Language: adverbs

You might know, adverbs are often formed with 'ly'.

He walked quickly.
He looked hungrily at the hamburger.
She felt quietly confident.

However, there are many exceptions, and here are two important ones:

X I worked lately.
X I worked hardly.

The adverb of 'late' is 'late. 'I worked late' is correct. 'Lately' is a different word and means 'recently'.

The adverb of 'hard' is 'hard'. 'I worked hard' is correct. 'Hardly' is a different word and means 'not much; very little'. In fact, 'I worked hard' and 'I hardly worked' have opposite meanings!

Language/vocabulary: 'exaggerate'

Back in this post, I gave an example of figurative (non-literal) speech. It's common to say 'I'm starving!' to mean 'I'm hungry!' Here, you are speaking figuratively to exaggerate.

The noun exaggeration, verb exaggerate, adjective exaggerated mean 'to make something sound more than it really is'.

Kids and teenagers do this a lot. 'He's the coolest guy in the world!' 'He was about ten feet tall!' 'This is the absolute worst day of my entire life.'

Sometimes mothers do it too. 'I've told you a thousand times, stop hitting your brother!'

How about you? Do you often exaggerate?

Language: onomatopoeia

What is 'onomatopoeia'? It's a long word...

Well, you don't really need to know this word itself. But onomatopoeia describes words that sound like what they mean.

For example, a cat says 'meow'. The word 'meow' sounds like the real sound the cat makes.

If you slam something on the table, it makes a bang. Bang! If you say the word 'bang', it sounds like the sound it makes.

Here are some more examples of onomatopoeia. Try saying them aloud. Try to make them sound like their meaning.
sizzle
buzz
zip
crack
moo
clatter

Onomatopoeia is also very common in comic books. They show the sounds objects make. If someone punches someone, it might say 'thud!' or 'bang!' or 'bam!'

How about in your language? Can you think of any examples of onomatopoeia? How would you say them in English?

As an example, onomatopoeia is very common in Japanese:
-'kira kira' shows the sound of sparkling light - in English we might say 'twinkle'
-'doki doki' shows the sound of a heart beating - in English we might say 'thump thump'

Language/vocabulary: 'context'

The word context can be used for different situations. I will use it to talk about words.

If a word's meaning is understood from context, it means you understand the meaning because of the situation - who is speaking, what they are talking about, etc.

For example, look at this sentence:
"He's good."

What does 'good' mean here? What are they talking about? If we only see this sentence, we don't know. But if we look at it in context, we can understand the meaning.

"How's John?"
"He's good." (=He's fine.)

"Wow, look at him! He runs so fast!"
"Yeah. He's good." (=He's skilled.)

"Is John behaving well at school?"
"Yes. He's good. He's a good little boy." (He's well-behaved.)

Another example are expressions that can have different meanings. For example, 'work out' can mean 'solve' ('I worked out the answer') or 'exercise' ('I worked out at the gym'). Until we put that expression in context - in a sentence - we do not know the meaning.

I'll give you another example. See this post about being drunk? There are lots of words that mean 'drunk'. However, some of these words can also be used to mean 'affected by drugs'.

For example, 'he's wasted' could mean 'he really drank too much' OR 'he took strong drugs'. How do we know what 'wasted' means? We understand it from context. Where is he? What does he look like? What happened before we said 'he's wasted'?

If he's at a bar and had ten bottles of beer, it probably means 'drunk'. If he has symptoms of taking a particular drug, 'wasted' probably means 'affected by drugs'.

Language: abbreviations

An abbreviation is a ahort version of a word, e.g., 'e.g.', 'i.e.' and 'etc.'.

'e.g.', 'i.e.' and 'etc.' are abbreviations for Latin words, but they are common in English writing (and sometimes in speaking - 'etc' is quite often used in conversation).

e.g. means 'for example'. It is usually used in the middle of a sentence, but sometimes at the beginning. E.g.:

I want to see more Johnny Depp movies, e.g., Edward Scissorhands, What's Eating Gilbert Grape...

He had a lot of problems, e.g., anger, drug abuse, failed relationships...

i.e. means 'that is'. It is often confused with 'e.g.'. As a tip, use 'i.e.' if there is only one example.

I want to see my favourite Johnny Depp movie, i.e., 'Neverland'.

He had a serious problem, i.e., drug abuse.

etc. (if you're speaking, it's pronounced: 'et cetera') means 'and so on'. If you are giving a list which is not complete, you can put 'etc' on the end. This means there are other items you did not list.

Etc. should come at the end of a sentence.

I watched a lot of great Johnny Depp movies: Edward Scissorhands, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, etc.

He had some serious problems; anger, drug abuse, failed relationships, etc.

Some people (ie, me), often don't put periods in the words (eg, 'eg' instead of 'e.g.'). But the correct way is to use periods.

These words may be difficult to use or understand at first, but they are really common in English writing.

Language: On the phone

Here's a tip:

Let's imagine your name is Joe. If you're on the phone, how do you introduce yourself?

Well, if you're talking to a person who knows you or your company, say, "this is Joe (from -company-)".

If you're talking to a stranger, try "my name is Joe" and explain where you're from or why you're calling.

For example:
(someone you know well)
Bob: Hello, Bob speaking.
Joe: Hi, Bob. This is Joe.
Bob: Oh, hi Joe! How are you?

(someone you know a little)
Bob: Hello, ABC Company, Bob speaking.
Joe: Oh, hello. This is Joe from English Building; how are you?
Bob: Oh, hello Bob. I'm good, thanks...

(someone you don't know at all)
Bob: Hello, ABC Company, Bob speaking.
Joe: Oh, hello. My name is Joe Bloggs, and I'm calling from English Building. I'd like to talk to someone about an account...

You can use this in email too. If you're talking to someone who knows you, never say "I am Joe". It sounds strange.