Here is an example of balanced essay. Please read it and fill in the gaps with the words you think most appropriate. Pay attention to the structure and the linking words Read more…
Linking words help you connect ideas and sentences, so that people can follow your thoughts. Find below a list of the most common linking words with examples on their use. Read more…
Writing is like a journey: you start with a blank sheet of paper and what appears on it at the end of the trip depends entirely on you. You should go through every stage of the essay writing process described in this guide.
Write an essay that:
So, how do we approach this arduous task? Follow this guide and you’ll manage to get an impressive piece of writing. For a 200-250-word composition, you need to devote about one hour of your precious time divided into the following steps: Read more…
Pledgebank is a site to help people get things done, especially things that require several people. We think that the world needs such a service: lots of good things don’t happen because there aren’t enough organised people to do them.
How does it work?
PledgeBank allows users to set up pledges and then encourages other people to sign up to them. A pledge is a statement of the form ‘I will do something, if a certain number of people will help me do it’. The creator of the pledge then publicises their pledge and encourages people to sign up. Two outcomes are possible – either the pledge fails to get enough subscribers before it expires (in which case, we contact everyone and tell them ‘better luck next time’), or, the better possibility, the pledge attracts enough people that they are all sent a message saying ‘Well done—now get going!’
Easy, isn’t it? Why don’t you try to post a new pledge on the wall? Let’s see who gets the highest number of suscribers! Read more…
When buying a house, one can turn to a real estate agent to have access to a wider variety of houses on offer. A real estate agent will show you the house that best suits your needs but, how do we enter into negotiation? what shall we ask about? Watch this video and tell me, is it an appropriate approach?
Shocking, isn’t it? Of course you can’t ask for a cage to lock your wife in!! That’s completely out of question! But, don’t worry, this is a piece of Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, a 2006 mockumentary comedy film written, produced by, and stars the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in the title role of a fictitious Kazakh journalist travelling through the United States, recording real-life interactions with Americans. In most cases the film’s participants were given no warning, they are not real actors.
So, after watching a don’t-you-ever-dare-to-do-so example, listen now to Read more…
Although comparisons are odious, they are helpful to make the picture when someone is explaining something to you.
You’ve been studying comparisons for years now but, this year, we are going to pay attention to modifiers which highlight how big the difference is.
So far, you all knew:
1. We use comparatives to compare two things.
My house is smaller than my friend’s house.
2. We use superlatives to compare one thing with the rest of the group it belongs to.
This is the most expensive hotel I’ve ever stayed in.
How are they formed? Easy peasy… Read more…
When looking for a flat, newspapers or the Internet are great sources of information since most people advertise their homes there.
An effective add must include all key elements regarding the description of it. If you miss an important detail, a prospective home buyer/tenant might pass over your home listing.
Important points to cover are: Read more…
A lifestyle typically reflects an individual’s attitudes, values or wordlview. Therefore, a lifestyle is a means of forging a sense of self and to create cultural symbols that resonate with personal identity.
Although the majority of us have what we can call standard lifestyles: a mortgage, a job to pay for it and a partner to share the load, there are, however, those who choose to enjoy an alternative lifestyle breaking social barriers and even rules: a growing number of people who are choosing to have a “different” lifestyle and the following links will allow you to have a glimpse of their lives.
These are all the videos you watched in the language laboratory in case you got curious about the ones your classmates explained; let’s start, for example, by having a look at a day in the life of a Zen-monk:
Click on the following links to watch other interesting alternative lifestyles: living aboard a boat, eco-friendly house, Christian communal living, the Amish, a nomad’s life, living off the land, homelessness, the year I was homeless, circus life, refugees, the life of a volunteer and the vegan revolution.
Which one would you like to experience at least for a short while? What’s the most interesting one?
Unless you live in a block of flats or a bungalow (one-storey house with or without an attic), British houses normally have two or three floors or stories. On the ground floor, you’re likely to find the living room, kitchen and dining room, while on the first floor you’ll probably find bedrooms and a bathroom.
On the second or top floor is the attic, or loft. On the roof of many houses, you can still see a chimney and chimney pot – even if the house now benefits from central heating.
The floors of a house are connected by stairs, with a landing (area) on the upper floor, which leads to the upstairs rooms.
Most British houses are made of brick and cement. In a row of terraced houses (houses joined together), the interconnecting walls are cavity walls: they have a space between them to allow air to circulate. On the interiors, the walls are covered in plaster, and then either painted or decorated with wallpaper. The internal walls of a house fall into two categories: load-bearing walls (those that are structural and support the weight of the floors) and partition walls (those walls that divide rooms, but can be knocked down.) Floors and roofs are supported by strong>beams, which are long, heavy pieces of wood or metal.
Floors can be covered in a variety of materials, such as parquet (wooden squares), laminate flooring (a type of thin wooden plank), or tiles (either ceramic or vinyl). In living rooms and bedrooms, the floors are generally covered with carpets.
Houses are normally connected to local utilities, such as mains water, electricity and gas supply. In the countryside, not everyone is connected to mains gas, and some houses have gas tanks in their gardens. The vast majority of people are connected to the local sewage system (for waste water), but some people have their own septic tanks in their gardens to treat waste water. Houses that are connected to utilities have separate meters to show how much they consume. Representatives of these utility companies visit houses regularly to take meter readings – with which they can then bill their customers.
Some electrical jobs (such as wiring or rewiring = installing the electrical cables) should only be done by professional electricians, although you can still change a plug, or change a socket (the hole in the wall where you put the plug in to connect to the electricity supply). For safety reasons, the wiring in the house is on more than one circuit: lighting usually is on one circuit, and the sockets are on another circuit.
Some plumbing (water piping) jobs should also be done by professional plumbers. For example, although you can change taps, you should get a professional to install a gas boiler.
Some building work can be done without supervision. Many people enjoy doing DIY, such as putting up shelves, fitting cupboards and doors, assembling furniture and so on. However, for the big jobs, such as loft conversions and building extensions, you need to first apply for and obtain planning and building permission (from the local authorities) then employ a firm of builders.
In Britain, damp winter weather causes many problems to houses. For example, some houses can suffer from damp (humidity) or dry rot, caused by water seeping into walls and timber (wood). For this reason, houses have gutters (tubes attached just under the roof that run along the length of the house to catch rain water) and some may need regular damp proof treatment (special chemicals to prevent damp from spreading). Window sills (the piece of the wall – internal or external – in which the window is set) and window frames (the wood that goes around the window) should be made waterproof (so that water cannot get in), and most people have central heating via radiators to keep the air inside warm and dry. Special thermostats set on the wall help to regulate the temperature in the room. In addition, most people have insulation in the loft to keep warm air in, and cold air out.
You probably know it all by now but just in case …there go a few good links for revision purposes www.learnenglish.de/vocabulary/rooms.htm
and here you can test your vocabulary and see your results immediately
www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/vocabulary/esl-house-vocabulary1.html
www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/vocabulary/esl-house-vocabulary2.html
www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/vocabulary/lefg1_vocabulary4.html
www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/vocabulary/lefg1_vocabulary5.html
