I’m sure you know there are many types of English. Each English speaking country has its own unique vocabulary, grammar structure and pronunciation.
Today we take a look at ten words which are used in natural British English, but are not really used in American English. All of these words are very common and are used in casual spoken-English.
(noun) synonym: man.
'She's not the most intelligent person in the world!'
Understatement is used when a speaker wants to a make a situation seem less strong or important than it is.
For example, think about this situation:
You have taken ten exams in school and passed them all with a score of 100%. Someone asks you:
'What time does the meeting commence?'
The key to this joke is hair.
Hair has the same pronunciation as hare, which is an animal similar to a rabbit. So, when the woman tells him he has a stray hair, he thinks she is talking about his rabbit (his hare).
The word stray means 'away from its place.' In this case stray could refer to his hair or the rabbit.
'Where do you learn English?'
In English there are seven ‘Wh…’ questions. Here’s what they are and how they are used:
What is used for a thing.
‘What is it?’
'Take a break, Mr. Elephant!'
Collocations are groups of words that naturally appear next to each other in sentences.
For example, we say 'I have a headache' and not 'I take a headache' or 'I make a headache'. Now you know 'have' always collocates with 'headache'! Easy!
Try and and see if you can complete the sentences below using 'make','take' or 'have'.
The happy couple!
Read the following article about weddings in Britain and match up the descriptions to the key words in bold:
A Sunday driver!
Here are some expressions that use words related to your favourite time of the week...the weekend!
'My holiday was relaxing. I felt really relaxed.'
'How would you describe her personality?'
