Archive for the 'Hear it, Say it, Write it !' Category

I hear you.

Published on May 5, 2011 in Cross Cultural Comments, Hear it, Say it, Write it !, homonyms and Notes on English. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

I hear you.

Just one short verb to express so much. Hear. Pronounced just like its homonym: here.

I hear you. I understand what you’re saying …

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and I’m paying attention to WHAT you’re saying. It has not only reached my ears … it’s reached my … reason. I’m taking what you’re saying into consideration.

Famous people have said this at some point in their political careers when they’re forced to listen!

Others might be … a little hard of hearing and say this:

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and when it comes to the latest news … or gossip:

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and when we finally meet … one of us just might say :

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“April showers bring May flowers”

Published on April 28, 2011 in Cross Cultural Comments, Hear it, Say it, Write it !, Notes on English and Popular sayings, proverbs & quotes. 0 Comments Tags: .

Global warming or not …. here’s a … springtime saying:

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saying … telling … speaking … talking …

Published on March 1, 2011 in Cross Cultural Comments, Hear it, Say it, Write it !, Keywords, Notes on English and Online Language Resources for English. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

Four verbs we “do” every day. Probably because we do these things a lot !! Four verbs describing one of our favorite activities. I’ll just leave it to each reader’s imagination for the others.

You might expect me to immediately go into the differences … but I’d like to touch on some common uses of “say” first.

“What can I say?”

Que veux-tu que je te dise ?

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“Do you know what I’m saying?”

Tu me comprends?

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“What would you say if . . .?”

Que diriez-vous si…       Que dirais-tu si …

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“I can’t say for sure.”

Je ne peux rien affirmer. Je ne peux pas te le confirmer (avec certitude).

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“Say when.”

“Arretez-moi.”

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homonyms = when words sound the same!

Published on January 11, 2011 in Hear it, Say it, Write it !, homonyms and Notes on English. 0 Comments

nyms … like names, (comme “noms”) “homo” like the same.

just a refresher first:

homonyms are words which sound the same.
homonyms are words which sound the same but which mean different things.
homonyms are words which sound the same, have different meanings and are spelled differently.

“I” as in “I am” has the same pronunciation as “eye” as in “The one-eyed man is king among the blind.”

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“to” two” “2″ and “too”

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too bad … ?

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working too much?

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If you’re interested in nyms … subscribe to my The Paris Savannah Connection!

Talkin’ about teenagers …

Published on December 7, 2010 in Hear it, Say it, Write it ! and Notes on English. 0 Comments

What students know and can do: student performance in reading, mathematics and science. (around the world)

Did you see the OECD statistics on education? Shanghai’s got everyone beat … I wonder why …

Do you think this could have anything to do with it?  … Listen to this (You’ve got to double-click …)

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Expression of the day = “Gimme five!”

Published on December 5, 2010 in Hear it, Say it, Write it !, Notes on English and Online Language Resources for English. 1 Comment

When you meet a friend … this is one of the things you might say and DO!

“Gi’ m Faiv”  “Gimme five”  or literally:  “Give me 5″

This is what it sounds like :

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and it means:

=  Tope-là !

There’s e.t.a., eta, ETA and E.T.A. …

Published on October 29, 2010 in Cross Cultural Comments, Hear it, Say it, Write it !, Online Language Resources for English and Popular sayings, proverbs & quotes. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

When S. used the abbreviation “e.t.a.” the other day, it took me a minute to catch on.
“What’s your “e.t.a.?” she asked her mom on the phone.

Well over in France and in Spain, those initials refer to a Basque separatist movement.

In travel-intensive North America, it does not, to my knowledge, refer to a secessionist tendency.

It does have to do with time, though_

“What’s your e.t.a.?”
“Between 12 and 12:30″ … That’s to say, just in time for lunch.

E.T.A. =  Estimated Time of Arrival

A fine substitute for “What time do you think you’ll get here?”

For the others, try wikipedia …

How odd … 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 … odd numbers, aren’t they?

Published on October 18, 2010 in Cross Cultural Comments, Hear it, Say it, Write it ! and Keywords. 0 Comments Tags: , .

This is a remarkable word … odd … How odd!

We often use it in the same way as the French use the word “bizarre” … How strange! How unusual! How funny! How peculiar! How unexpected … How odd it is!

What an odd thing to say …

And here’s another … obviously everyday way of using it …

Absolutely not!

Published on October 15, 2010 in Audio, Cross Cultural Comments, Expressions, Hear it, Say it, Write it !, Notes on English, spelling and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: , .

What comes after first ? ….

Just click … listen once, listen twice … and write it !

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“Wait a second!”

Published on October 15, 2010 in Audio, Cross Cultural Comments, Hear it, Say it, Write it ! and Notes on English. 0 Comments Tags: , .

a second is just one of 60 in a minute …

If you’re not quite ready … this is what to say:

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