Merry Blog
Wednesday 20 December 2023
Angelina Jolie receives the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2013 Governors Awards
The most common English idioms
These English idioms are extremely common in everyday conversation in the United States. You will hear them in movies and TV shows and can use them to make your English sound more like that of a native speaker.
Idiom | Meaning | Usage |
---|---|---|
A blessing in disguise | a good thing that seemed bad at first | as part of a sentence |
A dime a dozen | Something common | as part of a sentence |
Beat around the bush | Avoid saying what you mean, usually because it is uncomfortable | as part of a sentence |
Better late than never | Better to arrive late than not to come at all | by itself |
Bite the bullet | To get something over with because it is inevitable | as part of a sentence |
Break a leg | Good luck | by itself |
Call it a day | Stop working on something | as part of a sentence |
Cut somebody some slack | Don't be so critical | as part of a sentence |
Cutting corners | Doing something poorly in order to save time or money | as part of a sentence |
Easy does it | Slow down | by itself |
Get out of hand | Get out of control | as part of a sentence |
Get something out of your system | Do the thing you've been wanting to do so you can move on | as part of a sentence |
Get your act together | Work better or leave | by itself |
Give someone the benefit of the doubt | Trust what someone says | as part of a sentence |
Go back to the drawing board | Start over | as part of a sentence |
Hang in there | Don't give up | by itself |
Hit the sack | Go to sleep | as part of a sentence |
It's not rocket science | It's not complicated | by itself |
Let someone off the hook | To not hold someone responsible for something | as part of a sentence |
Make a long story short | Tell something briefly | as part of a sentence |
Miss the boat | It's too late | as part of a sentence |
No pain, no gain | You have to work for what you want | by itself |
On the ball | Doing a good job | as part of a sentence |
Pull someone's leg | To joke with someone | as part of a sentence |
Pull yourself together | Calm down | by itself |
So far so good | Things are going well so far | by itself |
Speak of the devil | The person we were just talking about showed up! | by itself |
That's the last straw | My patience has run out | by itself |
The best of both worlds | An ideal situation | as part of a sentence |
Time flies when you're having fun | You don't notice how long something lasts when it's fun | by itself |
To get bent out of shape | To get upset | as part of a sentence |
To make matters worse | Make a problem worse | as part of a sentence |
Under the weather | Sick | as part of a sentence |
We'll cross that bridge when we come to it | Let's not talk about that problem right now | by itself |
Wrap your head around something | Understand something complicated | as part of a sentence |
You can say that again | That's true, I agree | by itself |
Your guess is as good as mine | I have no idea | by itself |
‘People are proud of this green spirit of ours’: how a small Spanish city rejected cars
click here to read the article
Read the article and answer the questions:
1. Why is Vitoria-Gasteiz called 'the green ring'?
2. Has the population of the city increased or decreased over the years?
3. When did the plan to build the city arise?
4. Are there any other climate-neutral cities in Europe?
Monday 11 December 2023
Harvard, Penn, MIT Heads Defend Response to Israel-Gaza Protests on Campus
Word of the Year
The editors of the Oxford dictionary left the selection for Word of the Year to language lovers.
Over 30,000 people voted and selected four finalists for word of the year. They were “Swiftie” (fans of Taylor Swift), “situationship” (an informal romantic or sexual relationship), “prompt” (an instruction given to an artificial intelligence program), and “rizz.”
If you are not familiar with “rizz,” it is time to learn its meaning. It is Oxford’s word of the year. “Rizz” is believed to come from the word “charisma.” Oxford says it means having “style, charm or attractiveness.” It can also mean the “ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner.” The word is popular among Generation Z -- people born during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“Rizz” can be used as a verb, too. To “rizz up” means “to attract, seduce, or chat up (a person).”
Oxford editors said they chose “rizz” as “an interesting example of how language can be formed, shaped, and shared within communities, before being picked up more widely in society.”
Read the article and make up a sentence with the word 'rizz'. Post it in the commentary section below.Harvard professors defend president amid calls to resign after statements on antisemitism
Read the article and answer the questions:
1. What happened to the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and MIT amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
2. What was the students' reaction to the crisis?
3. What was Claudine Gray's response to the accusations?
Leave your answers in the commentary section below.
Monday 27 November 2023
Listeners | Stanford CS224U Natural Language Understanding | Spring 2021
Angelina Jolie receives the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 2013 Governors Awards
Watch the interview and answer the question: What problem does Angelina raise in her acceptance speech?
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Zero Conditional Time: General Function: Habits, tendencies, rules, and scientific facts. Structure: When + Present Simple, Present Simple. ...