August 2012
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Most Uncommon (or weird) Singular Words in English
There are many words in English that are often used only in the plural form. Speakers often make the mistake of using the plural grammatical form when they should actually use the singular. Here are 9 words that are quite common in the plural but unusual in the singular with examples of how to use them:
1. Data – The singular is datum.
Example: The data show that the drug effectively lowers...
July 2012
7 posts
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Most Common Baseball Idioms
Keep the idioms coming! Last month, we had a post on boxing idioms that are often used in the real world. As we are halfway through the baseball season, it would only be fair to point out that many frequently used idioms also come from baseball. Let’s take a look at some of them. 1. “Throw (someone) a curveball” – to do something unexpected, usually something unpleasant
Baseball scenario –...
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Less or Fewer: which one should you use?
It is common for English speakers to mix up “less” and “fewer”. This is a mistake that even native speakers make fairly often. As a rule, “fewer” is used for nouns that can be counted individually, called count nouns, while “less” is used for things that can’t be counted, or noncount nouns. Compare these sentence sets:
“You should try to eat fewer sugary snacks.” “You should try to eat less...
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Top 3 Most Popular English Teachers on YouTube
The world is getting smaller and smaller, thanks to globalization and the Internet. This is good news for language learners and language teachers alike! From Facebook to Twitter to blogs, language learning has never been as easy, interactive, and social as it is now. Youtube has been growing as a popular language hub for free videos and lessons for almost any language you want to learn. English...
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**NEW 4th of July Giveaway**
WIN A FREE MONTH OF VOXY PREMIUM! Name one big Hollywood movie that has as a theme or in which the story goes on during the 4th of July (Independence Day of the USA). You can use +IMDb to search for it! http://www.imdb.com/ We will randomly (via RANDOM.ORG) pick the winner from all people who get the movie right! So, do your research and post the name of the movie when reblogging this post!
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Fun Facts About Distance Education
Imagine if you received your Voxy lesson and activities by mail. You read your article, completed the activity, put it in an envelope and shipped it back to Voxy for grading. You then waited weeks in anticipation for grades and new lessons. Wouldn’t that be fun?
Learning by mail was the earliest form of distance education (DE), it was called: “correspondence instruction”. In 1873, a female...
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WatchOur very own Katie Nielson talks about the Future of Language Learning. Get to know our team by checking out our Company page on The Daily Muse: http://companies.thedailymuse.com/voxy
June 2012
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We Think More Rationally In A Foreign Language
prussiahasinvaded:
One of psychology’s major contributions has been to document the myriad ways our thinking is sent haywire by a series of biases. Investigations into the ways and means to combat these biases have lagged behind, but that’s starting to change. Now a team of researchers at the University of Chicago has reported that people are immune to two key biases when they think in their...
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AVISO DE VOXY:
VOXY ANNOUNCEMENT: ¿Quieres ganar $25 por 45 minutos de trabajo? Voxy, una compañía de enseñanza de inglés, está buscando voluntarios para probar y ayudarnos a mejorar nuestro producto. Se te pagará $25 más 3 meses de acceso premium por cada sesión de entre 30-45 minutos en nuestras oficinas en Manhattan. Queremos saber lo que piensas acerca de nuestro producto; lo que te gusta, lo que no te...
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ANÚNCIO VOXY:
Quer ganhar $25 por 45 minutos de trabalho? A Voxy, o programa que te ensina inglês, está buscando voluntários para testar e nos ajudar a melhorar o nosso produto. Pagaremos $25 mais 3 meses de acesso ao plano Voxy Premium por cada sessão de 30-45 minutos que você fizer em nossos escritórios em Manhattan. Gostaríamos de saber o que pensa sobre o nosso produto; o que gosta, o que não gosta, o que...
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The Endangered Languages Project
Did you know that only 50% of today’s languages will be spoken by the year 2100? Losing one language may not impact our daily lives right now, but it means the loss of a unique culture and way of communicating… forever! Thankfully, the Alliance for Linguistic Diversity and Google are making a collaborative effort to teach and preserve 3000+ endangered languages through the Endangered Languages...
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WatchVoxy at Internet Week New York
Recently, Voxy had the privilege to present a panel at Internet Week New York City. Our panel “Riding the Wave: Customer Acquisition in Emerging Markets” was selected out of a pool of a few hundred panels in the “Make The Stage” Competition.
Voxy’s Founder/CEO, Paul Gollash was joined on the panel by the Founder/CEO of Assured Labor (David Reich) and Founder/COO...
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Top 10 Techie Words that Are Now Part of Everyday...
Did you know that Google is not a verb? Working at a tech start up, we’ve noticed that a lot of that jargon – company and product names – have become part of our daily speech. Here at Voxy we love to study language and bring interesting discoveries about every day use of English to our readers. Take a look at our top 10 techie words/names that are now part of everyday English:
1. Wi-Fi:
Usage:...
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“Flipping the Classroom” for Language Learners
As technology entered public schools more and more, the Flipped Classroom Model has been growing in popularity amongst educational pioneers.Technology and task-based learning are key components of the flipped classroom model. Here’s a cool and useful infographic about flipping.
In this learning environment, the traditional format of lectures in the class and homework after school is switched or...
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How Far Can Mobile Learning Reach?
What reaches 87% of the world’s population (≈ 6 billion people); is the most popular device to access the Internet in Africa and fits in your pocket? You guessed it: mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones!
Imagine the day when children ask: “what is a pay phone?” or worse yet “what is a land line?”. With mobile devices making large strides in adoption year after year, these questions are...
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Free Mobile Learning for Less Mobile Stealing
Despite the fact that mobile devices have become increasingly crucial to one’s everyday life, educators continue to argue that they are not conducive to learning. Compared to Hemingway and redox reaction equations, Tweets and App games do seem a bit absurd. Therefore many schools ban cellphones, causing students to pay local delis and food trucks to hold their gadgets for them while they’re in...
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Boxing Idioms in English Often Used in the Real...
The split-decision of the Pacquiao vs. Bradley fight sure caused a lot of drama in every single sports bar last weekend. Whether or not you agreed with the BS call, you’d be surprised to learn just how many boxing phrases we use in our everyday lexicon. Here are explanations of the most common boxing idioms used outside of the ring.
1. “On the ropes” – doing badly and likely to fail Boxing...
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VOXY ANNOUNCEMENT:
VOXY ANNOUNCEMENT: ¿Quieres ganar $25 por 45 minutos de trabajo? Voxy, una compañía de enseñanza de inglés, está buscando voluntarios para probar y ayudarnos a mejorar nuestro producto. Se te pagará $25 más 3 meses de acceso premium por cada sesión de entre 30-45 minutos en nuestras oficinas en Manhattan. Queremos saber lo que piensas acerca de nuestro producto; lo que te gusta, lo que no te...
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Learning a foreign language compulsory from the... →
uoslibraryculture:
The government have unveiled plans to make learning a foreign language compulsory at primary schools. Plans will go to formal consultation later this year and it has been suggested that Mandarin, Latin and Greek be added to the list of languages to be studied. Read the full article at the BBC by clicking the link above - including opinions from Shadow education secretary...
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3 Great Songs for English Learners: Hip-Hop...
In the previous blog post published by Voxy, we learned 5 reasons why music is an excellent and low-cost way to learn a second language. Today we’ll suggest our favorite rap songs for English learners and explain the lessons behind them. This is your chance to bust a move in English!
Run DMC – “It’s Like That”
Beginner
For hip-hop, this song is pretty slow and repetitive, making it...
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Language Boot Camp! 5 Challenges for your next 3...
Warning: The following five challenges are only intended for the brave, the strong and the super motivated language learner. Most people have limited time to devote for studying a new language, and many more simply lack the discipline to carry out all five of these challenges. But if you think you got what it takes — or if you recently graduated from university and your employment prospects look...
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5 Reasons Why Music is a Great Learning Tool
There are approximately 5,000 – 6,000 languages and dialects spoken on Earth today, but there’s one that all of us understand: music. Every country, culture and group of people has some unique style of music to offer the world, and this is great news if you’re learning a second language. If you’re currently learning a second language and are quickly becoming bored with your usual study...
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The many flavors of American English
It’s happened to anyone who’s ever studied a foreign language: After spending years tirelessly learning grammar rules, building up vocabulary and listening to conversations in the school’s language lab, you finally visit a country where the language is spoken, and you DON’T UNDERSTAND A WORD! “What the hell?” you ask yourself. “Why do these people sound so funny?”
What we’re often taught in...
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7 languages that will make you big bucks
While English is the most widely used international language for business, academia and tourism, being a monolingual, native-speaker of English will actually put you at a serious disadvantage during your job search. English just won’t cut the mustard anymore!
The world and its businesses and industries are more tightly-connected than ever before, and successful businesspeople must be able to...
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Voxy in Social Media
Do you know where you can find Voxy in Social Media? Well, virtually everywhere! Here are all the Social Media outlets in which you can find a funny, irreverent, and informative content to help you immerse into the English language and American culture. Learn English in the way it is spoken in real life on:
Facebook
Voxy’s content on Facebook includes funny and impressive pictures that will...
May 2012
32 posts
When someone tells me the party starts at nine
whatshouldwecallme:
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FREE LESSON: “I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but…”
You and your boyfriend disagreed about when to arrive at the airport to catch a flight. You thought that you should go earlier, but he wanted to go later. Now you’ve missed your flight. You’re annoyed, so you say this to him.
I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but…
I hate to (do something), but… When people have to tell someone something negative, they often start with “I hate to ___, but…” For...
Necesito-aprender-ingles-urgente →
vocabularioingles:
“¡Necesito aprender inglés urgentemente!” Este es un comentario muy común en nuestro blog. Si tu caso es ‘urgente’ puedo ayudarte pero debes seguir mis consejos.
Introducción:
Soy filósofo y democrático, por eso me siento raro pedirte dos cosas –
Que dejas de pensar.
Que haces todo lo que digo sin cuestionar.
Necesitas aprender inglés urgente, pero el problema es que si...
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Learn the expression "I feel for you, pal/bro"
When you can relate to what somebody else is feeling, it is common to say “I feel for you, pal” or “I feel ya, bro” meaning “I know that feeling.” It’s a nice way to show empathy and be supportive in a non-awkward way.
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Study: Bilingual Mandarin Speakers Repress...
A new research study revealed that a bilingual study group did not respond to negative words in English charged with potentially disturbing emotions.
According to the study conducted with bilingual Mandarin-English speakers, words such as “anger” in the non-native language were not assimilated in the same way as words with no emotions attached to them, such as the word “position.” This may...
