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 cholesterol.

2. Criteria – The singular is criterion.

Example: The most important criteria for college admissions committees are GPA, SAT score and involvement in extracurricular activities.

3. Media -The singular is medium.

Example: The media are often accused of being biased.

4. Alumni – The singular is alumnus for a male and alumna for a female (female plural is alumnae).

Example: The alumni gathered at their university for their 10th reunion.

5. Dice - The singular is die.

Example: Yahtzee is played by rolling five dice to make different combinations.

6. Bacteria – The singular is bacterium.

Example: Bacteria is often found on light switches and remote controls in hotel.

7. Algae – The singular is alga.

Example: Some types of algae are edible.

8. Paparazzi – The singular is paparazzo. 

Example: The paparazzi compete with one another to get the best picture of a celebrity.

9. Parentheses – The singular is parenthesis.

Example: The teacher did not like that she used so many parentheses in her writing.

Source: voxy.com

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 – When the pitcher throws a curveball, the ball will dive downward instead of flying in a straight line. Usually, this is done in order to trick the batter into thinking that he will be able to hit the ball, when actually he will probably fail to do so.

Real world scenario – During a presentation at school or work, you expect others to ask questions that relate to your presentation. However, when someone asks you about something you were completely unprepared to discuss, that person has just thrown you a curveball.

2.  “Step up to the plate” – to accept a challenge or responsibility for something; to rise to the occasion

Baseball scenario – The batter gets into position to hit the ball. He stands at the right or left of the plate depending on which feels more comfortable.

Real world scenario – Natural disasters, like hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes, can wreak havoc and cause significant damage. People who want to help rebuild destroyed neighborhoods should step up to the plate and begin working with each other to help these communities.

3.  “Strike out” – to fail at something

Baseball scenario – A batter is given three chances to hit the ball and run to first base. If he fails all three times, he has just struck out and has lost an opportunity to score a point for the team.

Real world scenario – If a man is attracted to a woman, he should seize the chance to ask her out on a dinner date. If he takes too long to do this and somebody else ends up asking her out first for dinner, then he has struck out and will not be having dinner with her.

4.  “Play hardball” – to play tough/act aggressively; to be unwilling to compromise

Baseball scenario – In baseball, a hard ball is used while in softball, a softer ball is used.

Real world scenario – If two major companies are trying to come to a certain agreement, but one refuses to cooperate in the deal, then that company is playing hardball. The company will not compromise until it gets what it wants.

Have you heard of any other idioms that might come from baseball? What about other sports?

Source: voxy.com

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 sugar.”

“Fewer distractions in the office would help me work better.”
“Less talking in the office would help me work better.”

These sentences illustrate the difference between count and noncount nouns. Count nouns can be expressed in the plural (like snacks or distractions), while noncount nouns cannot be expressed in the plural (like sugar or talking).

The distinction between “much” and “many” also depends on whether a noun is a count or noncount noun. Much is used for noncount nouns while many is used for count nouns. Putting the 2 rules together, you use “much” and “less” for noncount nouns and “many” and “fewer” for count nouns:

“Eating too many sugary snacks is unhealthy. You should try to eat fewer sugary snacks.”
“Eating too much sugar is unhealthy . You should try to eat less sugar”.

“There are too many distractions in the office. Fewer distractions would help me work better.”
“There is too much talking in the office. Less talking would help me work better.”

The exceptions to less/fewer rule are time, money, and distance. You would say that something costs “less than $100”, not “fewer than $100”, even though dollars can technically be counted. This is because you are referring to the cost as a whole amount. Similarly, you should also say “I’ve lived here for less than six months” or “There’s a supermarket less than 2 blocks away”.

By the way, that sign for the supermarket express lane that reads “10 items or less” is technically incorrect and should read “10 items or fewer” since you can count the individual items. Every so often, a grammarian will point this out but so far it’s been a losing battle.

Hopefully these tips will help you make fewer mistakes with English grammar!

Source: voxy.com

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 lessons in particular have a huge following on Youtube, some channels having over 6 million views per video. Although there are too many to name, here are the top three most popular English teachers on YouTube:


Jennifer from English with Jennifer 
Jennifer produces a mixture of more advanced level grammar lessons and pronunciation lessons. But the cream of the crop amongst her videos are her lessons on idioms (kitchen idioms, driving idioms, color idioms…) and American slang/phrases based on everyday environments and tasks. Most of the content in her curriculum is based on expressions and conversations from authentic experiences. For beginners who are learning to speak English for the very first time, Jennifer’s channel is a great free resource to help them get started.

Mister Duncan from Learning English with Mister Duncan
Mister Duncan hails from Great Britain and is an extremely well known ESL teacher on Youtube. His channel is popular because of the quality of each video and his amiable camera presence. His teaching style resembles Bill Nye the Science Guy (Remember that show? It was so awesome), except with the English language. Mister Duncan’s lessons focus mainly on fluency and speaking English naturally, rather than prescriptive grammar. Although he doesn’t always provide actual instruction or explanations, he covers many topics that students may not encounter in a traditional ESL classroom. His videos are good supplementary material to help students listen to and practice native speech about authentic topics.

Teacher Paul from Learn American English Online
Paul focuses mainly on very specific grammatical concepts and produce content-based traditional lectures. Although his website’s appearance looks like it’s been stuck in the 90’s, it actually contains a solid grammar curriculum based on learners’ proficiency levels. For intermediate and advanced students who need help with their written English, Paul does a great job teaching complicated and sometimes ambiguous concepts. This Youtube channel seems like a better resource for other English teachers who want to brush up on gerunds and conditionals and also for those who want some inspiration for their own grammar lessons.

Source: voxy.com

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 gusta, qué cambiarías y qué sugerirías. ¿Vives en Nueva York? ¿Hablas español y quieres aprender o estás aprendiendo inglés? ¿Tienes por lo menos 18 años de edad? Tú puedes participar.

Y si no vives en Nueva York no te preocupes, también tenemos premios de pago para todos los que nos puedan ayudar.

Haz clic aquí y rellena el siguiente formulario para que podamos ponernos en contacto contigo:

http://bit.ly/LUPKQP

Source: bit.ly

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 Project.

The project is an online initiative to provide a space for people to find and share the most up-to-date and comprehensive information about endangered languages. Under the Knowledge Sharing tab on the site, you can listen to high-quality recordings and find ancient manuscripts of nearly-dead languages. There are also resources on how to properly record an interview and transcribe natural speech when conducting language research.

This is a great resource, not only for ESL teachers, but for ELA, Foreign Language, and Social Studies teachers as well. One lesson idea is that students can conduct a language documentation project of their own to submit, where they can interview classmates and relatives and transcribe and analyze their speech, the way a field researcher would do. Listening to other people speak is a great way for ELLs to improve fluency and this would be an authentic project for them to do.

Source: voxy.com

Top 10 Techie Words that Are Now Part of Everyday English

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: I access my Voxy lessons using the coffee shop’s Wi-Fi.

Definition: Wireless connection to the Internet. This may be the most widely used tech term in everyday English. Did you know that Wi-Fi is the name of an alliance? Yes, the Wi-Fi Alliance defines their name as any wireless local area network. However, Wi-Fi has been adopted as the name for any technology that keeps us connected to the Internet sans wires.

2. Text:

Usage: Text me when Voxy launches new material.

Definition: When the only means of written communication was a handwritten letter, text referred to a book or any written or printed content. Today, however, thanks to mobile phones, “text” is used as a verb. The correct term for using your mobile phone to send a message is short messaging service (SMS), but here in America, hardly anybody uses that acronym and always say “text”.

3. Google:

Usage: I googled Voxy to find more information about the company.

Definition: As the #1 search engine, this tech giant’s name is now synonymous with searching information on the web. I’m guilty of replacing the words “search online” with “Google” many a times.

 4. Facebook:

Usage: Facebook me the time and place of the Voxy event.

Definition: The name “Facebook” has many uses in everyday English. The name can be used to replace words we usually use to describe Facebook features. It can be used to replace “send an invitation”, “send a message”, “look up in the Facebook directory”, but most often it is used for “sharing information”.

 5. Friended:

Usage: I friended Voxy on Facebook.

Definition: To become someone’s Facebook friend. Facebook is a huge part of our social lives and therefore takes the number 4 and 5 spot. I realize this is not an actual tech term but it does stem from a tech company. Friend (amigo, compadre) is a real English noun and now, thanks to the act of becoming a Facebook friend, it is a verb.

6. Twitter:

Usage: This morning I read a tweet from Voxy asking for user testing participants.

Definition: Unlike the other two examples this is an actual word. Back in the day tweet/twitter referred to the sounds of birds, now it refers to sharing your messages online through social media site Twitter. Guess the birds will have to come up with another term then. If I were them, I would create a Twitter account ASAP.

7. App:

Usage: The Voxy app helps me learn new English vocabulary.

Definition: Abbreviation of the word “application”. Most people who use the term app are referring to a mobile application. Thanks to Apple iTunes and their app stores, the abbreviation is now synonymous with mobile games and software.

 8. Photoshop:

Usage: I photoshopped myself into a picture next to Voxy headquarters.

Definition: To “photoshop” an image means to digitally alter the original picture. Thanks to the photo editing software we can alter images as we please. Magazines have been under scrutiny for  “photoshopping” images to make models look thinner and younger.

9. TiVo:

Usage:  My mom TiVoed Voxy’s CEO appearance on Univision.

Definition: TiVo is a digital video recorder. It records TV shows and stores them to watch later. Thanks to technology, we no longer have to watch TV in real time. For the older folks of the blog I realize that this was possible with VCRs; however, no brand ever made it to everyday language like TiVo.

10. BBM:

Usage: I BBMed you the information for Voxy user testing.

Definition: BlackBerry Messaging. Sending a message using the messaging application on a Black Berry phone. Hopefully this term doesn’t become obsolete.

Source: voxy.com