Department stores and shopping malls
Department stores and shopping malls are places where we go shopping. A department store is usually a large shop where we can buy a wide variety of items such as clothing, luggage, make-up, lighting,...
Category: Vocabulary
What’s the difference between horrible and horrid?
What’s the difference between horrible and horrid? “Horrible” and “horrid” are synonyms. Both words are used to describe something that is unpleasant. They can also be used to say that something is bad. In...
Show up and showdown
Up is the opposite of down but show up is not the opposite of showdown. They are two different things entirely. First “show up”. Notice that this consists of two separate words. It is...
“Approve” or “approve of”?
“Approve” can mean something different from “approve of”. “Approve” changes its meaning depending on whether or not we follow it with “of”. We use approve without “of” to show that someone agrees to –...
Unperturbed or imperturbable?
To understand the difference between unperturbed and imperturbable, let’s start with the meaning of “perturbed”, which is something like upset or troubled. We say that someone is “unperturbed” when they are not perturbed –...
Conscience
“Conscience” is pronounced something like “konshuns” ( /ˈkɑn·ʃəns/ ). If you would like to hear it pronounced by a speaker of British English, click here. We use it to mean knowing what is right...
What is a Joke?
As a noun, “a joke” is something that is said to make people laugh. And as a verb, “to joke” is to say something to make people laugh. Some examples: (In English there is...
Namesake
We mostly use “namesake” when two people have both the same first name and the same last name. The idea really originates from the custom (not as common now as it used to be)...
What does erroneous mean?
We use “erroneous” to mean “mistaken”, “false” or “containing errors”. It’s an adjective related to the noun “error”. We often use it with “information” (“erroneous information”) but can be used with many other nouns...
Christmas Traditions
Christmas is celebrated in many countries around the world. Different countries have different traditions. Here are some British traditions.
In the United Kingdom, ‘Christmas Day’ is celebrated on 25th December. Traditionally families gather together to exchange presents, to eat and to drink.