Today we are looking at phrasal verbs that inspire us to continue something . . . even when we want to stop. To do so, we are using three phrasal verbs that mean “continue”: keep on, carry on, and go on. Use these to inspire yourself or your friends to keep on when they lose...
Tag: <span>ESL</span>
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Tips for improving your English conversation skills (plus some hilarious cheesy pick up lines!)
It is a situation most CISL students have experienced while living in San Diego or San Francisco: you go out to a great restaurant, beach, park, or bar. You see someone who looks interesting/attractive. You want to strike up a conversation with this person, but you stop. You remember that one tiny thing stands between...
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English Tense 2 of 12: The Present Continuous
The students in the above photo are playing volleyball. It is time for the second of 12 lessons on the 12 English tenses! Have you checked out last month’s lesson on the Simple Present? You might be surprised to find a new use of the Simple Present that you didn’t know before! July’s tense is...
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“Awesome” synonyms for awesome
We know. Life in California is awesome. The beaches? Awesome. The friendly people? Awesome. The weekend trips to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Lake Tahoe, Julian, Santa Barbara? Awesome. And, of course, living in San Diego or San Francisco while studying English at CISL is AWESOME. What’s not awesome? Not having enough words to describe these...
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Lesson of the Month – May 2011: Useful Idiomatic Expressions
VOCABULARY: IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS This month we have five pairs of idiomatic expressions – and, to make it interesting, they are pairs of opposites: 1. MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT = Very often, frequently. My sister complains that her husband talks about sports morning, noon and night. 2. ONCE IN A BLUE MOON = Almost never, very...
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Word of the Day – Cognate
The Word of the Day is: cognate • \KAHG-nayt\ • adjective 1 : of the same or similar nature 2 : related; especially : related by descent from the same ancestral language Example Sentence: Sean is a professor of astronomy whose background includes extensive work in the cognate fields of mathematics and physics.
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Monthly Grammar Lesson: Using “To Wish”
Let’s examine how to use the verb “to wish” in English! Let’s start off with the easy part. ‘ I wish to’ can mean the same as ‘I want to’ but it is much, much more formal and much, much less common. I wish to make a complaint. I wish to see the manager. You...