstand me, I don't dislike your beautiful city at all. However, for some reason, your city dislikes me. If anyone can explain this strange phenomenon, I'd be very grateful.

Ana Paula, I'm glad to hear you're enjoying 'Waiting for Godot' so much - it's hilarious, isn't it? You and Leila both asked a question about a particular word which appears in this book, and I'll try to answer it, though I'll have to be careful as this is the BBC and the word is a little, ahem, salty. The word is 'ballocks'. That's actually the Irish spelling; in Britain, we would replace the 'a' with an 'o'. Normally it's a plural noun; a man has two of these items, and a woman doesn't have any. However, like most salty words in English, it can have many many different meanings, and I can't say exactly what it means in the sentence you quoted unless you give me a bit more context. If you write the whole sentence in a comment, I'll try to give you an accurate definition.

By the way, Leila, there’s no need to apologise for your question. It’s important to learn this kind of English too!

Romana from Italy asked about my use of the phrase so I shall. This is another example of one of the slightly old-fashioned turns of phrase which I sometimes like to use. In contemporary English, the word ‘shall’ is really only used for making offers or suggestions, in questions such as,

Shall I open the window?

or,

Shall we go to the cinema tonight?

However, in my last blog I wrote this sentence:

Well, I promised to tell you about ‘Dans le Noir’, the pitch-black restaurant, and so I shall.

In this rather antiquated usage, ‘and so I shall’ means something like, ‘and I will do that.’

Ruth from Jilin in China asked me what I ate at ‘Dans le Noir’. The starter was some kind of shellfish, the main course was also fish (I think it might have been tuna) with vegetables and rice, and the dessert was a little bowl of ice-cream. Amazingly, it all went into my mouth, and none of it ended up on my suit.

Alexey from Russia asked about other strange places in London – sadly, Alexey, there aren’t very many. For our next night out, my friends and I are planning to go to a ‘Punk Rock Karaoke’, where members of the audience can get up on stage and sing (or scream) old punk songs in front of a live band (I’m planning to sing ‘Ace of Spades’ by Motorhead – do any of our readers know that sweet and beautiful song?). I liked your idea of ‘swimming pools with strange water’ very much, Alexey. What do you think they should put in the water?

Once again, I’d like to say thanks to everyone for all your comments. Please keep ’em coming!

All the best,

Alex



Vocabulary

To shove means to push.

Pronto is a word we’ve borrowed from the Italian language. We use it to mean ‘immediately’ or ‘very quickly’.

The adjective livid means furious or very angry.

Skint is also an adjective – this time an informal one. If you’re skint, you don’t have money.

Provincial is another adjective. The word ‘provincial’ is often used to describe towns, and it means that this town is far from the centre of a country’s cultural life. It’s rather a negative word; it suggests ‘unsophisticated’ or even ‘small-minded’. We can also describe people as ‘provincial’.

Naïve is yet another adjective. If you are unrealistic, and you believe too easily that the world is a sweet, happy, friendly place, then you could be described as naïve.

Your belongings are the things which belong to you.

Salty is, of course, the adjective related to the noun ‘salt’, and we can use it to describe taste. However, when we describe language as ‘salty’, this means that it’s rude or impolite. I believe this is because, in the old days, sailors had a reputation for using bad language.

A turn of phrase is really just an alternative way of saying ‘a phrase’.

The adjective antiquated means very old, or old-fashioned.

Finally, ’em is a common informal abbreviation of ‘them’.

Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

In a bad mood

In a Bad Mood

Hello again folks,

I hope you're all well and having a good day. London is oppressively muggy today, and I wish I could go and jump into a swimming pool this afternoon - but alas, I have to teach a lesson on prepositions instead. Therefore, I'm in a bad mood today. This is bad news for James, I'm afraid, because I'm going to point some grammatical mistakes in his last blog.

I should start by saying that, in general, I'm very impressed by James' improvement. His blogs are noticeably more accurate now, and they're always informative and fun to read. His grammar isn't perfect, but on the other hand, perfect grammar is almost impossible to achieve (for native speakers as well as language students).

But today I'm feeling cruel, so I'm going to pick out a few of his sentences, look at them closely, and suggest corrections. Firstly, James wrote this:
'So, Nakasi is a style of live band accompaniment, and customers sing a song to a live electric piano accompaniment. It’s just like that teacher Alex are going to.'
The first sentence here is fine, but there are a couple of problems with the second one. Firstly, the word that isn't quite right here, or not alone anyway. We could say, 'it's just like what...', but this sounds a little awkward to me. It's better, I think, to say, 'it's just like the event that...', or something like this. Also, teacher Alex is only one person, so we need to change are to is. Hence, the correct version might look like this:
'So, Nakasi is style of a live band accompaniment, and customers sing a song to an live electric piano accompaniment. It's just like the event that teacher Alex is going to.'

There's another 'that' problem in the following sentence:
'They are a form of recreation that people (customers) can sing their favorite songs and enjoy their performance by themselves with the audience.'
Again, the word that doesn't quite fit in this sentence. I suggest replacing it with in which, to make a sentence like this:
'They are a form of recreation in which people (customers) can sing their favorite songs and enjoy their performance by themselves with the audience.'
We could also replace that with where in the above sentence, but I think in which suits the slightly formal tone of the sentence better.


Thirdly, have a look at this phrase:
'No matter your singing is good or bad,...'
Here James is using a special structure, and he's got it almost exactly right, but he's missed out one word. Can you see which word is missing? Yes, of course you can ¨C the missing word is if. In its correct form, the phrase would read like this:
'No matter if your singing is good or bad,...'
This means that it doesn't matter if your singing is good or bad; the result will be the same. We could also use whether here, but if is more commonly used.

Finally, please look again at this sentence:
‘In other words, Karaoke means that the orchestra which plays music in the empty box of speaker.’
This is actually the only sentence in James’ last blog which I simply can’t understand. Sorry James, but could you try and rewrite this?

In my last blog I mentioned the sweet and heart-rending song 'Ace of Spades' by Motorhead. James replied that he had never heard this song, and suggested that maybe I should record myself singing it and post the recording on here. Well, James, I'm cruel but I'm not that cruel. I don’t think our readers deserve such terrible punishment (although maybe Hyoshil’s son does).
James asked about a sentence from my last blog:
‘The first thing we had to do was take all our valuables out of our pockets and put them into lockers.'
Actually, I omitted the word ‘to’ from this sentence. We sometimes do this in informal writing. If I replace the word ‘to’, the sentence looks like this:
‘The first thing we had to do was to take all our valuables out of our pockets and put them into lockers.'
Does this make it any clearer? We could paraphrase that sentence like this:
‘First we had to take all our valuables out of our pockets and put them in our lockers.’

Finally, Ana Paula has another question about the rather uncouth term ‘ballocksed’. Ana Paula, in the context you found it in, this word means something like ‘doomed’ or ‘in very serious trouble’.

See you in a couple of days!

Alex

Vocabulary
We use the adjective oppressive to describe something which feels like it’s pressing down on us. It’s always used in a negative sense.
Muggy is an adjective to describe the weather. It means hot and humid. Therefore, oppressively muggy means that the weather is so hot and so humid that it’s really hard to bear.
Alas is an old-fashioned and formal word meaning ‘oh no’ or ‘what a shame’.
The adjective heart-rending means something like ‘sad enough to make your heart break’.

Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

Various Mistakes, and the Mistery Student

Various mistakes, and the Mystery Student

I hope my last blog didn’t discourage you; when I said that your writing was improving well, I meant it very sincerely. All your hard work is certainly paying off.

In general, of course, students have to make mistakes in the process of learning English (or in the process of learning anything). Everyone makes mistakes. I make mistakes. The advanced students who I teach at the moment certainly make mistakes (I’ll say more about this later). Normally, we have to learn from our own mistakes. However, James, you have very bravely and generously agreed to be our student blogger – this means that you make your mistakes in public, and everyone has the opportunity to learn from your mistakes.

All this reminds me of a sketch by a comic called Peter Cook, who in my humble opinion was possibly the funniest human being in the entire history of the world. In this sketch, Cook played a failed restauranteur who was being interviewed on TV (if I remember rightly, his restaurant served only two dishes – frog à la pêche and pêche à la frog). After questioning Cook about his disastrous failure in the restaurant business, the interviewer finally asks him, “do you feel you've learnt from your mistakes?”

“Oh certainly,” replies Cook. “Certainly I have learned from my mistakes. And if I had to start all over again, I'm sure I could repeat them exactly!”

(I tried to find a link to a recording of this sketch, but I’m afraid I couldn’t. However, you can watch another classic Peter Cook sketch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2siVbVti9I - note that the raven is a kind of bird.)


Anyway, changing the subject, the weather has got a little more normal today, so my mood has improved. However, I’m a little worried today. I’m worried because one of the students from my ‘advanced’ class has apparently discovered this blog. He or she left a comment, but did not reveal his or her name, so let’s call him or her the Mystery Student. Hi there, Mystery Student! I’m not worried about the Mystery Student reading this blog; of course, I’m very happy for him or her to read and leave comments if he or she wants to. No, I’m not worried about that; I’m worried about something else. In his/her comment, the Mystery Student wrote this:

‘I have met my teacher, Alex, writing a blog in the BBC site. I'm one of her students in the Oxford House College…’

One of her students? I should explain that the Mystery Student sees me quite regularly, for about three hours a day, five days a week. I should also explain that my head is completely bald, my voice is deep, and I generally don’t wear makeup or a skirt while I’m teaching. However, this student apparently thinks I’m a woman. I don’t know if I should worry about the Mystery Student, or if I should worry about myself. But I’m certainly worried. What do you think I should do?

All the best,

Alex


Vocabulary

The verb ‘to discourage’ is, very simply, the opposite of ‘to encourage’.

We normally use the phrasal verb ‘to pay off’ (no object) when we’re talking about some kind of work, or something which requires a lot of effort. If your work or effort pays off, that means it gives you the result which you hoped for.

The word sketch has a few different meanings; in this context, it means a short section of a comedy program on TV.

Comic is another word with more than one meaning. Here I’m using it as a synonym for ‘comedian’ – a person whose job is to make people laugh.

The adjective ‘humble’ is the opposite of ‘proud’. In emails and sms text mesages, the phrase in my humble opinion is sometimes abbreviated to ‘imho’.

Restauranteur is a word which we’ve borrowed from the French – it means a person who runs a restaurant. A lot of our ‘posh’ food vocabulary comes from French – ‘frog à la pêche’ and ‘pêche à la frog’ are jokes which mock this feature of English.

The word apparently causes quite a lot of problems. In fact, it means something like, ‘this seems to be true’, or, ‘someone has told me this is true’. The sentence, ‘this student apparently thinks I’m a woman,’ has the same meaning as this sentence: ‘this student seems to think I’m a woman.’

Finally, if someone is bald, they have no hair on their head. Baldness is a sign of intelligence, and it’s also very attractive to women.

Still banging on about grammar

Still banging on about grammar

Hi everyone,

I'm going to follow James' example today and write a fairly short blog. I don't want to write a long one, as your comments on the last blog haven't appeared yet; however, I want to write something today, as it's almost my last opportunity. On Thursday I'm going to bid you farewell, and after that another teacher is going to take my place.

I guess the comments haven't appeared yet because Monday was what we call in Britain a 'bank holiday' - in other words, a national holiday when the banks and some of the shops are closed. Some of my students asked me why Monday was a bank holiday, and I was embarassed to admit that I didn't have a clue. Do any of you readers know why we had a bank holiday in Britain on Monday? I wouldn't be surprised if one of the readers is able to answer this. I find that my students often know more about British culture than I do. For example, a few days ago, one of my students told me when the Queen's birthday is. I didn't have the foggiest.

James, your idea about kilts was a good one, but actually I've never worn a kilt in class either. Maybe I'll wear one tomorrow, to celebrate my final day as BBC teacher blogger.

James wrote, "if Teacher Alex had taught something on [the] teacher blog, I would learn and use them on my next blog to practice." I've noticed you doing this, James, and I think you've made some very good improvements. We only have a couple more days to go, but I'm afraid I'm going to keep banging on about grammar, right up until the last moment.

Today I'd like to say a few words about singular and plural forms. I'm sure I don't need to remind you about the difference between singular and plural; the basic grammar rules are very easy to understand, but they can be much more difficult to use, especially if your native language doesn't have singular and plural forms (I believe that Chinese doesn't have singular and plural forms - is that right, James?).

In his last blog, James wrote,

'I often made a mistake with ‘he’ or ‘she’.'

How many mistakes? More than one, probably. Therefore, the word mistake should be in the plural form, like this:

'I often made mistakes with ‘he’ or ‘she’.'

Also, James wrote,

'As a teacher, it’s not easy to correct student’s mistake in a proper way.'

Again, how many mistakes? Again, more than one, so again we need the plural form, mistakes. Also, how many students? Again, we're talking about more than one student here, and we need to reflect this in the grammar of the sentence. The easiest way to do this is by using the plural form. When we have a noun ending in the letter s, and we want to make it possessive, we just add an apostrophe, like this:

'As a teacher, it’s not easy to correct students' mistakes in a proper way.'

However, there's another option here. When we're making a general statement about students, we can also use the singular form of the word student. However, we have to be careful here, because student is a singular noun, and singular nouns ALWAYS need an article (unless there's another word doing the job of an article, such as 'this', 'his', 'her', etc.). In this case we need the indefinite article. So, we could also correct the sentence this way:
'As a teacher, it’s not easy to correct a student’s mistakes in a proper way.'
Here's one more example. Earlier I quoted another line from one of James' blogs:

'If Teacher Alex had taught something on the teacher blog, I would learn and use them on my next blog to practice.'

In fact, this sentence also contains a singular/plural mistake. The word something is singular, but the word them is plural. We need to change them to it, like this:

'If Teacher Alex had taught something on the teacher blog, I would learn and use it on my next blog to practice.'

So, James, here is my challenge to you. When you write your final blog tomorrow, concentrate particularly on singular and plural forms, and see how close to perfect you can get these.

OK, that's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow, one last time.

All the best,

Alex

PS The Mystery Student has yet to reveal his or her identity. The tension is mounting!

Vocabulary

'Not to have a clue' and 'not to have the foggiest' are informal expressions with the same meaning - we use them to say that we absolutely don't know something. Note that both expressions are always used in the negative, never in the positive.
If you keep banging on about something, you talk about it and talk about it and talk about it until everyone is sick and tired of listening to you.
An apostrophe looks like this ' .
'The Mystery Student has yet to reveal his or her identity,' means, 'the Mystery Student has not revealed his or her identity yet, but I expect that he or she probably will do this sometime in the future.'
To mount, in this case, means to increase. When we use 'to mount' in this sense, it collocates with the noun 'tension'.

Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

Farewell

Farewell

Well, the vioins are playing sadly in the background, and it's time to say goodbye. First, though, I'd like to say well done to James one more time - you rose to my challenge very impressively, and wrote a final blog with almost perfect singular and plural forms.

Have you guys ever watched the Oscars? If so, you've probably seen tearful film stars making long, emotional acceptance speeches, in which they say 'thank you' to God, to their parents, to their wives/husbands, to their managers, their producers, their directors, their hairdressers, their piano teachers, their piano teachers' wives/husbands, their hairdressers' parents, etc etc etc, until everyone gets completely bored and stops listening.

In exactly the same way, I'd like to say thanks to a long list of people. Please imagine me as a film star at the Oscars (you can imagine that I look like Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp, only balder and therefore more handsome). I'd like to say thanks first of all to James and Ana Paula, for working so hard and writing such useful and entertaining blogs, and for having the courage to make mistakes in public. I'd also like to thank Paul for giving me the job of teacher blogger in the first place, and Carrie who has the thankless task of editing these pages. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I'd like to thank Ana, Anna, Jameel, Maria (I hope you enjoyed the book), Leila, Adriana, Ha_na, Alexey, Romana, Hyoshil and her unruly son, Antonio, Adek (well done for spotting that mistake), Jill Huang, Mellisa, Marianna, Wisarut, the Mystery Student, and all the others who have read these blogs and taken the time to comment on them. It's been great fun reading your comments - sorry I couldn't respond to all of them!

I think I'll leave the last word to Friday the Cat, if I can persuade her to come over here and type a final message to all her fans around the world. Friday says:

';;;;;;;;;';;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;]]

That says it all, doesn't it?

All the best,

Alex


Vocabulary

If someone challenges you to do something, and you actually manage to do this thing (especially if it's difficult), we can say that you rise to the challenge.

The Oscars are famous awards for the best films, actors, etc. They are handed out once a year, in America, and the ceremony (also called 'The Oscars') is often shown on TV.

If someone is tearful, they are crying, or they have tears in their eyes.
Acceptance is, obviously, the noun form to the verb 'to accept'. When film stars win awards at the Oscars, they normally come up on the stage and make 'acceptance speeches'.

Courage is an abstract, uncountable noun, which means the same as 'bravery'. If someone is brave, we can say that that person has courage.

If you do a job but normally nobody says 'thank you', we can call this job a thankless task.

If someone or something is unruly, this means that their behaviour is difficult or impossible to control.

Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

Hello!

Hello!

Yesterday was Alex’s last day as teacher blogger. I’m sure we’d all like to thank him for his inspired blogs and handy tips on the English language. Cheerio, Alex! Now you can enjoy a bit of a rest.

From today, I’ll be the new teacher blogger. I’d like to say ‘hello’ to everyone, and I hope I can fill Alex’s shoes and help you to improve your English, even if only a little bit!

But first of all I should tell you a bit about myself. My name is Jo Kent and I’m a freelance writer and editor specialising in materials for students of English, or to use the jargon term, ELT (English Language Teaching) materials. You know those textbooks you had to study in school? The ones that contain reading comprehension exercises, writing tasks and grammar explanations? That’s the kind of thing I write. Sorry if I’m responsible for any of you having to do lots of homework!

I live in Hampshire, which is a county in southern England. I don’t live in or near a city. In fact, I live way out in the sticks, near a little village called West Meon. There is very pretty countryside all around me and, thanks to e-mail and the Internet, it’s easy for me to keep in touch with everyone. I lived in big cities for a while, but now I like the peace and quiet of the countryside. The only problem is that if you want to go shopping, you have to get in your car and drive. But I’m not really a shopaholic, so I don’t suffer from cravings.

When people see my name, they often think I’m a man. I’m not! Look at my picture at the top of this web page – I hope I don’t look like a man, do I? If you see the name ‘Jo’ in English, that person will always be female. ‘Jo’ is short for ‘Joanne’, ‘Joanna’ or less commonly ‘Josephine’. The male name ‘Joe’ has an ‘e’ on the end. Native speakers often get this wrong too – I’ve lost count of the number of letters I’ve received addressed to ‘Mr Jo Kent’.

I’m looking forward to getting to know the student blogger and everyone reading out there, and of course answering your questions and reading your comments. This is the first time I‘ve ever written a blog, so I’m pretty excited about it!

Until next time, yours very femininely,

Jo

Vocabulary

Handy – something that is ‘handy’ is useful.

Cheerio is an informal and friendly way of saying ‘goodbye’. You’ll hear it most often in spoken English.

If you fill someone’s shoes, you try to do something as well as that person has done it.

freelance can be a noun and an adjective. If you work freelance, you are self-employed, and usually work for several clients.

jargon is technical language, often used by a specific industry or group of people.

Someone who lives in the sticks lives in the countryside, a long way away from a big city.

The word shopaholic is a combination of ‘shopping’ and ‘alcoholic’. We use it to describe someone who is addicted to shopping. Another word like this is ‘chocaholic’ (addicted to chocolate).

A craving is a strong desire for something.

Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

What a welcome!

What a welcome!

I’d like to thank everyone for the warm welcome you’ve given me as the new teacher blogger. It’s really nice to e-meet all of you and your comments and questions have given me lots of encouragement already. I’d also like say a special ‘Hello’ to Naheed, our new student blogger.

Naheed, I can see you have a very strong grasp of the English language. In fact, your English is so good I think I can probably take the rest of the month off. Just kidding! I can see that you’ve been studying English for a long time and make only minor mistakes. Well done to you!

Today’s blog had my mouth watering! It is possible to get mangoes here in the UK, but they’re pretty expensive as they are imported. Also, I don’t think they can ever taste as good as mangoes straight off the tree. Just a note about the verbs you use to describe flavours, Naheed. In your delicious description of how to make mango sorbet, you say ‘If it feels sour’, and later ‘it should not feel very sweet’. We use the verb taste when we want to talk about flavours, and the verb feel when we want to talk about things we can touch. This is just a small point – I can still understand perfectly what you mean.

In your first blog, I particularly liked your use of the phrase ‘All’s well that ends well’. But can I make one small correction? This phrase always starts with ‘All’s’, not ‘All is’. This phrase basically means ‘everything will work out well in the end’ and I think I can tell from this that you have a pretty positive attitude!

‘All’s well that ends well’ is actually the name of a Shakespeare comedy. Did you know that Shakespeare coined hundreds of words and phrases that we still use to this day? Some of these words and phrases have the exact same meaning they had when he wrote them hundreds of years ago, and some have changed in meaning slightly. Naheed, you look to me like you’re a student who can handle being thrown in at the deep end, so I wonder whether you can tell me what the current-day meaning of the following words and phrases is – all of them were coined by Shakespeare:

· it smells to high heaven
· full circle
· one fell swoop
· strange bedfellows
· the world’s my oyster

And if you’re feeling really clever, I wonder if you can work one of these into your next blog? Ooooh, aren’t I nasty? I bet you don’t like me so much any more!

Actually, Shakespeare leads me nicely onto your comments and questions about my first-ever blog. Melissa from China wanted to know how to understand the meaning of Shakespeare. This is no mean feat, as Shakespearian language is tricky to understand because it was written so long ago and is very different from current-day language. One thing to bear in mind though is that Shakespeare’s plays were written to be watched, not read. You know, it is much easier to understand what someone means if you can see their face, their gestures and their expression, as well as hear what they are saying. I wonder, is it possible for you to watch a DVD of the Shakespeare you are reading? If you can see the actors and their expressions, it will certainly help you.

Diema from Bulgaria wanted to know what the phrase ‘Yours, very femininely’ means. Sorry, Diema. This was just me being daft! Because I had told you all about me being female and not male, this was just a light-hearted way to end my blog (feminine means ‘having female characteristics’). I expect you’ll get used to my bad jokes over the next few weeks.

Phu of the Netherlands says she’s surprised I like living in the countryside. Maybe I can explain, Phu. First, I'm not that young (I’m 34)! And secondly, I have lots of pets, and I think animals prefer living in the countryside to living in a city. Maybe I can tell you a bit more about my pets in my future blogs, if you are interested.

I’m off to church a little later today. No, I not getting married! I have to go to a rehearsal for the christening of my little niece, baby Sophie. I’ve been asked to be godmother, so the rehearsal is to make sure I know what to do. Actually, I haven’t got a clue what to do as I’ve never been a godmother before, but I guess the most important thing is not to drop the baby! The actual christening is tomorrow, so I’ll tell you all about it in my next blog.

Enjoy your weekends!

Jo

Vocabulary

If you have a strong grasp of something, you understand it well.

to take time off means to have a rest or go on holiday

Just kidding! You can use this exclamation if you want to say you’re joking about something. It’s very informal.

The verb to coin means to invent. It is commonly used when talking about new words and phrases.

If I throw you in at the deep end, it means I give you something difficult to do, without providing any help.

Ooooh! This is a natural exclamation. You can use it to express a range of emotions like surprise, pain, joy and shock.

If something is no mean feat, it’s difficult to do.

daft means ‘silly’. It’s good to be daft sometimes.

Something that is light-hearted is ‘playful’.

I’m off – this is an informal way of saying ‘I’m going’.

A christening is a formal ceremony in church when a child is given its name.

godmother – according to my dictionary, a godmother ‘represents a child at its baptism’. I think basically I’m supposed to be a good influence – I’ll let you know if this is right!

Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

Baby Sophie's christening

Baby Sophie’s christening

I hope you all had a good weekend. The weather here in the UK was glorious, so it was just perfect for the christening of my niece, Sophie. I promised I’d tell you a little bit about the christening and my role as godmother. Yesterday morning, all of Sophie’s friends and relatives met at her local church. There, she was welcomed by the vicar, given her name and blessed. The vicar also poured holy water on her forehead to baptise her. She really didn’t like this very much and started to bawl. But you can’t blame her – I’d probably cry too if a stranger poured cold water all over my head when I was dressed in my best frock!

As godmother, I had to promise to give Sophie encouragement to live a good life, and to try to set an example for her. I assume this means I have to set a good example rather than a bad one! After the ceremony, we all went to the local pub for food, cutting of the christening cake and a chitchat. It was a good chance for friends and family to catch up and to celebrate the arrival of a new member of our clan.

You can see a picture of me holding little Sophie on this page. She’s wearing her special christening gown, and next to me is the font. I’m the first to admit I’m not really very good with babies, but at least Sophie didn’t cry when I held her, and I made sure not to drop her!

I wonder, what do you all do in your countries to celebrate the arrival of a new baby?

Naheed, many thanks for your kind wishes for Sophie. I’ve been enjoying reading more about mangoes – you really are something of an expert! Now let’s focus on English for a bit. You talk about some of the countries that buy mangoes and say: ‘The main importers are Middle East and European countries’. I just wanted to pick you up on a couple of small language points here.

· European is an adjective
· The Middle East is a noun

First, note that it’s always the Middle East – we always include ‘the’ – not just Middle East. However, you could also use the adjectival form, Middle Eastern. In this case, you would not need to put ‘the’ before it (we only use ‘the’ with the noun form). In terms of style, it’s best to have either all noun forms or all adjective forms in one sentence. So you could rewrite your sentence in two ways:

1) The main importers are Middle Eastern and European countries.
2) The main importers are the Middle East and Europe.

In English, adjectives that describe nationalities commonly end in ‘-an’.

Noun
America
Europe
Kenya
Morocco
Norway

Adjective
American
European
Kenyan
Moroccan
Norwegian

However, this is another area of the English language where there are lots of irregular forms that I’m afraid just have to be learned one by one. For example, I come from England, and I am English. Naheed, you come from Pakistan, and you are Pakistani. I wonder if you can tell me the adjectives that relate to the following nouns:

Noun
Britain
France
Spain
The Philippines
Taiwan

I should also put you out of your misery regarding the meaning of those phrases coined by Shakespeare. You’ll hear these phrases in everyday English, and most people won’t even be aware that they were invented by Shakespeare. Here goes:

· it smells to high heaven means something is really smelly, e.g.
Tom hadn’t changed his socks for a whole week. They smelled to high heaven.

· If something comes full circle, it returns to the starting point, e.g.
Sarah lost three stone on her mango diet, but then she went on holiday and put all the weight back on again. Her weight went full circle.

· one fell swoop means all at once, e.g.
Yesterday I got offered my dream job. It means I can earn more money, move to the capital and further my career, all in one fell swoop.

· strange bedfellows are things that you wouldn’t think would go well together, e.g.
Mangoes and vinegar might seem like strange bedfellows, but the combination of sweet and sour works well in some recipes.

· the world’s my oyster – you mostly got the meaning of this right, Naheed. It means you can do anything and go anywhere, e.g.
After I finish my studies I’m free to go travelling for a whole year. The world will be my oyster.

Naheed, I look forward to hearing more about your life in Pakistan, and thanks for the mouth-watering descriptions of mangoes. Our traditional summer fruit in Britain is probably the strawberry. Strawberries are coming into season right now, and they go really well with cream. Yum! When you bite into a sweet, juicy strawberry, you know that summer has arrived in the UK. Maybe I’ll buy some later for my dinner.

Bye for now,

Jo

Vocabulary

If the weather is glorious, you can expect blue skies, warm temperatures and lots of sunshine.

baptise means to welcome into the church, by sprinkling holy water on the head.

Babies bawl a lot – they scream loudly.

A frock is a slightly old-fashioned word for a dress.

When you have a chitchat, you have a friendly, light-hearted talk.

In this context, if you catch up with someone, you find out about all their news and what has been happening to them.

A clan is a family group.

A gown is a dress for a special occasion. You can also talk about a wedding gown and a ball gown.

A font is a receptacle in a church where the holy water sits. Sophie was held over the font when she was baptised.

to put someone out of their misery means to give someone the information they’ve been waiting for.

something that is coming into season is ripe, plentiful and ready to be harvested.

Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

Moscow threatens to aim missiles at Europe

In an interview ahead of this week's G8 summit, President Putin has threatened to point Russian missiles towards Europe for the first time since the end of the Cold War, if the United States builds a defence shield in Eastern Europe. This report from Rupert Wingfield-Hayes:

If President Putin's words are anything to go by, it looks like being a pretty stormy G8 summit in Germany this week. First up was the United States: Mr Putin poured scorn on its plans to build a new missile shield in Eastern Europe. If it goes ahead, Russia would, he said, be forced to respond by pointing its own missiles at European targets. It would be the first time since the end of the Cold War that Europe has been directly targeted by Russian nuclear missiles.

He then went on to accuse the West of hypocrisy in criticising Russia's human rights record. Responding to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he said the United States is the main violator of freedoms and human rights around the world and he added that France, Germany and Britain have problems of their own.

Finally he accused Britain of foolishness in trying to extradite a former KGB officer for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. President Putin said Britain knew Russia's constitution prohibits such an extradition. By pushing ahead, he said, Britain was engaging in PR and politics, and any way you look at it, it's pure foolishness.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC News, Moscow

Vocabulary:

anything to go by
to be believed, to be taken seriously

stormy
full of angry feeling and conflict

First up
here, first to be criticised

poured scorn on
showed contempt for, harshly criticised

hypocrisy
when someone says they have certain principles or beliefs, while their actions show they don't really have them

violator
someone who ignores and acts against a law or agreement

to extradite
to hand over a person accused of a crime to the country where the crime was committed

prohibits
bans, doesn't allow

pushing ahead
stubbornly trying to achieve the desired result

any way you look at it
whatever aspect of this situation you consider

Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

Modern Family in Britain

Modern British Families

Father leaves for work in the morning after breakfast. The two children take the bus to school, and mother stays at home cooking and cleaning until father and the kids return home in the evening. This is the traditional picture of a happy family living in Britain. But is it true today? The answer is - no! The past 20 years have seen enormous changes in the lives and structures of families in Britain, and the traditional model is no longer true in many cases.

The biggest change has been caused by divorce. As many as 2 out of 3 marriages now end in divorce, leading to a situation where many children live with one parent and only see the other at weekends or holidays.

There has also been a huge rise in the number of mothers who work. The large rise in divorces has meant many women need to work to support themselves and their children. Even when there is no divorce, many families need both parents to work in order to survive. This has caused an increase in childcare facilities, though they are very expensive and can be difficult to find in many areas. In addition, women are no longer happy to stay at home raising children, and many have careers earning as much as or even more than men, the traditional breadwinners.

There has also been a sharp increase in the number of single mothers, particularly among teenagers. Many of their children grow up never knowing their fathers, and some people feel the lack of a male role model has a damaging effect on their lives.

However, these changes have not had a totally negative effect. For women, it is now much easier to have a career and good salary. Although it is difficult to be a working mother, it has become normal and it's no longer seen as a bad thing for the children. As for children themselves, some argue that modern children grow up to be more independent and mature than in the past. From an early age they have to go to childminders or nurseries, and so they are used to dealing with strangers and mixing with other children.

So while the traditional model of a family may no longer be true in modern Britain, the modern family continues to raise happy, successful children.

Vocabulary

divorce
when a marriage ends and the former husband and wife separate from one another

a huge rise
a very big increase/growth (opposite to fall/decrease/decline)

to support
here, to provide with a home and the necessities of life

childcare facilities
special institutions whose job is to look after children while parents are working

raising
bringing up and educating

breadwinners
a breadwinner is the person who earns the most money in their family

sharp
here, big and happening over a short period of time

single mothers
women who raise their children by themselves because they live separately from the children's fathers

lack
if there is a lack of something, there is not enough of it

male role model
a man who thinks and acts in the way that is traditionally perceived as being typical of men

nurseries
places equipped for looking after very young children

dealing with
managing, doing what is necessary to achieve the result you want

mixing with
socialising, living together with, joining

Collected by camaraderie237@gmail.com

Just 3 words

Just 3 Words

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There are many things that you can do to strengthen your relationships. Often the most effective thing you can do involves saying just three words. When spoken sincerely, these statements often have the power to develop new friendships, deepen old ones and even bring healing to relationships that have soured.

The following three-word phrases can be tools to help develop every relationship.

1. Let me help
Good friends see a need and then try to fill it. When they see a hurt they do what they can to heal it. Without being asked, they jump in and help out.

2. I understand you.
People become closer and enjoy each other more when the other person accepts and understands them. Letting your spouse know - in so many little ways - that you understand them, is one of the most powerful tools for healing your relationship.
And this can apply to any relationship.

3. I respect you
Respect is another way of showing love. Respect demonstrates that another person is a true equal. If you talk to your children as if they were adults you will strengthen the bonds and become closer friends. This applies to all interpersonal relationships.

4. I miss you.
Perhaps more marriages could be saved and strengthened if couples simply and sincerely said to each other "I miss you." This powerful affirmation tells partners they are wanted, needed, desired and loved. Consider how important you would feel, if you received an unexpected phone call from your spouse in the middle of your workday, just to say "I miss you."

5. Maybe you're right.
This phrase is very effective in diffusing an argument. The implication when you say "maybe you're right" is the humility of admitting, "maybe I'm wrong." Let's face it. When you have an argument with someone, all you normally do is solidify the other person's point of view. They, or you, will not likely change their position and you run the risk of seriously damaging the relationship between you. Saying "maybe you're right" can open the door to explore the subject more. You may then have the opportunity to express your view in a way that is understandable to the other person.

6. Please forgive me
Many broken relationships could be restored and healed if people would admit their mistakes and ask for forgiveness. All of us are vulnerable to faults, foibles and failures. A man should never be ashamed to own up that he has been in the wrong, which is saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.

7. I thank you.
Gratitude is an exquisite form of courtesy. People who enjoy the companionship of good, close friends are those who don't take daily courtesies for granted. They are quick to thank their friends for their many expressions of kindness. On the other hand, people whose circle of friends is severely constricted often do not have the attitude of gratitude.

8. Count on me
A friend is one who walks in when others walk out. Loyalty is an essential ingredient for true friendship. It is the emotional glue that bonds people. Those that are rich in their relationships tend to be steady and true friends. When troubles come, a good friend is there indicating "you can count on me."

9. I'll be there
If you have ever had to call a friend in the middle of the night, to take a sick child to hospital, or when your car has broken down some miles from home, you will know how good it feels to hear the phrase "I'll be there." Being there for another person is the greatest gift we can give. When we are truly present for other people, important things happen to them and us. We are renewed in love and friendship. We are restored emotionally and spiritually. Being there is at the very core of civility.

10. Go for it
We are all unique individuals. Don't try to get your friends to conform to your ideals. Support them in pursuing their interests, no matter how far out they seem to you. God has given everyone dreams, dreams that are unique to that person only. Support and encourage your friends to follow their dreams. Tell them to "go for it."

11. I love you
Perhaps the most important three words that you can say. Telling someone that you truly love them satisfies a person's deepest emotional needs. The need to belong, to feel appreciated and to be wanted. Your spouse, your children, your friends and you, all need to hear those three little words: "I love you." Love is a choice. You can love even when the feeling is gone.

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