What would you feel if you heard a loud bang on your door at midnight? What if you saw a shadow in your room when you thought no one was home?  Think about some of the feelings you would have.

I'm sure you would be frightened? scared? afraid?

What do you think you look like when you're scared? Your eyes probably open wider? Your jaw drops? Sometimes you feel like your heart stops or beats faster?

We can use idioms to show more clearly all these feelings and even the way we look. Sometimes when we're scared, instead of using adjectives like "anxious" or "frightened," we could use idioms to give the listener an image of what we've experienced.

Scare to death-
Meaning: extremely frightened
Usage: I was scared to death! / You scared her to death! / I will scare you to death with my costume / Stop scaring me to death!

Shake like a leaf-
Meaning: shaking a lot from being really scared or nervous, being extremely scared
Usage: I'm shaking like a leaf! / I always shake like a leaf when I give presentations!

Freak out-
Meaning: upset, anxious, excited 
Usage: Don't freak out ! / You freaked me out! / Your dog freaks him out! / Let's freak someone out! They are freaking me out!

I use these idioms quite a lot, especially "freak out" because my husband loves to find ways to scare me or "freak me out". Life is always entertaining with him...

Happy Halloween!

The words, 'advice' and 'advise' are commonly confused. Even though the spelling is almost identical, it's important to understand that its meaning and pronunciations are different. The word 'advice' acts as a noun and 'advise' acts as a verb.

Here's a little trick to help you:
Substitute the word 'advice' with the noun, ' recommendation(s)'
Substitute the word, 'advise' with any of the verbs, 'recommend, recommended, recommends, or recommending'
If the word 'recommendation' works in the sentence, then you know the word 'advice' is correct and not 'advise'

For example,
"You should listen to your father's advice (recommendation) " - correct! Use 'advice'
"You should listen to your father's advise (recommend/recommended/recommends/recommending) - incorrect

"The doctor advice (recommendation) I stop smoking" - incorrect!
"The doctor advised (recommended) I stop smoking" - correct! Use 'advised'

(You can also try it with similar nouns or verbs, such as, 'assistance/assists', suggestion/suggests' )

Try these questions:
(1) I'm learning English as a second language. Do you have any advice/advise for me?
(2) My mom always gives me bad advice/advise.
(3) I advice/advise you to listen to your teacher.
(4) Please be adviced/advised, your flight to London will be delayed by three hours.
(5) Don't give me advice/advise on what I should or shouldn't do!
(6) What would you advice/advise me to do?
(7) My doctor adviced/advised me to stop eating McDonald's everyday.

Answers:
(1) I'm learning English as a second language. Do you have any advice for me?
(2) My mom always gives me bad advice.
(3) I advise you listen to your teacher.
(4) Please be advised, your flight to London will be delayed by three hours. **
(5) Don't give me advice on what I should or shouldn't do!
(6) What would you advise me to do?
(7) My doctor advised me to stop eating McDonald's everyday. **

** 'adviced' is not a word

Pronunciation is not easy, even for native speakers! It might be hard for you to believe, but I've heard a lot of native English speakers make mistakes too. One example is the word 'debt', a lot of people pronounce it as 'deb-t' and not 'det'. It's such a common mistake. The 'b' does not need to be pronounced in this word, same as 'doubt' (no need to pronounce the 'b').

A lot of times, the way a word is spelled is not the way it's pronounced.  So I decided to compile a list of some commonly mispronounced words especially for non-native speakers.

Are there any other words you think should be included here?

We've talked a lot about bizarre things. Since we're counting down to Halloween, I had to share some bizarre costumes for dogs.

If you don't remember what the word bizarre means, you can review it here where I talked about stinky tofu.

I can't decide which costume is my favorite. Do you have a favorite?

Candy Crush is a very popular puzzle game for smart phones. I've never played it and don't plan to. I'm scared I'll get addicted!

with over 132 million people around the world playing this game monthly, it's estimated that Candy Crush makes $850,000 a day! That's a lot of money!

Do you play or know anyone who does? Pass these addiction signs to them!

10 signs you might be an addict:
(1) You forget to pick up your children from school
(2) You dream of candies
(3) You Google for strategies
(4) You buy an extra battery for your cell phone
(5) The first thing you do  when you wake up in the morning is play Candy Crush
(6) You secretly hide in the bathroom at parties so you could play
(7) You try to hack into the game for unlimited lollipops and hearts
(8) You get a tattoo that says "Candy Crush Forever"
(9) You haven't showered or changed your clothes in days
(10) You start seeing everyone's faces as candy