2017-07-21 Why Americans Use Euphemisms
Comedian George Carlin is famous for talking about language. He is famous for criticizing indirect or overly pleasant speech. Consider…
2017-07-14 Expletives Are Not Always Bad Words
Many Americans consider Red House, a song by Jimi Hendrix, to be a great piece of Rock and Roll music.…
2017-06-02 The Different Meanings of ‘Take’
Imagine yourself sitting in a movie theater. You are watching a romantic comedy, a love story with a happy ending,…
2017-05-26 Different Meanings of ‘Make’ in Everyday Speech
Imagine you are watching the 1991 American film City Slickers. It tells the story of an unhappy man and two…
2017-05-19 Would You Like to Learn About Modal Auxiliaries?
Imagine you are watching an action movie, such as Mission: Impossible. You hear the following exchange: “Would you like to…
2017-05-12 Different Meanings of ‘Have’ in Everyday Speech
“There Will Be Blood” is a film about Daniel Plainview, an American oil man in the early part of the…
2017-05-05 Common Ways to Express Purpose
From VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. You may remember our earlier reports on infinitives and gerunds. The infinitive…
2017-04-28 Sentence Relatives: Showing Feeling, Interpreting Information
“The Big Lebowski” is an American movie that has developed a large following. Since its release in the late 1990s,…
2017-04-21 Noun Clauses in Everyday Speech
From VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Almost every American has seen or heard of the movie “Forrest Gump.”…
2017-04-14 The Many Ways to Say ‘Okay’
From VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Imagine you are watching a film about love, such as “Before Sunrise.“…
2017-04-07 Using Discourse Markers in American English
Imagine you are watching an old American movie — the crime film “Dirty Harry.” You have heard that one part…
2017-03-31 Take a Break with Commas
From VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Imagine you are taking a trip in a foreign country. You are…
2017-03-24 Infinitives in Everyday Speech
Imagine you are in an American city. While standing along the street, you hear someone asking for directions. “What’s the…
2017-03-17 Imprecise Noun Phrases in Conversation
Imagine you hear a group of American teenagers talking. One teenager has received a gift, and his friends are a…
2017-03-10 Commonly Used Nouns
From VOA Learning English, this is Everyday Grammar. Imagine you hear a mother or father talking to a child. The…