All 257 Lessons by Date.

Empty Pronoun

The pronoun, it, can be used for what is sometimes called the empty pronoun, or the dummy subject, because it does not to stand for anything in particular. Ellipsis or near ellipsis is a feature of English pronunciation that we see with many pronouns at the beginning of sentences, and particularly when we use the empty pronoun. Ellipsis is when the empty pronoun disappears completely, while near-ellipsis is when we are left with a little of the empty pronoun. Of course, we don’t have to leave out any of the sounds and can say the sentence in its entirety. We will still be understood, but it may not sound quite as natural as a native speaker. By learning about ellipsis and near ellipsis, you will also be priming your ear to better hear what native English speakers are saying. We will do some exercises to see if you can hear and identify this speech feature when listening to normal, fast-spoken English speech.  

Fixed Pairs - Binomials

Fixed pairs, or fixed binomials, are pairs of words separated by a conjunction, which are always used in the same order. They sound unnatural if they are used in the wrong order. If you learn how to use these fixed pairs, your English will be more natural and fluent and, as with phrasal verbs or idioms, you will have learnt an important aspect of English. So, if you are sick and tired of not understanding these binomials, or you have hunted high and low for a lesson about them, do this lesson today.

Bring, Fetch, Get, Take

I’d like to thank Monica, in Italy, for requesting this lesson. The verbs, bring, fetch, get, and take, cause confusion for many students of English. Part of the confusion arises from the fact that these verbs all seem to be fairly similar in meaning. The verbs all describe the action of moving an object from one place to another. What you need to do when using these verbs is to consider where the object being moved is in relation to yourself and others.  

Numbers and Dates Practice

Numbers can be difficult for students, particularly big numbers and dates. I have designed this English lesson at the request of Nataliya in Moscow who said that she was having difficulty listening to and transcribing dates and numbers. There are many audio files in this lesson. You can choose to test yourself on British English dates, small numbers, big numbers, and decimal numbers.   

Most Common English Words

If you learn just 4,015 British English words, you will be able to understand 90% of normal, everyday conversations in British English. You will also be able to understand most written material such as that found in newspapers, magazines, and Internet articles. After years of extensive research using the latest technology to access lists of millions of examples of spoken and written English, I have assembled a definitive list of over 4,015 of the most commonly used British English words. If you learn these 4,015 words, you will have an active vocabulary which will let you participate in any English-speaking situation with confidence. Let me show you how Britlish can help you quickly and easily master these 4,015 most common English words.

Colour Idioms

Idioms are expressions that are natural to native English speakers. They are very confusing for non-native English speakers. They're confusing because idioms don't mean what the words say. You cannot literally translate English idioms into another language. For example: A black mark has a literal meaning of a black mark on clothing or any other material. It also has a non-literal meaning of a record of something bad you have done. This lesson uses a video English lesson about colour idioms which I made in 2010, and which has been very popular on YouTube. The video has also been licenced for use by a Taiwanese publisher for inclusion in one of their textbooks. I decided to make this Vocabulary Activation Pack from the video English lesson because so many people like the video and because the vocabulary in it is important for students to learn and master. There are a lot of idioms in this lesson as well as a set of questions which I have designed to help you learn, remember, and use the vocabulary and make it part of your active vocabulary.    

Britlish Vocabulary Memoriser

Are you frustrated at not being able to remember new vocabulary? You are not alone! One of the biggest problems faced by anyone learning a new language is the memorisation of new vocabulary. One of the questions that I am most often asked by students is, Do you have any advice on how to remember new vocabulary? This got me thinking, and I decided to do something to help not only my students but anyone who wants a fool-proof way of memorising new vocabulary. What I came up with is what I call the Britlish Vocabulary Memoriser. It's free to use for all Britishers. In this presentation, I'm going to show you how it works and how it can help you. I built it to work on any device that has Internet access, from a mobile phone to a desktop computer. All your data is stored on the Britlish server, so using the app won’t take up any valuable space on your system memory, but I hope you will fill your memory with new vocabulary. Let’s see how it works, shall we?

The Pig

The poem is written with 8 syllables per line, and a rhyming word at the end of a pair of lines. oOoOoOoO is the stress pattern and this is a good poem with which to practice the rhythm of English. You can listen to the poem and match the IPA transcriptions with the original Latin script. There are also exercises to help you practice some of the new vocabulary and expressions from in the poem. Poems are a great way of learning about the rhythm of English, and this poem is particularly amusing.      

Both, Either, and Neither

The three words, both, either, and neither, are very important in English, but they are confusing for both native speakers and students alike. In this Vocabulary Activation Pack, I will show you how to use these three word correctly. They are not very difficult to use once you get the hang of them. The difficulty lies in the fact that either and neither sound very much alike, but are opposite in meaning. Work your way through this Activation Pack and complete the 15 exercises in the Vocabulary Activator and you will no longer have trouble with this vocabulary.

Vowel in Food / uː /

Activate the Vowel in Food / uː / with this English Pronunciation Activation Pack. In this Pronunciation Activation Pack we will be looking at the fourth of the pure vowels / uː /. We will look at the letter combinations that give the / uː / sound. We will look at lots of words which have the / uː / sound in them. Finally, we will activate your ability to hear and produce the / uː / sound correctly. Letter Combinations for / uː / The long pure vowel sound / uː / can be formed by these letter combinations: U, OO, O, OU, EW, UE, UI, and OW. A minimal pair is a pair of words which are almost the same except for one different sound, in this case, the vowel sound. There are very few minimal pairs in English using the / uː / sound which can confuse learners.