Vocabulary

Goodbye winter! Hello spring!

Posted by

0

seasons-change1

Today is the first day of spring!

The seasons of the year are spring, summer, fall and winter.

Spring and summer are my favorite seasons! And what about you?

A palavra fall é mais usada no inglês americano e autumn, no inglês britânico.

Exemplos:

Spring starts on September 23rd in the southern hemisphere.

People say that winter clothes are much more elegant.

I usually spend summer vacations at the beach. 

I prefer summer weather to winter weather.

Today is still a typical winter day. 

Quando quisermos dizer “na primavera”, “no verão”, “no outono” e “no inverno”, a preposição in deve vir antes da estação do ano.

in spring ou in the spring

in summer ou in the summer 

in fall ou in the fall / in autumn ou in the autumn

in winter ou in the winter

Exemplos:

I usually go to the beach in the summer.

This park looks really different in the fall (autumn).

In winter, we like to wear scarfs.

E também dizemos:

next summer/last summer, next winter/last winter, next fall/last fall, next spring/last spring

Mas cuidado! We do not use “in” before “last” and “next”!

Exemplos:

We went to the beach last summer.

Next summer will be really hot.

They are getting married next spring.

Based on http://blog.influx.com.br/aprenda-as-esta%C3%A7%C3%B5es-do-ano-em-ingles

Who do you make a scapegoat?

Posted by

0

During turbulent times or during an economic, financial, political or environmental crisis, people especially look for scapegoats.

Examples as a noun:

The captain was just a scapegoat. The real villains were the people in charge of the shipping company.

Companies often use the economy as a scapegoat to avoid taking responsibility for dropping sales

I will not be made a scapegoat. 

The CEO was made the scapegoat for the company’s failures. 

Example as a verb:

Scapegoat has a fascinating history. Today the word is used to refer to one that bears the blame for others or is the object of irrational hostility, but it originated with an actual goat.

The word comes from Judaism. During mass reconciliation, the rabbi would bring a goat to the alter. The sins of the people would be absorbed into the goat, and it would then be killed, its blood staining the alter until cleansed. This is what Jesus Christ reflected in his crucifixion, being a scapegoat. 

The English scapegoat is a compound of the archaic verb scape, which means “escape,” and goat, and is modeled on a misreading of the Hebrew ʽazāzēl (which is probably the name of a demon) as ʽēz ‘ōzēl , “the goat that departs.” More modern translations render scapegoat in this text as Azazel, but the misreading endured and has entered the lexicon.

We learned some vocabulary to discuss the future of the country here. Now we can maybe add one more word to the ones we already know, to talk about what is happening now! 😉

Special thanks go to my diligent student Afonso, who brought up this subject to class. 


Be a part of it!

Posted by

0

A careful work on videos is a very useful tool to improve listening, to acquire vocabulary and to see how the parts of speech fit together. And best of all, to look at all these things at the same time, in context.

So here is a nice video, that teaches us essential vocabulary, in order for us to be able to participate in a discussion about the future of our country! Be a part of it! 😉

Is this seat taken?

Posted by

0

Suppose you’re on a bus/train. How do you ask the other passengers if a seat is unoccupied?

OR

Is this seat free?

OR

Is this chair/seat empty?

Is this chair/seat vacant?

Now, with the word ‘house’ or ‘apartment’:

The house has been empty for some days now. There is nobody in the house but it does not mean that you can occupy or buy it; it may be that the residents are out of town.

The house has been vacant for some days now. There is nobody living in the house and so if you want to live in it by renting or buying it, you can do so.

Praise more. Complain less.

Posted by

0

Got it? That’s a piece of good advice! 😉

We’ve watched a German comedy in which a wife kept whining because she didn’t want her husband to relax and sit around doing nothing. At some point, she tells him to stop whining at her, although she was the one who was actually whining. Anyway, I think there’s a good message below, for this kind of whining attitude. Hehe… What do you think?