In the last post, I looked at words in the form ‘self-…..’ – for example, ‘self-centered. That little line ‘-’ in the middle of the word is called a ‘hyphen’, and joins two words into one bigger one – that is, the words are ‘hyphenated’. In the case of ‘self-centred’, you could also call it a ‘compound adjective’.

These ‘self’ words are, in fact, most often used as adjectives. Below is a list of 10 of the more common ‘self’ words. Are they good (G) or bad (B) in meaning?

Adjectives

1 Self-pitying

2 Self-loathing

3 Self-serving

4 Self-destructive

5 Self-aware

6 Self-disciplined

7 Self-taught

8 Self-controlled

9 Self-reliant

10 Self-indulgent

Match the above words with the descriptions below. Put a number beside each sentence.

This person does things that only help him/her-self.

This person does stupid things which hurt him/her-self.

This person knows about their inner person.

This person taught themselves all their skills.

This person feels sorry for him/her-self.

This person hates him/her-self.

This person can just do things by themselves.

This person is not distracted, and can work hard.

This person can’t control themselves, and gives in to pleasure and excess.

This person is able to hold back their emotion.

The answers are: 3(B), 4(B), 5(G), 7(G), 1(B), 2(B), 9(G), 6(G), 10(B), & 8(G).

Speaking

Can you describe yourself, your family, or any of your friends with the adjectives? Give examples to prove it.

By the way. See the picture at the top. That’s a young man taking a drug, heroin. Which of the adjectives, 1–10, best describes him?

In the last post, I looked at the English verbs ‘do’ and ‘make’, and the idea of collocation (= putting the right words together). Let’s change the topic to some vocabulary work.

English has hundreds of words in the form ‘self-…..’. For example: self-centred. A self-centred person thinks the whole world turns around them. I would say many of the current protestors pulling down statues in America are just like that: stupid people trying to be the centre of something, believing that their views must be right, and therefore they have a right to cause destruction.

By the way, that little line ‘-’ in the middle of the adjective is called a ‘hyphen’, and joins two words into one bigger one.

These ‘self’ words are most often used as adjectives. Below is a list of 10 of the most common ‘self’ words. Are they good (G), bad (B) or neutral (–) in meaning?

Adjectives                  

1 Self-important

2 Self-confident            

3 Self-conscious                

4 Self-employed               

5 Selfish

6 Self-made (man)

7 Self-governing   

8 Self-addressed

9 Self-confessed

10 Selfless

Match the above words with the descriptions below. Put a number beside each sentence.

This person is shy and easily embarrassed.

This person built his own business.

This thing has your own address on it.

This person always tries to help others.

This person thinks he/she is better than everyone else.

This person runs his own business.

This person readily admitted to his crime/problem.

This country is independent.

This person is very outgoing.

This person only cares about him/her-self.

The answers are: 3(B), 6(G), 8(–), 10(G), 1(B), 4(G), 9(B), 7(G), 2(G), & 5(B).

Speaking

Can you describe yourself, your family, or any of your friends with the adjectives? Give examples to prove it.

By the way. See the picture at the top. Which of the adjectives, 1–10, best describes that dog?

In the last post, I looked at the English verbs ‘do’ and ‘make’. Say in Chinese:

‘do something’

‘make a cake’

… and you will notice you are using the same verb (sounding a bit like ‘dwoor’). Yet in English there are two verbs.

The difference between do and make is hard to explain, so let’s continue with the second post about these verbs. Remember, knowing which of these goes with the following noun shows ‘a sense of ‘collocation’ – and this phrase is mentioned in the IELTS Band Descriptors (public version) for both Speaking and Writing under Band Score 7!

So, once again, here’s some more practice with these two verbs. Try working which of the following 10 nouns goes after ‘do’ or ‘make’.

Do we do or make …

1 some work?

2 a lot of money?

3 something / anything important?

4 up your mind about sth. [..ie.. decide]?

5 a tiring activity?

6 your bed?

7 some progress in your career?

8 a difficult task?

9 a service for someone?

10 a phone call?

The answers are:

do is for 1, 3, 5, 8, & 9;

make is for 2, 4, 6, 7, & 10.

And now, try to do some speaking. Ask yourself (or someone else) the following 10 questions:

When did you last do/make 1–10?    

Answer

I last did/made 1–10 … [when?] …          

… or …

I have never done/made 1–10 because … [Reason] …           

By the way. See the picture at the top. I made that cake for you, but I want you to do me a favour in return, okay?

In the last post, I looked at (what I call) a ‘Chinglish’ Verb.

So, what’s a Chinglish Verb? It’s a verb in Chinese which has two verbs in English. Yes, English often makes it complicated by having two verbs for something which in Chinese is just one verb. This leads to ‘Chinglish’ mistakes.

Now, let’s look at:    do     &      make.

In Chinese, a single verb (sounding like ‘dwoor’) is often used. Say in Chinese:

‘do something; make a cake’

… and you will notice that you are using the same verb (‘dwoor’) for both nouns/objects.

The difference between ‘do’ and ‘make’ is hard to explain. This is why a sense of ‘collocation’ is important – that is, just knowing which of these verbs is used with specific nouns/objects. The term ‘sense of collocation’ is mentioned in the IELTS Band Descriptors (public version) for both Speaking and Writing under Band Score 7!

Try working which of the following 10 nouns goes after ‘do’ or ‘make’.

Do we do or make …

1 homework?

2 a big decision?

3 a meal?

4 a mess?     

5 research?

6 a noise?

7 the housework?   

8 a mistake?

9 (someone) a favour?

10 the shopping?

The answers are:

do is for 1, 5, 7, 9, & 10;

make is for 2–4, 6, & 8.

And now, try to do some speaking. Ask yourself (or someone else) the following 10 questions:

When did you last do/make 1–10?                        

Answer

I last did/made 1–10 … [when?] …          

… or …

I have never done/made 1–10 because … [Reason] …

By the way. Look at the top picture. They are making a meal for you, but you have to do the cleaning afterwards, okay?

In the last post, I looked at (what I call) a ‘Chinglish’ Verb.

So, what’s a Chinglish Verb? It’s a verb in Chinese which has two verbs in English. Yes, English often makes it complicated by having two verbs for something which in Chinese is just one verb. This leads to ‘Chinglish’ mistakes.

Now, let’s look at:    live     &   stay.

In Chinese, a single verb (sounding like ‘ju’) is used. In class, I often hear incorrect (‘Chinglish’) sentences such as:

1. I lived in the hospital for three days.

2. They stayed in New York for five years.

Live suggests a long time. We live in a town, city, and a nice apartment for many years.

Stay suggests a short time. We stay in a hospital, a hotel, and a friend’s house for the night.

So, look at the picture at the top. Maybe you could stay in this house for one night, but would you want to live there for five years?

Got it?

In the last post, I looked at (what I call) a ‘Chinglish Verb’. So, what’s a Chinglish Verb? It’s a verb in Chinese which has two verbs in English. Yes, English often makes it complicated by having two verbs for something which in Chinese is just one verb. This leads to ‘Chinglish’ mistakes.

Now, let’s look at:     understand    &    realise.

In Chinese, a single verb (sounding like ‘li-ow jie’) is used. In class, I often hear incorrect (‘Chinglish’) sentences such as:

1. I can never realise what they mean.

2. The teacher tried hard to make us realise.

3. I didn’t understand how upset she was.

Understand means ‘get it’ or ‘know’ or ‘perceive’, and often about thinking.

We need to better understand human nature

I don’t understand why you did that.

Realise means ‘to be aware of’, and is often about feeling.

She didn’t realise she was breaking a rule.

We realised we were in the wrong place.

Sometimes both verbs can be used – but often one of them is better, or more natural, than the other. One final word: the Americans spell ‘realise’ as ‘realize’.

So, look at the picture at the top. You probably realised this is Mount Fuji, Japan, but do you understand Japanese?

Got it?

In the last few posts, I’ve looked at some tricky pairs of words. I’ll continue to do this, but now I’ll look at the ones which are two verbs in English, but one verb in Chinese. Yes, English often makes it complicated by having two verbs for something which in Chinese is just one verb. This often leads to ‘Chinglish’ mistakes. Now, let’s look at:

… make [st.] [verb] & … let [sth.] [verb].

In Chinese, a single verb (sounding like ‘rung’) is used. In class, I often hear incorrect (‘Chinglish’) sentences such as:

1. This can let countries become a mess.

2. The teacher makes us relax in class.

3. The girl let the man fall in love with her.

In the structure, let means ‘permit’ or ‘allow’, and is sort of nice. Make means ‘force’ or ‘compel’, and is often not so nice. English makes that difference.

So, look at the picture at the top. If you ran over to those birds, then you would make them fly away. But if you did nothing, then you let them eat in peace.

Got it?

In the last three posts, I looked at tricky pairs of verbs: to irritate/aggravate, to lend/borrow, and to imply/infer. Now, I will do this again, but with some adjectives. Here’s a very tricky pair:

historic   &     historical.

There IS a difference, but (again) even native speakers of English might not know it. Which adjective – historic or historical – goes in the following gaps.

1. To know more about my dead grandfather, I need to do some _______ research.

2. If President Trump visits Taiwan, it will be a _______ visit.

3. The day the President arrives will be a _______ occasion.

4. Maybe I need to check the _______ records in the museum.

5. That castle is a _______ site.

6. My mother liked reading _______-romance novels.

7. If Taiwan beats China in table tennis, it will be a _______ victory.

8. Which _______ period interests you the most?

The answers are:

…. historic goes in 2, 3, 5, 7. This word means ‘is important in history; will be remembered’.

…. historical goes in 1, 4, 6, 8. This words just means ‘about history; related to history’.

So, look at the picture at the top. It shows a famous construction from the past, but is it a historic site, or a historical site? Well, following the above rules, you would probably say historic, but it is also a site related to history, meaning you could say historical. But historic is the best answer.

By the way, recently I was at a train station, and I saw a big sign for the tourists, which said, ‘Visit the historical Lai Family Residence‘, and I thought, ‘A ha, that’s not correct.’ Now you know why, right?

In my last post, I wrote about the verbs to ‘lend’ and to ‘borrow’. These aren’t too hard (yet people still make mistakes with them). But here’s a harder couple of verbs: to ‘imply’ and ‘infer’. As with lend and borrow, these verbs have direction involved in them.

Let’s say that one of the dogs in the above picture is speaking aloud to a crowd of animals, which includes some big cats (e.g. lions). The dog up front says,

‘The average cat works for himself, whereas us dogs fully understand the importance of teamwork.’

One of the big cats in the audience might immediately think, ‘Hey, us lions cooperate when we hunt; we know all about teamwork.’ So,this cat says to this dog up front,

‘Are you implying that I, as a cat, can’t understand teamwork?’

The dog could answer,

‘I wasn’t implying anything. You were simply inferring the wrong message.’

Get it? The speaker implies (that is, suggests something without stating it outright). The listener infers (that is, imagines there is a hint or hidden meaning). As my example shows, it is possible for a listener (or reader) to infer something that was not implied by the speaker (or writer). Also, the noun ‘implication’ is quite common. So, that dog up front might have finished politely by saying,

‘Please don’t infer anything negative about this. There was no implication intended. I am well aware that you, Mr Big Cat, fully understand teamwork.’

Mr Big Cat feels a lot better now, right?

The title to this post is a famous line from Shakespeare’s play: Julius Caesar. The Roman leader, Julius Caesar, is murdered (as shown in the above picture), and afterwards Mark Antony tries to speak to the angry crowd, beginning with these famous words. But it reminds me of a problem I often hear in class regarding: to lend and to borrow something (usually money).

Students often mix these words up, making wrong sentences such as:

• He lent the money from the bank.
• I can borrow it to you, if you want.
• Can I lend some money?

The trouble is that, in Chinese, you basically say the same for both: ‘jie chen’. In English, however, I …

lend the money [to you].

And you …

borrow the money [from me].

By the way, ‘loan’ is the noun from the verb, ‘to lend’. So, when you borrow money from the bank, you are getting a loan. Finally, you must ‘pay back’ or ‘return’ the money.

So, when Mark Antony asks the people to lend their ears to him, it means he wants to borrow their ears, which is just an interesting way of saying: ‘Everyone, listen to me!’ Got it?

I was reading the online news today, when I came across the following sentence.

‘The fact that Floyd was in handcuffs aggravates the circumstances.’

This sentence made me think about the difference between: ‘irritate’ and ‘aggravate’. The second word is used correctly in the above sentence, but many native speakers of English often mix up these words, using them interchangeably. Look at the above picture of the cat. Does this animal look ‘irritated’ or ‘aggravated’? Answer: it looks irritated. ‘Irritate’ means to cause a bad reaction, to disturb, to annoy. ‘Aggravate’ means to make something worse. So, for example, you …

• aggravate the situation, the problem, or the injury
• irritate somebody by talking too loudly.

But here is a comment I read from ‘dictionary.com’.

If you use aggravate to mean ‘annoy’, no one will notice. That battle has been lost in all but the most formal writing. 

Yes, sadly, as I said before, many native speakers don’t seem to realise the difference between these words. However, you could show your knowledge, education, and intelligence by using them correctly, right?

English spelling can be strange. Even if it is logical, there can be differences for no clear reason. I mean, if the plural of ‘mouse’ [see above picture] is ‘mice’, why isn’t the plural of ‘house’, ‘hice’? The plural is actually ‘houses’, but why? Answer: that’s just the way it is.

Speaking of mice (and their bigger relatives, rats) reminds me of another spelling difference which has always confused me. Consider the adjectives in the following two sentences.

He is a desperate criminal.

It’s a separate issue.

Do you notice the difference in the spelling? There a ‘e’ in the middle of the first adjective, and an ‘a’ in the second, but why? Answer: that’s just the way it is.

How do you remember the difference? Well, I always think, …. ‘sepArate the rAt.’ This is called a ‘mnemonic’ = a pattern of letters, words, or ideas to help people remember things.

But do you understand it? When you want to spell the word ‘separate’ (either as an adjective [a separate issue], or a verb [to separate things]), think ‘separate the rat’, and notice that ‘rat’ has an ‘a’ in the middle, and thus so does the word ‘separate’.

I hope this mnemonic helps.

Andrew老師資歷簡介：（證明文件http:// aisielts.com/about-om/about/ my-credentials/）

1. 澳洲墨爾本皇家理工學院教育學碩士

2. 擁有英國劍橋大學英語教學證書及文憑（1993）

3. 擁有英國劍橋大學英語教師訓練資格（2005）， 臺灣唯一的教師訓練師

4. 1993年開始擔任英語教師，27年的雅思考試預備課程授課經驗，台灣最資深的雅思現任考官 (22年)

   任教過的國家有澳洲、委內瑞拉、泰國、韓國及臺灣

5. 曾任教於澳洲Monash大學語言中心與IELTS測驗研習中心

6. 出版6本雅思著作（Practical IELTS Strategies系列-說、讀、寫作一、寫作二、 模擬試題書Book1&2）

7.另外著有Promise Me, Promise Me和A Saharan Jaunt二本書

* Andrew老師在台灣曾經任教於輔仁大學、 長庚大學、長庚技術學院和私立奎山實驗高級中學。

1.平日雅思寫作和聽力課程 

上課時間 ~ 每週一三五晚上7–10：15 pm 

授課日期 ~ 8月31日至10月2日

課程時數 ~ 至少49個小時 ( 一堂課3hrs15mins共15堂課 )

學費 ~ 17500元 ( 每小時均價357元 + 兩本上課用書600元 )

2.平日雅思閱讀和口說課程

上課時間 ~ 每週二四晚上7–10：15 pm

授課日期 ~ 8月11日至9月10日 ( 可插班 )

課程時數 ~ 至少33個小時 ( 一堂課3hrs15mins共10堂課 )  

學費 ~ 11000元 ( 每小時均價333元 + 兩本上課用書600元 )

Hello everyone.

The first question you may want to ask is … why is there a picture of a butterfly above? Well, no reason. It’s just a pretty picture for you! Why can’t I do that?

But notice how every detail of that butterfly fits together to make a beautiful object. You should appreciate the beauty of all that detail. In a way, that’s how an IELTS essay should be like: every word fitting together to make a piece of word with a clear message.

And that comment leads to …

Point One

… which is a reminder about the coming IELTS Course [and I’ll put it in Chinese to make it clearer].

思考看看自己有沒有意願參加接下來將於[Term 6] 7 月展開的一系列課程。快點加入吧! 

下一期課程有週間班

• IELTS Writing & Listening Course [MWF]  (週一三五: 晚上7–10:15 pm) [開課 July 6^th – August 7^th].
• IELTS Reading & Speaking Course [MWF]  (週二四: 晚上7–10:15 pm) [開課 July 7^th – August 6^th].

Sunday IELTS Skills Course  (Sun: 晚上9.30 am –5:15 pm) [開課 July 19^th – October 4^th].

So, that’s it. Oh, there’s one more thing.

天天提供免費試聽!

Yes, you can book to observe a class any time [and this is FREE]. This includes the first class of all the above courses. So, why don’t you come along just to watch the first class, then you can make the decision to join later, right. Remember, as we say in English, seeing is believing.

By the way:

• we have very small classes,
• we have a big room,
• I disinfect the table tops every day,
• I take everyone’s temperature before class,
• Everyone must wash their hands before class.

… so don’t worry about Covid 19. So, see you in my class this coming Monday – your first step to IELTS success.

Click on www.aisielts.com for more details, or go to the Contacts page.

Now, here’s …

Point Two

which is about a new service: the IELTS Correction Service , where I bring all my skills conveniently to your computer through …

1. online correction of IELTS Writings (Task One & Two),
2. practice IELTS Speaking Tests (via skype), with feedback.

Instead of explaining it all here, why don’t you just click on the above link to find out the details.

What do you think about the video above?

Statues are actually very easy to topple. Remember, they weren’t built to withstand lateral (= sideways) force. Statues stand upright, held down largely by their own weight. So, just climb up, put a rope around the top part, then all you need is a few people to pull on the rope, and the statue comes crashing down.

It’s happening all over America, and in other countries, too. Here’s a few questions for you.

1. Do you think the people in this video are intelligent, or acting intelligently?
2. Do you think they really care about ‘social justice’ or ‘black lives matter’?
3. Did you understand their chants – that is, the words they were chanting?
4. Do these chants reveal anything about them?
5. Did you notice what they did afterward to the statue?
6. Do you think there might be some people who do not want the statue pulled down (and what would happen if these people tried to say anything)?
7. Why aren’t the police trying to stop this?
8. How should society deal with statues which some people might not like?

Here are some answers (as I see it, of course).

[Question 1] These people are a mob, driven by mob instinct, and there is nothing intelligent in that. Mobs are, in fact, extremely dangerous. They are a huge unthinking group, in which no single individual takes responsibility for their own acts, and everyone is freed from the burden of thinking for themselves. This means that they can be led to do anything. Be very careful when facing a mob.

[2] The idea of ‘social justice’ and ‘black lives matter’ are good and true in the literal sense (= the dictionary meaning of the words); however, these concepts have transformed beyond this literal meaning. It has become a political cult, driven by destruction and hate (and not by intelligent thought).

[3] Here are the chants.

“We, we, we, are the revolution.”

“No cops, no KKK, no fascist USA.”

[4] These chants reveal a lot. Chanting an agreed set of words (= a ‘mantra’) helps the people who chant unite and bond as a cult/mob-members. The chants demand ‘revolution’, no police, and the desire to remake American society, which they call ‘fascist’. ‘Fascist’ (adj) means ….

putting nation and often race above the individual, headed by a dictator, who strictly controls society, and suppresses and kills anyone against them

So, does that describes America? Hmmm. I thought it was a democracy, with a constitution, laws, an election coming soon, and that there are state elections, local elections, and individual representation, and so on.

But the answer to Question 5 reveals a lot. The mob moved in on the broken statue, spitting on it, kicking it, and jumping on it. But, it’s just a lump of metal, you know? But that lump of metal has become the symbolic enemy. Cults need enemies, and these enemies needs to be not just destroyed, but also ritually humiliated. And that is what you see. Ritual humiliation of the symbolic enemy.

As for Question 6 & 7, there may be some who don’t want the statue pulled down, but remember what I said: mobs are extremely dangerous, so those who disagree won’t dare say anything, and for the same reason, the police have just given up. The mob is too large, and the cult (nurtured for years in universities and social media) is just too strong.

Finally, Question 8. If there is a statue which some do not like, they can organise into a group, inform local government of their views, state their aims, gather support from the media and other members of the public, and follow the rule of law.

Remember, bricks and broken glass eventually have to be picked up; graffiti has to be removed; windows and gutted buildings need to be rebuilt; goods and services need to be re-established. Society as a whole pays a price when mobs take over, and the instincts to riot and destroy are let loose. But that is a thinking response, and mobs don’t think.

Here are some of the words used in this post.

• a statue
• to topple
• lateral
• a chant
• a burden
• to be literal
• a mantra
• a cult
• to be fascist
• to suppress
• a symbol // to be symbolic
• a ritual // ritually
• to nurture
• graffiti
• to be gutted

You hear a lot in America now about the ‘first amendment right’. People have this right in America. It’s written in legal documents. You hear people shout words such as,

“We are just exercising our first amendment right!”

“The government is violating our first amendment right!”

“You can’t stop us. This is our first amendment right!”

So, what is this ‘first amendment right’? Well, it goes something like this.

“[Government] shall make no law … [denying] the freedom of speech ….. or the right of the people peaceably to assemble … to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

There are many fancy words there, and I underlined two key terms. But what does all this mean in simpler terms? It basically means, as long as you are being peaceful, you have the right to march, protest, shout, and … well, make a nuisance of yourself in public to support your beliefs.

Hmmm. That’s very idealistic, and we do not live in an ideal world. For example, the American government enforced a ‘lockdown’ on society for three months, forcing everyone there to stay at home, and socially distance themselves. This obviously broke the first amendment right – but it was supposedly for the public good (despite the fact that it destroyed the jobs and income of tens of millions of Americans). Eventually some people protested, claiming the lockdown went against the first amendment right. These people were attacked, but now we have this enormous ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) protests, which have totally ignored the lockdown, and have been encouraged by politicians and medical professions to do so, demonstrating an incredible hypocrisy, that sort of makes everyone look stupid. Well, it’s complicated, right?

But what about when the police move in on protestors? Doesn’t that break the first amendment right? The key is the term ‘peaceable/peaceful’. What is peaceful? The video above shows a peaceful protest, and the police simply faced off the protestors, and it all went fine. The protestors even respected the curfew. Wow, that was a nice protest.

But then you see the ‘peaceful protest turns ugly’ videos, or the ones where it’s hard to know exactly what’s going on. Is being ‘threatening’ considered being ‘peaceful’ or ‘non-peaceful’? It’s complicated.

Now let us consider those other words in the first amendment right: ‘freedom of speech’. Does America really have that right now? If anyone criticises the BLM movement or the protests in general, social-media players move into action, employers are contacted, and those who spoke freely are fired from their jobs, ostracised, and destroyed (as evil disgusting racists). There is no ‘freedom of speech’; there is only compelled speech. Yep, it’s complicated.

In the past, when we couldn’t explain something, we said it was caused by God. “How did we get here? Hmmm, God made us!” Today, in the current climate, when we can’t explain racial disparities in America, the BLM people say it is caused by white supremacy and racial oppression. “Why do so many blacks drop out of high school? Hmmm, it must be racism!”

The trouble is, if there is only one allowable explanation, there is no freedom of speech. More importantly, there is no freedom of action, and no one can make a real analysis, truly understand, or ever hope to solve, the original problems.

Yes, the ‘right to protest’ is in the first amendment, but so is ‘freedom of speech’ – and the second part is so important, and we are losing it right now.

It’s complicated, right?

Here are some of the words used in this post.

• to violate
• to assemble
• to petition
• a redress
• a grievance
• to be idealistic
• hypocrisy
• a curfew
• to ostracise
• to be compelled
• a disparity
• supremacy
• oppression