Let's take a look at three verbs which English learners often find confusing. They are useful for talking about people and organisations in history.

Invent

(Verb) To design and/or create something which has never been made before.
"Karl Benz invented the car in 1885."
Noun: Invention

It seems that you users of our site like taking vocabulary exercises that test your general knowledge. Here's another quiz that looks at common words and expressions that you'll find English speakers frequently using. You might not see all these words in traditional English textbooks, but I promise you they are useful.

There are 10 questions all featuring words that are sometimes confused by English learners.

Take the quiz and tell us how many you got correct. Can anyone get 10/10? Be honest - no cheating.

As you know there are many, many phrasal verbs. Here are ten basic ones that you should know. Today  there are no explanations; you must decide which one feels right. You have probably heard many of these before, so this will be a good review. Remember, the best way to learn phrasal verbs is through practice. The more of them you see, the easier it becomes to understand the meaning of new ones.

Choose the correct preposition to complete each phrasal verb:

There are 570 headwords on this list (proposed by Averil Coxhead at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand), which is said to contain the most frequently occurring vocabulary in academic contexts. Starting with the letter 'A', test your familiarity with ten words on the AWL.

Choose the word or expression that differs in meaning from the given word:

Any plans for the summer? Will you be working or taking some time off? There's no time off for us hardworkers here at EC!

Anyway, here are some idioms which are related to work or holidays:

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy

Proverb: It is not healthy for someone to work all the time and never play:

'Come to the beach with us today. Remember, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.'

A busman's holiday

Doing something on holiday which is similar to your job:

What are the similarities and differences between your school system and the American one?  What kind of student are you?  Are you brainy (very smart) or a low achiever (a poor performer)?  Do you sometimes ditch your classes (not attend your classes)?  Or, are you the teacher's pet (the teacher's favorite student)? 

Take this quiz to see how good you are at recognizing some common American expressions for talking about school performance.