english matters

Schwa is an English vowel which can be heard in unstressed syllables. It’s a very short, not emphasised sound. /ə/ is not linked to any particular letter. It can be written with any vowel (a, e, i, o, u or y). However, sometimes it’s unwritten (rhythm - /rɪðəm/). Schwa is the most common vowel in English – words with three or more syllables are almost guaranteed to contain/ə/. It can also appear in the weak forms of some words. A weak form is the pronunciation of a certain word when it’s not emphasised. We can often hear weak forms in connected speech - that is, in sentences. Native speakers…Czytaj dalej …

Image editing goes beyond applying a filter to one of our mobile pics. It’s a practice that can produce digital artwork and stunning imagery,or can deceive the public and fuel mass manipulation. Do you know the famous picture of The Beatles walking across the Abbey Road zebra crossing? It’s from the cover of the Abbey Road album. In the original, Paul McCartney is holding a cigarette, yet, when the image was made into a poster in the USA in 2003, the cigarette had magically vanished. This magic is photo editing. Whether you think it was good to remove Paul’s cigarette or not, there…Czytaj dalej …

+++Sale-ing away There are many kinds of sales that shops introduce to get rid of stock, or just to freshen up merchandise. Anyone who loves window shopping finds it very hard to resist the urge to walk into a shop when they see those magical four letters: S A L E! Closing down sale: This usually means that the shop is going out of business, or is moving location and all the stock needs to go. End of season sale: Various shops, including clothes stores, stock seasonal items which take up space at the end of that season. They therefore slash prices in July…Czytaj dalej …

    CAN I GET “CANCELLED”? Yes, people can now get cancelled. What’s all this about? Cancelling a person means dismissing them because of something they’ve said or something they believe. It’s becoming more popular to shun or isolate people you disagree with. If you disapprove of something, it can be cancelled. Celebrities, companies and films can all be cancelled too. Common headlines can look like “Cancel Christmas” or “Cancel Meghan Markle.” Many people regret the rise of “cancel culture” and wish society could return to an era of civilised discussion when it was OK to disagree…Czytaj dalej …

The United States are a true hodgepodge of cultures. More than 400 languages are spoken by the American population, and English alone comes in 30 or so dialects. The exact number depends on who you ask… It would take an ungodly amount of time to discuss them all, so let’s look at some of the more interesting ones – South to North. Ever noticed how some of Louisiana’s towns and geographical regions bear French names, like Baton Rouge, Lafayette, or Lake Pontchartrain, just to name a few? Well, in the 17th and 18th centuries the French were more than happy to go and colonise…Czytaj dalej …

Many pupils or students would like to know how to write a good essay in English. There are hundreds of rules you need to follow, and hundreds of hours you must spend mastering the skill. But one thing is certain. If you want to write perfect essays, you should start from writing perfect paragraphs. What are paragraphs? What should they contain? What Is a Paragraph? A paragraph is a collection of sentences that develop a single idea. The number of sentences in a paragraph depends on how complex a particular idea is. However, most paragraphs contain between two and ten sentences. Below you…Czytaj dalej …

Have you and a friend ever had a conversation where you used phrases such as it cost an arm and a leg, or when you simply could not agree, and you agreed to disagree? Well, if you have, you have been using fixed phrases. Fixed phrases are when the wording cannot be changed without sounding odd or a little off to native speakers, like chalk and cheese meaning two people are complete polar opposites. If you exchange one of the words, the meaning becomes muddled, and runs the risk of making very little sense. When it comes to fixed expressions we often use ‘and’…Czytaj dalej …

▪ No, I’m not single. I’m in a long-distance relationship, because my boyfriend lives in the future.   ▪ The future is shaped by your dreams, so stop wasting your time and go to sleep.   ▪ I never worry about the future, it comes soon enough.   ▪ How do you know a man is thinking about his future? He buys two cases of beer, instead of one.   ▪ Dear future husband, when you propose to me, please don’t put the ring into my food, because I guarantee, I will eat it.   ▪ Hard work pays off in…Czytaj dalej …

Some English verbs are considered to be stative verbs. These verbs are not meant to be used in continuous tenses. Some of the most common stative verbs are like, love and hate. When you say that you like dogs, you’re stating a general fact about yourself. You’re not liking dogs at this particular moment, you’re just a dog person. But then we’ve got perhaps the most popular fast-food slogan ever – I’m loving it. Does it mean that marketing specialists at McDonald’s are not familiar with the basic rules of English grammar? Of course not. It turns out that idiomatic use of some stative verbs is perfectly…Czytaj dalej …

  Do you know the word ‘couch potato’ (someone who watches a lot of TV while sitting on a sofa)? Well, a mouse potato is a term that describes someone who works on the computer all the time. Example: Ever since Peter set up his online company, he has been such a mouse potato.Czytaj dalej …