Tuesday, 30 January 2018
Friday, 26 January 2018
Thursday, 25 January 2018
FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WRITING ARTICLES AND THREE USEFUL SAMPLES TO FOLLOW
Five Things You Need to Know about Writing
Articles
In Cambridge First or Cambridge Advanced,
you might be asked to write an article. But do you know what makes an article
different from other types of writing?
1. The reader is identified
An article is like a direct conversation
with the reader. The exam question might tell you who your readers are. For
example, the students at a school, or the people living in a town or people who
are interested in sports. Everything you write must speak to that reader and
engage their interest right from the first sentence.
2. It has to get attention
If you're anywhere on the internet these
days, you'll be bombarded with articles with headlines that pull the reader in.
It's called "click baiting" and all the writer is trying to do is
make you open the page to read their article. You need to think like a
journalist when you're writing your article.
Look at the heading and the first line of
this article. How did I get your attention?*
3. It has to be interesting
For an article to work, it has to be
engaging enough to read all the way through. Remember how bored the examiner
must be after reading fifty exam papers. Make it easier for them to get a good
impression about your writing by entertaining them. Add humour, real life or
made up examples, or make up quotes.
4. It has to be easy to read
Use subheadings to break up the text and
make clear paragraphs. Write in a semi-informal, conversational style.
And make sure there is organisation to your ideas. The planning stage is vital
for this. Spend 5-10 minutes brainstorming ideas and choose the best
three or four. Think what your subheadings might be and then write a short
introduction that lets the reader know what to expect.
Keep in mind that you want the reader to
keep reading, so don't tell them exactly what they will read. This is not an
essay! In an essay you usually restate the question, explain how you will
answer it and maybe say why it's important. In an article, that will kill the
reader's interest.
Look back at this paragraph. What sentence
style have I used that makes it semi-informal and speak directly to the
reader?**
5. Write a good ending
In an essay you sum up the points that
have gone before and draw a conclusion from that. But in an article, it's
better to give the reader something to think about, perhaps by asking them
another question or giving them a call to action. Often, the best endings link
back to the starting point in some way.
Here are two endings I could use for this
article:
Look at your internet browsing history
from the last day. Which articles got your attention? Can you see how they did
it?
So, now you know how to write an article,
why don't you write one giving advice on something you know about?
Common mistakes students make in articles:
The language is too formal and more suited
to essays. Avoid words like: to sum up, some people say, nevertheless, on one
hand etc.
They don't use quotes or examples.
They either use not enough, or too many,
questions. The questions, called rhetorical questions because they don't
require an answer, shouldn't be more than one per paragraph. Good examples are:
Have you ever ……..?
What do you think about ……..?
Are you one of those people who thinks
that ……?
What would life be like if ……?
Will the future bring us ….. ?
* A title which makes the subject
immediately clear. For some reason, people like reading lists! And a direct,
rhetorical question in the first paragraph to make readers want to find out the
answer.
** I've used the imperative to give
instructions. E.g. Think… Keep in mind… Write… Spend…
SOURCE: www.examenglish.com
Friday, 19 January 2018
Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Tuesday, 21 November 2017
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN "TO" AND "FOR" IN ENGLISH
1. Use TO in these cases:
Motive/Reason (with verb)
·
I went to the store to buy milk.
What time it
is
·
It was a quarter to six when I left.
Destination
·
I shall go to London next month.
Distance
·
It’s about ten kilometers from my house to my
school.
Comparing
·
I prefer this dress to the one you were
wearing yesterday.
Giving
·
He gave the pen to his friend.
2. Use FOR in these cases:
Motive/Reason (with noun)
·
I went to the store for milk.
Period of
time
·
The couple took the house for 2 years.
Benefits
·
A win is always good for morale.
Function – with verb (-ing
form)
·
She had a special talent for learning languages.
Agree with
·
Are you for or against his idea?
Doing
something to help someone
·
Could you carry my case for me?
ENCONTRADO EN: www.eslbuzz.com
Thursday, 9 November 2017
Sunday, 5 November 2017
MONEY AND FINANCE: EXTENDED VOCABULARY AND COMMON EXPRESSIONS
I.
Common words for money / finance:
ATM:
abbreviation of
Automated Teller Machine: a machine, usually in a wall outside a bank, from
which you can take money out of your bank account using a special card.
bank
balance:
the amount of
money in a bank account.
I'd
like to check my bank balance, please.
bank
charges:
sums of money
paid by a customer for a bank's services.
bank
statement:
a printed
record of the money put into and removed from a bank account
bounce:
when a check
cannot be paid or accepted by a bank because of a lack of money in the account:
I
had to pay a penalty fee when my check bounced.
cash:
(noun) money in
the form of notes and coins, rather than checks or credit cards:
Do you have any cash on you?
Do you have any cash on you?
cash
a check/cheque:
(verb) to
exchange a check for cash:
Would
you cash a check for me?
checkbook
(US) / chequebook (UK):
a book of
checks / cheques with your name printed on them which is given to you by your
bank to make payments with.
check
(US) / cheque (UK):
a printed form,
used instead of money, to make payments from your bank account:
I wrote
him a check for $100.
credit:
1. money in
your bank account.
I
was relieved to see from my statement that my account was in credit
2. a method of
paying for goods or services at a later time, usually paying interest as well
as the original money.
They
decided to buy the car on credit.
credit
card:
a small plastic
card which can be used as a method of payment, the money being taken from you
at a later time.
checking
account (US) / current account (UK):
a bank account
that you can take money from at any time and which usually earns little or no
interest.
debit:
(a record of)
money taken out of a bank account.
The
account was in debit at the end of the month (= more money had been spent than
was in the account at that time).
debt:
money, which is
owed to someone else, or the state of owing something:
He
managed to pay off his debts in two years.
The firm ran up huge debts.
The firm ran up huge debts.
deposit
(US) / pay in (UK):
to put money
into a bank account.
If
you go to the bank, will you deposit these checks for me?
direct
debit:
an arrangement
for making payments, usually to an organization, in which your bank moves money
from your account into the organization's account at regular times:
I
pay my electricity bill by direct debit.
expense:
when you spend
or use money.
Buying
a bigger car has proved to be well worth the expense.
We've just had a new garage built at great expense.
We've just had a new garage built at great expense.
insurance:
an agreement in
which you pay a company money and they pay your costs if you have an accident,
injury, etc:
life/health/car/travel
insurance
interest:
1. money which
is charged by a bank or other financial organization for borrowing money.
I
got a loan with an interest rate of 10%.
2. money that
you earn from keeping your money in an account in a bank or other financial
organization.
You
should put the money in a savings account where it will earn interest.
loan:
a sum of money
which is borrowed, often from a bank, and has to be paid back, usually together
with an additional amount of money that you have to pay as a charge for
borrowing.
She's
trying to get a $100 000 loan to start her own business.
NSF:
Non Sufficient
Fund
overdraft:
The act of
overdrawing a bank account.
payee:
a person who
money is paid to or should be paid to.
savings
account (US) / deposit account (UK):
a bank account
in which you usually leave money for a long time and which pays you interest.
standing
account (UK):
an instruction
to a bank to pay a particular amount of money at regular times from a person's
bank account to another bank account (compare direct debit)
tax:
(an amount of)
money paid to the government, which is based on your income or of the cost of
goods or services you have bought:
They're
putting up the tax on cigarettes.
traveler's
check:
a piece of
paper that you buy from a bank or a travel company and that you can use as
money or exchange for the local money of the country you visit
withdraw:
to take money
out of a bank account.
II.
Banking idiomatic expressions:
Can I bank on your support?
A fool and his
money are soon parted.
A company or an
activity which is a licence to print money.
The company has
been coining it/money since the new manager took over.
Since
he's in the money, he's extremely generous to his friends.
Ice cream
sellers are minting money thanks to the heat.
Most people
think being a professional footballer is money for jam.
That costs an
arm and a leg.
I got it for
a song.
Time is money.
More money idioms with examples
III.
Rich and poor:
Describing a rich or a poor person:
Rich:
stinking rich,
flush, well-heeled, loaded, moneyed, well-to-do, filthy rich, rolling in it,
wealthy, prosperous, affluent, well off, ...
Poor:
dirt poor, hard
up, needy, skint, broke, penniless, moneyless, poverty-stricken, empty-handed,
deprived, unfortunate, underprivileged, meager, reduced, pitiable, humble,
lowly, modest, destitute...
SOURCE: www.myenglishpages.com
SOURCE: www.youtube.com/EngVidEnglish
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