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HAMBURGER WRITING CHART

10/21/2015

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Writing can sometimes get complicated and confusing especially when you have no clear organization. You need structure in writing, whether in a college essay, article, or business email. It should always be organized, clear, and concise. This makes it easier for the readers to understand.

A great way to think about how to structure writing is by using the example of a burger or a sandwich. I was taught this same way when I was young, so this concept has been around for a while now!
Hamburger Sandwich paragraph chart
INTRODUCTION
You begin first with your main idea/ introduction. This is the top bun of the burger. What are you writing about? What's your topic?

For example:
"Learning English can change your life in positive ways"

DETAILS
All the  ingredients are what provides taste to the burger. These are the supporting details 1,2, and 3 (or more) that gives the writing the "meat." You can add tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, pickles in a burger - these all provide substance and taste. That's what we need to make a writing (and a burger) interesting!

For example:
Detail 1 : English can open up many job opportunities

Detail 2 : English can give you more independence when traveling around the world because English is a common language.

Detail 3 : English can give you more opportunities to meet new people


CONCLUSION
The bottom bun of the burger completes the burger. This is where you would bring everything to a conclusion.

The top and bottom buns hold all the main ingredients (supporting details) together. If you don't start with a bread on the top or bottom, the burger would be strange and probably wouldn't taste so delicious. All the ingredients in your burger would just fall out too. The top and bottom bun provides structure to hold everything together. These are just as important as the ingredients inside a burger.

If you're interested in a Hamburger Chart Worksheet to use in the classroom or to practice on your own, you can download it here.


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PARTICIPIAL ADJECTIVES

10/1/2015

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If you've visited my site lately, you would have seen a new section called "Make a Wish" (you can find this on the homepage). This allows you to make a wish on an English lesson you wish to see on The English Student in the future. I've already received some emails, and although I can't cover everything right away, I will choose some that I think a lot of other learners can benefit from.

A question that I'm answering today is from an English student who wanted to know the difference between the words "bored" and "boring." This is a very common problem and I will try to explain this grammar difference as simply as I can without boring you all!

To be bored is never fun but to be boring is never good! I would much rather be bored than be boring.

If you're bored, it describes how you feel. You feel unhappy or unsatisfied because there is nothing to do. Have you ever heard the saying, "Facebook is like a fridge. If you're bored, you keep opening it." If you feel bored, then you keep opening and checking Facebook. Quite true!

If you're boring, it describes what you're like as person. Someone who is not interesting to be with or talk to. I would never want anyone to say I'm a boring person! That would be a bad quality to have! As the actress Marilyn Monroe once said, "It's better to be absolutely ridiculous than to be absolutely boring." I agree with that!
The difference between bored and boring as participial adjectives
In the picture above you can tell these friends are not having a great lunch together. The woman on the left is feeling bored. The woman on the right thinks her friend is a boring person (not interesting to be with). Can you distinguish the difference now?

The words "bored" and "boring" are known as participial adjectives.

Participial adjectives function just like any regular adjective, they modify nouns but they are formed from a verb. Adding -ed or - ing at the end of a verb creates a past or present participle adjective. Take a look at how some verbs become participial adjectives.

VERB - PAST PARTICIPLE ADJECTIVE - PRESENT PARTICIPLE ADJECTIVE
(1) BORE - BORED - BORING
(2) AMUSE - AMUSED - AMUSING
(3) RELAX - RELAXED - RELAXING
(4) INTEREST - INTERESTED - INTERESTING
Picture
There are so many wonderful resources on the web to learn more about participial adjectives. If you're still confused or want more examples, it may be a good idea to search around. Here is a great video from Sprotak Animations with some examples of present and past participles.
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Plural and Singular Nouns

6/21/2015

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 A few days ago I was helping my cousin proofread some of her work. She asked me why we have to use "a woman" instead of  "a women." This is clearly a confusing and easily mistaken part of English because in some languages, such as mandarin, there are no specific nouns to distinguish between one woman or many women.

There are so many singular and plural words in English, but my focus today is just on helping you understand the difference between WOMAN, WOMEN, MAN, MEN.

With one female or male, we always use 'a' - womAn and mAn
With two or more females or males, we use 'e' - womEn and mEn
The English Student, plural and singular nouns, woman vs women, men vs man, verb subject agreement, learn English
Also remember to use the correct verb for each noun.
Since it's Father's Day today, I'm going to give an example related to this:
"He is a great man" - singular (uses the verb 'is')
"They are great men" - plural (uses the verb 'are')


Related Lessons:
Jean or Jeans
This or That
English is a Strange Language

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Telling The Time

4/20/2015

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Picture
Being able to tell the time is an important part of life. Just like Snoopy in this image, there are times when you'll need to be very specific. Someone might stop to ask you, "Excuse me, have you got the time?" or "Can you tell me what time it is?"

How about making a reservation at a restaurant? "I'd like to make a lunch reservation for 12:30" or making a doctor's appointment: "I'd like to schedule an appointment for 10:00 tomorrow"

Aside from knowing how to say the time, we also need to understand time being expressed by someone. One day you might be that person asking someone for the time and need to understand their response. Or even in understanding when to show up to a meeting or class! You never want to be late!

Take a look at the image below. The time usually has an hour hand (the short hand), a minute hand (the long hand). The hour hand is very easy as long as you know numbers, it's basically between one and twelve. The minute hand is usually the hardest for people to learn.

There are two ways we can express the minute hand. The first way is to say the hour time first and then express the minute hand.
For example:
1:30 = one thirty
3:14 = three fourteen
8:59 = eight fifty nine
11:00 = eleven o'clock

The second and considered more formal way to express time is to use "past" and "to." From one minute to 30 minutes, we use "past." The image below shows this. The number of minutes past the current hour. For example, 1:12 = twelve past one. It means twelve minutes past the hour of one o'clock.

Between 31 minutes and 59 minutes we use "to." The number of minutes to the approaching hour. For example, 1:40 = twenty to two. It means twenty more minutes until the hour of two o'clock.

When we use this form, it can be common to round it to the nearest five minutes, but not always the case. Some might even say, "It's almost ten past one."

This is a useful diagram for you to practice and learn this more formal way to express time. Use it, share it, learn it! !Try and see if you can complete the ten times below then download, print, and wear your own watch to help you practice!


The English Student, telling the time, reading the time, www.theenglishstudent.com, teaching resources
Telling the time, The English Student, www.theenglishstudent.com, teaching how to express time, clock for teaching telling time
Practice using "past" and "to":
(1) 3:35 =
(2) 6:00 =
(3) 12:07 =
(4) 9:30 =
(5) 2:35 =
(6) 11:50 =
(7) 8: 50 =
(8) 4:15=
(9) 4:45=
(10) 5:18=

Answers:
(1) twenty-five to four;  (2) six o'clock;  (3) seven past twelve;  (4) half past nine;  (5  )twenty five to three;  (6) ten to twelve;  (7) ten to nine;  (8) quarter past four;  (9) quarter to five;  (10) eighteen past five;
Picture
tellingthetimewatch.png
File Size: 369 kb
File Type: png
Download File

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Capitalization

4/14/2015

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Today I am re-posting an oldie that was one of the first visuals I created for this blog. It's truly been beneficial to a lot of learners to 'see' the basics of capitalization. It's an important part of grammar! In case you missed it before, here it is again. Hope it'll help you out!

Capitalization wheel, when to capitalize words, The English Student, ESL grammar
Related Lessons:
Proofreading Your Work
Punctuation is Important
Order of Adjectives
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Call Off

3/11/2015

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Phrasal verbs are extremely important in the English language because it's everywhere! Without some knowledge of these, it's very easy to get the wrong meaning of something.

Phrasal verbs are two-word phrases, either as VERB + PREPOSITION or VERB + ADVERB.

For example: run into, check in, cheer up, get up, hang out, shut off

Each of these phrasal verbs have a meaning that is different from the individual words its made up of. This means the phrasal verb "cheer up" means something different than the words "cheer" and "up."

"Call off" is another example of a phrasal verb. We hear this quite often in a variety of settings, both formal and informal so it's quite useful to know.

So what does it mean?
Can you use the phrasal verb, "call off" in a sentence?
The English Student, phrasal verbs, transitive phrasal verb, ESL phrasal verbs, what does call off, mean, call off something, Esl prepositions,
"Call off" means to cancel or abandon something. It's known as a TRANSITIVE PHRASAL VERB, meaning it can be followed by an object. For example, "call off" the party (party is the object/noun). "Call off" is also separable so that an object can be placed between the word "call" (the verb) and "off" (the preposition). 

You can see these examples below.
Related Lessons:
Kick back
Get Up VS. Wake Up

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