Are you thinking about attending university in the U.S.? CISL offers students the Academic Year Abroad Program, where students first attend CISL classes and perfect their English before taking one semester of classes at community college, and Academic Pathways, where students attend college or university directly after CISL (without taking the TOEFL). After this...
English uses two important punctuation marks: the colon and the semicolon. colon : semicolon ; What’s the difference, and when do we use them? Read on to find out information on using the colon and semicolon in English. Using the Colon and Semicolon in English COLON : Use 1: Headings and Descriptive Titles Examples: “Punctuation...
Spring is here! As we move into the warmer months, we are taking a look at expressions that use the word MARCH. These are excellent expressions to use when describing people, so take note of their use and try to incorporate them into an upcoming Cambridge FCE or CAE exam, your IELTS exam, or TOEFL...
Life changed with the invention of technology like the internet and smartphones, but what many do not realize is that language also changed as a result! The development of new technologies means that we are always adding new words to our language: at times, the spelling, capitalization, and correct grammatical usage are points of confusion for...
The business world is full of idioms, expressions, and metaphors. Some are quite useful, but others have become so overused that they have lost their meaning and are now considered by many to be cliché. If you are working in an English business environment, you will probably hear the vocabulary below; therefore, it is important...
This year, we have an extra day in February . . . but with just 29 days in total, February is still the shortest month of the year. In honor of this exceptionally short month, we are looking at some business related idioms in English. Idioms with “short” to come up short Definition: to be deficient;...
It’s Phrasal Verb February! To “celebrate,” we are taking a look at three-word phrasal verbs that are commonly used in English. What is a three-word phrasal verb? To understand, we must first look at “regular” (two-word) phrasal verbs. Phrasal verbs most often follow this construction: verb + particle Examples: I decided to take up surfing while...
January is coming to an end, but we are still thinking about beginnings: specifically, the beginnings of words, and how we begin our days while living and studying English in beautiful San Diego. Learn all about prefixes, and enjoy our suggestions for ways to begin your day while studying at CISL! What is a prefix,...
Downtown San Diego is known for its beautiful Coronado and Bay views, gorgeous Petco Park, (home of the Padres baseball team: go Pads!), its exciting Gaslamp District filled with restaurants and bars, and . . . the library. The library? Well, San Diego’s new central library might not be something that the city is “known”...
Phrasal verbs: they’re everywhere! These pesky verb + participle combinations find their way into everything . . . even business correspondence. Prepare yourself for the business world with these phrasal verbs that are commonly used before, during, and after meetings. Business English Phrasal Verbs for Meetings Note: some of these phrasal verbs have several meanings....
