4 (American) Idioms in GREEN.

Here is a continuation from Color Idiom Series.  If you haven't yet seen my old posts, you can check them out here!... (red, blue, silver)

4 Idioms in GREEN (my favorite color)

• To give the green light
• Meaning:  To allow somebody to do something, to give permission
• Origin: Obviously this idiom is inspired from traffic lights (red-stop, yellow-wait, green-go!)
• Ex.  My boss gave me the green light to begin recruiting new employees for our project. 
• A green thumb
• Meaning: Somebody who is good with plants, somebody who can make plants grow and flourish easily.
• Origin: Algae that sticks to pots can turn a plant lover's thumb green, naturally!
• Ex. Murjhana has a green thumb for sure...have you seen her garden?!
• Green with envy
• Meaning: To be extremely jealous or envious.
• Origin: I'm not so sure what the origin is, and there is a lot of speculation, but I always associate green with money and money with greed and jealousy.
• Ex. He was green with envy when he found out that his best friend had conquered the woman he loved.
• "The grass is always greener on the other side."
• Meaning: This is an idiomatic phrase or expression.  It is about our perspective. As humans, things always look better when they don't belong to us...or our own lives always look worse compared to others' lives. Things seem to always be better somewhere else.
• Origin: This origin is unknown.
• Ex. Whenever you are feeling ungrateful, remember that the grass is always greener on the other side...

And here are a couple more thanks to an old colleague of mine!

• Greenback
• Meaning: Dollars, money!
• Origin: During the Civil War the United States government printed one-sided bills in green.  This currency was not backed up by gold or silver as was the case during this time.
• Ex. Greenbacks are always good for the weekend!
• 
  

Well, that's it for today! TGIF! (Thank God It's Friday) :)

What's the difference between WAS and WERE?

Here is another post for my beginning ESL students about the difference between WAS and WERE, a very simple concept, yet many of my students still have a bit of trouble remembering the conjugations and often confuse the pronouns.

Past Tense: TO BE

I           WAS

You     WERE

He        WAS

She      WAS

It          WAS

We       WERE

They    WERE

As you can see here, we have two groups of pronouns for each conjugation.  (I, he, she and it take on WAS, while (you, we and they) take on WERE.  Now let's take a look at negative statements and their abbreviations with apostrophes:

Negative Past Tense: TO BE

I was not= I wasn't

You were not=You weren't

He was not=He wasn't

She was not=She wasn't

It was not=It wasn't

We were not=We weren't

They were not=They weren't

A quick note about apostrophes: Apostrophes take the place of a letter or letters.  In this case it's only one letter...the letter 'o'.

Interrogative Past Tense: TO BE (Interrogative is a fancy word for question...)

Now remember that with the verb form TO BE and forming questions, we just switch the subject and the verb.   (I was tired./Was I tired?)  Also remember that we don't need to use any auxiliary verbs with the verb TO BE (such as do, does or did...)

Wasn't I a great speaker?

Were you not at work today?

Was he eating dinner?

Was she calling you?

Was it the final decision?

Were we late?

Were they at the police station?

Now we can add (Who, What, When, Where, Why) to these questions:

Why wasn't I a great speaker?

When were you at work today?

Where was he eating dinner?

What was she calling you about?

Why was it the final decision?

When were we late?

Why were they at the movies?

Here is an old post about interrogative present tense TO BE in case you're curious. 

I hope this helps!

What's the difference between AM, IS and ARE?

While this may seem easy, at times it can be tricky for beginning and even intermediate ESL Learners...so it's definitely worth taking a closer look.

Let's begin with the basics of the verb TO BE:

I            AM
You       ARE
He         IS
She        IS
It            IS
We        ARE
They      ARE

Now as you can see we use AM only with "I."  We use IS with "he," "she," and "it."  Finally, we use ARE with "you," "we," and "they."

How about the negative forms of the verb TO BE?

Well, there are actually two forms of the negative in English with the verb TO BE, except in the first person singular:

I'm not 
You're not OR You aren't
He's not OR He isn't
She's not OR She isn't
It's not OR It isn't
We're not OR We aren't
They're not OR They aren't

The verb TO BE is the most important verb in any language, so it's very important to learn these conjugations. If you have trouble remembering them, write each form down 5 times in your notebook.  You can do it!

E-mailing Politely: How do I ask for something NICELY?

Emailing can be a bit tricky for ESL learners.  Here are a few tips to get you started divided by section of the email.

• Greetings

• Dear___________, (formal, most common)
• Hello there __________, (informal, personal)
• Hi/Hey ____________, (very informal, personal)
• To Whom it May Concern, (formal, unknown recipient, used to make a complaint...)
• Dear Sir or Madam, (formal, unknown recipient, kinder, used for job applications) 

• Good openers

• I hope this email finds you well. (formal)
• I hope all is well. (formal)
• I hope all is good. (informal)
• Thank you for your email. (formal)
• It's great to hear from you. (informal)
• I just wanted to touch base regarding...(formal)
• I wanted to get in touch with you about...(formal)

• Making Requests (the verb is underlined)

• I would appreciate it if you could send (simple verb) me some samples from your office.
• It would be greatly appreciated if you could rush the request for payment because my client is waiting. 
• Would you mind moving (gerund) the deadline back?
• Do you think you could possibly find an earlier date?
• Could you check on that for me at your earliest convenience?

• Closing

• Best regards, (formal...and my favorite.)
• Best, (informal)
• Sincerely, (most formal)
• Your friend, (informal)
• Your colleague, (formal)

Well, readers, that should help you get crafting your polite emails.  That's it for today!

To make a travesty of the misuse of the word TRAVESTY. Huh?

This post is for native speakers of English (and naturally, my ambitious ESL readers).  Let's take a minute to look at the word, travesty.  (Now, I am guilty of the misuse of the word travesty.)  In other words, at one point I thought it mean a big, fat tragedy!  Doesn't it sound like that?  ...Well, I thought so!

But...I was wrong.  Travesty is actually NOT a hyperbole of tragedy.

First of all, let's take a look at the definition according to Merriam-Webster's website:

• to make a travesty of: PARODY
• (as a noun): something that is shocking, upsetting, or ridiculous because it is not what it is supposed to be. 

Now, that's easy to understand!  And easy to use too...Heck, people have been using it since 1637, according to Merriam-Webster online.

Now here is a more formal definition, according to www.dictionary.com:

 

So, the idea of a travesty of justice was used in a Clint Eastwood film when the judge decided to throw out proof the trial was based upon.  She referred to Clint Eastwood's reckless treatment of evidence as a travesty of justice.

And here is the etymology (word origin) of travesty:

Interesting, right?  Does it remind of you of any other words...?  Of course!... transvestite, someone who is disguised as a woman.

Now take a look at its negative, adjectival form and synonyms:

Untravestied?  Yep, it's a word, despite the fact that it's not in my computer's dictionary, as it is underlined in bright red.  

And finally, thank you to www.dictionary.com for its help on clarifying this.  You can click on the link here for more info or for bibliographic purposes:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/travesty

Thanks for reading!

QUICK TIP: The difference between THeN and THaN.

A friend of mine recommended this post as many excellent English as a Second Language (ESL) speakers (such as himself) have trouble with these little words because the only difference is one, little, itty-bitty letter.

THEN: 

Usage=Next, after OR used in a sequence of events.

Examples:

• "After baking the cake at 220 degrees for 20 minutes, leave to cool.  Then add the frosting."
• "I will go to work early, and then, after lunch I will meet you at the café to catch up on the current projects your office is doing."
• "First you must call the agency and request an extension; then, you must effect payment online as soon as possible.  After that, your request will have been processed.

THAN:

Usage=Comparisons 

Examples:

• Everyone is shorter than I am.
• Group A was better than Group B.
• Comparatives are more difficult than superlatives.

Does the difference between THeN and THaN make sense now?  

I sure hope so...Don't forget how important those little, itty-bitty letters are!

PORTUGUESE SPEAKERS: You know more in ENGLISH than you may think...

As English possesses Latin, brought to England by the Roman Empire, there are tons of words in the English Language that have the ending (tion), which can be easily replaced with the Portuguese ending (ão).  This vocabulary is more advanced, as Latin words were brought to England by clergy who could read and write.

Here is a short list just to demonstrate that you (Portuguese speakers) probably know more than you think!...And if you English speakers are learning Portuguese, you already know 20 words:

1. transportation--transportação
2. information--informação
3. education--educação
4. determination--determinação
5. excavation--escavação
6. ovulation--ovulação
7. verification--verificação
8. laceration--laceração
9. petition--petição
10. classification--classificação
11. notion--noção
12. potion--poção
13. rendition--rendição
14. lotion--loção
15. cognition--cognição
16. inflammation--inflamação
17. congregation--congregação 
18. limitation--limitação
19. configuration--configuração
20. nation--nação