English With Luke

An area of English that seems technical is indirect or reported speech.  But once you have understood the basic principles, it becomes a lot easier. Example: Imagine a teacher that says, "I'm so happy today." If you are telling a friend about this the next day, how would you explain it to him/her? You would have to think about a few things: The teacher said it yesterday (in the past). The teacher was happy yesterday, maybe he/she isn't happy today. You are not the teacher.  The teacher is a he/she. So you could directly quote the teacher, maybe imitating his/her voice and say: Yesterday, my teacher said: "I'm so happy today". You have used the past simple to show that it happened in the past.  But it would be much more natural to say: Yesterday, my teacher said that he was so happy that day. What did we have to change? We added "that" - this is very common in reported speech. We changed "I" to "he". We...

Which verb should I use?  Look, see or watch? These words have similar, but different meanings.  Here are the main differences: SEE = Notice something with your eyes. LOOK AT = Direct your eyes at something and pay attention to it. WATCH = Looking at something for a (usually long) period of time, usually something that is changing or moving (or something that you expect to change or move). Here are some special cases to remember: We use SEE for sports, films, theatre and dramas. We WATCH television. We use SEE to focus on what we noticed.  We use WATCH or LOOK AT when we want to focus on the process of observing.  We could SEE something without planning to. For more information, check out the link below: Link to a Cambridge Dictionary article about this topic

There is nothing wrong with having an accent when you speak English - in fact, everyone has an accent!  What can cause problems is when your pronunciation confuses the people listening to you and makes it difficult to understand what you're saying.  This is usually because you are pronouncing a sound following the rules of your native language instead of English rules. For example: Spanish people are known for pronouncing the "r" sound very, very clearly.  So, when Spanish people speak English, they usually over-pronounce the "r" sound.  The reverse is also true, English people speaking Spanish have to make an effort to "roll" their RRRRRR sounds. Most Italians usually have problems with specific sounds that are pronounced differently in English.  If you can identify and practice pronouncing these sounds correctly, you can do a lot to make your English more understandable. For example:  How do you pronounce the name of the comic character "...

When talking about your home town, it can be useful to have specific vocabulary about places and how to describe them.  Here are some basic pieces of vocabulary that could be useful, for example, in the first part of a PET speaking exam. PLACES cafès night clubs pubs restaurants shops outdoor markets shopping centres art galleries cinemas museums theatres amusement parks skate parks sports centres swimming pools Which of these places does your town have?  Ask your partner about their town.  Which would you like it to have?  Why? ADJECTIVES TO DESCRIBE THEM big cheap comfortable exciting friendly interesting quiet modern nice relaxed boring busy dark expensive nois...

Below is a link to an article about someone whose job is writing fake news articles.  He is able to earn enough money to have a good standard of living. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jan/26/experience-i-write-fake-news After you've read the article, answer these comprehension questions: Why did the writer first start writing on websites? How much money does he earn now? Describe the people that read his articles. Does the writer feel bad about his work?  Explain. Further discussion: If you could earn a good salary doing this kind of work, would you? If so, what kinds of subjects or viewpoints would you refuse to write about/from? Here are some ideas to consider: Fake reviews of hotels / products / books / restaurants Fake articles designed to promote a political party Fake articles designed to promote prejudice Fake articles designed to harm a politican's reputation.  Fake articles designed to harm a celebrity's (i.e. a VIP's) reputa...