My Battle With Grammar

Who is the proudest  Master of Arts - I am 

Here we are - after long struggle with my natural laziness - finally my new lesson is posted! Go to lesson page and rate it, rate it, rate it!!! 

                          Giving emphasis: Cleft sentences

                                            (Introduction)

The usual word order for a sentence in English is 

SUBJECT + VERB + OBJECT + [ADVERBIAL PHRASE]

Ex.        I       enjoy  learning English [here at Ebaby!]

      (subject)  (verb)       (object)      (adverbial phrase)

However, if we want to emphasise that I particularly enjoy learning English (more that anything else), we can use a cleft sentence. It begins with a what clause and the verb be:

Ex. What I enjoy most is learning English.

Ex. What I like most about you is your sense of humour.

Similarly, if we want to emphasise a noun, we use a cleft structure with it +  be + noun + that/who:

Ex. Jenny spends all her money on shoes.

     It is Jenny who spends all her money on shoes.

or: It is shoes that Jenny spends all her money on. 

We can also use an it- cleft sentence to focus on other parts of the sentence:

Ex. It was in London that he met his first wife. (place)

Ex. It was only when he phoned that I realised what had happened. (time)

Ex. It is learning English that I find most enjoyable nowadays. (gerund action)

It was just brief introduction to  cleft sentences. This topic, actually, is advanced but not that hard as you can see  And now, please, write here in comments what you liked the most about this lesson (using the cleft sentence, of course)

This week I've started new Advanced English course. With new teacher and new people, btw. So, first of all our teacher made us write an ACTION PLAN about things we think we need to improve and stuff like that. I mentioned writing and public speech of course... and kind of promised to do something to improve - like to update my blog more often...  So, watch it!

First classes were a bit boring. And I experienced something like shock when I realised that first "advanced vocabulary" topic is FOREIGN WORDS. AAAAA! I felt like I'm studying French or Latin, definitely not English   Anyway, I don't want to suffer alone - so I share this information with you 

1. per

If something happens as per normal , it means that it happens in the normal way.

Ex. Despite the wind and the rain he walked to work as per normal.

If you receive an amount of money per annum you receive that amount for the period of the year.

Ex. The salary is 18 000 pounds per annum, which works out at 1500 pounds a month.

2. ad hoc = unplanned

If something is done on an ad hoc basis, it happens or is done only when the situation makes it necessary or desirable, rather than being arranged in advance.

Ex. We can meet on an ad hoc basis, as and when we need to. There is no need to arrange dates now.

3. ad infinitum = endlessly

If someone does something ad infinitum they do it repeatedly over the long period of time. 

Ex. I could read this book ad infinitum and never get bored.

4. ad nauseam 

If somethig happens ad nauseam it happens over and over again so that people get completely bored.

Ex. He talked ad nauseam about his achievements and how successful he is. It was boring!

5. bete noire

A bete noire is something that you esp. hate or that annoys you very much.

Ex. My bete noire is people using mobile phones loudly and indiscreetly in public.

6. bona fide

Something that is bona fide is genuine or real.

Ex. I saw his ID. He was a bona fide representative of the company.

7. carte blanche

If you have carte blanche to do smth you have complete power to do exactly as you wish.

Ex. My boss gave me carte blanche to organize an appropriate party.

8. deja vu

Deja vu is the experience of perceiving a new situation as if it had occurred before.

Ex. I'm sure I've been here before. Either that or I'm having a real sense of deja vu.

9. faux pas 

A faux pas is a socially embarrassing action or mistake.

Ex. It was such a posh dinner and I was so terrified of making a faux pas and using the wrong fork or knife.

10. status quo

The status quo is the situation that exists at a particular time without any changes.

Ex. The arrival of a new baby is likely to change the status quo quite considerably.

11. (sic)

You write (sic) in brackets after a word or expression when you are quoting something that someone else has said or written.

Ex. She said that she liked very much London (sic) and wanted to stay here for a long time.

That's it for today. If you have something to add to this list -  you're very welcome to do it  Lets continue together! (If you're interested of course)