Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Demonstrations in Egypt
Read and listen in VOA's Special English section to learn about the big protests in Egypt against their leader.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Stress Patterns in Pronunciation
"There is no single position where the primary stress of a word can be expected to fall in English," according to A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language.
The stress can fall anywhere from the first syllable, as in fam i ly,
to the sixth syllable, as in in dus tri al i za tion.
However, there are a few generalizations that we can use.
1. All abstract nouns ending in -ion are stressed on the syllable preceding this ending:
counteraction suspicion adoration exhaustion globalization
2. The stress falls on the last syllable before nominal -ity:
curiosity unanimity
3. The stress also falls on the last syllable before the nominal and adjectival suffix -ian:
librarian Asian gramarian
Of course, you can always use your dictionary to look up the position of the stress.
The problem is that you do not have time in conversation to either apply the few generalizations (above) or to look up the words in your dictionary. Therefore, I think that the best way to improve your use of stress is to listen to lots of English, trying to include both the conversational English of movies and TV, and the more academic English from sites like Voice of America.
The stress can fall anywhere from the first syllable, as in fam i ly,
to the sixth syllable, as in in dus tri al i za tion.
However, there are a few generalizations that we can use.
1. All abstract nouns ending in -ion are stressed on the syllable preceding this ending:
counteraction suspicion adoration exhaustion globalization
2. The stress falls on the last syllable before nominal -ity:
curiosity unanimity
3. The stress also falls on the last syllable before the nominal and adjectival suffix -ian:
librarian Asian gramarian
Of course, you can always use your dictionary to look up the position of the stress.
The problem is that you do not have time in conversation to either apply the few generalizations (above) or to look up the words in your dictionary. Therefore, I think that the best way to improve your use of stress is to listen to lots of English, trying to include both the conversational English of movies and TV, and the more academic English from sites like Voice of America.
Monday, November 19, 2012
Thanksgiving
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The Future of Energy in the United States
By 2020 the largest oil producer in the world is expected to be the United States, not Saudi Arabia. Read about it here.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
More about Sharbat Gula
An interactive presentation can be found here on the internet. Follow the story of the girl from Afghanistan.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Survival in the Andes: Revisited
Read and see the photos of the 2005 expedition when three people walked the escape route of Nando and Roberto in 1972.
For Silvio
Read this article to get some ideas for your paragraph comparing diesel trucks and LNG trucks.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Little Saigon in the newspaper
Read about Westminster's Little Saigon and other Little Saigons around the United States.
Friday, November 2, 2012
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