Meaning of Look Through and its uses All Phrasal Verbs are idiomatic. Their meaning isn’t true in the dictionary. The Phrasal Verb “look through” is no different.  By saying “look through the junk drawer,” the speaker is telling the listener to search for something. This differs from “look through a telescope,” a Declarative that commands the listener to look at the stars. And so, to “ Look through the junk and find a treasure map”  commands that the listener search through the batteries, receipts, and other things that one stores in a junk drawer in hopes of finding a treasure map ..read more

Meaning of the Abstract Nouns and its use Abstract Nouns are things that can’t be seen or touched. Although there are many things that fall into the category of Abstract Nouns, we are discussing emotions, those strong feelings that come from one’s situation, mood, or relationships with others. Having said this, you may hear an English speaker say “It’s spring, and love is in the air.”  Without a doubt, love isn’t something that can be held and it isn’t hanging in the sky like the moon. It’s an abstract emotion. And in the case of the paragraph above, an Abstract Noun.  In general, A ..read more

Meaning of the Forming Imperatives and its use Imperative Sentences give direction. For example, someone may say, “Marry me, you dashing (stylish and energetic) and debonair (kind and well mannered) gentleman (a polite form of man).” Speaking of politeness, these word groupings aren’t necessarily so. In fact, they can be curt (rudely brief in speech or abrupt in manner). To clarify, Imperative Sentences are sometimes called directives because they provide direction to the listener. They are used to give commands, instructions, advice, and issue warnings. And you may have read ‘Don’t touch’ on ..read more

Meaning of Phrasal Verb and its use The Phrasal Verb “look for” is one of those idiomatic sayings, the meaning is hard to get upon hearing. But, it simply means to search for something. And so for this blog, we’ll focus on the phrase “Help me look for my marbles!” It’s funny because lost marbles have a double meaning, it could refer to a lost set of small glass spheres used to play a game or losing one’s mind. As for using “look for” in a sentence, often “look” becomes the Verb. And, the phrase follows normal verb conjugation. To make it past tense, added to the end of “look,” in the case th ..read more

Meaning of Phrasal Verb and its use Phrasal Verbs are much like idioms; their meaning isn’t clear at first. However, it’s easier to get their meaning through context.  The Phrasal Verb “look after” according to the Oxford dictionary means to care for something or someone. For example, you may hear a native English speaker say: “Look after yourself.” By saying this, the speaker is telling the listener to take care of him or herself.  Image representation of the content above A Bit of Grammar This Phrasal Verb “look after” is especially used in British English. Some examples include ..read more

What is an Imperative? The Imperative is used to command, request, or forbid (tell others not to do things that may harm them). But, Imperative Sentences don’t come across all that polite. In fact, Imperative Sentences can sometimes be seen as rude by the listener. Meaning of Polite Imperative: However, the speaker can use “please” to form a Polite Imperative.  To form a Polite Imperative, place the word “please” at the beginning or end of a sentence. For example, a speaker may say: Please turn down the radio  The above sentence is a polite way to request the listener to lower the ra ..read more

Basics and Rules of Using Past Simple Tense: Past Simple Tense is used to describe an event that began and ended in the past, like winking, the act of blinking your eyelids to convey an emotion. To put “wink” in Past Simple Tense, we simply change it to “winked.” This is true for all Regular Verbs. Regular Verbs in the past tense get d/ed at the end. For example, “hug” turns to “hugged.” But, Nouns don’t change with tense.  In fact, to detect a Past Simple Tense sentence, merely look for the Main Verb. Most often, for those sentences that Regular Verbs are used, d/ed is found hidden among ..read more

Many languages have idioms. Chinese and English are well known for these colorful phrases. Today, our idiom is “life of the party.”  “Life of the party” describes an animated, amusing person who is the center of attention at a social gathering. This idiom dates back to the first half of the nineteenth century. It began as “the life and soul of the party”, but in time the second half was dropped. Today, English speakers just say “the life of the party” and most aren’t even aware that the word “soul” was dropped from the expression.  As for the noteworthy usage of the saying, the autho ..read more

Let’s Throw a Party Typically, the word “throw” means to propel (something) with force through the air by a movement of the arm and hand, according to the Oxford Dictionary. However, throwing a party has nothing to do with tossing objects (unless you attend a Greek wedding where dishes are thrown, but this is a story for another time). Throwing a party means hosting an event.  All in all, the idiom “throw a party” is easy to use, you may simply say:  “Let’s throw a party.” By saying this, you are communicating the idea that you’d like to host an event. Moreover, you can say: “They wa ..read more

In general, Phrasal Verbs are a Verb + Preposition combination, like “cheer up.” But, there’s another kind of Phrasal Verb too, the Separable Phrasal Verb.  Scat Singing Cheers me up What is Scat Singing, you may ask? In Jazz, an American style of music, Scat Singing is the use of nonsense words like “zippity zippity zippity zam za zim” to make improvised melodies.  How do nonsense words relate to learning English? In our case, these sounds cheer the Speaker up, which brings us to Phrasal Verbs – “cheer up” is a Phrasal Verb.  Image Representation of the content above In Separab ..read more