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Idioms with ‘room’

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 Idioms with ‘room’ Who doesn’t like room service? Room service is when hotel delivers food or drinks directly to guests’ rooms. Our hotel offers a mini-bar, flat screen smart TV and 24-hour room service. Ugh, it’s too late to get dinner. Let’s just order room service. And what about a place that is nice and roomy? A roomy place is large and spacious, often meaning that it is comfortable. I was surprised to find out how roomy my university dorm was. We managed to book a very roomy and well-equiped Airbnb flat for our trip. Do you like your drinks at room temperature? Room temperature is the normal temperature, not too hot or cold either. Should I put this cake in the fridge or is it okay to serve it at room temperature? This wine is better appreciated at room temperature. I need to find the fitting room (Photo by cottonbro from Pexels) How often do you go into fitting rooms or changing rooms? Those are individual stalls that allow people some privacy when they need to change, and a...
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Summer in London

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  Summer in London “I’ve been walking about London for the last 30 years, and I find something fresh in it every day.”  Walter Besant, 19th-century novelist and historian In an average year over 40 million people visit London, making it the third most visited city in the world. It can be no surprise that London is a very popular  destination  for people learning English. Here are some ideas for what to do when you visit London during the summer. 1. Behave like the locals Did you know that during the summer London gets less rain than New York? London has a huge range of outdoor activities you can enjoy during the summer, and the occasional rain shower does not stop the locals from enjoying outdoor life. In fact, there is nothing more British than trying to eat icecream in a sudden rainstorm! 2. Watch TV amongst landmarks When the sun is shining, most of the major sporting events can be enjoyed for free around the city on big screens, and many pubs and sports bars have...
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How good is your British accent? How good does it need to be?

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  How good is your British accent? How good does it need to be? Focus on individual sounds Words are made up of different speech sounds (phonemes). In English, there are 44 phonemes, and the most common is the ‘schwa’ vowel sound. The phonetic symbol for schwa is /ə/, and it sounds like ‘uh’. Examples of words with this phoneme are: Us /əs/ Again /ə’gen/ Student /stjuːdənt/ After /ɑːftə/ Some words are not pronounced as they are written In English, the sound for each letter depends on its position within the word, or what other letters are in front of or behind it. For example, the word ‘been’ is pronounced more like ‘bean’ rather than ‘bin’ or ‘ben’. In another example, letter a ‘c’ at the beginning of a word may sound like a ‘k’ or an ‘s’ depending on which vowel comes next. Beware of the silent letters Silent letters are found in the written word but are not pronounced during speech. Unlike in Spanish, where you sound all of the letters in a word, in English about 60% of English...
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Why are you thinking about learning better English?

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Why are you thinking about learning better English? If you’re reading this, it is because you are thinking of improving your level of English. You probably know this will take effort and determination, and you are willing to do it.  That’s because you think it will be worthwhile – here are some of the reasons you are right. 1. The most widely understood language in the world According to the British Council, English is spoken by 1.31 billion people in the world, and the use of English will continue to grow. For many people, English is still synonymous with opportunity and a better quality of life. 2. It is the language of business In a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit, nearly 70% of executives said their  workforce  needed to master English to enable their expansion plans. English remains the global language of business so is a vital tool.  3. A compulsory subject in many countries There’s greater demand across the world for communic...
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English idioms for general conversation English idioms for general conversation One of the hardest things about learning a new language is following a conversation. Especially when people use phrases as shortcuts to meaning.  For example, what would you think if a friend wants 'to chew the fat’ over a coffee? Would you expect to spend your lunchtime eating a piece of fat? No need to panic, that person has used an idiom. What is an idiom? An idiom is: “A group of words (or a phrase) that have a meaning that is different from the meanings of the individual words (e.g. over the moon, see the light). Telling someone your own news Tell you a tale/Have I got a tale to tell you: Use: Meet me at lunchtime,  have I got a tale to tell you! Meaning: You have some interesting news to share. It’s the stuff friendship is based on. To cut a long story short: Use: A group of us went out to a restaurant last night and, to cut a long story short, we agreed… Meaning: To condense a long explanati...
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