An Armoury of English Language: August 2011

Saturday, August 20, 2011

sore vs ache vs pain

	intensity	when	duration
sore (adj)	a mild suffering	when used or touched	from hours to days
ache (noun)	a dull suffering	continuos	from hours to days, weeks, months
pain (noun)	a sharp suffering	sporadic, or sudden	from a second to years

SORE Examples
I have a sore throat.
My stomach is sore.

The Six ACHES
I have a headache.
I have a backache.
I have a toothache.
I have an earache.
I have a stomachache.
I have a bellyache

PAIN Examples
I have a pain in my chest.
I am in pain for kidney stones.

Other Meanings Examples
If someone says he has an heartache he means that he has a romantic issue, that it is not a concern for a doctor.
If someone says you are a pain, he means that he doesn't like you.

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http://www.usingenglish.com/

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Collocations of have

to have a baby
to have a discussion on/about something
to have a shower
to have a nap, a rest
to have a party
to have a wedding
to have ability to do something
to have an appointment
to have an argument
to have an interview
to have courage to do
to have experience
to have fun, good time
to have faith in something/someone
to have influence on someone/something = to affect or change someone or something in an indirect but important way
to have merit
to have occasion to do something (formal: = to need to do something)
to have permission to do something
to have responsibility for something or to do something
to have the potential to be/become
to have breakfast, lunch, dinner, ecc.

Examples
- We had a discussion about a lot of things.
- Applicants for entering English classes at CES school must have an interview with director of studies.
- The investigated person says he has faith in courts
- I had occasion to consult my GP for a sharp pain in my chest
- As a teacher I have authority, but I have never had occasion to use it on my students.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Too much attention is given to headline-grabbing disasters like earthquakes and floods. Governments should concentrate their resource on educating people about the risk they face nearer to their home, which can cost far more lives - IELTS part.3 - Writing

Structure

intro	TV news and broadsheets give too much attention to disasters and wars
reason 1	If we talk too much about disasters and natural catastrophes people become anxious.
reason 2	A second point is that governments should focus their actions on solving issues that involve youths, like drug addiction and alcohol abuse. The best way to solve problems is to prevent them from happening, that is educating the young generations.
reason 3	Governments should concentrate their resource on educating people about the risk they face nearer their homes. In fact in developed countries we have too many deaths among youngsters caused by car accidents, and major causes of deaths among adults caused by an unhealthy lifestyle.
conclusion	To sum up, talking about disasters does not inspire confidence in people. The best way to deal with disasters is to inform people about the causes and possibility a disaster might occur to them.

Implementation

TV news and broadsheets give too much attention to disasters and wars. This happens mainly because newspapers are eager to sell as many copies as possible. Beside news readers and TV editors are more interested in topping the audience index score to earn money from advertising rather then giving the correct information.

If we talk too much about disasters and natural catastrophes people become anxious. In fact people's minds are not able to discern between near or remote threats and distinguish between real or false risks. As a consequence giving general information about natural catastrophes like hurricanes and floods, which usually happen in tropical areas, or like earthquakes, which generally occur along geologic faults, can generate unjustified fears.

A second point is that governments should concentrate their resources on educating people about the risks they face nearer their homes. In fact in developed countries we have too many deaths among youngsters caused by car accidents, and deaths among adults caused by unhealthy lifestyles.

Moreover governments should focus their actions on solving issues that involve youths, like drug addiction and alcohol abuse. The best way to address these problems is preventing them from starting, that is educating the young generations. In my opinion, the best place for educating children about the risks of using drugs are families. Our governments should promote campaign of information over drug addictions that takes flyers and brochures into every house, as the same as our politicians do when they want our vote.

To sum up, talking about disasters does not inspire confidence in people. The best way to deal with disasters is to inform people about the causes that generate a disaster and the possibility that one might occur to them.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Collocations of give

to give a lecture on something, a class on something
to give a party
to give a demonstration on something
to give an indication of something
to give confidence to someone in something
to give emphasis to something
to give priority to something
to give someone a test on something
to give someone a call, a ring, a buzz, a bell
to give the possibility to do something
to give a choice between two things
to give permission to do something
to give one's consent for someone / to something
to give evidence of/for smt

Examples:

- If you were given a choice between fame or fortune, which would you pick?
- I am going to give you a test on cleaning kitchen before hiring you as a maid.
- Before undertaking any heathcare intervention you have to give informed consent.
- If I said anything wrong, you must give evidence for it.

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Collocations of do

to do a favour
to do a job
to do business
to do exercise
to do research
to do shopping
to do homework
to do housework

do the vacuuming
do cooking
do the ironing
do laundry
do cleaning
do washing-up
do washing
do the odd works around the house

to do a job interview =
to do the family accounts
to do the calculations / to do the maths / do the arithmetic
to do time (in prison) = to be in prison
to do time in a place = to spend time

Examples:
- 10 Reasons Why Employers Ask Candidates To Do A Job Interview Presentation
- I had to do a face-to-face interview followed by an entry test.
- My best friend is doing time for something he didn't do.
- Danny Trejo, after years in prison, now is doing time in Hollywood.

Collocations of make

to make a change / to make changes to something
to make a choice
to make a contribution to
to make a committment
to make a compromise with
to make conversation = to talk to someone who you do not know well, without having anything to say in order to be polite; to attempt to engage someone in conversation, with uncertain chances of success, by mentioning the weather, today's news...
to make deal
to make (a) difference
to make a decision
to make a guess at something
to make a habit of doing something
to make a mess
to make a purchase
to make an adjustment
to make an alteration
to make an attempt at something
to make appointments to do
to make acquaintance with
to make advances to someone = to flirt with someone
to make arrangements for
to make cake, dinner
to make claims
to make beds
to make effort to do
to make friends with someone = to work to become a friend of someone.
to make fun of something/someone = to make (someone or something) the object of unkind laughter [= to mock]
to make love
to make money
to make generalizations about smt = to make a statement about all the members of a group that is true for most of the members
to make phone calls
to make something
to make oneself comfortable
to make up your mind/make your mind up

Example:
- When we make changes to a verb, we call it conjugating. English verbs have different forms: go, goes, went, gone, going.
- How to make friends in 25 steps.
- Many people make a habit of blaming others for all their problems.
- Taking something specific and applying it more broadly is making a generalization.