Handy Phrases 3!

In this post I prepared some words and phrases that you can use them in your writing instead of “To get money or possessions from someone dishonestly”

But how?

When you write an essay about a relationship and you want to use the world “Cheat” in three parts, in one case you can use cheat, in the second part you can use swindle and …

See how it’s easy and your writing would seem to be more skillful.

“To get money or possessions from someone dishonestly”

Cheat

Examples:

He doesn’t trust car mechanics – he thinks they’re all trying to cheat him.  Cheat somebody out of something She says she was cheated out of $10,000 she paid to a modeling agency.

Swindle: to get money from a person or organization by cheating them, especially using clever and complicated methods

Examples:

He was jailed in 1992 for attempting to swindle the insurance company he worked for.  Swindle somebody out of something Investors have been swindled out of millions of pound.

Con: To persuade someone to buy something or to give you money by telling them lies

Examples:

By the time she realized she had been conned, she had lost more than $3000.  Con somebody out of something A man pretending to be a faith healer has conned around $20,000 out of desperate sick people. Con somebody into doing something She was too embarrassed to admit that they had conned her into buying 100 acres of worthless land.

Fiddle: to give false information or make dishonest changes to financial records, in order to get money or avoid paying money

Examples:

My boss thinks I’ve been fiddling my travel expenses.  Fiddle the books/ fiddle the accounts (= change a company’s financial records) The company secretary has been fiddling the books for years.

Defraud: to get money from a company or organization, especially a very large one, by deceiving it.

Examples:

Defraud somebody (out) of something  Between them they defrauded the company out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Trick somebody out of: to get money or possessions from someone, by tricking or deceiving them

Example:

Megan was tricked out of her life savings by a smooth-talking handsome man who had promised to marry her.

Do somebody out of: To cheat someone by not giving them money that they deserve or that they are owed

Examples:

The way I see it, they’ve done me out of three weeks’ wages.  She’s convinced the sales assistant did her out of $15.

 

 

 

Practice 6: Another Listening Practice from VOA News

• In this practice, I want you to listen to the audio and transcribe the text (It may take 30 minutes). Then see the text and find your mistakes. Next listen to those words that you had problem with them. Finally, Listen and read simultaneously and improve your listening, reading and also your pronunciation. [Ask me your questions in comment]

You can download the audio file from here.

U.S. Interested In Engaging Iran

In an interview with journalists earlier this month, President Barack Obama reaffirmed the U.S. Government’s commitment to diplomatic engagement with Iran and the importance of ensuring Iran’s accountability to the international community concerning its nuclear program. In a separate interview with the New York Times, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emphasized that the United States remains “committed to engagement on this issue of Iran’s nuclear program and resolving our differences diplomatically through multilateral engagement.”

Secretary Clinton said, “The bottom line is that it’s Iran’s leadership that holds the keys as to a successful engagement. And if they begin to show signs that they’re willing to comply with the obligations that they already undertook, we’re going to be responsive. But,” she said, “We’re committed to sharpening their choices and putting them in a position where they feel the consequences of not changing their policies.”

Secretary of State Clinton said that the Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency have set out a clear framework for Iran to follow in order to comply with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations. Iran’s leaders, she said, “know what they have to do. They have to reassure the international community by words and actions as to what their nuclear program is intended for.”

Iran’s leaders have a pathway “to demonstrate that they are not attempting to obtain nuclear weapons,” said Secretary of State Clinton. “They know what is expected of them from the international community. And we are proving that we can pursue a diplomatic track and a very strong pressured track through sanctions in a vigorous way.”

LEVM 1 (The first part of a movie)

The First part of the Season1 Episode one of the Friends series

You can download the part of the movie from here.  Also you can click on the below link: http://www.mediafire.com/?q1zm43080szk893 First watch the movie at least two times then try to write down the dialogues which they use. Next try to compare your transcription with the real text which I placed in here. And follow the structure that I told you in the “Teaching English through movies” post.

1.    There is nothing to tell. It’s just some guy I work with.  2.    Come on. You are going out with the guy, there is gatta be something wrong with him. 3.    All right, Joey, be nice. So does he have a hump? A hump and a hairpiece? 4.    Wait, does he eat chalk? Just because I don’t want her to go through what I went through with Carl. 5.    Ok everybody relax. This is not even a date. It’s just two people going out to dinner and not having s*x. 6.    Sounds like a date to me. 7.    All right, back in high school. I was standing in the middle cafeteria I realize I am totally naked. 8.    I’ve had that dream. 9.     Then I looked down and I realize there is phone there. 10. Instead of … 11. That’s right. 12. That one, I’ve never had. 13. All of a sudden, the phone starts to ring. Now I don’t know what to do, everybody starts looking at me. 14. They weren’t looking at you before? 15. Finally, I figured I’d better answer it. And it turns out it’s my mother. Which is very, very weird because she never calls me. 16. Hi. 17. This guy says, “Hello”, I wanna kill myself. 18. Are you ok sweetie? 19. I just feel like someone reached down my throat grabbed my small intestine, pulled it out of my mouth and tided it around my neck. 20. Cookie! 21. Carol moved out today. Let me get you some coffee. 22. No, Don’t. Stop cleansing my aura. Just leave my aura alone. Ok? 23. Fine. Be murky. 24. I’ll be fine alright. Really everyone. I hope she’ll be very happy. 25. No you don’t. 26.  No I don’t to hell with her. She left me.

Phrase and words which I suppose are handy:

Some guy: a guy who you don’t know about him.

Hump:  a rounded protuberance on the back of a camel or other animal or as an abnormality on a person’s back.

Hairpiece: A covering or bunch of human or artificial hair used to conceal baldness or give shape to a coiffure.

Chalk: soft white or grey rock formed a long time ago from the shells of small sea animals [= limestone]

All of a sudden: suddenly

Aura: the distinctive atmosphere or quality that seems to be generated by someone or something.

Murky: dark; foggy; gloomy

 

Teaching English through movies

Hello Dear Friends!

I start my goal

“Teaching English through movies“.

What’s my method is the thing that I’ll prepare for you in the following posts. I want to start with “friends” series. Just like the method that A.J taught, I will divide 2 to 3 minutes of a movie then transcribe the dialogues. then will write the phrases and sentences which I think will be practical for you. I’ll provide these posts in” learn English via movies” category and will name them by LEVMs.

Now, what’s your due?:

• Download the part of that movie which I placed its link in that post.
• Start to watch it carefully.
• Try to transcribe the dialogue.
• Watch again the part of that movie and see the subtitle (transcription) which I put in the post.
• Check your transcription with the real transcription.
• Find your mistakes and work on them. (Listen more and more)
• Try to memorize them by watch in that part of movie again and again.
• Do not overwhelm yourself. Just watch the movie and have fun. Your mind will help you to learn English subconsciously
• Try to say the dialogues on your own.
• Copy the intonation and pronunciation of the actors and actress.(very helpful for your speaking)
• This method is examined and it’s so useful for both listening and speaking skills.

Tell me about your progress and my method by leaving comments or sending me emails.

 

Lesson 3: Practice “Narrow Listening” (A great lesson by A.J.Huge)

“Narrow listening” means listening to many things about the same topic. This method is more powerful than trying to listen to many different kinds of things. Students who listen to similar things learn faster and speak better than students who listen to different kinds of things.
For example, you can choose one speaker and find many things by him. Listen to all of his podcasts, audio books, and speeches. This is powerful because all speakers have favorite vocabulary and grammar. They naturally repeat these many times. By listening to many things by the same person, you automatically get a lot of vocabulary repetition. You learn faster and deeper!
Another example is to choose one topic to focus on. For example, you could read an easy book, listen to the same audio book, listen to a podcast about the book, and watch the movie.

Lesson 2 : Listen to movies (A great lesson by A.J Huge)

Movies are great for learning English BUT you must use them correctly. Don’t watch all of an English movie. You will not understand it, and therefore you will not learn anything.

Only watch one scene or segment per week (maybe 2-3 minutes). Follow this method:

a) First, watch the scene with subtitles in your language. This will help you understand the general meaning.

b) Second, watch the scene with English subtitles. Pause. Use a dictionary to find new words you don’t understand. Write the new sentences in a notebook.

c) Listen to the scene a few times, with English subtitles. Do not pause.

d) Listen to the scene a few times, without subtitles.

e) Repeat a) – d) everyday for one week.

On the second week, go to the next scene/segment and repeat again. It will take you a long time to finish a movie. That’s OK, because you will improve your listening and speaking VERY FAST. This method is powerful– use it!

Handy Phrases 2 !

In this post I prepared a set of phrases or verbs which you can use them in your writing and also speaking. These phrases all about the ways of telling “provide something that is needed”. you can use them in the appropriate places which is defined under each phrase or verb. Also there are examples that tell you who to take advantages of them.

To provide something that is needed

1. Provide:   If a person or organization provides something, they make it available for someone who needs it or wants it.

Examples:

§  Your bank should be able to provide financial advice

Provide something for somebody  §  Free parking is provided for hotel guests. §  The university should provide more facilities for disabled students.

Provide somebody with something  §  The money will be used to provide the school with new computer equipment.

2. Supply:  To provide things for people, especially regularly and over a long period of time

Examples:

Supply something to somebody  §  The company supplies fish to local shops and restaurants.

Supply somebody with something  §  The US government was accused of supplying the rebels with arms and equipment.

3. Fund:  To provide money for a person or organization so that they can do something

Examples:

§  The museum is funded by the local authority. §  They suspect that the rebels are being funded by Western governments.

4.       Equip  to provide a person, group, or organization with the things they need for a particular kind of activity or work

Examples:

Equip somebody with something §  Police officers have been equipped with batons and riot shields in preparation for tonight’s match. §  We try to equip our students with the skills they will need in the world of work.

5. Issue  if an organization or someone in an official position issues equipment, clothes, weapons etc, they provide these things because people need them

Examples:

Issue somebody with something §  Police in Britain are not usually issued with guns. §  Visitors are issued with identity cards to wear inside the factory.

Issue something to somebody  §  Blankets and warm clothes will be issued to those who need them.

6. Fix somebody up with  to provide someone with something that they need, especially in an unexpected situation

Examples:

§  Can you fix me up with a bed for the night? §  I took the car to a nearby garage, and they managed to fix me up with a new tire.