Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Smell - collocations

http://oxforddictionary.so8848.com/search?word=smell

smell noun
ADJ. overpowering, pervasive, pungent, rich, sharp, strong There was an overpowering smell of burning tyres. | faint | distinct | distinctive, particular, unmistakable | funny, peculiar, strange, unusual What's that funny smell? | familiar | lingering | aromatic, delectable, delicious, fragrant, fresh, lovely, nice, savoury, sweet, wonderful the aromatic smells of a spring garden full of herbs| warm | appalling, awful, bad, evil, horrible, nasty, offensive, terrible, unpleasant, vile | acrid, nauseating, putrid, rank, sickly An acrid smell filled the air. | damp, dank, musty, rancid, sour, stale the sour smell of unwashed linen | earthy, fishy, masculine, metallic, musky, oily, smoky, spicy | cooking Cooking smells drifted up from the kitchen.

SMELL + VERB 
come, emanate, drift, float, waft A delicious smell of freshly baked bread wafted across the garden. | fill sth, hang | hit sb Then the pungent smell hit us?rotting fish and seaweed.VERB + SMELL be filled with, have The air was filled with a pervasive smell of chemicals. The cottage had a musty smell after being shut up over the winter. | give off The skunk gives off an unpleasant smell when attacked. | catch, detect As she walked into the house she detected the smell of gas.
PREP. ~ from the putrid smell from the slaughterhouse | ~ of The faint smell of her perfume hung in the air.
smell verb
notice/identify sth by using your nose
ADV. properly, well I had a streaming cold, so I could not smell properly. | almost Snow fell so that you could almost smell the cold.
VERB + SMELL can/could
have a particular smell
ADV. strongly His clothes smelled strongly of fish. | faintly, slightly, vaguely He smelled faintly of sweat. | deliciously, pleasantly, sweetly
PREP. like It smells like rotten meat! | of The kitchen smelled sweetly of herbs and fruit.
You can also check Google Dictionary: smell (English中文解释 ), wordnet sense

Thursday, November 19, 2015

To make someone or something well-known or more important           - synonyms or related words

popularize

 verb
to make something popular with many people

immortalize

 verb
to make someone or something famous for a very long time, for example by writing about them or by painting them

put someone/something on the map

to make someone or something famous

globalise

a British spelling of globalize

globalize

 verb
to make something become generally accepted all over the world

immortalise

a British spelling of immortalize

overexpose

 verb
someone or something that is overexposed appears in newspapers, on television, on the radio etc so often that people loseinterest in it

popularise

a British spelling of popularize

popularization

 noun

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/thesaurus-category/british/to-make-someone-or-something-well-known-or-more-important

Inversion of Order

http://www.englishgrammar.org/inversion-conditional-clauses/

Inversion in conditional clauses

Had it not rained

Contracted negative forms are not possible when we use an inverted word order to talk about an unreal or impossible situation in the past.
Had she not helped me I would have been in bad trouble. (NOT Hadn’t she helped me I would have been in bad trouble.)
This is actually the inverted form of the sentence ‘If she had not helped me I would have been in bad trouble’.
Had it not rained yesterday, we would have finished painting the walls.
Of course, contracted negative forms are possible when we use normal word order.
If it had not rained yesterday, we would have finished painting the walls. OR If it hadn’t rained yesterday, we would have finished painting the walls.
If you hadn’t been so stupid as to reject that job offer, youcould have attained financial independence now.
The third conditional sentences are used to talk about things that might have happened, but didn’t. Note that here we use a past perfect tense in the if-clause and would/could have + past participle in the main clause.
If it hadn’t rained yesterday, we would have hosted the party in the garden.

Should you not wish to

The inversion structure is also possible with should.
The structure with should is used to talk about present and future conditions. Here again negative forms are not contracted.
Should you not wish to join them, you must let them know before 4 o’clock. (NOT Shouldn’t you…)
Should you decide the sell the house, I will be happy to buy it from you.
Note that here should does not show obligation. It is merely used as an alternative to the present simple tense.
If you decide to sell the house, I will be happy to buy it from you.

Were we to have

Inversion is also possible with were. This structure is used to talk about the imaginary or improbable future situations.
Were we to have kids, we would need a bigger house. (= If we were to have kids, we would need a bigger house.)

Monday, November 16, 2015

Golf: what's a Fairway?

FairwayEs la denominación en inglés de la calle, es decir, la parte del recorrido donde está el césped más cortado.
http://www.golfinspain.com/esp/blog/diccionario-de-golf/


Thursday, November 12, 2015

Opposite vs. In front of

Opposite or in front of?

from English Grammar Today

Opposite as a preposition means ‘in a position facing someone or something but on the other side’:
Jake sat opposite Claire in the restaurant. (Jake and Claire are facing each other on different sides of the table.)
Not: Jake sat in front of Claire …
In front of as a preposition means ‘close to the front of something or someone’:
There was a woman in front of me in the bus queue who was crying. (I was standing behind the woman.)
Compare
We parked opposite the hotel.
We parked in front of the hotel.
(“Opposite or in front of ?” from English Grammar Today © Cambridge University Press.)

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

GO + (gerund)

http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/go_gerund.htm

Go + Gerund List


go boating (the activity of travelling in a small boat on a lake or river for enjoyment - e.g. We’re going boating on the lake today.)
go sailing
go bowling
go scuba diving
go bungee jumping
go shopping
go camping
go sightseeing
go canoeing
go skateboarding
go climbing
go skating
go dancing
go skiing
go fishing
go skinny-dipping (swimming without any clothes on)
go hiking
go skydiving
go horseback riding
go sledding
go hunting
go snorkeling
go jogging
go snowboarding
go kayaking
go mountain climbing
go surfing
go paragliding
go trekking
go parasailing
go water skiing
go rollerblading
go window shopping
go running
go windsurfing

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Excruciating (adj)

excruciating - definition and synonyms

ADJECTIVE excruciating pronunciation in British English /ɪkˈskruːʃiˌeɪtɪŋ/
  1. 1
    causing extreme physical pain
    tried to move my leg, but the pain was excruciating.
    She suffered from excruciating headaches.
  2. 2
    used for emphasizing how bad something is
    moment of excruciating terror


Monday, November 2, 2015

Asking questions DIRECTLY and INDIRECTLY

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/flatmates/episode46/languagepoint.shtml
INDIRECT QUESTIONS

There are two main ways of asking questions -
directly and indirectly. Both have the same
meaning but we use indirect questions when
we want to be more politemore formal or
less confrontational.
We can ask a direct question - Where is Brighton Pier? 
Or to be more formal or polite, we can ask 
an indirect question - I wonder if you could 
tell me where Brighton Pier is?

Word Order


When we create indirect questions, the question
(What time is it?) becomes part of a longer sentence
or questions (Do you know.?) and the word order
changes from the order of a direct question.
For example:
Direct: What time is it?
Indirect: Do you know what time it is?
Direct: Why was he late?
Indirect: Can you tell me why he was late?
Direct: What is that?
Indirect: Would you mind telling me what that is?

Using 'do'


When there is no auxiliary verb (be, do have,
 can, will etc) in a sentence, we need to put in
dodoes or did when we create a direct question.
When we make this into an indirect question 
however, we don't use the verb 'do'. For example:
Direct: When does the lesson end?
Indirect: Could you tell me when the lesson ends?
Direct: What car does she drive?
Indirect: Can you tell me what car she drives?
Direct: How did you make that cake?
Indirect: Would you mind telling me how you made
 that cake?


Using 'if' or 'whether':


If there is no question word (who, what, when, 
why, how) in a direct question, we need to use 
if or whether in the indirect question. 
For example: 
Direct: Did she make it on time?
Indirect: Can you tell me if she made it on time? or
Can you tell me whether she made it on time?
Direct: Is this the right bus for Oxford Street?
Indirect: Do you have any idea if this is the right 
bus for Oxford Street?
Direct: Is she French?
Indirect: Do you know whether she is French (or not)? 

Vocabulary:


a pier: a large platform which sticks out into the 
sea and which people can walk along 
poxy (informal): rubbish, not good
a spot: a place