Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Passive Voice


(Reblogged from Grammar.net)

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Friday, May 23, 2014

English: A Stress-Timed Language - American Pronunciation

(Reblogged from Rachel's English)

English is a Stress-Timed language. That means you need contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables—unstressed words may reduce, and will be low in pitch and flatter in shape. In other words, you DON'T pronounce every word fully and clearly!!


VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:

In this American English pronunciation video, we're going to go over why some words sound different when they're said on their own than they do when they're said as part of a sentence, like 'for', 'fer'. 

A lot of people think, when they're studying a language and they're new to it, that they need to pronounce each word fully and clearly in order to be well-understood. But in English that's actually not the case. English is a stress-timed language. That means some syllables will be longer, and some will be shorter. Many languages, however, are syllable-timed, which means each syllable has the same length. Examples of syllable-timed languages: French, Spanish, Cantonese. So, when an American hears a sentence of English, with each syllable having the same length, it takes just a little bit longer to get the meaning. This is because we are used to stressed syllables, syllables that will pop out of the line because they're longer and they have more shape. Our ears, our brains, go straight to those words. Those are the content words. When all syllables are the same length, then there's no way for the ear to know which words are the most important.


Monday, May 19, 2014

Speaking Exchange

A group of young Brazilian students were keen on learning to speak English fluently. At the same time, lots of elderly people living in residential homes in the USA were longing to talk to someone. The idea was to connect them via Internet.

Would you like to experience this type of  “exchange”?



No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non commercial purposes.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Look Up

"Look up from your phone, shut down that display. Stop watching this video, live life the real way".



No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non commercial purposes

Saturday, May 3, 2014

Interviews for World's Toughest Job

Millions of people saw a job posting by a Boston agency for a "director of operations" position, but only 24 people applied.
In today's tough job market, why did so few people show an interest? It could be because of the requirements of the job.
The website rehtom.net posted the job and paid for ads, hoping to get the right applicant. So what is required from the right applicant? Here's a partial list:
  • Must be able to work 135 or more hours a week
  • Ability to work overnights
  • Willingness to forgo breaks
  • Work mostly standing up and/or bending
  • Must be able to lift up to 75 lbs. on a regular basis
  • Crisis management skills a must
  • Ability to manage a minimum of 10-15 projects at one time
  • Ability to coordinate multiple, often conflicting, schedules
  • Ability to work with associates with minimal ability
  • Demonstrated knowledge and experience in negotiating, counseling and culinary arts
  • Understanding of finance
  • Understanding of medicine
  • Positive disposition at all times

So who would hire for a such a job? Only one way to find out. Watch this video to see the interviews and real-time reactions. Believe us, it's worth it to watch to the end.

No copyright infringement intended. For educational, non-commercial purposes only.

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