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Pray or prey: worship, hope, hunting, and spelling
Before the hikers left, they prayed for clear weather. Near the lake, they watched an osprey carry prey to its nest. The words sound alike, but one is an action and the other names a target or hunted animal.
Open lessonPreposition collocations
A learner may know the words responsible and mistake, yet still need the small word for in responsible for a task and mistake in a report. In these common patterns, the preposition belongs with the surrounding word.
Open lessonPresent perfect continuous exercise: duration and recent activity
Your colleague arrives with paint on her hands and says, "I have been decorating the meeting room." She is describing a recent activity and its visible result. She is not simply reporting that the room is decorated.
Open lessonPresent perfect continuous: duration, recent activity, and now
You arrive late and say, "I have been waiting for the delayed bus for forty minutes." You started waiting before this moment, and the wait still matters now. The present perfect continuous lets you connect that earlier start to the present.
Open lessonPretentious meaning: trying too hard to impress
A simple message can sound unfriendly when it uses grand words for an ordinary idea. Pretentious is the word for that kind of effort to impress.
Open lessonProceed vs precede: order and meaning
After the safety check, the crew may proceed to the next task. The safety check precedes the task because it happens first. The words look similar, but they describe opposite directions in an order.
Open lessonProcrastination meaning: putting a task off
You know the report is due on Friday, yet on Thursday evening you are still arranging your desk. That kind of unnecessary delay is procrastination.
Open lessonProcurement meaning: buying for an organization
A cafe needs coffee beans, cups, a card reader, and cleaning supplies. Someone has to decide what to buy, compare suppliers, agree terms, and place the orders. In a business, that work is called procurement.
Open lessonProtagonist: meaning in stories and arguments
In a story, the protagonist is a main character whose actions drive events.
Open lessonProvided that and as long as
You can borrow my car as long as you bring it back by six. The speaker agrees, but only if one condition is met.
Open lessonPrudent meaning: careful choices for the future
You may be able to spend all your money today, but keeping some for an unexpected bill is the more prudent choice.
Open lessonPut a sock in it: meaning, tone, and alternatives
One person keeps talking while others are trying to work. Someone says, 'Put a sock in it.' The phrase means 'stop talking,' but it can sound rude.
Open lessonRead between the lines: meaning and use in English
A manager writes, 'We will discuss your proposal later.' The message does not say whether the proposal is accepted or rejected. If you read between the lines, you look at the wording and the situation for a possible unstated meaning. You still cannot treat that possible meaning as a confirmed fact.
Open lessonReconciliation: meanings and examples
After a long argument, two friends may want to speak again. At work, a finance team may compare two sets of figures. Both situations can involve reconciliation, but the clues tell you which meaning is intended.
Open lessonReduced relative clauses
A notice says, Passengers arriving after 9 p.m. should use the side entrance. The longer version is passengers who arrive after 9 p.m. Reduced relative clauses let a writer keep the important detail while making the noun phrase more compact.
Open lessonReference words: avoid repetition clearly
A report can sound heavy when it repeats the same noun in every sentence. Reference words give the writer a shorter option. They work only when the reader can still identify the person, thing, or idea without stopping to guess.
Open lessonRegister and formality in English
The words in an email can be grammatically correct and still sound wrong for the situation. A note to a close colleague can be brief and relaxed. A request to an unfamiliar manager usually needs more distance and care.
Open lessonReported questions: change word order and tense
A colleague asks, "Where is the training room?" Later, you can report the question: "She asked where the training room was." The question word stays, but the word order changes.
Open lessonRhetoric meaning: persuasive language or empty promises?
A speech can persuade people with ideas, stories, and carefully chosen words. Rhetoric names that use of language. It can also be a criticism when the words sound strong but no plan follows.
Open lessonRhetorical questions: understand purpose and tone
After a teammate misses another deadline, Priya says, ‘How many reminders do we need?’ She is unlikely to count the reminders. Her question shows that there have already been too many.
Open lessonSacrosanct: meaning, tone, and examples in English
A committee may call its safety rules sacrosanct. It means the committee treats those rules as protected from change or interference, not that every reader must agree with the decision.
Open lessonSanguine: meaning, tone, and examples in English
The project is behind schedule, but Noor is still sanguine about meeting the deadline. She is not saying that success is guaranteed. She is expressing a calm, confident hope that the team can still finish the work.
Open lessonSarcastic meaning: sharp words that mean the opposite
Your train is late for the third day in a row. Someone says, "Perfect timing." The words sound positive, but the speaker means the opposite. That comment is sarcastic.
Open lessonSatire: meaning, tone, and examples in English
A newspaper article may pretend that a city needs a hundred more parking lots to solve every problem. If the writer clearly means the opposite in order to criticize car-centered planning, the article is satire.
Open lessonWhat you will find here
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