The seasons

Do you know how to answer these questions?

What/which season is it now?

  • It is …
  • We are currently in …

What is your favorite season? Why?
My favorite season is _____ because _____.

The four seasons, as shown above, are:

  • spring
  • summer
  • autumn or fall
  • winter

Fall is used in American English.
Autumn is used in British English.

IN + Season

We use the preposition IN before a season.

  • People go to the beach in summer.
  • It rains a lot in winter.
  • There are many flowers in spring.
  • Leaves fall from the trees in autumn.

Listen to You’ve Got a Friend, sung by James Taylor, in which he mentions the seasons.

Work on the lyrics while playing the game, and have fun!

Blumenau’s birthday or anniversary?

Blumenau is a Brazilian city in the southern state of Santa Catarina, where it’s believed that 30% of the city’s 400,000 residents are of German descent.

Since 1984, Blumenau hosts an Oktoberfest which is seen as the second biggest beer festival in the world, surpassed only by the original festival in Munich.

September 2 was Blumenau’s 172 anniversary.

BUT, BIRTHDAY OR ANNIVERSARY?

Na língua inglesa, essas são as duas palavras a serem usadas quando queremos nos referir à aniversário.

Há um consenso entre os professores de inglês brasileiros, que se for o aniversário de uma pessoa, usamos o substantivo birthday pois, como o próprio nome já diz, refere-se ao dia do nascimento (birth significa “nascimento” e day significa “dia”).

E que usamos anniversary para referir-se à data em que um evento importante aconteceu, como aniversário de casamento, aniversário da cidade, ou a data da fundação de alguma empresa ou instituição. Veja:

Mas nas minhas pesquisas, encontrei diferentes resultados.

Instead of giving rules and exceptions, I’ll show you the result of my search. / Em vez de dar regras e exceções, lhe mostrarei o resultado dela.

Birthday

The anniversary of the birth of a person.

He was in New York to celebrate his 74th birthday.

The date on which someone is born or something is created, more commonly called birthdate or date of birth.

Anniversary

(especially) The date on which a couple married or the date on which a romance began. It also means the celebration which takes place on an anniversary day.

We are celebrating our tenth anniversary today.

Anniversary

A day that is an exact number of years (to the day) since a given significant event occurred. Often preceded by an ordinal number indicating the number of years.

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the war.

Speech on the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

WVU vigil, other remembrance events planned to mark 20th anniversary of 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Birthday and anniversary

The anniversary of the day on which something is created.

Birthday and anniversary

The anniversary of something’s origin or foundation.

The holiday is to celebrate the city anniversary.

The City of Cleveland Orchestra is celebrating its 200th birthday.

Happy 10th birthday: UNU-CRIS – United Nations University

Hats off to Academia Sinica’s Institute of Law on its tenth birthday!

Interestingly, even though we don’t usually refer to birth dates as “anniversaries,” we use the death anniversary when referring to death dates. / Curiosamente, embora geralmente não nos refiramos a datas de nascimento como “anniversary”, usamos “aniversário” de morte quando nos referimos a datas de falecimento.

Remembering dad on his death anniversary is a great agony.

The 100th anniversary of the birth of composer Benjamin Britten.

However, unless you qualify the noun anniversary, it is generally taken to mean a wedding anniversary. If you say, Today is my anniversary, unless the context indicates otherwise, you would be speaking of your wedding anniversary.

For other anniversaries, use a qualifier as well. For your employment, you can say work anniversary.

For anniversaries, such as a nation’s birthday, we use a recognized proper name. For the United States, July 4 refers to as “Independence Day.”

These national anniversaries, celebrated in most countries, are called national days. These are the dates of independence or adoption of a new constitution or form of government. 

Well, I hope this information was of some help to you. At least I’m sure you have no doubts about how to greet someone on their birthday, right? 😉

Health Problems

The most common ways to ask about someone’s health are:

  • How do you feel (today)?
  • How are you feeling?
  • Is everything okay?

Some typical responses are:

  • I’m fine.
  • I feel sick.
  • Not so good.
  • Not very well.
  • I don’t feel well.
  • I’m sick.

When you see (or hear) that they are not well, then you can ask:

  • What’s the matter?
  • What’s wrong?

If the person wants to say what is wrong, they may give the reason they feel that way:

  • I have … (+ health condition)
  • I’ve got … (+ health condition)
  • I have a headache
  • I’ve got a sore throat.

Sick and ill

Sick and ill are often used interchangeably to refer to a state of poor health, but there can be subtle differences in usage depending on context, region, and speaker preference.

Some people might perceive ill as slightly more formal or literary than sick.

In general, sick is more commonly used in American English, while ill is often favored in British English. However, this is not a strict rule, and they are both understood in either dialect.

In British English, to be sick can mean to vomit.

Pain and ache

Pain is physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury. It is usually a sharp sensation in a specific body part and hurts more than an ache.

Ache refers specifically to a dull or persistent discomfort. You can sometimes try and ignore an ache.

The two terms are often used interchangeably in colloquial language.

Especially vs specially

A Diferença entre Especially e Specially - Adir Ferreira Idiomas

Both especially and specially are adverbs. 

Especially means ‘in particular’, ‘particularly’, or ‘most of all’. We use especially to show that what you are saying applies more to one thing or situation than to others.

  • I like food, but I especially like sandwiches.
  • He’s often a little late, but he was especially late today.
  • She looked especially beautiful that night.
  • I like all of my friends, especially Mark.
  • All of the rooms are dirty, especially the bathroom.
  • Our baby cries a lot, especially when he is hungry.
  • Dave and Mark like football. Dave, especially, watches lots of matches on TV.
  • Mark: Do you want to live abroad? Jane: Yes, I would especially like to live in France.

When especially relates to the subject of a sentence, you put it immediately after the subject.

  • Young babies, especially, are vulnerable to colds.

You can also use especially in front of an adjective to emphasize a characteristic or quality.

  • I found her laugh especially annoying.

We use specially to say that something is done or made for a particular purpose.

  • This sandwich was specially made.
  • They had a chair specially designed for her size.
  • The animals are specially trained to locate the mushrooms.
  • I bought a bag specially for my computer.
  • The suit was specially made for me.
  • I went to New York specially to see the Statue of Liberty.

We can use both, especially and specially, when we refer to a ‘special purpose,’ or ‘specifically.’

  • I bought this milk especially / specially for you. 
  • The speech was written especially / specially for the occasion. 

Practice doing the mini-test at the end of the page.

Difference between Miss and Lose

The verbs MISS and LOSE have several different meanings in English and they can be easily confused.

When to Use MISS

We use MISS in these cases:

  1. to not attend an event or something
  • I missed your birthday. 
  • Alan, you missed a great concert last night.
  • You missed class on Friday.

2. to arrive too late to get on a bus, train, or plane

  • John missed the train this morning.

3. to not see or hear something

  • The goalkeeper missed the ball.
  • Sorry, I missed that. Could you repeat it please?

4. to feel sad about someone or something that you have stopped seeing or having

  • My sister moved to Vietnam last year. I really miss her!
  • I miss my girlfriend. She’s on holiday with her family.

IMPORTANT: if you are going to use a verb after the verb MISS, this verb must be in the gerund

  • I miss going out with my friends.

When to Use LOSE

We use LOSE in these cases:

1. can’t find something or something’s gone

  • I lost my dog. Please help me to find him.

2. sports games

  • My favorite football team lost 5-1 in the semifinal.

3. someone is gone from your life

  • I lost my Grandmother last year.
  • I’ve lost my girlfriend. We had a messy break up and I don’t think I’ll ever see her again.
  • She lost her husband during the war.

Collocations

  • miss a chance/opportunity
  • lose a chance/opportunity
  • miss the point
  • lose time/money
  • lose confidence/interest/hope etc
  • lose weight/height/speed etc
  • lose your sight/hearing/voice/balance etc
  • lose sight of something
  • lose track of something/somebody

PRACTICE: Choose between the proper form of lose or miss.

a. The lady looking after the property was very helpful when we got lost/missed on the way back.

b. It is possible to lose/miss weight fast without dieting.

c. My pen is losing/missing from my desk! Who’s had it?

d. When Sylvia noticed her credit card was losing/missing, she called her credit card provider and cancelled it.

e. My apartment is only a block from the office, so I don’t lose/miss time commuting to work.

f. I lost/missed quite a lot of money on the stock exchange last year.

g. My daughter lives in Paris. I lose/miss her a lot.

h. I’ve just lost/missed the fast train to London.

i. Can you say that again, please. I lost/missed the thread of the conversation.

j. You’ve lost/missed the point. I don’t care about the money.

a. lost; b. lose; c. missing; d. missing; e. lose; f. lost; g. miss; h. lost; i. missed; j. missed