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AWL Academic Word List Test

Average: 2.1 (12 votes)

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:

Danny's 'Where are you going now?'

Average: 3.9 (8 votes)

Have you ever looked back at your life and found yourself wondering how you got to where you are today? Ever noticed how every single decision you've ever made has, directly or indirectly, brought you here?

Amazing, isn't it, when you think about it...

Cartoon - Cut it

Average: 3.2 (12 votes)

Cut It - Learn English Cartoon

We use scissors to cut paper. Cut can be used as a verb. Did you know that cut is used in a common English idiom? Read on...

Work Idioms

Average: 3.9 (19 votes)

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:

Top lessons of the month

Average: 3.8 (5 votes)

Here are the five most popular lessons of the month on http://learnenglish.ecenglish.com.

How many have you taken? Check them out!

1 - English in the hotel

(Lesson added: 3 June, 2009)

Vocabulary that will help you out during a hotel stay. How many of these words do you know?:

https://www.ecenglish.com/learnenglish/lessons/english-hotel

School Talk - Learn Idioms

Average: 3.5 (8 votes)

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. 

Unscramble these Sentences

Average: 4.7 (1310 votes)

Rearrange the words to create the correct sentences. Write the sentences in the spaces below.

Capitalize the first letter of the first word in each sentence, and end with the appropriate punctuation marks.

1. borrow/I/may/that book/you/from

2. going to/he/Saturday/is/the shopping mall/on

3. the airport/him/will/at/Linda/meet/noon/at

Subordinating Conjunctions

Average: 4.7 (507 votes)

Before doing the exercise, let’s go over a few grammar terms:

Clause – a group of words that contains a subject and a verb.

Independent clause – a clause that expresses a complete thought.  Also called a sentence.

Dependent clause – a clause that does not express a complete thought, and therefore must be connected to an independent clause.

Baseball Idioms for everyday English

Average: 3.4 (30 votes)

Baseball is considered America's favorite pastime, and as a result there are many idiomatic expressions which come from this great sport. If you are not familiar with baseball jargon, some very common idioms may be difficult to understand. Here are some of the most common expressions and idioms from the world of baseball:

'If' - How to use the First Conditional

Average: 2.6 (246 votes)

The first conditional is a structure we use when we want to talk about possibilities in the present or in the future. In this lesson we will learn how the first conditional is formed and when we use it.