Category Archives: Tips & Help

Idiomatic Vocabulary (5 of 25): those pesky little critters!

cockroach.jpg

In the previous posts, I mentioned how every language has phrases and sentences that cannot be understood by just knowing the individual words. This is known as idiomatic language, and let us continue to explore this issue.

In the last post, I posted the question: in the IELTS Speaking Test, which is better: formal words (such as those on the left on the following table), or informal/idiomatic words (such as those on the right)?

regurgitative to stuff
to stifle to spew
ubiquitous claptrap
oppressive a damned thing
Orwellian jerk-offs
regime lemming-like

The answer is, both are good if it is appropriate to the situation and topic being discussed. However, with the informal situation of the IELTS Speaking, and the fact that the public version of the IELTS Speaking Band Descriptors says

IELTS Nine = uses idiomatic language naturally

… when talking about insects [see above picture], for example, the reply …

Oh, I definitely don’t like creepy crawlies. They give me the creeps, particularly cockroaches, and those pesky little critters inhabit just about every nook and cranny, don’t they?

… also shows GREAT idiomatic usage. Can you work out the meaning of …

creepy crawlies,

to give sb. the creeps,

pesky little critters,

every nook and cranny?

The fact is that the public version of the IELTS Speaking Band descriptors admits this idiomatic and informal vocabulary as sign of better speakers. Thus, it is worth learning some of this language, and we will do that in the following posts.

By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Idiomatic Vocabulary (4 of 25): “Do you know who I am?”

George Orwell.png

In the previous posts, I mentioned how every language has phrases and sentences that cannot be understood by just knowing the individual words. This is known as idiomatic language, and I mentioned how it is also informal speaking.

However, in the last post, I examined the opposite: ‘formal’ use of language. I gave an example IELTS speaking response which was so formal that it became strange, unclear, untrue, and repetitive. That’s not good, right? But I also said that ‘formal’ words or phrasing can be used in the IELTS Speaking test. Hmmmm. Let’s explore this.

The first point is that formal phrasing can be very good, as long as the words are appropriate to the situation. Thus, when talking about the education system, the answer …

What I don’t like is its regurgitative nature, which stifles the students, and if you add the ubiquitous cram-schools into the equation, you have a vast, oppressive, and Orwellian regime.

… shows GREAT use of vocabulary [surely at least IELTS 8 = uses vocabulary resource readily and flexibly to convey precise meaning]. But given the informal nature of the IELTS Speaking Test, this speaker could have said :

I don’t like it, the way they stuff knowledge down the students’ mouths, and make them spew out memorised claptrap, and you can see that in the west, with the social-justice jerkoffs in their lemming-like hoards.  

Here are all those difficult words again. Use a dictionary and find out their meaning.

regurgitative to stuff
to stifle to spew
ubiquitous claptrap
oppressive a damned thing
Orwellian jerk-offs
regime lemming-like

But, which set of words is better: the formal words on the left, or informal ones on the right? We will continue this discussion in the next post.

By the way, the picture at the top is George Orwell. Why don’t you do some research about him? – and you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Idiomatic Vocabulary (3 of 25): “Personally, I think they just watch movies at home on Netflixs.”

netflix.jpg

In the previous posts, I mentioned how every language has phrases and sentences that cannot be understood by just knowing the individual words. This sort of language is collectively known as ‘idiomatic’, and obviously is only language which higher speakers of any language (including English) can use appropriately and well. Let us continue to explore this issue. Here is a part from my Speaking Book [Tip 4, page 21].

Examiner

Why do people prefer going to cinemas to watching TV?

Speaker

I would attribute this phenomenon to many causes, the most prevalent being the alleviation of pressure consequent to the psychological conflicts in modern society. Not only is the cinema very relaxing, but it is also a social activity allowing various other activities. Moreover, people can have time with their families. Furthermore, they can be entertained.

Is this good or bad? Here’s what my book says (page 23).

The phrasing used in Case 5 does not respond to the informality of the situation. This informality is shown in the public version of the Band Descriptors, which, for Lexical Resource, reward ‘idiomatic’ vocabulary, not ‘formal’ complicated words. These band descriptors tell us that:

IELTS Nine               =            uses idiomatic language naturally.

IELTS Eight              =             idiomatic vocabulary skillfully.

IELTS Seven           =             some idiomatic vocabulary.

IELTS Six                 =             language mostly appropriately.

Hmmm, we can see from these descriptors that idiomatic language is important, and almost expected in the situation of the IELTS Speaking test. Those formal complicated words ….

to attribute

a phenomenon

to be prevalent

alleviation

psychological

… are a bit strange, and unclear in meaning. What ‘psychological conflicts’ is the candidate talking about? When you go to a movie with your boy/girl-friend, are you really thinking about ‘alleviation of pressure’ from these ‘conflicts’? 

Would native speakers of English use the conjunctions ‘Moreover’ and ‘Furthermore’ here?

Isn’t ‘alleviation of pressure’ and ‘relaxing’ and ‘social activity’ and ‘time with families’ and ‘be entertained’ all the same thing? So, isn’t the candidate saying the same thing five times (!) in a weird way, which actually is not true. [I don’t see families at the cinema.] And me, I’d just give the honest answer shown in the heading to this post.

And did the candidate sound natural, or weird? [Pronunciation is one quarter of your score!!!!!]. And if the examiner asked a follow-up question, …

“What do you mean by psychological conflict?”

… what would happen?

And is the examiner going to like or dislike hearing this? Is (s)he going to feel this is a good speaker, or a bad one? And give a high score, or a low one?

But does that mean that you can never use ‘formal’ words or phrasing in the IELTS Speaking test? The answer is ‘No, of course not!’, and we will explore the issue of formal English in the next two posts.

By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Idiomatic Vocabulary (2 of 25): Let’s think about the IELTS Speaking Test!

Bird in the hand.jpg

Every language has phrases and sentences that cannot be understood by just knowing the individual words. In the previous post, I looked at the word ‘claptrap’.

claptrap = stupid and obvious lies, usually spoken.

I also looked at (A) ‘Tom, Dick, and Harry’, (B) ‘a bird in the hand’ [see the above picture], (C) ‘to bear out’, and (D) ‘in your face’. I made the point that these phrases cannot be understood by just knowing the individual words.

Where do you put AD in the following sentences?

Take the money now. Remember, …………… .

Give it to every …………… on the street.

She’s just really crazy and ………… .

The claim does not ………… when you examine the evidence.

This sort of language is collectively known as ‘idiomatic’, and obviously is only language which higher speakers of any language (including English) can use appropriately and well. This language is also informal.

But think about the IELTS Speaking Test. In this test, you are …

  • not talking to the president or your boss,
  • not making a speech, giving a lecture, or performing a role-play,
  • not trying to beat others, prove points, or win prizes,
  • nor doing anything special or noteworthy.

You are …

  • having an ‘across-the-table’ chat,
  • about ordinary everyday topics,
  • with someone who, in Western culture, is your equal.

This means the speaking is informal. But wait, idiomatic language is also informal, thus higher speakers of English would certainly use it in the situation of the IELTS Speaking Test. Hmmm, we need to think about this.

By the way, the answers to the exercise are B, A, D, C, and you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Idiomatic Vocabulary (1 of 25): What a load of claptrap!

Donald Trump.jpg

This is the first post of 25 posts, all about idiomatic vocabulary. This is a complicated subject, and when put in relation to the IELTS Speaking & Writing Test, needs some discussion. The first six posts do this.

This first post, Post 1, defines idiomatic words/vocabulary.

Posts 2 & 3 examine this in relation to the situation of IELTS Speaking.

Posts 4 & 5 looks at formal words in relation to IELTS Speaking.

Post 6 looks at idiomatic words in relation to IELTS Writing.

Then, Posts 725 give and discuss useful examples of idiomatic words and phrases.

So, let’s get started. The first question is, what exactly is idiomatic vocabulary. Well, every language has phrases and sentences that cannot be understood by just knowing the individual words. There are …

  • cliches (‘Tom, Dick, and Harry’),
  • proverbs (‘A bird in the hand’),
  • items of slang (‘claptrap’),
  • phrasal verbs (‘to bear out’),
  • and common sayings (‘in your face’),

… where knowing the literal meanings of the individual words is not enough. In the third example, you may know the word ‘clap’ as in ‘clap your hands’, and ‘trap’, as in, ‘to trap an animal’. The trouble is, knowing this doesn’t help. When you put ‘clap’ and ‘trap’ together, it becomes a completely different thing.

claptrap = stupid and obvious lies, usually spoken.

As an example, think about almost every single word that comes from the mouth of Donald Trump [See above picture]. Here’s a quote from the New York Times (July 31, 2020).

“Despite what he may believe, even the overwhelming majority of the president’s supporters are not interested in this claptrap.”

So, ‘claptrap’ is just a new word, where the meaning of the individual parts is not relevant (and this is very different to compound nouns, such as carpark, where you can understand the meaning from those parts). With idiomatic language, you just have to know what the whole thing means. But idiomatic language is very important, as we shall see in the next posts.

By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns: Final Post & Final Thoughts

rain cats and dogs.png

Well, we have come to the end of the series on compound nouns. All I have to do is give the answers to the previous post, and they are: hearing aid, human nature, class reunion, blood group, bank account, press conference, junk mail, and shellfish.

Okay, that’s the end of this series on compound nouns.

So, what will I do in the next set of posts? Hmmm, you know, a few days ago it was raining cats and dogs. Well, it wasn’t literally raining cats and dogs [as in the above picture], it was just raining heavily. So, why do some people say ‘cats and dogs’ here. The answer is …. ah, I don’t know. Does it make sense? Er, …. not really. But … well, don’t complain. Every language has this sort of stuff, and here are some quotes from the public version of the IELTS Speaking Descriptors.

IELTS Nine               =            uses idiomatic language naturally.

IELTS Eight              =             idiomatic vocabulary skillfully.

IELTS Seven           =             some idiomatic vocabulary.

IELTS Six                 =             language mostly appropriately.

What word is common to every phrase on the right-hand side? The answer: ‘idiomatic’, and ‘raining cats and dogs’ is an example of that. So, you can see that ‘idiomatic language’ is very important in the IELTS Speaking Test, and in the next post I will begin a 20-post exploration of this subject.

By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns (10 of 10): “Do you want chicken or fish?”

flight attendant.png

One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining two simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’. For example, in Chinese, a flight attendant [see the picture above] is called: ‘air-sister.’ (‘kong-jie’). Well, that woman who helps you on the plane is … sort of … a sister, and you are both in the air. So, the name, while not being perfectly logical, makes some sense.

Hey, but in English, the word also makes sense – actually, maybe more sense – and it’s a compound noun, too! Add the two nouns: ‘flight’ and ‘attendant’, and you have a bigger noun. Yes, English also uses lots of compound nouns. Let’s practice some more of these.

Match a noun in A with a noun in B to form a compound noun.

A B
hearing nature
human conference
class account
blood mail
bank reunion
press fish
junk aid
shell group

By the way, the answers to the previous post are night school, sleeping bag, storm front, blood pressure, contact lenses, eyelash, passageway, and fire extinguisher. You can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns (9 of 10): Would you like to treat this animal?

tiger-bird.jpg

One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining two simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’. For example, in Chinese, a vet is called: ‘animal doctor’ (‘show-i’). It is indeed an animal doctor. That’s exactly what it is, so the name is perfectly logical (although the picture of the animal shown above is not quite logical, right!? – and it might be a little difficult to treat!).

In English, you could say ‘animal doctor’, and people would understand, but we have a special word: ‘vet’ (which is the shortened version of ‘veterinarian’). But don’t be misled: English has many compound nouns – just not as many as in Chinese. So, let’s practise some compound nouns. Match a noun in A with a noun in B to form a compound noun.

A B
night bag
sleeping lenses
storm lash
blood school
contact entinguisher
eye front
passage pressure
fire way

By the way, the answers to the previous post are alarm clock, carport, traffic light, toothpaste, cigarette lighter, can opener, tape recorder, and earthquake.

You can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns (8 of 10): You use this guy every day!

dragon.jpg

One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’. For example, in Chinese, a tap is called: ‘water-dragon-head’ (‘shwei-long-to’). Well, there’s a bit of imagination used there, but I do understand the logic. A tap looks a bit look a dragon’s head. [See picture above]. Put these three nouns together, and it becomes a big noun. However, in English, it’s just called a ‘tap’ (although the Americans may use the word ‘faucet’).

However, English also has many compound nouns, so let’s practise some of them. Match a noun in A with a noun in B to form a compound noun.

A B
alarm opener
car recorder
traffic lighter
tooth quake
cigarette lights
can paste
tape port
earth clock

I’ll give you all the answers in the next post. By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns (7 of 10): Hey, I’m a compound noun!

giraffe.jpg

One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining two simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’. For example, in Chinese, the animal in the above picture is called a ‘long-neck-deer’ (‘chong-jin-lu’). Okay, ‘long’ is an adjective, but it makes the noun ‘long-neck’, which is added to ‘deer’. Hence, a compound noun. But in English, it’s just called a ‘giraffe’.

However, English also has many compound nouns, but the rules abut when to use hyphens (‘-‘) and whether to write them as one or two words are confusing. For example, why is screwdriver one word, but word processor two? In the previous post, I began discussing this, and let’s continue this discussion now.

Sometimes the way we write the compound noun is just about the look of the noun. Parking meter looks good, but parkingmeter just looks wrong (and is wrong). Timetable is one word, but what about car park or carpark? I prefer the second – it looks fine, but many dictionaries prefer the first.

What about seatbelt or seat belt or seat-belt? The dictionaries give the middle one, but they all look fine to me, and are often given as ‘secondary’ spellings.

These rules can vary from country to country (e.g. USA versus the UK), and generation (e.g. old people versus young people).

The conclusion is, don’t worry too much about these. As long as the message is clear, it is fine – even in IELTS Writing. IELTS examiners are trained to judge the ‘communicative efficiency’ of the writing – that is, whether any mistakes make the writing harder to understand, or not. There are terms in the public version of the IELTS Band Descriptors which show this, such as mistakes  ‘do not impede/reduce communication’ or mistakes ’cause some difficulty/strain’.

The good news is that whether you use a hyphen or not in a compound noun, the word/meaning/message is still very clear – that is, if it is a mistake (according to some dictionary), this has no effect on communication. Seatbelt or seat belt or seat-belt  are all fine, and probably the IELTS examiner will not be sure which is ‘correct’. So, don’t worry too much, but try to follow what the dictionaries say.

By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns (6 of 10): A tale of two hairdressers.

Crazy Hair.jpg

One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining two simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’. For example, look at the picture above. This crazy hairstyle was created by a ‘hairdresser’. In Chinese, a ‘hairdresser’ is called a ‘hair-shape-design-master’ (‘fa-shing-sherji-sher’). Wow, that’s four nouns in a row!

Well, in English ‘hair’ + ‘dresser’ is also a compound noun – but with just two nouns, it’s a bit simpler than the Chinese word, right? And ‘hairstyle’ is another compound noun. Yes, just join the nouns together, and you can often make more words, and English also has many of these. However, there is a little grammar involved with these compound nouns. At the end of the previous two posts, I asked you these questions.

1 Why do some words use hyphens, and others not?

2 Why is ‘rush hour’ written as two words, yet ‘raincoat’ written as one?

The answers are ….. there are no rules, and we just decide on the form of the compound noun over time. For example, when cars were invented, the word carpark became necessary, but it was probably originally written as car park, but over time, people became more familiar with the term, and in some countries, it grew to car-park and then just carpark. However, many dictionaries prefer the first.

Hyphens are sometimes necessary to make the word easier to understand. Brotherinlaw is not as clear as brother-in-law.

But what about ear-ring or earring? The dictionaries give the second, but I much prefer the first, because it’s clearer – it avoids that awkward-looking double ‘r’. I would say this is the same reason we write ‘rush hour’ as two words, to avoid the double ‘h’ of ‘rushhour’.

So, this is getting confusing, right? Let’s explore it further in the next post.

By the way, the answers to the previous post are hair drier, fire engine, sunset, screwdriver, word processor, arrival time, rubbish bin, and signpost.

You can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns (5 of 10): I hope that’s not your house!

firefighter.jpg

One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining two simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’. For example, in Chinese, a radio is called: ‘recording sound machine’ (‘lu-ing-ji’). But in English, it’s a radio – however, English also has many compound nouns, so let’s practise some of them. Match a noun in A with a noun in B to form a compound noun.

A B
hair processor
fire driver
sun drier
screw post
word time
arrival bin
rubbish engine/truck
sign set

The answers to the previous post are bookcase, noticeboard, rush hour, seat belt, departure lounge, pocket money, timetable, and raincoat.

I’ll end with a question. Look at the picture at the top of this post. It shows two firemen or firefighters [the second word can include women], but why are these compound nouns written as one words, yet rubbish bin is written as two? Why do we write raincoat as one word and not two?

I’ll give you all the answers in the next post. By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns (4 of 10): Do go out in this weather!

thunderstorm.jpg

One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining two simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’.

For example, in Chinese, a storm is called: ‘wild-wind-rain’ (‘bau-fong-uwi’). That’s exactly what it is. Just look at the above picture. So, the name is perfectly logical. But in English, we say ‘storm’. But don’t be misled: English also has many compound nouns, so let’s practise some of them.

Match a noun in A with a noun in B to form a compound noun.

A B
book belt
notice case
rush board
seat hour
departure money
pocket coat
time table
rain lounge

          

The answers to the previous post are: dining room, film star, brother-in-law, income tax, writing paper, washing machine, cheque book, and babysitter. And those two little lines in ‘brother-in-law’ are called ‘hyphens’.

I’ll end with a question. Why do some words use hyphens, and others not?

I’ll give you all the answers in the next post. By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns (3 of 10): You put this in your coffee, you know?

cinnamon.jpg

One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining two simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’.

For example, in Chinese, a computer is called: ‘electricity brain’ (‘dien-nau’). It is indeed a brain which uses electricity. That’s exactly what it is, so the name is perfectly logical. But in English, we say ‘computer’. But English does have many compound nouns – just not as many as in Chinese. So, let’s practise some compound nouns.

Match a word in A with a word in B to form a compound noun.

A B
dining in-law
film sitter
brother machine
income book
writing room
washing star
cheque paper
baby tax

The answers to the previous post are: credit card, table tennis, T-shirt, ear-ring, sunglasses, parking meter, first aid, and pedestrian crossing. 

I’ll end with two questions. Look at the picture at the top of this post. (1) What is it called, and (2) why is it important? You can obviously realise what it is: another example of ‘tree-skin’ … er … sorry, that’s ‘Chinese English’ ….. I mean …. ‘bark’ …. but this bark is not as useless as you think. The answers to (1) and (2) are at the end of the previous post (2 of 10).

By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns (2 of 10): This bark can save your life!

cinchona.jpg

One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it creates nouns by combining two simple nouns. These are called ‘compound nouns’.

For example, in Chinese, an ambulance is called: ‘help-protect-car’ (‘jo-hu-chir’). It is indeed a car which helps and protects. That’s exactly what it is, so the name is perfectly logical. But in English, we say ‘ambulance’. But English does have many compound nouns – just not as many as in Chinese. So, let’s practise some them.

A B
credit glasses
table ring
T meter
ear tennis
sun aid
parking crossing
first card
pedestrian shirt

In the first post, I asked where the drug ‘quinine’ comes from. The answer is it comes from the bark of the cinchona tree. [See the above picture]. This bark provided the first cure to the horrible disease: malaria – which had killed millions of people. So, there you go. ‘Tree-skin’ … er … sorry, that’s ‘Chinese English’ ….. I mean …. ‘bark’ …. is not as useless as you think.

Here’s another general knowledge question. There is a spice called ‘cinnamon’ – the stuff you sometimes sprinkle on the top of your coffee – but where does it come from?

I’ll give you all the answers in the next post. By the way, you can find out more about me at www.aisielts.com .

Compound Nouns (1 of 10): Introduction

tree bark.jpg

In the previous 10 posts, I looked at stative verbs – that is, a grammar-based aspect of the English language. Now, let’s move on to vocabulary – but I’d like to look at nouns – specifically, compound nouns.

The first question you may have is … what’s a compound noun? A compound noun takes the form ….

(n) + (n)

…. where the first noun functions as an adjective. For example,

computer virus.

The word ‘computer’ is certainly a noun; so is the word ‘virus’; but computer here is actually an adjective, meaning, ‘about computers’. Similarly, we say …

computer program

computer component

computer language

computer expert

computer studies

computer development

… and others – in fact, so many terms that you might think the noun ‘computer’ is more often used as an adjective.

One of the aspects of the Chinese language which I really like is the way it logically creates such compound nouns. For example, in Chinese, the word for what you can see in the above picture is …

tree skin (‘shu-pi’).

It is indeed the skin of a tree. That’s exactly what it is, so the name is perfectly logical. But in English, we don’t say ‘tree skin’. We say ‘bark’ or ‘tree bark’. Why? I don’t know. We just have that word.

But don’t be misled. English has many compound nouns – just not as many as in Chinese. Compound nouns make up a huge amount of vocabulary in English, so in the next nine posts, we will be learning and practising them.

I’ll end with a general knowledge question. The drug used against the disease malaria is called ‘quinine’, but where does it come from? I’ll give you the answer in the next post.