Tag: vocabulary

5 common English Abbreviations

5 common English abbreviations

English Vocabulary: Vocab Rehab

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.

5 common English Abbreviations
  • Meaning: Estimated time of arrival.
  • Use: in spoken English, in texts, in apps
  • Examples:
    • What’s your ETA?
    • ETA: 3pm

LMK

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

  • meaning: Let me know
  • Use: in written English, mainly in texts
  • Examples
    • LMK if she wants to come.
    • LMK what time you’ll be home.

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…’

  • Meaning: For your information
  • Use: Spoken or written English.
  • Examples:
    • FYI: your boss is looking for you
    • FYI: I just got a new job!

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.

  • Meaning: By the way
  • Use: in written English to notify someone or two change the topic.
  • Examples:
    • BTW, we are going out for dinner. Want to come?
    • I just talked to Jennifer, BTW

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.

  • Meaning: Missing in Action (can’t be found or doesn’t want to be found)
  • Use: in spoken and written English
  • Examples:
    • A: Do you get together with Fred anymore?
    • B: Fred is MIA. He has a new girlfriend and never comes out anymore.
    • I’ve been trying to call you all week but you seem to be MIA. Everything OK?

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

English Vocabulary: outage

English Vocabulary: Vocab Rehab

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 Expression: Bite the bullet

English Expression: Bite the bullet

Expression Session

English Expression: Bite the bullet. This expression is said to have come from the 1800s when people may have literally bit down on a bullet during sugery to handle the pain in a war situation. Today we use it in a much different context, but the image of someone biting on a bullet can help you remember the expression more easily.

BITE THE BULLET

  • to decide or accept to do something that you really do not want to do
  • to face a difficult situation
    • I bit the bullet and took the exam yesterday. Let’s see what happens.
    • She might just have to bite the bullet and pay for the repairs eventhough it’s almost the same price as a new car.
    • Have you considered just biting the bullet and showing up at her work to talk to her? She is your daughter.

Expression Sessions

Now that you have seen English Expression: Bite the bullet, take a look at our other Expression Session posts:
Expression Session: have a crack at it
Expression Session: be worth it

Cursos Inglés

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Alava tenemos cursos de inglés para todos los niveles y necesidades. Ponte en contacto con nosotros para recibir más información

  • Preparación de exámenes de A2, B1, B2, C1, C2
  • Business English
  • Inglés general
  • Clases particulares y In Company
Differences between travel trip and journey

Differences between travel trip and journey

English Vocabulary: Vocab Rehab
Differences between travel trip and journey

In today’s post we are describing the Differences between travel trip and journey. One of the main things that we need to consider is whether the noun is countable or uncountable.

TRAVEL

Differences between travel, trip and jouney: TRAVEL
  • travel is an uncountable noun. We cannot say ‘three travels’.
  • Use travel to talk about the act of travelling.
    • Travel can be both exhilarating and exhausting
    • His job requires frequent travel to Asia.
  • Travel is most commonly used as a verb
    • We travelled to Egypt last year.
  • It can also be used as an adjective
    • There is a travel ban in place and we cannot leave.

TRIP

  • Trip is a countable noun.
  • Use trip to talk about a specific journey where you visit someone or something and return home.
    • He went on three trips this year!
    • When was the last time you took a trip and just got away from everything?

JOURNEY

  • Journey is a countable noun.
  • Use it to talk about the physical travel from one place to another.
    • I’m looking forward to the trip, but not the journey there. It’s very long.
    • We take advantage of the journey to watch movies or listen to audio books.

Common Mistakes

  • I had a great travel trip to Paris.
    • Remember that travel is uncountable and refers to the general concept of travel.
    • Trip is countable and is used to speak about specific trips, like a trip to Paris.
  • The travel journey from Madrid to Chicago is long.
    • Use journey to tal about the physical act of travelling.

Vocab Rehab

Now that you have learned about the Differences between travel trip and journey, take a look at our other vocabulary based posts:
Vocab Rehab: attrition
Vocab Rehab: loss, loser, lost, lose

English Vocabulary: Attrition

English Vocabulary: Attrition

English Vocabulary: Vocab Rehab

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.

Have a crack at something

Have a crack at something

Expression Session

Have a crack at something. This is a way of showing your enthusiasm to try to do something but making it clear that you don’t think you will be successfull.

HAVE A CRACK AT SOMETHING

  • an attempt to do something
  • usaully meaning that you don’t think you will be successful
  • can be used with ‘crack’, ‘go’, ‘stab’ or ‘whack’
  • can also be used with take
    • I’ve never ice skated before, but I took a crack at it this weekend and I rather enjoyed it.
    • Dad would like to have a go at it if you don’t mind.
    • Look, I know this isn’t your job, but would you mind taking a stab at it?
    • Can you have a whack at the new TV, please? I can’t figure anything out.

Expression Session

Now that you had a look at Have a crack at something, have a go at our other expression session posts:
Expression Session: be worth it
Expression Session: drop the ball

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. Apúntate a un curso de inglés aquí o ponte en contacto con nosotros a idiomas@camaradealava.com

Word Formations: loss, loser, lost, lose

Word Formations: loss, loser, lost, lose

English Vocabulary: Vocab Rehab

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)

Word Formations: loss
  • to have less than you previously had of something
    • Weight loss is a multi-billion dollar business.
  • a disadvantage due to have someone leave or due to something being taken
    • If you want to leave that’s fine. It’s your loss.
  • a death
    • the family is grieving from a recent loss.

LOSER (noun)

  • a person or a team that does not win
    • The loser has to buy the first round of drinks.
  • someone that never succeeds.
  • this is a very negative word to use and not appropriate in most cases.
    • I don’t know why she always dates losers.
loser

LOST (adjective)

lost
  • to now know where you are.
    • Hi, I’m calling to say that I will be a bit late to the interview. I am lost.
  • when no one knows where something is.
    • If you don’t try to talk to them, your money will be forever lost.
  • when you don’t know what to do.
    • If you have advice, I would be happy to here it. I feel pretty lost about what I should be doing.

LOSE (verb)

  • Present simple: lose
  • Past simple: lost
  • Past participle: lost
  • to become unable to find something.
    • Do you know where you lost your earrings? We can go back and look.
  • to have something taken away from you, including people by means of death
    • 50 people lost their jobs last month.
    • We lost our brother to Cancer 5 years ago.
  • to have less of something than you had before
    • She has lost the desire to go to trial.
  • The opposite of win
    • I can’t believe Madrid lost!
lose

LOST (verb) vs LOST (adjective)

lost vs lost

This can get a bit complicated. Note that the past tense of ‘lose’ is ‘lost’ and ‘lost can also be an adjective.

  • Verbs describe the action
    • I lost ·$5.00.
  • Adjectives describe a noun or pronoun.
    • I found the lost money.

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 Expression: be worth it.

English Expression: be worth it

Expression Session

English Expression: be worth it. In Spanish you say ‘vale la pena‘ and in English we say ‘it’s worth it’ The word ‘worth’ means having value.

TO BE WORTH IT (SOMETHING)

FORM

Subject + to be + worth + object

MEANING AND EXAMPLES

  • The value of something is more than what it cost
    • It’s expensive to have a financial advisor, but it’s worth it. You save in the long run.
    • I think buying a new car is worth it if you have the money.
    • It’s not worth getting upset over. We can replace the bike.
  • The value of something is more than the effort you put into it
    • I know therapy can be difficult, but it is worth it in the long run.
    • I don’t think being upset all the time is worth it.
    • Is it really worth all the time you put into studying?

TO BE WORTH IT (SOMEONE)

FORM

Subject + to be + worth + object

MEANING AND EXAMPLES

  • Someone is worth the effort you put into them (usually in a relationship)
  • Use when you want to emphasize that the worth is the person and not the effort.
    • You seem to be always fighting. Is she really worth it? (Is she more important than all the fighting?)
    • I know I am making a lot of effort with him, but I think he is worth it. (emphasis on he)
    • I know I am making a lot of effort with him, but I think it’s worth it. (emphasis on my effort)

English Expressions

Now that you have seen English Expression: be worth it, take a look at our other Expression Session posts:
Expression Session: drop the ball
Expression Session: kill time

Cursos Inglés

En la Escuela de idiomas de la Cámara de Alava en Vitoria, tenemos cursos de inglés para todos los niveles y necesidades. Ponte en contacto con nosotros para recibir más información.

English Vocabulary: Oversight

English Vocabulary: oversight

English Vocabulary: Vocab Rehab

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

English Vocabulary: Discrepancy

English Vocabulary: Vocab Rehab

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.

English Expression: drop the ball

English Expression: Drop the ball

Expression Session

English Expression: drop the ball. I have to admit, I love baseball expressions. It’s a sport I started playing at age 6. And I promise that it was never a good thing to ‘drop the ball’. That’s why it is such a good way of expressing how you feel about a mistake you have made.

DROP THE BALL

  • to make a mistake by not doing something you should have done
  • to miss out on an opportunity because you didn’t do something you should have done
    • Joe dropped the ball and waited to too long to ask her out. She’s already dating someone new.
    • I really dropped the ball at work and am worried about getting fired.
    • Don’t drop the ball! We are all counting on you.

Expressions in English

Now that you have learned English Expression: drop the ball, take a look at our other Expression Session posts:
Expression Session: kill time
Expression Session: waste of time

Cursos Inglés Vitoria

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Alava tenemos todos tipos de clases de inglés. Ponte en contacto con nosotros para buscar un nivel adecuado a idiomas@camaradealava.com o llamarnos a 945 150 190. Puedes recibir más información aquí

  • Business English
  • Preparación de Exámenes
  • Conversation
  • Inglés General
False Friends: career and degree

False Friends: Career and Degree

English Vocabulary: Vocab Rehab

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 Expression: Kill time

English Expression: Kill time

Expression Session

English Expression: Kill time. Another nice expression that translates perfectly into Spanish: matar tiempo. This makes it easy to remember and use so you can bump up your exam points or impress your boss.

KILL (THE) TIME

  • to do something not important while waiting for someone or something.
    • My flight doesn’t leave for another three hours, so I’m just killing time shopping and buying things I don’t need.
    • You know you always have to wait at the doctor’s office, so take something to kill the time.
    • Yesterday I had to wait for 30 minutes to talk to someone in customer service. Luckily, I was at home and killed time by cooking while I was waiting.

English Expressions

Now that you have learned English Expression: Kill time, take a look at our other Expression Session posts:
Expression Session: waste of time
Expression Session: it is what it is

Cursos Ingles Vitoria

En la Escuela de Idiomas de la Cámara de Comercio de Alava, tenemos cursos de inglés para todos los niveles y necesidades. Pincha aquí para recibir más información sobre las clases.

  • Preparación de Examenes de Cambridge, EILTS, Oxford Test of English
  • Business English – grupos presenciales y online
  • Business InCompany – individual o de grupos individualizados para tu empresa
  • Conversation classes
  • Inglés General
English Vocabulary: tenacious

English Vocabulary: tenacious

English Vocabulary: Vocab Rehab

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 Expressions: Waste of time

English Expressions: Waste of time

Expression Session

English Expressions: Waste of time. This is the perfect expression to say that something is ‘una perdida de tiempo’. It’s a perfect translation, which doesn’t happen very often.

WASTE TIME

A WASTE OF (SOMEONE’S) TIME (noun phrase)

  • a pointless activity that does not make good use of your time
  • Both examples below have the same meaning. Using someone may give a bit more emphasis to the person.
  • a waste + of + time
    • Having to talk to each person individually is a waste of time.
    • I hate commuting to work every day. It’s a waste of time.
  • a waste + of + someone’s + time
    • Having to talk to each person individually is a waste of their time.
    • I hate commuting to work every day. It’s a waste of my time.

WASTE (SOMEONE’S) TIME (verb phrase)

  • to not use your time correctly
  • to not use the time you have available in a productive way
    • You should be doing your homework and not wasting time playing video games.
    • Don’t waste my time. I have a lot of things to do today.
    • I don’t know why they waste their time calling everyone when they can just send a text message.

Cursos inglés

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

English Expressions

Now that you have seen English Expressions: Waste of time, take a look at our other Expression Session posts:
Expression Session: it is what it is
Expression Session: level the playing field

English Vocabulary: Time off

English Vocabulary: Time off

English Vocabulary: Vocab Rehab

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