22 August 2008 - Written by Lyle

Australian English began diverging from British English shortly after the foundation of the Australian penal colony of New South Wales in 1788. British convicts sent there, including Cockneys (working class Londoners), came mostly from large English cities.

Australian English has many words considered unique to the language. One of the best known is outback, meaning a remote, sparsely populated area. The meaning of some words changed. For example, bush in Australia means either a native forest or a country area in general, but in England it refers to a small plant. Creek in Australia, means a stream or small river, whereas in the UK it means a small watercourse flowing into the sea.

Australian English makes frequent use of diminutives (shortening a word, then adding a vowel). For example: footy (Australian rules football or rugby league football), and Aussie. (Australian)

Here are some more examples of common diminutives. Try to guess their meaning.

1. It’s a nice day so let’s have a barby.
2. What do you usually have for brekky?
3. Are you busy this arvo?
4. I watched a good doco on global warming.
5. What did you get for chrissy?
6. My father is a truckie.
7. I’ll get petrol at the servo.
8. I got bitten by a mozzie.

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20 August 2008 - Written by Rob

There are a variety of phrasal verbs, many of them quite common, which use the words ‘come’ and ‘go’. (Remember, a phrasal verb consists of a verb and a preposition.)

Look at these sentences:

Come

- That band’s new CD came out last week. (come out - to be released to the public; information, products etc)
- She was walking through the shopping centre when she came across a funny old lady. (come across - to find something unexpectedly)
- We were talking about politics last night, and the subject of the rebellion came up. (come up - for a point or subject to be raised/introduced into a conversation)

Go

- The party went on until midnight (go on - to last, to continue)
- What is going on here? (go on - to happen)
- The girls he goes for are young. I worry about him. (go for - to be attracted to)

Now, complete these sentences using one of the phrasal verbs from above:

1. She wouldn’t like you. You’re too young, and she usually _____________ older men.
2. When did his latest novel ___________?
3 I ____________ this delightful blouse while I was wandering around Grafton Street.
4 The neighbours were not happy at all because the music and the shouting __________ all night.
5 Can somebody please tell me what’s __________?
6 A very interesting point ___________ at the meeting last night.

14 August 2008 - Written by Lyle

A tongue twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to say.

Eg: She sells sea shells by the sea shore.

The mixture and repetition of “sh” and “s” sounds make the sentence very hard to say.

Some tongue-tongue twisters are very short phrases that are difficult to repeat rapidly.

Eg: Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat.

Tongue-twisters are a great way to work on pronunciation. Try these.

1. Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.
2. Unique New York, unique New York.
3. Six thick thistle sticks.
4. Good blood, bad blood, good blood, bad blood.
5. Cheap sheets shrink, cheap sheets shrink.
6. Which wrist-watches are Swiss wrist-watches?
7. Lesser leather never weathered wet weather better.
8. Brad’s big black bath brush broke.
9. The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick.
10. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

13 August 2008 - Written by Rob

In this lesson, we will look at some of the phrasal verbs in English that contain the word ‘put’. (Remember, a phrasal verb consists of a verb and one or sometimes two prepositions. E.g. Put = verb, down = preposition - put down; or, get = verb, on = preposition)

Consider the following monologue:

“I came home from the office after a busy working day and put down my briefcase. I said
hello to my wife. I said to myself, ‘If only I could leave this terrible woman. She’s always putting me down and I’m sick and tired of it.’ I had decided to leave her many times, but every time I did I would put it off for another week, then another month, and then another year. I never seemed to manage to break away from that terrible woman. And so, day after day, I put up with her moaning, her constant complaining, and her criticism. Then I wake up each morning to go to work, put on my suit and tie, and thank God that at least I have a job to go to where I can get away from her for a few hours each day.”

Now take another look at the phrasal verbs that have been underlined. They all contain the word ‘put’. Before you read on, can you guess the meanings of these phrases by looking at how they appear in the context of the monologue?

- put down: to put what is in your hands onto the floor or onto a surface

- put (someone) down: to criticise severely, to insult, to make someone feel stupid

- put (something) off: to postpone (Note: you can also say ‘put back’)

- put up with (something or someone) - to tolerate something unpleasant

- put on: to put clothing on your body

As an exercise, fill in the gaps in these sentences with the appropriate phrasal verb.

1. I don’t know how she _____________ him. He’s a violent, lazy, drunk.

2. If you’re going out in the snow, remember to _____________ your warm wooly hat.

3. “__________ your weapons and come out with your hands up!”

4. They ____________ the meeting until Wednesday because of the bad weather.

5. The teacher was always ____________ the students _______, until eventually they got sick of it, and took revenge.

13 August 2008 - Written by Jeanne

Remember, we use adjectives ending in -ed to describe how somebody feels, eg. Mary is bored./ I was tired.
We use adjectives ending in -ing to say how a situation, event or article makes somebody feel, eg. The film is boring. (Mary is bored watching it.)/ The journey was tiring. (I was tired after it.)

Eg. Bored/ Boring

Somebody is bored if something (or somebody else) is boring.
Or, if something is boring, it makes you bored.
Eg. Jane is bored because her job is boring. Jane’s job is boring, so Jane is bored, (not ‘Jane is boring’).

If a person is boring, this means that they make other people bored:
Eg. George always talks about the same things. He’s really boring.

Compare adjectives ending in –ing and -ed

You can say: My job is boring, interesting/ tiring/ satisfying/ depressing, (etc.)
The -ing adjective tells you about the job.

Compare these examples:

Interesting Julia thinks politics is very interesting.
Did you meet anyone interesting at the party?

You can say: I’m bored with my job. I’m not interested in my job any more. I’m always tired when I finish work. I’m not satisfied with my job. My job makes me depressed, (etc.)
The -ed adjective tells you how somebody feels (about the job).

Interested Julia is very interested in politics. (not interesting in politics)
Are you interested in buying a car? I’m trying to sell mine.

1) Read the opinions in the box. What is the person giving an opinion about? Look
at the six things below. Write the correct word from below.

restaurant/ film/ book/ football match/ hotel/ museum

eg. a) The food was disgusting! (restaurant)

b) I love being frightened by a good horror film.
c) The stadium was crowded with fans of United.
d) I was surprised by the score at the end.
e) The special effects were amazing.
f) The last chapter is very exciting.
g) I am very interested in Ancient Egypt.
h) The menu was rather disappointing.
i) The hieroglyphs were very well displayed,
j) I was bored with the first chapter.
k) I was very tired and I wanted a nice comfortable bed.
l) I had a relaxing Jacuzzi before I went to bed.

2) Read these opinions. Are they grammatically correct or incorrect? Mark the
opinions / (=correct) or * (= incorrect).

eg. a) I didn’t enjoy the party. It was very bored. (* It was very boring.)

b) The ghost story was very frightening. _
c) I was shocking by what she told me. _
d) The children were over-excited and noisy. _
e) Your holiday in South America sounds very exciting. _
f) I was embarrassing when they asked me to sing. _
g) It was very depressing to hear about your problems. _
h) I thought the story was very confusing. _
i) I was very tiring so I went to bed. _
j) I went home early because the party was boring.

3) Underline the correct form of the adjective in these opinions.

ex. a) I’ve just read a very | amusing | amused | book

b) The basketball game was very | excited | exciting | because both teams played well.
c) I couldn’t find the way to your house because your map was very | confused |
confusing |.
d) I was | amazed | amazing | that your daughter did so well in her exam.
e) Please go away. You are very | annoyed | annoying |.
f) I was | shocked | shocking | when I saw the bill! It was £54.25!
g) Are you | interested | interesting | in politics?
h) I was very | embarrassed | embarrassing | because I didn’t understand Spanish.
i) Everybody was | amused | amusing | by her imitations of her teachers.
j) The walk to the top of the hill was | exhausted | exhausting |.

11 August 2008 - Written by Lyle

When talking about physical activities it can be difficult to choose the correct verb. Here are the general rules, but there are exceptions.

Play – Can be used for most competitive sports and games.

Eg: play hurling, play chess, play golf.

Go – Is usually used for activities that can be done alone.

Eg: go surfing, go skiing, go bird-watching.

Do – Is often used for activities done in groups.

Eg: do aerobics, do yoga, do Tai-Chi.

(Learn, practice and study are also used, especially for activities which require lessons).

Try to complete these sentences using play, go, or do.

1. I’ve _______ snowboarding several times.

2. Many Australians _________ cricket.

3. I like _________ swimming in summer.

4. I _________ fencing for 2 years in high-school.

5. Most kids in Japan ________ judo in school.

6. If the weather is nice, I’ll _______ sailing.

7. How long have you ___________ volley-ball.

8. Jim ________ kayaking in Canada.

9. Have you ever _________ kung-fu?

10. I don’t like _________ gymnastics.

August 6 2008 - Written by Rob

Consider these sentences in the past simple tense:

- We watched the play in the old theatre.

- I shot my woman

- They saved the world

They are positive statements – they describe things that happened.

If we want to make negative statements – to talk about things that didn’t happen – we use a different form:

- We didn’t watch the play in the old theatre

- I didn’t shoot my woman!

- They didn’t save the world

We used the form didn’t + infinitive (Didn’t, from the verb ‘to do’. It is an auxiliary or supporting verb. The infinitive is the ‘name’ of the verb, before it is put into any tense. For example past, future, present continuous etc.)

Make these sentences into negatives (that is, say that they didn’t happen)

1) Francis went to the beach.

2) Stephanie and Judy took a holiday last year.

3) The animals stole the fire.

4) Benjamin and I visited the graveyard.

5) You broke the microphone.

31 July 2008 - Written by Lyle

A suffix is a group of letters that is attached to the end of a word to alter the meaning. Let’s look at suffixes that change verbs into nouns. There are five main suffixes which are used to change an action into a person who performs the action. Here they are…

-ee

a person to whom something is done. Eg: train – trainee / pay – payee / escape - escapee.

-er

a person who does something. (usually physical). Eg: work – worker / wrestle – wrestler / write - writer

-ian

a person who does something as a job or hobby. Eg: music – musician / electric – electrician / vet - veterinarian

-ist

a person who believes in something, or does something. Eg: nude – nudist / Buddha - Buddhist / baptise - baptist

Or Eg: piano – pianist / violin - violinist / cycle - cyclist

-or

a person who does something (often as a job). Eg: act – actor / sail – sailor / direct - director

Try to choose the correct suffix for the following people.

1. A person who paints. Paint___.

2. A person who conducts. Conduct___.

3. A person who believes in capitalism. Capital___.

4. A person who works in science. Scient___.

5. A person who is employed. Employ___.

6. A person who translates. Translat___.

7. A person who builds. Build___.

8. A person who works in comedy. Comed___.

9. A person who works in politics. Politic___.

10. A person who believes in conformity. Conform___.

30 July 2008 - Written by Rob

When we want to talk about something imaginary (that only exists in our minds), we can use the following structure:

If I won the lottery I would buy a mansion.

I would be terrified if I saw a ghost.

What would you do if the world ended?

These are situations that probably will not happen. They are unrealistic.

We use ‘would’ and the past tense of a verb (‘If I won’, ‘If I saw’, ‘If the world ended’) Although we use the past tense, this does not mean that the action took place in the past.

However, if we want to talk about realistic events that could happen, we use a different structure:

If I see Ben I will tell him you want to see him.

They will kill you if they find you.

If he calls his girlfriend, she will be very angry.

These are realistic situations. There is a real chance that they will happen.

For these situations we use ‘will’ and the present tense (‘If I see’, ‘If they find you’, ‘If he calls’)

What words are missing from the following situations:

1. If aliens attacked the earth, people _________ be terrified.

2. ______ you call me if you see Sebastian?

3. What _______ you do if you could fly?

4. They _________ leave this country if there is a recession.

5. The priest _________ come to the house if his condition gets much worse.

6. _________ we survive if there was a nuclear attack on Dublin, do you think?

25 July 2008 - Written by Lyle

People have lived in Australia for more than 50,000 years. The earliest known inhabitants (people who live in a place) in Australia were the Aboriginals (native) . It is thought they came by boat from the islands of what is now Indonesia.

In 1606 explorers from the Netherlands, and then France, and Britain found the land currently (presently) known as Australia. First they found the north and west coast. This was dry and uninhabitable land (land where humans can’t live), and they found no economic reasons to stay. In 1770 an English sailor, Captain James Cook, came across (encountered) the east coast of Australia. He called (named) it New South Wales, and claimed it for Britain.

In 1788 the British sent a fleet (collective noun for ships) of ships to settle (begin to live in) Australia. Britain needed a place to send its convicts (people who have been sent to prison). This First Fleet settled at a place they called Sydney. Soon they began to farm, and more people came. Sydney grew, and new towns were founded (started).

In 1840 Britain stopped sending convicts to Australia. The people in Australia wanted to run (control) their own country. So in 1851 New South Wales, Victoria and the other colonies (a place controlled by another country) established their own parliaments. (people who decide laws)

The gold rushes (when a lot of gold is found) of New South Wales and Victoria started in 1851 leading to massive immigration (many people move). As the towns and farms spread across Australia, the Aboriginal people were pushed off their land. Some were killed, and many starved (die from hunger) or died from (illness).