Building up vocabulary: Tardy/Tardiness

I was leafing through a book this morning and came across the word "tardiness" and decided it was worth looking it up in dictionaries.

Tardy is an adjective that works as a synonym for "late, behind time, not on time". The noun that derives from it is "Tardiness", which is the quality or state of being late. The adverb related to it is "Tardily".
<habitual tardiness will be recorded in your personnel file>

Sources:
1) http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tardiness
2) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tardiness
3) http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/tardiness

to pet or to pat?

You have probably wondered how the heck you spell this verb for a dozen times right?

Well, guess what! Both spellings are correct. Both "pet" and "pat" can be used to refer to touching a child or an animal gently with your hands.

Now, for idioms and other meanings... why not checking both entries? ;) Let us know which is your "pet entry" or "pet expression" using either "pet" or "pat."
Remember to check the other classes for the word pet as well.


to pet

to pat

Have fun!
Cheers!

Phrasal Verb of the Day: hold forth

According to Merriam-Webster, "to hold forth" means to speak at length; expatiate. Use in a sentence: "Whatever you are holding forth about, I suggest you stop".

Cognate of the day

Treason

(mostly used in politics, though)

Phrasal Verb of the Day

The phrasal verb "dress down" is more widely known by its usual definition, which stands for wearing informal clothes, meaning the opposite of the "dress up". During class today with our teacher Levi, awareness was raised of the fact that there might be another meaning to it, so I looked it up on three online dictionaries: The Free Dictionary (1), Merriam-Webster (2) and The Cambridge Online Dictionary (3).

Here are the results that followed the research:

(1) Phrasal Verbs:

dress down

1. To scold; reprimand: I was dressed down by the teacher for lateness.

2. To wear informal clothes, befitting an occasion or location: I dressed down for such a casual occasion.

(2) Definition:

transitive verb

: to reprove severely

       intransitive verb

: to dress casually especially for reasons of fashion

Example:

1. <dressed down for boorish behavior at the dance>

(3) Definition: 

If you dress down for an occasion, you intentionally wear informal clothes of the type that will not attract attention:

She always made a point of dressing down on her first date with a man.

SOURCES:
(1) http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dress+down
(2) http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dressing-down?show=1&t=1375494270
(3) http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/dress-down

 

 

Luiz Agrizi, Ana Lúcia Fontenelle and Lina Karoblyte,

 

CONGRATULATIONS on winning a scholarship to

the BELL Language School in Cambridge!!

 

 

Phrasal verb of the day

To act up

Is it Ms Swan who is acting up or is it the intercom? or both?

;)

Phrase of the day

Scrap metal .

Our good old friend "ferro-velho" or, if you prefer, "sucata."


cheers!

Phrase of the day:  "facial composite"

.
Note that the word "composite" can be pronounced in different ways.

Cheers!

Verb of the day

to stall ( engine )

If an engine stalls, of if you stall it, it stops working suddenly and withoout you intending it to happen.
(dictionary.cambridge.org)

A car may stall due to the driver breaking too suddenly.
I stalled the car twice during my driving test but still managed to pass. 

Now... the are many other meanings for the word "stall" , either as a verb or as a noun. Do some reaserch and share it here! 

Five medals for each new entry!

Word of the day + pronunciation of the day

Hello, everyone!

How is the new semester going?

Let's keep our engines running!

The word of the day is "qualm".

Look at that young lady.  She had no qualms about lying to the police. She does look like a psychopath.



Willing to know how to pronounce it or its meaning? Click here.

Word of the day

To circumvent

Word of the day

This is also the piece of advice of the day! lol !

Don't lose your mojo, guys!

;)

Curious? You know what to do.

Fill in the blanks with a suitable word - 48 medals!

A) There were a number of participants at the conference dinner, several of were keynote speakers.

B) The old house, its condition, is likely to sell quickly given the present housing market.

C) The diner complained so vociferously that the manageress came out of the office to see what the problem was.

D) The party atmosphere suddenly dissipated, at point I made up my mind to leave.

E) The chairman outlined his vision for the future but the chief executive argued that a strategy could be detrimental to the company’s future.

F) More and more people are turning to vegetarianism which say is much better for your health.

G) My therapist said I could drop in I wanted to, regardless of whether I’d made an appointment or not.

H) The main reasons for quitting my job were overwork and a meagre salary. There are I could mention but they were the primary factors.

I) The reviews of the play were glowing but as a  of fact I thought it was terrible!

J) Most people are car lovers. Even , cars cause enormous damage to the environment.

K)  most people pass their Proficiency exam first time round a number of candidates will, sadly, fail.

L) The hotel was poor, the food terrible, and we had torrential rain for the whole week.  short, the holiday was a disaster.

M) As far as the police were in , they decided not to press charges against the thief this time round.

N)   the bank was shut all weekend they weren’t able to withdraw any cash.

O) I wouldn’t apply for that job if I were you. In  case the advert says you have to have a clean driving licence and you haven’t even passed your test yet.

P) Broadly , young people are concerned with finding a good career once they have graduated from university.

Word of the day

To abscond