UK English Phrase - cock a snook

While doing research on my global security blog, I happened upon a humorous phrase used by a British columnist: Iran is cocking a snook at the world.

Where can one turn to unravel the mystery behind such a phrase?

Try the World Wide Words

WWW struggles to define ''cocking a snook'' but the general impression is the physical gesture when one thumbs his or her nose at someone.

I cannot wait to share this phrase with my students this week.
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Layman´s Guide to Financial Crisis Vocabulary

While the BBC reported on Monday that OECD (European countries) limped to a 0.8% rate of economic expansion last quarter, it still may be useful to understand this layman's finance crisis glossary.

How many terms do you know without peeking?

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If you are in São Paulo and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 6214-1511 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

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Top 3 iBT TOEFL Tips

Professor Winn is often asked about tips for the iBT TOEFL.

Here are three top TOEFL tips to hold you in good steed:

1) Increase your vocabulary!

A strong vocabulary cuts across all four sections of the TOEFL - reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Unfairly or not, one is judged by his or her word choice. Remember there is a passive and active vocabulary. The passive is used mainly while reading when you recognize familiar words that may not be used in everyday speech. An active vocabulary is the group of words you do use when communicating in line at the grocery store or swapping stories with friends. The Academic Word List is a good starting point.

2) Target and Improve Your Pronunciation Weaknesses

The speaking section of the iBT TOEFL  is unnerving for some. That is why it is doubly important to identify any weaknesses in your pronunciation BEFORE the exam. One way is to record your voice on a tape recorder. Is your voice steady? Do you hesitate or use ´´um, um?´´ To score high, one must be confident and express this confidence in their voice. Practice with a tape recorder will help!

3) Know thy grammar

Sure, it´s boring. Many times grammar is skimmed over by well-meaning teachers. However, no doubt about it, grammar is at the heart of a language. Without the rules, how can you drive from point A to point B? Grammar brings order and structure to the language and mastering the basics yields a strong foundation to express yourself intelligently in writing and speech. Knowing thy grammar will boost your score, too!

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If you are in São Paulo and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs or TOEFL preparation, please call Professor Winn at 6214-1511 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

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Wordia makes words comes alive!

Check out this cool website to see your favorite vocab words come to life! For example, see the video for the word ´faith.´



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 If you are in São Paul and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 6214 1511 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in English-language services or translations (Sp/Fr/Pt>En) may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.

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New Oxford English Dictionary´s Word for 2009

Ah, from our Web 2.0 world, emerges the 2009 Word of the Year(WOY)...unfriend....

Have you unfriended anyone?

In Facebook or Twitter, perhaps you have deleted a contact? Then you are, perhaps, an unfriender??

There you go! Perhaps I have the word of the year for 2010 already? Hah.

You still have time to vote for your favorite word over at the American dialect.

As a bonus, here is a Word of the Day I came across today...I don´t mean to absquatulate, but I have other posts to prepare.

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If you are in São Paulo and need English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 6214-1511 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

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Did you know?

Can you guess which of the following come from the same Latin ancestor as "posture"?

 A. positive B. impose C. posit D. expose E. oppose
F. component G. dispose H. position I. postpone

We won't put off the answer to our quiz : they all do. The Latin verb "ponere," meaning "to put" or "to place," is the ancestor of numerous English terms, including "posture" and our nine quiz words. The past participle of "ponere" -- "positus" -- gave Latin the noun "positura" (same meaning as the English noun "posture"). That noun passed through Italian and Middle French and was finally adopted by English speakers as "posture" around 1586. The verb "posture" followed later from the noun, finding its place in English around 1645.

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If you are in Buenos Aires and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 1160 461 342 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in English-language services or translations (Sp/Fr/Pt>En) may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.

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Philip Hensher: Wrestling with the outer limits of language

Philip Hensher: Wrestling with the outer limits of language

What Mr. Hensher appears to be driving at in his column is in a word or two - word choice.

As Shakespeare would remind us through Polonius in Hamlet: Brevity is the soul of wit.

You are judged by the words you use and how you use them. Therefore your choice of words is essential in English as in any language.

This is often more of a problem in writing than speaking. As we are often reminded, you do not write like you speak.

In clear writing, words need to be chosen which are "consistent with standard English usage and appropriate for the context. They should also be sure that the words they choose convey the meaning intended."

We are all for a rich vocabulary. However sometimes le mot juste is a simple word and more well understood.

International Economic Crisis Vocabulary

The international economic crisis is a serious negative financial situation which affects a lot of countries throughout the world.

Consumers (those buying goods and/or services) , investors (those buying stocks, bonds, real estate, gold, silver or other instruments to get a return on their money so it grows), and governments alike are reeling from the credit crunch (banks are not lending money) worldwide.

What began as a mortgage (an agreement between you and a bank which allows you to borrow money to buy a house or other property) crisis in the US has led to defaults (failure to pay) on mortgages and a greater global economic downturn (reduction in economic or business activities).

The US economy contracted (to get smaller) by its worse rate since 1982 in the fourth quarter of last year.

Global stock markets have investors worried for their decremental (slowly decreasing) mood.

Tough economic times also may spur some governments to consider protectionism (defending domestic producers by taxing imports or making foreign good more expensive).


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Hire your own English Coach

Do you need to expand your English vocabulary or improve your skills in general?

If you are in Buenos Aires and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 1160 461 342 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in English-language services or translations (Sp/Fr/Pt>En) may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.

6 Tips to Expand Your Vocabulary

1. Get a good dictionary and thesaurus

Two of the most loyal companions on your desk should be a dictionary and a thesaurus. Use the dictionary to learn the meanings and derivations of new words you encounter. Also use it to check the exact meanings and spellings of words that you are not sure of. The thesaurus is very helpful whenever you are writing and need an alternative to a word in order to avoid repetition or to achieve a variation in meaning.

2. Read, Read, Read!

In the modern world we are so busy with work and we are bombarded with so much information by TV broadcast, telephone and internet that reading books and articles can be squeezed out of our agenda. Reading the works of really good writers is one of the best ways to develop our abilities with words. Modern and classic novels, leading non-fiction books and top quality newspaper and magazine articles are all important sources for us.

3. Capture new words

Whenever we bump into new words we should turn to the dictionary and spend a moment learning the meaning and derivation of the word. Write down the word and look it up later in the dictionary or use a thesaurus to find a synonym. As you build your vocabulary you should try to use the new words in context as this helps you to remember them.

4. Write, rewrite and edit

We all write, whether it is a text message on a cell phone, an email message or a novel, and we can all improve our writing. A good way to improve your writing is to read over what you have written and ask yourself these questions:

1. Does what I have written express exactly what I mean?
2. Will it be clear and comprehensible to the reader?
3. Can I make it more concise or more accurate?

Weed out wordiness. Use an economy of words. Be pithy.

5. Play with Words

Word games will increase your verbal dexterity and intelligence rating. Many standard IQ tests use word puzzles. Scrabble is ideal in this regard. If you want to play it seriously you will have to learn many obscure short words that use the high value letters. The dictionary game is simple but fun. One person reads out a definition from the dictionary and others have to identify the word. The reader can choose a common word but start with one of its less common meanings.

6. Listen to Yourself

If it is possible, try to view some video clips of yourself speaking or record yourself with a tape or CD recorder. This is particularly useful it you are rehearsing for an important talk or presentation. Most people are surprised to discover that they display a number of errors or bad habits in their everyday speech. Hesitation, repetition, rambling and mumbling are other common faults.

If you need to improve your English vocabulary, please contact Professor Winn.

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If you are in Buenos Aires and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 1160 461 342 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in English-language services or translations (Sp/Fr/Pt>En) may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.

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3 More Top Tips for Language Learning

6. Love for languages

If you are intrigued by languages, you will obviously be interested in investigating all areas of English that you don’t understand. Ask your professor about language issues you encounter while reading or writing the language. Or during your class, if a thought strikes you, let your professor know. This inquisitiveness will push you to learn more.

7. Ability to remember things

It’s obvious that you need to remember a lot of things to learn a language. If you are adept in finding methods to remember vocabulary, grammar, conjugations, etc, you’re going to progress more rapidly than others who get stuck in the beginning stages, always returning to look up words that they have seen many times.

My advice is to use any method you like to remember words- mnemonics, flash cards, rote memory, carrying around a notebook, repetition- the point is to remember the word long enough to use it a few times a day in conversation for a few days, after which the word will be “yours”. You will no longer depend on the crutch to artificially remember the word, you mind will simply know what it means.

8. Make your English learning goal part of your daily life

Languages are not learned overnight. I think I’ve saved the most important advice for last.

It’s very simple, yet at times hard to do.

Make your English learning part of your daily life. When you cook breakfast, think of the items in English, not your native tongue. Increase your vocabulary by taking all the objects you use in your daily life and learn how to say them in English - write the English word on the item or write it down in a notebook that you carry with you at all times, and practice that vocabulary.

Practice your pronunciation by practicing the sounds of Spanish all day long. Listen to music in English and try to understand it. Follow along with the lyrics easily found online and look up the words you don’t know. If you really saturate yourself in your target language, it’ll start seeping into you and you will have more success in learning.

Now go do it.Learn and explore English! If you need an English coach, Professor Winn is available!

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If you are in Buenos Aires and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 1160 461 342 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in English-language services or translations (Sp/Fr/Pt>En) may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.

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Increase Your Vocabulary, Feed the Hungry

Yes, you heard right!

Listed as one of Time magazine's best websites for 2008, Free Rice tests your vocabulary.

Each correct answer wins a donation of 10 grains of rice to the U.N. World Food Programme.

Five correct answers equals 50 grains of rice.

Beware, the game is addictive!

If you need to increase your English vocabulary, hire Professor Winn to coach you as part of his English-Language Services.

If you are in Buenos Aires and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 1160 461 342 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in English-language services or translations (Sp/Fr/Pt>En) may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.

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Synonyms are Synonymous with...

Synonyms are different words with identical or very similar meanings. They can be any part of speech whether nouns, adjectives, adverbs or prepositions.

For example, heap and pile are synonyms. Purists say no two words can have the exact same meaning. For general purposes, who can tell the difference for example between a car and auto? To a point, synonyms are usually nuanced variation with slightly different meaning depending on the context.

Synonyms are used to spice up text and can increase your vocabulary. Who wants to use the same word over and over again? When you learn a new vocabulary word, find synonyms to expand your knowledge.

The English language is rich in synonyms. A thesaurus is very helpful to seek out another word with a similar meaning.


If you are in Buenos Aires and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 1160 461 342 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in translations may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.

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Top 6 Vocab Tips

Tips for Improving Your Vocabulary

Tip #1: Read, Read, Read! Most vocabulary words are learned from context. The more words you're exposed to, the better vocabulary you will have. If you still do not recognize the word, write it down and look it up later in the dictionary (see Tip #5).

Research shows that the vast majority of words are learned from context. To improve your context skills pay close attention to how words are used.

Tip #2: Practice, practice, practice. Learning a word won't help very much if you promptly forget it. Research shows that it takes from 10 to 20 repetitions to really make a word part of your vocabulary. It helps to write the word - both the definition and a sentence you make up using the word - perhaps on an index card that can later be reviewed. As soon as you learn a new word, start using it.

Tip #3: Make up as many associations and connections as possible. Say the word aloud to activate your auditory memory. Relate the word to words you already know.

Tip #4: Use mnemonics ( memory tricks). For example, consider the word EGREGIOUS (extremely bad). Think EGG REACH US - imagine we've made a mistake so bad that they are throwing eggs at us and a rotten EGG REACHes US. Such funny little word pictures will help you remember what words mean, AND they are fun to make up. Also, find out which learning style suits you best. Everyone learns differently!

Tip #5: Get in the habit of looking up words you don't know. If you have a dictionary program on your computer, like Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary with CD-ROM Keep it open and handy. Or compile a word list and plow through the dictionary for definitions. You may find more words you like as well!

That idea leads up to our Tip #6: Be a word lover! - A good vocabulary learner loves words and is fascinated by their construction, word origin, and usage.

You can always call upon an English coach to improve your vocabulary, too!

If you are in Buenos Aires and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 1160 461 342 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in English-language services or translations (Sp/Fr/Pt>En) may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.

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Reaping Richer Vocabulary II

In our previous post, we explored understanding "chunks" of the English language to make reaping a richer vocabulary easier to be able to communicate effectively with native speakers.

In addition, an understanding of how English words are structured will also help your ability to communicate fluently. English has developed over thousands of years and its roots are a combination of words from famous cultures such as Greek and Roman as well as the indigenous people of the current United Kingdom, France and Germany. English is like a vacuum cleaner absorbing the words of other languages.

Many such words are combinations of word stems from these cultures with an added affixes. The most common affixes are prefixes (an additional word [actually a morpheme] that comes before the main stem) or suffixes (which comes after the main stem).

So, for example, if “hyper-” means “very, high and over” then it’s easy to understand what “hyperthermia” means (a very high temperature). So, if “hypo-” means very small then what does hypothermia mean then? Learning Greek prefixes and suffixes is a positive step in mastering the English language.

A good way to learn vocabulary is by reading. Instead of using a dictionary all the time, look at the structure of the unknown words you come across and then ask yourself if it resembles a word that you already know. Nine times out of ten you will be able to make a good guess and get the meaning. Try to understand an unknown word by its context in the sentence.

The next step is to put these vocabulary items into use. One of the best ways is to practice your English conversation with a native English professor.

If you are in Buenos Aires and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 1160 461 342 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in translations may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.

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Reaping Richer Vocabulary I

English is now the language of global commerce and is spoken in every corner of the world. Being able to understand words used commonly by native speakers is essential for good communication.

Luckily for English learners, many vocabulary items come in the form of “chunks” or collections of words. By learning these chunks you will be able to understand native speakers better and also sound more natural in your day to day conversation.

These chunks can be grouped into three main categories:

(1) Collocations – a group of words that are commonly used together, for example: “human rights, presidential elections, and unemployment rate”.

(2) Idioms – phrases that cannot be understood from their literal meaning, for example “It’s raining cats and dogs.” or “It’s a piece of cake.”

(3) Phrasal verbs – these are groups of two or three words (combining a verb with a particle) that can only make sense in a sentence when they are taken as a single entity. Examples are: Drop off, profit from and compensate for.

Tomorrow we will examine key tactics to reap a richer vocabulary.

If you are in Buenos Aires and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs, please call Professor Winn at 1160 461 342 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in translations may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.

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Webster Word of the Year: Overshare

Is there a better way to inaugurate our Word of the Day feature than refer to Webster's?

Sure there are several sites you can consult for a word-of-the-day, but Mr English 101 gives you more. Along with our daily pick of our Word of the Day, you receive our daily English news article and our articles providing insight into the English language.

Overshare - v. - to divulge excessive personal information, as in a blog or broadcast interview, prompting reactions ranging from alarmed discomfort to approval.

It beat out competition from leisure sickness, cyberchondriac, selective ignorance and youthanasia.

Now, our inaugural Word of the Day: slyboots: a sly or tricky person.
Example: Would you buy a used car from a slyboots?

Vocabulary, as noted in our previous post, is essential to learning any language. English, as a vacuum cleaner absorbing words from other languages and constantly evolving from its Latin and Greek roots, still has a reserve for its own original words.

Slyboots dates from the 1700's. Of course, sly means cunning or deceiving. The Word Detective fills in the interesting part about boots (a "fellow") thus a "sly fellow" or slyboots.
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If you are in Buenos Aires and want English lessons personally designed to fit your needs or need to increase your English vocabulary, please call Professor Winn at 1160 461 342 or send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com.

Anyone interested in translations from Spanish, French, or Portuguese to English may send an email to mrenglish101@gmail.com for a prompt evaluation.