Double negatives

Do you sometimes get all messed up with double negatives?
They ain't not no good-ain't they?

Here is a series of exercises, and even an interactive games where you can help someone get a job by helping her at her job interview, by suggesting the best use of negatives in her interview.

Click on the confused man to be taken to a great site where you can do some very interesting exercises.

Have fun!

TWIST YOUR TONGUE

Think your pronunciation is good?  Try keeping up with this old favourite.
  Click on the old fashioned record player!

In case you need to read it:

TONGUE       TWISTERS                     DANNY KAYE

Everybody’s heard of Peter Piper         And the peck of pickled peppers that he picked That’s such a silly simple children’s game    It hasn’t even got a name But I’d like to bet that it’ll trip you And I bet you’re gonna have to say you’re licked If Peter Piper you pronounce with ease       Then twist your tongue around these

Moses supposes his toeses are roses            But Moses supposes erroneously For Moses he knowses his toeses aren’t roses
As Moses supposes his toeses to be
                That’s tongue twisters
                And it seems so easy till the word gets sprung
                If you insist you want to try a lisp
                Then step up mister and twist your tongue Now Kissle will whistle at busty Miss. Russell Who’ll rustle and bustle till Kissle will roar So Russell asked Axle for Kissle’s dismissal And this’ll teach Kissle to whistle no more
                       That’s tongue twisters . . . Tito and Tato were tattooed in total But Toto was only tattooed on his toe So Tato told Tito where Toto was tattooed But Tito said Toto’s tattoo wouldn’t show Theda thought Thora was thumping her thimble But Thomas thought Thora was thumping her drum Said Theda if Thora’s not thumping her thimble I think that she surely is thumping her thumb
                       That’s tongue twisters . .     Now Charley is chary when choosing his cheeses And cheese is a challenge when Charley arrives When Charley is charming and chooses a cheddar Then chews it and chips it and chops in some chives Heda is hoping to hop to Tahiti To hack a hibiscus to hang on her hat Now Heda has hundreds of hats on her hatrack So how can a hop to Tahiti help that Snobby Miss. Nora is sniffing her snuffer The snuffer’s no sniffing it makes Nora sneeze When Snyda lets Nort know his Nora is sneezing She snappily snorts Nora’s sneezing a breeze Sheila is selling her shop at the seashore For shops at the seashore are so sure to lose And she’s not so sure of what she should be selling Should Sheila sell seashells or should she sell shoes
                       That’s tongue twisters

FUTURE TENSE

Of you want to be e-mailed when there is an up date to our FREE English learning blog, send an e-mail to me at:
raymondconnors@gmail.com
saying "Put me on the mail list"
You can opt out at any time, and I never share your details with anyone else.

 TENSES

Do you have trouble working out tenses?

Click on this picture of hard-working high school students who have a bright future, to be taken to a set of great fact sheets on TENSES

And here is a great GAME to test your knowledge of TENSES in a fun way:

Click on the picture:

Other links you will see there take you to more quizzes and exercises on tenses- enough to keep you busy for a long time.

HAVE FUN!

CAN YOU DESCRIBE THEM?

You will need some very good ADJECTIVES

If you want to try out your knowledge of ADJECTIVES, click on the picture of the tall, slim, beautiful, Vietnamese women to go to a great quiz on ADJECTIVES.

Do you fancy yourself as a Newspaper Editor?
To see how good you are at using ADJECTIVES as a newspaper editor, Click on the picture of the two ladies on the beach to be taken to a game where you can try out your skills.

More grammar lessons in postings to follow soon.

10 Ways to Get Higher Marks on the IELTS Letter Writing Task

These tips came from this web site which has a lot of FREE information on IELTS

http://www.goodluckielts.com/IELTS-letter-writing-tips.html

IELTS Letter Writing Tips -
10 Ways to Get Higher Marks on the IELTS Letter Writing Task

1. Identify the type of letter you are being asked to write. Is it a formal, semi-formal or informal letter? The entire tone of your letter is based on your answer to this question. Adjust your style and choice of words according to the type of letter you have been asked to write.

2. Open and close the letter correctly. Remember that each type of letter requires a different opening and closing. The chart below will help you remember this:

Style	Characteristics	Opening	Ending
Formal	To someone you have not met, whose name you don't know	Dear Sir / Madam	Yours faithfully
Semi- formal	To someone you may or may not have met, whose last name you know & use	Dear Mr Brown, Dear Ms Stone	Yours sincerely
Informal	To someone you know well, whose first name you know and use	Dear John Dear Anita	Best regards Warm wishes

3. Open a formal and semi-formal letter with a formal sentence. Don't try to be friendly, as you do not know the person you are writing to. Get right down to business and indicate the reason you are writing, as shown below:

Dear Sir / Madam,
I am writing to inquire about / I am writing in connection with...

Dear Mr Jones,
I am writing to inform you ... / I am writing in connection with...

4. Open an informal letter with a general, friendly paragraph. With friends whom we know, we care about the whole person. We have a broader relationship in the context of which this communication is taking place. So it is best to acknowledge that friendship first, before getting down to the reason for your letter. In fact, the first paragraph could be purely friendly small talk, unrelated to the reason for your writing. Look at the example below:

Dear Jane

I hope you and your family are all well. It was such a pleasure to see you again last summer. We sure had a great time catching up with each other after so many years. You have always been a cherished friend, no matter how much of a gap there has been since we met.

Anyway, the reason I'm writing is that I have some good news - I am getting married this summer...

5. Identify the main purpose of the letter. Are you asking for help, apologizing, inviting someone, complaining or thanking someone? Learn appropriate and polite expressions that will support what you need to say.

6. Learn and use standard written phrases. Students sometimes struggle to finish their writing in time. This happens when you are trying to write every sentence from scratch. The fact is, in conventional letter writing in English, we use a number of standard expressions and phrases and add on to them the specific information we wish to communicate. By learning how to use these expressions, you will find the letter writing task much easier and will never have to fight for time.

7. Make sure you write at least 150 words. Practice writing letters till you know what 150 words feels like and looks like. You will lose marks if you write less. You will not lose marks if you write more; the only restriction on writing more is in terms of time, not the number of words.

8. Learn the correct spelling of commonly used words. It is surprising how many IELTS students make a mistake when spelling words such as "sincerely", "faithfully", "in connection with" and so on. You can prevent yourself from losing marks by learning the correct spelling of these words and expressions which you are highly likely to use on your exam.

9. Stay on topic. In order to complete your letter within 20 minutes or less, practice writing letters where you stick to the point. The General IELTS Task 1 does require you to make up a bit of a story to complete your letter, but don't make your story so complicated that you run out of time.

10. Include all three bulleted points. If you exclude even one of the points given to you in the question prompt, you will lose valuable marks. Practice writing letters that include the three points and go back and check that you have included them in each practice exercise you do.

BAD ENGLISH

Have you ever wondered just what you might be saying if your English is bad?
Have a look at these signs in English, and see if you can understand what they REALLY mean- Some of them are quite funny!

Welcome

Hello my friends.
For a long time now I have been thinking about how to keep in contact with my students and friends.
When our class is finished, we often say good bye and its sad that we never seem to keep contact for long after that.
Now I have discovered the world of blogging, I hope we can keep in touch, and I will send you a message, (if you want), every time there is a new post, exercise or story to tell.
I will also give you links to special English study materials that I think may help you, and I will only recommend the FREE ones that I know work well. 
So there is a whole world of FREE English lessons to be had by keeping in touch with me.
Of course, I will also be available for lessons at paid rates if you wish, via Skype, but I know so many Vietnamese students can't really afford that, so I intend to offer plenty of good links to very useful lessons that will always be free.

I suggest you check this blog at least once a week, even if I dont send you a message, as I intend to update it
regularly. So please put this link in your favourites so you can come to see me whenever you wish.
http://skyteacherray.blogspot.com/

That's all for now, but in my next post, I will talk about a question many people are asking;"Whatever happened to our teacher Ray".

Have a nice day, and I hope we can continue our friendship by this blog, and of course in person.