WEEKLY PICKS - 13

This post offers you a selection of recommended free online exercises, games, videos and resources so that you can improve your English language skills while having fun – ENJOY!

📜READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, quizzes and more:

From BBC FUTURE: The new phones that are stuck in the past, by Peter Rubinstein. These sleek, downgraded cell phones are meant to promote mental wellbeing – by turning the clock back to the pre-smartphone era.
… After several years of tinkering, Neby invented the solution to his mobile obsession: another cell phone. But unlike his Blackberry, this one was specifically designed to promote healthy behaviour by being used as little as possible. With this idea in mind, Neby’s company Punkt was born.
It now stands as one of several start-ups aimed at tempering advanced technologies with a return to good old-fashioned humanity, providing an escape route from the anxiety and addiction of smartphones. Because these secondary devices do little more than make calls, owners say they have rediscovered the freedom they had before their iPhones were surgically attached to their palms. (Continue reading)

From BBC CAPITAL: Are you guilty of 'cyberloafing'?, by Emily Lowe-Calverley and Rachel Grieve. A spot of online shopping, checking out your holiday snaps on Facebook: if you break up your work day with non-work online activities you may be guilty of 'cyberloafing'.

Cyberloafing – engaging in non-work online activities while “on the clock” – is a modern form of counterproductive workplace behaviour ...
Cyberloafing can lack malicious intent, but not always ... So, who is likely to cyberloaf, and why? (Continue reading)

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

BBC Masterclass: Advanced Learner Mistakes - go, come, bring and take (3:26 minutes)

• BBC ENGLISH: Stop Saying: Answering negative questions (3:06 minutes)
• The Egyptian Book of the Dead: A guidebook for the underworld - Tejal Gala (4:31 minutes)
• How memories form and how we lose them - Catharine Young (4:19 minutes)
• Disagreeing - 10 - English at Work gives you the language to disagree (3:58 minutes)
• This is Sparta: Fierce warriors of the ancient world - Craig Zimmer (4:27 minutes)
• Learners' Questions: Using the word 'though' (2:43 minutes)

5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:

News Review: Money spent on time makes you happy (8:14 minutes)

• Basque - A Language of Mystery (8:56 minutes)
• What Does Your Search History Say About You? (5:00 minutes)
• How Is KISSING Different Around The World (6:46 minutes)
• 10 Psychological Facts About Human Feelings (6:25 minutes)
• The Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade - Shannon Harris Castelo (5:19 minutes)
• Visit Europe - 10 Things That Will SHOCK You about Europe (10:12 minutes)

A LITTLE LONGER BUT WORTH IT!

Meet Your Master: Getting to Know Your Brain – Crash Course Psychology #4 (12:33 minutes)

• Top 20 Happiest Countries To Live In The World (13:47 minutes)
• Netflix: How a $40 Late Fee Revolutionized Television (12:52 minutes)
• Talking on the Phone in English – English Phone Vocabulary Lesson (11:47 minutes)

💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:

• Last & the last
• Quiz: Journey, Travel & Trip (⇒ Brief explanation: TRAVEL – TRIP – JOURNEY – TOUR – VOYAGE)
• Quiz: Hear & Listen
• Advice and advise
• Quiz: Bring, Fetch & Take
• Quiz: Job or Work
• Text Completion Exercise 4 (easy)
• Text Completion Exercise 10 (intermediate)

💡 GRAMMAR PICKS – Assorted exercises and games:

• Quiz: Phrasal Verbs - Take
• Mixed Articles 1
• Mixed Articles 2
• Avoiding double negatives 1
• GERUND or INFINITIVE? 2
• Tag questions 2
• Quiz: Countable or Uncountable - 2
• Time prepositions exercise 1
• Time prepositions exercise 2
• Place prepositions exercise 1
• Place prepositions exercise 2
• MODALS (Couldn't/Might Not) (Which alternative is correct? Click on ‘Answer’ to see the correct response.)
• Quiz: Many or Many of

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!

GRAMMAR PILLS: HE/SHE or THEY? - GENDER INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE

By Georgina Jacobs

Should we say "help a student with his/her homework" or "help a student with their homework"?

💡 Quick answer:

→ In informal contexts, use the 3rd person plural: 'they', 'them', 'theirs', 'their' or 'themselves' ⇒ help a student with their homework.

→ In formal contexts, use the 3rd person singular: 'he/she', 'him/her', 'his/hers', 'his/her' or 'himself/herself' ⇒ help a student with his or her homework.

→ If possible, use a plural noun + the 3rd person plural ⇒ help students with their homework.

💡 EXTENDED ANSWER:

A pronoun replaces a noun or noun phrase. The noun or noun phrase replaced is called the 'antecedent' of the pronoun, and the pronoun must agree in person and number with its antecedent.
➧El pronombre reemplaza al nombre. El nombre reemplazado es el 'antecedente' del pronombre, y ambos deben concordar en persona y número.

❓ Entonces, ¿cuál es el problema?

El problema es que, en inglés, la 3ra persona singular tiene 'he' (masculino), 'she' (femenino) e 'it' (animales + nombres inanimados).

Por lo tanto, cuando debemos reemplazar o referirnos a un nombre animado (persona) en singular que no distingue género (como 'a student', 'a child', 'somebody', 'everybody', 'a person', etc.), ¿deberíamos usar 'he' o 'she' o ambos?

HE/SHE: La primera respuesta puede ser que usemos ambos:
→ Everybody must do his or her best.
→ Someone has texted me; I don't know who he or she is.

Sin embargo, esto puede resultar pesado y confuso si aparece repetidamente en el texto.

THEY: Como solución, entonces, se ha comenzado a utilizar la 3ra persona plural (they) para incluir el femenino y el masculino:
→ Everybody must do their best.
    (Singular)              (plural)
→ Someone has texted me; I don't know who they are.
    (Singular)                                                (plural)
Esta opción no tiene aceptación unánime porque no hay concordancia en número entre el pronombre y su antecedente, y en contextos muy formales o académicos puede desaconsejarse. (See: Gender Neutral Language)

Sobre esta controversia, Oxford Dictionary dice: "Some people object to the use of plural pronouns in this type of situation on the grounds that it’s ungrammatical. In fact, the use of plural pronouns to refer back to a singular subject isn’t new: it represents a revival of a practice dating from the 16th century. It’s increasingly common in current English and is now widely accepted both in speech and in writing."

Finalmente, se recomienda usar el nombre en plural para que concuerde en número con 'they', pero esto no siempre es posible.

Ejemplo:

→ En lugar de: "A student should finish their homework before playing video games", podemos decir: "Students should finish their homework before playing video games"

→ Pero ¿cómo lo aplicaríamos en: "Someone has texted me; I don't know who they are"?

Sobre este tema Cambridge English Grammar Today dice: Traditionally, he and him were used to refer to both genders in formal writing: If anyone has any evidence to oppose this view, let him inform the police immediately. Nowadays, we often see gender neutral forms (e.g. he or she, he/she, s/he, (s)he, they and him or her, him/her, them) when we do not know if the person referred to is male or female: The bank manager could help with your problem. He or she will probably be able to give you a loan. (or … he/she will probably be able to … or … they will probably be able to …) Go to a hairdresser. Ask him or her to come up with a style that suits you, your hair, your lifestyle. (or … ask him/her to come up with a style … or … ask them to come up with a style …) When you get into the building, go to the person on the desk in the reception area. They can tell you where to go. (or He or she can tell you where to go.) 🔗See also: One and Sexist language

Gender-inclusive Language (From Speak English with Emma)

💡You may also want to read: A brief history of singular ‘they’ (from Oxford English Dictionaries Blog)

Georgina Jacobs

WEEKLY PICKS - 12

This post offers you a selection of recommended free online exercises, games, videos and resources so that you can improve your English language skills while having fun! ENJOY!

📜 READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, and more:

From BBC CAPITAL: What is the future of English in the US? By Bryan Lufkin. Similar to the UK and Australia, US citizens can rely on the luxury of being native English speakers – but in today's changing world, could monolingual Americans be left behind? (Continue reading)

From BBC FUTURE: The 'invisible allies' inside the body, by David Robson. How bacteria can save children’s lives. A ground-breaking new project in Bangladesh could help reduce the life-long health problems that come from childhood malnourishment – by focusing on the gut. (Continue reading)

From BBC NEWS: The troubled 29-year-old helped to die by Dutch doctors, by Linda Pressly. BBC News, The Netherlands. In January a young Dutch woman drank poison supplied by a doctor and lay down to die. Euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide are legal in Holland, so hers was a death sanctioned by the state. But Aurelia Brouwers was not terminally ill – she was allowed to end her life on account of her psychiatric illness.

"I'm 29 years old and I've chosen to be voluntarily euthanised. I've chosen this because I have a lot of mental health issues. I suffer unbearably and hopelessly. Every breath I take is torture…" (Continue reading)

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

How do we smell? - Rose Eveleth (4:19 minutes)

• How miscommunication happens (and how to avoid it) - Katherine Hampsten (4:32 minutes)
• Plato’s Allegory of the Cave - Alex Gendler (4:32 minutes)
• British and American terms: fashion and clothing (1:35 minutes)
• David Crystal - How is the internet changing language today? (3:35 minutes)
• Why Clothes Matter (4:38 minutes)
• How Anesthesia Affects Your Brain And Body (3:15 minutes)

5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:

PHILOSOPHY - Aristotle (7:30 minutes)

• SAMPLE ENGLISH SPEAKING TEST: Leisure time (7:59 minutes)
• Conveying your ideas: ENGLISH AT WORK helps you present your thoughts (5:51 minutes)
• Taboos Around the World (7:34 minutes)
• BBC 6 Minute English | FOOD WASTE | English Subtitle (5:57 minutes)
• BBC Learning English from the News => News Review: 450,000 need help in Texan floods (8:13 minutes)

A LITTLE LONGER BUT WORTH IT!

LITERATURE: Franz Kafka (10:32 minutes)

• Small talk & American conversation codes [Summer School Revision] (11:27 minutes)
• 10 ways to have a better conversation | Celeste Headlee (11:44 minutes)
• Ancient & Medieval Medicine: Crash Course History of Science #9 (12:05 minutes)

💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:

• CHALLENGE: How Strong Is Your Vocabulary? (From Merriam-Webster) Test your vocabulary with this 10-question quiz — and maybe learn some new words along the way! You can try it as often as you'd like (there are dozens of different versions). You'll have 10 seconds to answer each question. The faster you answer, the higher your score. The harder the question, the higher your score. ⇒ TAKE THE QUIZ
• Which word?: DO or MAKE? 1 (Click on "Answer" to see the correct response.)
• Which word?: DO or MAKE? 2 (Click on "Answer" to see the correct response.)
• Clothing and Accessories Exercise 1
• Parts of the House Fill in Exercise 1
• Buildings and Places Fill in Exercise

💡 GRAMMAR PICKS – Assorted exercises and games:

• Mixed modals 1 (should, can, must)
• Mixed modals 2 (should, can, must)
• Phrasal Verbs (TO PULL +) 1
• GERUND or INFINITIVE? 3
• A or An Basic Exercise 1 / 2 / 3 (DRAG & DROP EXERCISES)
• A / An / The Worksheets 1 (Online multiple-choice exercise)
• A / An / The or Nothing 2 (Online multiple-choice exercise)
• A / An / The or Nothing 3 (Online fill in the blanks exercise)
• Quiz: Phrasal Verbs - Go

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!

GRAMMAR PILLS: I or ME? + 'Peter and I' or 'Peter and me'?

By Georgina Jacobs

💡 Quick answer:

Use I (yo) ⇒ as the SUBJECT of a clause (como SUJETO) → {[Peter and I] [went to the cinema yesterday].} (Peter y yo)         Subject → (Dialogue at the door) Who is it? –It’s Peter and I! (Peter y yo)                                                  Subjective Complement Use he/she/it/we/you/they ⇒ as SUBJECT (como SUJETO) → {[Mary and he] [went to the cinema yesterday].} (Mary y él)          Subject

Use ME (me/mí) ⇒ as an OBJECT in a clause (como OBJETO) → {[Mary] [invited (Peter and me) (to her party)].}                             Direct Object → {[Mary] [told (Peter and me) (that she’s pregnant)].}                       Indirect Object → {[Mary] [bought (a present) (for Peter and me)].}                                        Object of the Preposition Use him/her/it/us/you/them ⇒ as OBJECT (como OBJETO) → {[I] [invited (Peter and her) (to my party)].}                         Direct Object → {[I] [told (Peter and her) (that I'm pregnant)].}                   Indirect Object → {[I] [bought (a present) (for Peter and her)].}                                        Object of the Preposition

'I' or 'me'? (3:00 minutes)

💡 EXTENDED ANSWER ⇒ See GRAMMAR PILLS: CASE OF PRONOUNS + POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES

🔗 SEE ALSO:

• GRAMMAR PILLS: OTHER OR ANOTHER? – OTHERS, THE OTHER AND THE OTHERS
• 'Who' or 'whom'? (From Oxford Dictionaries) ⇒ WHO or WHOM? (Exercise: Fill in each blank with who, whom, or whose.)

Georgina Jacobs

WEEKLY PICKS - 11

This post offers you a selection of recommended free online exercises, games, videos and resources so that you can improve your English language skills while having fun! ENJOY!

📜READING PICKS – Articles, blog posts, and more:

Article from BBC FUTURE: Five myths about heatwaves, by Claudia Hammond. What you should – and shouldn’t – do in a heatwave.

As summer temperatures climb, keeping cool becomes a priority. But what age-old tips are worth sticking to? BBC Future takes a look.

With heatwaves everywhere from Japan to the UK, and Algeria to California, everyone has plenty of tips on how to keep cool. But which tips and facts stand up to scientific scrutiny? We look at the evidence for whether you should do the following 5 things or not. (Continue reading)

Article from BBC CAPITAL: Does ‘mindfulness’ kill motivation? By Jessica Brown. Companies are investing huge sums in mindfulness programmes for employees, but could these be having unintended results?

Meditation has long shed its Buddhist roots to become a secular answer to all of our ills in the West, with numerous studies finding benefits like reduced stress and better concentration.

Some of the world’s biggest firms, including Google and Nike, have embraced the practice, using meditation programmes as a way of tackling stress, staff turnover and absenteeism.

Meditation is also used as a tool to motivate workers, partly thanks to research on the relationship between wellbeing and productivity. But a new study suggests that mindfulness meditation, a popular type of meditation that practises being aware in the present, may not be the best way to increase your motivation at work. (Continue reading)

🎬 VIDEO PICKS – Short and fun videos:

LESS-THAN-5-MINUTE VIDEOS:

USING ZERO ARTICLES (2:05 MINUTES)

• 5 Crazy Ways Social Media Is Changing Your Brain Right Now (3:15 minutes)
• Where Does Compassion Really Come From? (2:43 minutes)
• What Does Your Bedroom Reveal About Your Personality? | Psych2Go (4:25 minutes)
• British and American English Pronunciation - Stop Saying (4:03 minutes)
• Why Plastic Straws Suck (4:37 minutes)
• The incredible history of China's terracotta warriors - Megan Campisi and Pen-Pen Chen (4:31 minutes)

5-TO-10-MINUTE VIDEOS:

10 Things That Will SHOCK You About London, England (9:06 minutes)

• The Ultimate Test of Your Social Skills (5:29 minutes)
• Networking - 48 - English at Work gets you the contacts (5:51 minutes)
• SAMPLE ENGLISH SPEAKING TEST: Living in a city or the country (7:53 minutes)
• The art of the metaphor - Jane Hirshfield (5:38 minutes)
• What If We Have A Nuclear War? (5:01 minutes)
• Cherophobia: Why We Are Afraid of Being Happy (6:38 minutes)

A LITTLE LONGER BUT WORTH IT!

RSA ANIMATE: The Empathic Civilisation (10:39 minutes)

• Speak English CONFIDENTLY | 8 Expert Tips | PART ONE (12:41 minutes) + Speak English CONFIDENTLY | 8 expert Tips | PART TWO (9:45 minutes)

💬 VOCABULARY PICKS:

• Commonly confused words in English 2
• Quiz: Plurals
• Enquiry and Inquiry (The Difference) (Brief explanation + top tips + short test! ⇒ See also Commonly Confused Words)
• Assure, Ensure, or Insure? (Brief explanation + top tips + short test! ⇒ See also Commonly Confused Words)
• Good or Well? (Brief and clear explanation + quick interactive test! ⇒ See also GOOD or WELL)

💡 GRAMMAR PICKS – Assorted exercises and games:

• ARTICLE or NO ARTICLE? 3
• ARTICLE or NO ARTICLE? 4
• Articles with idioms 3
• Reported Speech (Mixed tenses) 1
• Quiz: Adjective + Preposition
• Adjectives + prepositions 1 (Choose the best preposition to use in each of the sentences.)
• Quiz: Conjunctions
• REFLEXIVE pronoun or OBJECT pronoun? 1
• Phrasal Verbs with the verb LOOK – Exercise

MORE PICKS NEXT WEEK!