Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns Reflexive pronouns end in -self or -selves: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. Use a reflexive pronoun when both the subject and object of a verb refer to the same person or thing. Example: I found myself sandwiched between passengers on the subway. Intensive pronouns look the same as…
There’s a Name for Words That We Repeat Often Words we always use even though they add no meaning or value to a sentence are called crutch words (cлова-паразиты). For example, in the sentence “Then I was like, OMG, then like, he went there, and like…” it is pretty obvious that “like” is the crutch…
‘Shall’ or ‘Will’? The traditional rule is that shall is used with first person pronouns (i.e. I and we) to form the future tense, while will is used with second and third person forms (i.e. you, he, she, it, they). For example:Example: I shall be late.- Я опоздаю.Example: They will not have enough food.- У…
The Second Life of Foreign Words in the Russian Language Many words from other languages have made incredible journeys to Russia, and live here with completely different meanings. 2. Saray (a shed), Persion In Persian, saray means “palace”. The capital of the Golden Horde during the Tatar-Mongol yoke of Russia was also called Saray. Ironically,…
The Second Life of Foreign Words in the Russian Language Many words from other languages have made incredible journeys to Russia, and live here with completely different meanings. 1. Divan (sofa), Turkish In the Persian language, dīwān meant “a list”, “a roster” – meaning lists with notes on the civil and military service of Persian,…
How to Discuss Films in English Watching a movie is a great way to practice your English listening skills and can help you with other areas of language as well. Read on for some useful film vocabulary. Rom-com– short for Romantic Comedy. Trailer– this is the short advertisement for films that you see before…
Emigrate vs. Immigrate Emigrate means to leave one location, such as one’s native country or region, to live in another. Example: Arnold Schwarzenegger emigrated from Austria to the United States. Immigrate means to move into a non-native country or region to live. Example: Natalie Portman immigrated to the United States at a young age.
Center or Centre – Which Is Right? Do you speak British or American English? Center and centre have the same meaning. Center is the correct spelling (написание) in American English, but British English writers usually prefer centre. Notice that center (and centre) can be a noun, adjective, or a verb. Example: The University of Southern…
Memorize Three Fundamental Capitalization Rules Proper capitalization helps your writing look professional, and correct. Here are the three fundamental rules you can use to remember which words get capitalized in English: The first word in a sentence. You should always capitalize the first word in a sentence regardless of what type of word it is.…
Open and Closed Questions In English you will find two main types of questions: open and closed. Closed questions have simple answers with few options. Open questions have many options. WH Questions are similar to YES/NO questions, but they have WH words at the start. Let’s look at an example of a yes/no question: Example:…