執筆者 Modern English | 2015年02月05日 | Trivia
In English, a person’s given name comes before their family name. But when writing a list of names, for example the list of students in a class, we often put the family name first, followed by a comma and the given name. We use the family name to put people in...
執筆者 Modern English | 2015年01月29日 | Trivia
“Heading to the gym? Are you going to work out?” “No, I work in the cake shop next to the gym.” “Work” means to do a job for money, or to perform a task that takes effort. Add “out” afterwards and the meaning changes completely. “Work out” means to exercise for the...
執筆者 Modern English | 2015年01月22日 | Trivia
“John was combing is hair when the bomb went off, killing him. Now he’s buried in this tomb.” This strange and silly story demonstrates how weird English pronunciation can be sometimes. The words “comb”, “bomb” and “tomb” look almost the same. Only one letter is...
執筆者 Modern English | 2015年01月15日 | Trivia
“It’s raining, but I still have to walk the dog.” When you take a walk with a friend or family member, you can say it in many ways: I’m going on a walk with my friend. I’m taking Grandma for a walk. Dad and I are taking a walk. You can take a walk with your dog, too,...
執筆者 Modern English | 2015年01月08日 | Trivia
It’s an old tradition to kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve. It can be traced back to ancient Rome. Later, in England and Germany, people kissed the first person they met in the new year. Now, people kiss their loved ones at midnight to celebrate the new year....