In Portuguese, we have the term sabe-tudo to refer to someone that seems to know everything about any given topic, but makes an irritating point of demonstrating their knowledge to others. In English, that is how we call the know-it-all.
So imagine that in your classroom there is this one student that keeps raising his hand for all the questions and opportunities to show off his knowledge. Sometimes he doesnt even know that much about the topic but keeps making obvious statements just to boost his own ego. You think that affects the quality of the class and even delays your learning process.
One day you cannot take it any longer and impulsively address him by calling him, among many things, the most irritating know-it-all. What you did not expect though was that he would be so good at talking back. And in the middle of such an intense name-calling, he calls you a know-nothing, which is really easy to understand if you think of it as the opposite of a know-it-all. In other words, someone that is a completely ignorant, uninformed, or unknowledgeable person.
There is one last expression with the word know which is know-how. So picture yourself at your work environment when your boss approaches you to move you to a new role you are not confident with. Here is what you tell her: I do not have the know-how to do this job, sorry. When you say that, you are saying that you do not have the knowledge of how to do something.
That is all for now guys. Talk to you next time!
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domingo, 20 de agosto de 2017
terça-feira, 15 de agosto de 2017
Talking about family
The vocabulary I am proposing today goes beyond the degrees of relatedness (mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, nephew). There is much more to it. Expressions like close-knit family or immediate/extended family for example. Do you know what those mean? Lets get started.
If in your family the people are always close and look to support each other, you have a close-knit family. Actually that term is used to describe any kind of group that has a supportive attitude, not only blood relatives. As for the immediate family, those are the people that represent your closest relations in the family that usually include a persons parents, spouses, siblings, children. The extended family is everybody that extends beyond the nuclear family, such as grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc.
If I asked you who you take after in your family, would you know how to answer? I personally think I take after my mother more than my father. That is because I resemble her in appearance. If I thought I only had the same behavior as hers, I could also say I take after my mother. So if you take after an older relative in your family, you are basically saying you look or behave like them. Truth is we all have something in common with everybody in our family. So if you and your family have the habit of talking all the time and too loud for example, you can call it a family trait. Leave us down in the comment section what your family trait is, or maybe something that runs in your family.
But wait, to run in the family? Yes, if many people in the family have the same quality, passion, ability, disease, etc, you can say it runs in the family. For example: A love of the outdoors runs in the family.
Let us not forget that family is much more than blood. You can have a friend that is not your flesh and blood for example, but is still like a sister to you. On the other hand,. there is a proverb that is used by people who imply that family relationships are always more important than friend, which is: blood is thicker than water. What about you? What side are you on? That is all for today guys. Talk to you next time!
segunda-feira, 14 de agosto de 2017
Vocabulary about shopping
Because we use the word shopping in a way that is not used in the English language some English learners tend to make the same mistake. The thing is, shopping alone in English is not the name of a place, but a verb, as in I was shopping the other day with my mom. In that way, to shop means to buy things in shops. That place where you can find a group of stores with a common area for parking is the shopping center. You can also commonly call it a mall.
At the shopping center, you can do the shopping or go shopping. You might be wondering what is the difference between the two. If I told you some people enjoy doing the shopping but most people love going shopping, would you risk taking a guess? The right answer is that while to do the shopping means to engage in a regular household activity and might involve buying food and household supplies, to go shopping means to go somewhere to buy something of any kind and therefore is a hobby or pastime for some people. It usually doe not involve food. If you want to go shopping specifically for food, you can make it clear but saying that youre grocery shopping.
If youre one of the people who love to go shopping, you certainly enjoy window shopping now and then. If you go window shopping, you just go to the mall for the sake of looking at products in store windows without buying them. Or maybe you mean to buy something, but first you need to shop around to make sure you got the best prices. When you finally know where you can get the best deal, you spend or waste your money on it. If say you spent money on something, that means you will probably make good use of it, but if you say you wasted money on something, you unnecessarily spent money on it. And if one day you spend a lot of money, either on superfluous or necessary things, you can say you splashed out. But if youre always splashing out, you might be a shopaholic. Thats how we call someone whos obsessed with shopping and might be out of control of their own expenses.
And here are a few more words and expressions you need to learn to excel at the art of shopping:
retail therapy: the act of shopping in order to feel better
a receipt: paper proof of a purchase
a price tag: a tag which indicates the price of an item
a bargain: excellent value for an item or purchase
a fitting room: a place in a shop´where people try on clothes
get a refund: receive money back after returning an item
in cash / bar card: use cash or credit card to buy something
on sale: for sale at a reduced price
for sale: available to buy