Tag: vocab rehab

English Vocabulary: Salty. OK, this word has been around for some years now, but it is still used quite a bit today.

SALTY

• Someone who acts in an aggressive, angry or resentful way
• This could be used in a situation where there behaviour is for no reason or because they were given some constructive criticism.
  • She’s just being salty with him because he doesn’t want to go out with her.
  • I don’t know what’s wrong with him lately, but he’s salty all the time now.
• to use swear words or innapropriate language
  • When I am with my friends in Chicago, I tend to use more salty language.
  • Salty language is quite normalised here.

English Vocabulary

Now that you have seen our post about English Vocabulary: salty, take a look at our other Vocab Rehab Posts:
Vocab Rehab: 5 common abbreviations
Vocab Rehab: outrage

Cursos inglés

Si estás buscando cursos de inglés con nosotros, nos puedes encontrar en la Cámara de Comercio de Alava en Vitoria. Tenemos los siguientes cursos:

• Inglés General nivel A2, B1, B2
• Conversación nivel B2, C1, C2
• Business English nivel B1, B2, C1
• Preparación de exámenes A2, B1, B2, C1, C2

Para inscribirte en una clase directamente, pincha aquí.

5 common English Abbreviations. I just got back from visiting my family in Chicago and I thought I would share 5 of the most common abbreviations everyone is using. These are espacially used in texts since it’s much faster to write three letters than three words.

E.T.A.

This is by far the most commonly used abbreviation these days, especially since most apps can give you a very accurate Estimated Time of Arrival.

LMK

Everyone is planning things and time is precious, so everyone needs to know what you are doing and when.

FYI

Although yoy may here someone saying this, it’s much more common in emails and texts. It’s an easy way to say, ‘Hey, just so you know…’

BTW

This seems to be replacing FYI since it doesn’t seem as impersonal. It’s also a good way to change the topic. No one would say this out loud though, only in a text.

M.I.A.

This is orinally a military abbreviation that is still used to notify when a solder is literally Missing in Action (gone or maybe dead), however we use it in a funny way to say, I can’t get a hold of someone or someone doesn’t go out any more and never shows up to events.

Cursos Inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio tenemos cursos de inglés para todas las necesidades y niveles.

English Vocabulary

Now that you have seen 5 common English Abbreviations, take a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: outage
Vocab Rehab: travel, journey, trip

English Vocabulary: outage. Outages can happen to power, IT, electricity, and other services. This past week, July 19th, Microsoft caused a massive IT outage on a global scale. Learn more here.

OUTAGE

• When a service does not work for a period of time
  • There were widescale power-outages all accross the US.
  • There will be a sceduled outage of water tomorrow morning from 8am to noon.

collocations with outage

1. suffer a power outage
2. there is/was a power outage
3. cause a power outage
4. fix, repair the outage
5. looking for the cause of the outage
6. intermittent, frequent power outages
7. power outages are not uncommon [in, for]
8. a system, database, network outage
9. a planned, programmed, scheduled outage
10. massive, widescale power outage

English Vocabulary

Now that you have seen English Vocabulary: outage, take a look at out other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: travel trip journey
Vocab Rehab: attrition

Cursos inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Alava, tenemos cursos de inglés para:

• Preparación de exámenes de Cambridge, Oxford Test of English, EOI
• Business English – en grupo o particular, online o presencial
• Inglés General
• Cursos de conversación

Si estás interesado/a en recibir más información sobre los cursos, escríbenos a idiomas@camaradealava o llamar a 945 150 190.

English Vocabulary: Attrition. Yes, there is a word for everything. There are also words with several meaning. Attrition is both of these.

ATTRITION

• Primarily used in the UK to refer to a reduction in the workforce due to not replacing employees who leave.
  • Staff attrition is only going to bring longer working days for those of us who are left.
  • By means of attrition, the workforce will be reduced.

RATES OF ATTRITION / ATTRITION RATES

• Used in the US to refer to people who leave an educational course before they complete it.
  • There are higher attrition rates among teenagers in the US than in Europe.
  • If the rate of attrition continues to increase, they will cancel the course.

WAR OF ATTRITION

• Gradually weakening something and destroying it, usually an enemy.
  • The continuous attacks are an ongoing war of attrition.

Vocab Rehab

Now that you have seen English Vocabulary: Attrition, have a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: loss, loser, lost lose
Vocab Rehab: oversight

Cursos inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Alava tenemos cursos de inglés para todos los niveles y necesidades para mayores de 16 años. Ponte en contacto con nosotros para encontrar una clase apropriada para ti.

Word formations: loss, loser, lost, lose. Why are word formations so important for Language learning? Well, from just one word, you can learn to create 5 more! Think about how your vocabulary base grows just by learning how to build word formations.

LOSS (noun)

LOSER (noun)

LOST (adjective)

LOSE (verb)

• Present simple: lose
• Past simple: lost
• Past participle: lost

LOST (verb) vs LOST (adjective)

Vocab Rehab

Now that you have seen Word Formations: loss, loser, lost, lose, take a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: oversight
Vocab Rehab: discrepancy

Cursos de inglés

Tenemos cursos de inglés para mayores de 16 años, para todos los niveles y necesidades en la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Álava.

English Vocabulary: Oversight. This is a funny word as it almost feels like it has two opposite meanings. On one hand, it means to pay special attention to something and yet it can also mean to make a mistake because you haven’t paid enough attention.

OVERSIGHT (MISTAKE)

• A mistake due to a failure to see something or pay attention to something
• Usually referred to as a small mistake. Be careful what you are calling an oversight.
  • I’m sorry. It was an oversight on our part. We will send you the new model today.
  • I would say it was more than just a simple oversight. I needed the model last week.

OVERSIGHT (CONTROL)

NOUN

• Management of a project
• Assure that a project is going as it should
  • You will need to speak to my boss about that. I just provide general oversight on the project.
  • If there is no governmental oversight, companies will never reduce their greenhouse gasses.

ADJECTIVE

• oversight can also be used to decribe the type of committe, board, etc.
  • She sits on the oversight committe for sustainability.

COLLOCATIONS WITH OVERSIGHT

Adjectives with oversight

• minor, major, lax, strict, effective, ineffective, slight
  • It was due to a minor oversight, but they have corrected the mistake.
• administrative, technical, federal, financial, logistical, governmental, operational, regulatory,
  • Not having enough chairs for everyone was a logistical oversight on their behalf.

Verbs with oversight

• to be an oversight
  • I appologise. This was clearly due to an oversight.
• has oversight of
  • He has oversight of the financial department
• to avoid, prevent, eliminate
  • I will review the numbers to avoid an oversight.

Prepositions and prepositional phrases

• due to
• exempt from
• subject to
  • Although they are a large and powerful company, they are not exempt from oversight.
• by/in (accounts, Congress, human resources, sales, the sales department, the state, the police)
  • It was left out due to an oversight by/in accounts.
• of (the agency, department, industry, operation, project)
  • They claim that there is governmental oversight of the operation.

English Vocabulary

Now that you have seen English Vocabulary: Oversight, take a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: discrepancy
Vocab Rehab: false friends: career and degree

Cursos inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Alava, tenemos cursos de inglés para todos los niveles y necesidades.

English Vocabulary: Discrepancy. Saying there seem to be some discrepancies is a friendlier, more diplomatic way to tell someone they have made a mistake or that you don’t agree with them.

DISCREPANCY

• use discrepancy when there are two things that should be the same but are not.
• This word refers to numbers, figures, data, etc.
  • There is a discrepancy in the figures. You say that the company spent $35,000 on travel, but we only have $28,000 accounted for.
  • We need to review the stock again because you and Jack have some dicrepancies in your paperwork.
• We can also use it to talk about a difference in ideas
  • We are waiting on a decision from the Board of Directors. There seem to be serious discrepancies between some of the members about how to continue.
  • His policies show apparent discrepancies between what he promised and what he is able to offer.

COLLOCATIONS WITH DISCREPANCY

PREPOSITIONS

• between
• in

VERBS

• account for
• arise
• be
• explain
• exist
• find
• note
• notice
• notice
• observe
• occur
• perceive

ADJECTIVES

• apparent
• great
• huge
• large
• major
• marked
• minor
• obvious
• serious
• slight
• small
• some
• substantial
• understandable

Vocab Rehab

Now that you have seen English Vocabulary: Discrepancy, take a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: False Friends: career vs degree
Vocab Rehab: tenacious

Cursos ingles

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Alava tenemos cursos de inglés para todos los niveles y necesidades. Cursos presenciales de inglés en Vitoria u online desde tu casa y/o oficina.

False Friends: career and degree. Oh how much do we hate those False Friends – the words that sound exactly like a word in a different language but has a different meaning. It sounds like it’s a friend, but it’s not. Curse you False Friends!!!

CAREER – PROFESIÓN / TRAYECTORIA

• Career in English is a job that you have been doing for a long time (not your university studies)
  • Before her career in social work, she was a banker.
  • He’s finally retiring after a 40 year career in marketing.

DEGREE – CARRERA

• a qualification given for finishing a university course
• degree is the correct translation of ‘careera‘ in Spanish.
  • He has a degree in education.
  • Although he got his degree in History, he’s working in politics.

FALSE FRIENDS

Not that you had a look at False Friends: career and degree, have a look at our other False Friends posts:
1. Vocab Rehab: False Friends: Terrific and terrifying
2. Vocab Rehab: False Friends: Suburbs and slums
3. Vocab Rehab: False Friends: Sensitive and Sensible
4. Vocab Rehab: False Friends: Comprehensive and Understanding

Cursos Inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Alava, tenemos cursos de inglés para todas las necesidades y niveles.

• Preparación de exámenes de Cambrdige, EOI, Oxford A2 a C2
• Business English desde A1 a C2
• Inglés General A1 a C2
• Cursos de Conversación

English Vocabulary: tenacious. There are lots of names for these kinds of people: persistent, tough, annoying. But, when we use the word tenacious, there is a strength behind it. We are talking about someone who won’t stop usually because they believe strongly in something.

TENACIOUS

• Adjective
• Someone who doesn’t stop until they achieve what they want.
  • Amnesty International is a tenacious advocate for human rights.
  • She’s a tenacious little girl and doesn’t accept no for an answer.
• Something that is strong or not persistent.
  • We need to find a more tenacious metal for this project.
  • Julie really has a tenacious memory

TENACITY

• noun
• the quality of being very determned.
  • I admire your tenacity for change.
  • He showed a lot of tenacity, but in the end I’m not sure he is going to win.
• The quality of persisting
  • The company has outlived the other ones out of sheer tenacity.
  • The tenacity of certain stories allow then to be told by each generation.

TANACIOUSLY

• adverb
• To achieve something in a tenacious way.
  • Joe is tenaciously battling the lawsuit in court.
  • We tenaciously record every event so that future generations will know what happened.

Cursos de inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Alava tenemos cursos de inglés para todos los niveles y necesidades, presencialmente y online.

English Vocabulary

Now that you have read about English Vocabulary: tenacious, take a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: time off
Vocab Rehab: strive

English Vocabulary: Time off. Time off is a way to refer to all types of ‘leaves’ from work without giving too many details. It can refer to medical leave, maternity/paternity leave or simply vacation/holidays.

TIME OFF

• A period of time that you do not have to go to work due to illness, holiday, permission, etc.
  • She’s going to take some time off after the baby is born.
  • They are taking some time off to get some help for their ageing parents.
  • I was wondering if I could take some time off at the end of the month.

COLLOCATIONS WITH TIME OFF

• Time off to do something
  • Tom would like to get some time off to relax.
  • More and more fathers are taking time off to care for their children.
• Time off for something
  • It’s hard to get time off for vacation in the U.S.
  • I wouldn’t want to use my time off for sick days.
• Time off from something
  • Mary is requesting some time off from her job.
  • An increasing number of people are receiving time off from work due to stress.

• VERBS USED WITH TIME OFF
  • take
  • have
  • get
  • give
  • be given
  • receive
  • request

English Vocabulary

Now that you have seen English Vocabulary: Time off, take a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: Strive
Vocab Rehab: Bargain

English Vocabulary: strive. Strive can be a complicated word to use because it doesn’t actually collocate with a wide variety of words. And although some people may translate it as ‘tratar’ or ‘esforzarse’ in Spanish, it doesn’t actually capture the full meaning of the word. In situations like these, it’s good to see examples and the words that it does collocate with in order to apply the word correctly.

STRIVE

• to try very hard to achieve or accomplish something
• strive + infinitve
  • She strives to do her best in everything she does.
  • We are always striving to learn new things to apply at our jobs.
• strive + for + noun
  • If he continues to strive for perfection, he will wear himself out.
  • Their slogan is ‘Strive for excellence’.

COLLOCATIONS WITH STRIVE

Strive + to + infinitive + something

• strive to____ something
  • achieve
  • be
  • become
  • (not) die
  • do
  • (not) fail
  • improve
  • (not) lose
  • offer
  • provide
  • succeed at

Strive + for + something

• strive for ____
  • excellence
  • greatness
  • perfection
  • success

adverb + strive

• ____ strive
  • always
  • constantly
  • continuously

Vocab Rehab

Now that you’ve seen our post about English Vocabulary: strive, check out our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: bargain
Vocab Rehab: inclusive language

Cursos inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio, tenemos cursos de inglés para todos los necesidades y niveles.

English Vocabulary: Bargain. You are familiar with the word negotiate, but bargain can also be used to discuss prices in an office or out on the street.

BARGAIN

• verb
• to try to convince someone to offer a service or do something for you at a cheaper price.
  • Don’t be afraid to bargain for the price of the clothes.
  • I really don’t feel comfortable bargaining for the price when it is already very cheap.
• noun
• something that is sold for less than it’s real value.
  • I got the sofa for a real bargain.
  • We should go shopping this weekend. There are lots of bargains for Christmas.

STRIKE A BARGAIN

• make a deal
• come to an agreement about what each party will be doing.
  • The union finally struck a bargain with Michelin and the workers will go back to work next week.
  • It is in their favor to strike a bargain before this gets messy.

Vocab Rehab

Now that you have seen English Vocabulary: Bargain, take a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: inclusive language
Vocab Rehab: spot on

Cursos inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Alava, tenemos cursos de inglés para todas las necesidades y niveles: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2

English Vocabulary: foresight. someone who has foresight is not a magician or a fortune teller. It is simply someone who can read a situation, judge what the possible outcomes may be and learns to plan in a way for this situation. Some people may have foresight at work but not with relationships, or vice versa. Other people may be able to see what is going to happen but don’t know how to plan for that situation. Someone with foresight can do both.

HAVE THE FORESIGHT (noun)

• to have ability to understand a situation and it’s possible outcomes and
• be able to plan for this situation
  • He had the foresight to leave his job before they went bankrupt.
  • If Carol had the foresight to sell the house before the market crash, she should have had the foresight to save some money as well.

FORESEE (verb)

• to be able to judge a situation and make plans to deal with it.
  • He didn’t forsee the divorce at all, so he was shocked when his wife told him.
  • They forsaw the war and made plans to leave the country as soon as they could.

(UN)FORESEEABLE (adjective)

• foreseeable: an event or situation that can be predicted
  • She will be working in the school for the forseeable future.
• unforseeable: an event or situation that can not be predicted.
  • I lost my job last month, so for the unforseeable future, I will be unemployed.

Vocab Rehab

Now that you have seen English Vocabulary: foresight, have a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: sign up
Vocab Rehab: steal vs rob

Cursos inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Alava, tenemos cursos de inglés para todos las necesidades y niveles. Mira nuestras cursos aquí.

English Vocabulary: sign up. This phrasal verb is a very important one to know. This month you need to SIGN UP for English class, dance class, art class or any other activity that you are hoping to be a part of. My kids always make the mistake of saying to me, ‘Did you inscribirme in the class?’ And I respond, ‘No, I signed you up.’ It’s such a basic phrase, but even they never seem to use it.

SIGN UP

• Phrasal verb. Learn more about how to use phrasal verbs here.
• to join or agree to be a part of an activity or event.
  • I signed my daughter up for dance class.
  • Julie signed up for the marathon.

Vocab Rehab

Now that you have learned about English Vocabulary: sign up, take a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: steal vs rob
Vocab Rehab: to be promoted

Cursos inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Alava, tenemos cursos de inglés para todos los niveles y necesidades. Puedes mirar nuestros cursos y horarios aquí o pónte en contacto con nosotros a idiomas@camaradealava.com

• Inglés General A2, B1, B2, C1, C2
• Inglés para negocios (Business English) A2, B1, B2, C1, C2
• Preparación de exámenes de Cambridge, Oxford Test of English y EOI

English Vocabulary: steal vs rob. These words have a lot in common, but there is a clear difference.

STEAL

• irregular verb: steal, stole, stolen
• take objects from someone or something without their permission.
  • He stole the wallet from my purse.
  • My computer was stolen yesterday at school.

ROB

• regular verb: rob, robbed, robbed
• robbery happens to people or places.
  • He robbed me in the bar.
  • They robbed the bank before getting away.

English Vocabulary

Now that you learned about English Vocabulary: steal vs rob, take a look at our other Vocab Rehab posts:
Vocab Rehab: to be promoted
Vocab Rehab: hear vs listen

Cursos inglés en Vitoria

Si quieres certificar tu nivel de inglés, mejorar tus posibilidades de trabajar o simplemente mantener tu nivel, tenemos curos para todos las necesidades y niveles en la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio. Pincha aquí para saber más. Ponte en contacto con nosotros a idiomas@camaradealava.com.

• Cursos de preparación para los exámenes de Cambridge B2, C1, C2 y Oxford Test of English A2, B1, B2
• Business English Courses – Cursos para negocios
  • presencial y online
  • InComany – cursos deseñados para ti y tu empresa
• Inglés de mantenimiento B2, C1 y C2
• Cursos de inglés general