Live and Learn English with Jean Lee

  Are you good at choosing and putting proper words in English sentences? Without knowing the subtle difference between synonyms, you’d sound a bit awkward or weird with your choice of words. Let’s practice using synonymous words in a sentence by finding one word in each group that has a negative connotation. In each of the following groups of similar words describing people, choose the words that have somewhat negative connotation (as many as you can find), the words that have positive connotation, and lastly, the one that has a neutral meaning.       1.    childlike, youthful, childish, young       2.    disabled, crippled, handicapped, retarded       3.    relaxed, laid-back, lackadaisical, easygoing       4.    slim, skinny, slender, thin       5.    cheap, frugal, miserly, stingy, economical       6.    ...

  Time to play a word puzzle created by Will Shortz from the On-air challenge of NPR. I'm going to give you some six-letter words. For each one , change one of the consonants to a vowel to make another familiar six-letter word.   Example: DEFECT --> DEFEAT 1. AVENGE 2. DIPPER 3. MIGHTY 4. PREPPY 5. GROUSE 6. MADDEN 7. BIKING 8. CARTER 9. GRANGE 10. DECENT 11. STANCH 12. STANCE     Answer Keys      1.   avenue     2.   diaper     3.   eighty     4.   prepay     5.   arouse     6.   maiden     7.   bikini     8.   career     9.   orange    10.     deceit    11.    stance    12.    seance

  There have been many discussions and debates in my past English classes. Sometimes, students sounded way too blunt or straightforward in expressing their agreement or disagreement while arguing and getting their opinions across. Here are some basic and common tactful ways to express how you feel about others’ comments.     Ways to Agree   Ways to Disagree   -         That’s for sure!   -         I couldn’t agree with you more.   -         That is absolutely true.   -         No doubt about it.   -         Fair enough.   -         We’re on the same wavelength.   -         You’re telling me!   -   ...

T ime to play the word puzzle (created by Will Shortz) aired on NPR this last Sunday. Every answer to this puzzle is a word or name that has the accented syllable "lee" (in any spelling) somewhere inside it.   Example: Expungement --> DELETION   1. City in Ohio sometimes called "holy"   2. Supreme Court justice Samuel   3. Pledge of ___   4. Opposite of an atheist   5. Island off the coast of California   6. Resident of California's largest city   7. One-named "Queen of Tejano Music"   8. Italian film director Federico   9. Leonardo da Vinci painting (two words)       Answer Keys      1.   Toledo     2.   Alito     3.   Allegiance     4.   Believer     5.   Catalina     6.   Angelino     7.   Selena     8.   Fellini     9....

  This week, let us learn about some expressions that are related to fun and joy. Find the proper expressions for each of the following blanks.       1.    Are you inviting Eva to your birthday party? Sounds perfect! She is always the life and _____________ of the party.       2.    Now that our Finals are over, why don’t we go and ____________ out today?       3.    I can tell Janet is in her ____________ in the kitchen. She is such a wonderful cook who finds most of her pleasure in creating delectable dish!       4.    I don’t get Melinda’s jokes. Most of the time, I ask her to give me the _____________ lines of her jokes.       5.    Jeff has been staying cooped up in his house for the last couple of months. He wants to get outside and blow off the _______________ now.       6.    Jean was thrilled to ______...

Are you a straight-up person who tends to show what’s on your mind just the way you feel most of the time? Or are you somewhat hiding your true feelings and rather like to beat around the bush in a conversation? There is nothing wrong with either way of attitude in life, and it is not right to say one is superior or inferior to the other. It is just what we are and how we feel.   I remember the discussion I had with my professor and friends in the course of Sociolinguistics. When I talked about how irritated I felt with some rude people who did not apologize when they happened to bump against others by mistake while hurrying in a busy street or at a crowded grocery market, one Chinese friend in the class told me that used to happen all the time in a lot of areas in China. She went on to say that it was just common that people did not say sorry probably because they felt too sorry to put the feelings in words. Hmm….that didn’t sound like making sense to me, but I knew it wasn’t ...

  Here’s another fun word puzzle by Will Shortz aired this last Sunday on NPR! Every answer today is a made up two-word phrase in which you switch the first and third letters of the first word to get the second word. Example: Trick that is certain to work --> Sure Ruse   1. Final bit of table seasoning   2. Dangerous dog along Rome's river   3. Dish of mashed-up food that costs one unit of Indian currency   4. Combination of fruits — one that's yellow and sour, the other that's large and has seeds   5. Metalworker with a torch who is more lascivious   6. One who raises a device for removing impurities   7. Highway marker made of a hard sedimentary rock   Answer Keys 1.   last salt 2.   tiber biter 3.   rupee puree 4.   lemon melon 5.   lewder welder 6.   filter lifter 7.   limestone milestone