The Importance of Punctuation

Hi everyone,

Have you realised the importance of punctuation when writing a composition? Sometimes you complain about it but punctuating correctly gives meaning to your writings. Here’s an example taken from an old magazine, whose reference I don't remember.

 

I want to rub all your mistakes out with my (c)Factis rubber

  Version 1:

Dear John, 

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy -will you let me be yours? 

Gloria

Version 2:

Dear John,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy.

 Will you let me be? 

Yours,

Gloria 

Is this a love letter in both cases or not?

Leave your comments and tell me the differences you spot in both versions.

For vs. During

 Do you remember the difference between "for" and "during"? Look at the examples below.

englishandpractice.blogspot.com.es

- You have been using this blog for a few months now.

- You will be able to use this blog during this academic year.

For is used to say how long an action or a situation lasts. It can be used to talk about the past, present or future.

-         I once went to New York for a week.

-         Those mountains have been covered in snow for months.

-         My brother will be away for the next ten days.

When For is used to talk about a period of time continuing up to the present, it is used with the present perfect tense. For example:

-         I’ve known you for five months.

The question we would make to get an answer is How long …?

During is used to say when something happened.

-         There was a snowstorm during the night.

-         Peter had incredible experiences during his childhood.

The question we would make to get an answer is When …?

Let’s practise with some sentences. 
Click on the first comment to get the answers then.

1. I’ve always wanted to teach abroad _____ a few months.
2. I haven’t sent an email to my pupils _____ a while.
3. Some pupils fell asleep _____ the class. It was so boring!
4. Mary hasn’t done a sudoku _____ years but they say it’s good for your brain.
5. I promise I will eat very healthy food _____ the summer.
6. People didn’t stop shouting _____ the football match.
7. We visited both Rome and Naples _____ our business trip in Italy.
8. I’ve been watching videos on YouTube _____ two hours now!
9. The candidates were answering a lot of difficult questions _____ the interview.
10. I’ve had this laptop _____ about four years.

Exam Hangover

Hi guys,

After all these days doing, correcting, discussing and complaining about exams, it's high time all of us start thinking about how to improve our exam results. 

Let's start with pronunciation!

I've been surfing the Net. Obviously there's a great deal of good stuff but as I had to opt for something to involve you all in your own autonomous learning, here's a link to 50 Difficult Words to Pronounce. You can listen to the words, you have an example and you can repeat it as many times as you want, trying to utter it as accurately as possible.

Source: malayaIamteacher.com

If you want to improve your oral skills, you should be aware of the difficulty of producing some sounds and the need to know how to pronounce them in different words in order to understand what is said to you and be understood in your turn. Then we need to know which part of that word should receive the heaviest emphasis because stress can change the meaning of phrases, sentences and questions with terrible results in the process of communication. Finally, you mustn't forget that intonation is clearly important as well.

Well, I really hope you find it useful and start practising straight away.

Leave your comments if you found it helpful or not.