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LearnDash

murray.englishspark@gmail.com (Murray Kendall) — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:23:00 +0000

LearnDash is a new LMS plugin for Wordpress.

Setting and Keeping your Short Term Study Goals

macanudo539@yahoo.com (Neal Chambers) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:36:18 +0000

Do you have goals for studying English? Do you know what you want to do in the next few months? What do you want to accomplish?

Short term goals can be really helpful because they help you stay focused and motivated. However, it can be really hard to keep to your goals sometimes. Today, I'm going to go over a few simple tips on how to keep your short term goals.

She dances pretty or prettily?

macanudo539@yahoo.com (Neal Chambers) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:17:08 +0000

Mr.Maru: You are looking happy today. What happened, Sparky?

Sparky: I met a girl yesterday. She was prettily attractive.

Mr.Maru: Don't you mean pretty attractive?

Sparky: Mmm, yeah, pretty attractive. Anyway, she was dressed pretty.

Mr.Maru: Prettily, she was dressed prettily.

Sparky: Well, she was attractive. So, I asked her out.

Mr.Maru: What did she say?

Sparky: She said she had to wash her hair, and then she left.

Mr.Maru: That's pretty bad.

How do we use pretty? Is it prettily or pretty? Let's take a look at the differences between these two adverbs. They are used in two different situations.

Discontinuing a Few Services

murray.englishspark@gmail.com (Murray Kendall) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:06:29 +0000

We're making a few changes to things around here at EnglishSpark.com Over the next few months, the site will change a little bit. Don't fear! The main things you have come to enjoy are still going to be here.

The first big change is that we are going to discontinue the teacher listing service. We no longer have the resources to keep up with it and it isn't being used very much anyway.

We are trying to simplify things and keep EnglishSpark.com focused on the things we do best, recommending good resources and explaining some grammar rules.

We appreciate any feedback you might have on any features that you think would be valuable. Thanks everyone for making this a great site!

What Every Job Hunter should Know about Power Words

macanudo539@yahoo.com (Neal Chambers) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:19:56 +0000

Interviewer: Thanks for coming in to see me today.

Sparky: No probs.

Interviewer: I see on your resume that you are started studying English when you were only 2.

Sparky: Yeah, I was a good learner.

Interviewer: Do you have any sales experience?

Sparky: I increased the sales of bacon at my local grocery store.

Interviewer: Can you elaborate on that a bit?

Sparky: Yes, I told my owner to buy me more bacon.

Interviewer: I see. Well, thanks for coming. Don't call us, we'll call you.

(NOTE: Sparky is not speaking in the best way for an interview.)

Are you job-hunting? Do you know how to write a resume? It can be difficult to choose what are the best words to use when writing a resume to get a job. Today, we are going to go over a few power words that can get the attention of your employer.

Be vs. Get for passive voice

macanudo539@yahoo.com (Neal Chambers) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:21:42 +0000

Mr.Maru: Sparky, you don't look so good. What happened?

Sparky: I was rained on.

Mr.Maru: That's not so bad.

Sparky: But, I couldn't see where I was going. I was hit by a stroller.

Mr.Maru: Well, you should be more careful.

Sparky: Yeah, then I was pet by the kid in the stroller.

Mr.Maru: Ahh, that's cute.

Sparky: He had peanut butter all over his hands. Now, I smell like peanut butter.

Mr.Maru: I was wondering about that.

(Note: Sparky is always using incorrect/unnatural grammar.)

What is the difference between be and get when we use the passive voice? We can form the passive voice with either the be + past participle or get + past participle. What is the difference between these? Let's go over some examples and rules.

What is the difference between inter- and intra-?

macanudo539@yahoo.com (Neal Chambers) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:25:41 +0000

Sparky: Where is that video we made the other day?

Mr.Maru: It's on the computer.

Sparky: I can't find it, where did you put it?

Mr.Maru: It's on the intranet hard drive.

Sparky: Um, is that on Google?

Mr.Maru: No, the intranet.

Sparky: I'm on the intranet, what website do I go to?

Mr.Maru: No, I mean the net inside the house, not between computers. That's the internet.

Sparky: Oh, so, could you just show me?

What is the difference between intra- and inter-. These prefixes sound very similar, but they are very different. Let's go over some examples and how to use these prefixes.

What Everyone Ought to Know about Participles

macanudo539@yahoo.com (Neal Chambers) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 11:39:47 +0000

Mr.Maru: Did you enjoy the movie?

Sparky: Not really. I got really boring.

Mr.Maru: mmm, you usually are. Anyway, let's do something more exciting then.

Sparky: Yeah, let's go bowling. It's excited!

Mr.Maru: Mmm, yeah. We'll do that. Do you want to go now?

Sparky: Well, I'm a bit tiring. Let's take a break at a cafe first.

Mr.Maru: Sounds good. I'm tired too.

(NOTE: Sparky is using incorrect English.)

How do you use past and present participles? These are also sometimes called active present participles and passive past participles. They can be incredibly useful when you want to describe something. Let's talk about some examples and rules.

How do you use 'for' and 'since'?

macanudo539@yahoo.com (Neal Chambers) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:06:09 +0000

Mr.Maru: How long have you been studying English Sparky?

Sparky: I've been studying English since 5 years.

Mr.Maru: Wow, for five years?

Sparky: Yeah, I started when I was just a puppy.

Mr.Maru: That's pretty good.

Sparky: I've been going to English classes now from I was 1 year old.

Mr.Maru: I think you need more practice.

How do you use 'for' and 'since'? What is the difference? Before, we went over the differences between 'from' and 'since' when talking about time. This post we are going to go over the differences between 'for' and 'since'. Let's look at some examples and rules.

Using singular or plural verbs with each and none

macanudo539@yahoo.com (Neal Chambers) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 13:51:29 +0000

Sparky: Let's eat out tonight.

Mr.Maru: That sounds like a great idea.

Sparky: Where do you want to go?

Mr.Maru: We could go to the new Thai place, the Mexican place, or the Italian place on 1^st Ave.

Sparky: None of those places sound good.

Mr.Maru: Well, how about a restaurant in the Pearl District?

Sparky: That's an excellent place. Each of those restaurants have a different kind of beer.

Mr.Maru: When did you start drinking?

(NOTE: Sparky is speaking incorrectly according to prescriptive grammar.)

What verb do we use with 'none of …' or 'each of …'? Do we use a singular verb or a plural verb with these? Well, it depends. Let's look at few examples and rules.