Random Quote
Arguments over grammar and style are often as fierce as those over IBM versus Mac, and as fruitless as Coke versus Pepsi and boxers versus briefs.
---- Jack Lynch
As soon as I buy the moose head, I have to go pick up some KY jelly.
---- Mary Roninette Kowal
We don't know a millionth of one percent about anything.
---- Thomas A. Edison
Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.
---- Lily Tomlin
To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three men, two of whom are absent.
---- Robert Copeland
There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.
---- Pablo Picasso
This may be the most interesting blog theme I've ever seen. http://eflgeek.com/index.php Definitely in my top 5 at least.
---- Steve Dembo
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students.
---- John Ciardi
Always be wary of any helpful item that weighs less than its operating manual.
---- Terry Pratchett
If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.
---- Doug Larson
Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy.
---- Isaac Newton
It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.
---- Arnold Toynbee
Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.
---- Fred Allen
I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're going and hook up with them later.
---- Mitch Hedberg
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
---- Franklin D. Roosevelt
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence.
---- Abigail Adams (1744 - 1818)
Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.
---- Arnold Lobel
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
---- Sheik Abd-al-Kadir
The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.
---- George Orwell
The least of learning is done in the classrooms
---- Thomas Merton
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
---- Thomas A. Edison
Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn't mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.
---- Edward R. Murrow
Isn't it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?"
---- Kelvin Throop III
"It was on my fifth birthday that Papa put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'Remember, my son, if you ever need a helping hand, you'll find one at the end of your arm.'"
---- Sam Levenson
I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.
---- Albert Einstein
How to Make Google Your English Teacher
Google is a very popular search engine, but did you know that it could also serve as a Tutor?
Google is a very popular search engine, but did you know that it could also serve as a Tutor? Click here to download a 5-page guide, or scroll down to preview a few tips from the guide itself.
Enjoy…
1. Did I say that the right way?
There are often several ways to say the same thing in English. So, how do you know if the way you are phrasing your sentences is correct? I would suggest that you compare various sentences in Google and pick the sentence that is most popular among the search results.
For example, I searched the sentence “What do you mean by that?” on Google and received 489,000 search results. I then looked up the sentence “What is it that you mean?” and found 74,300 search results. From this comparison, I would deduce that “What do you mean by that?” is generally more widely used as an English expression than “What is it that you mean?”
2. Should I say that over here?”
Thanks to the movie “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,” the phrase “Yeah Baby!” has become a popular slang phrase in America. Is this generally accepted slang in Italy? What about the United Kingdom? What about Russia?
To investigate this, I searched the phrase “Yeah Baby” and ask Google to only return search results from pages in certain locales. For example, the command site:uk only returns web pages that are hosted in the United Kingdom.
“Yeah Baby” site:uk returned 37,000 search results from the United Kingdom.
“Yeah Baby” site:it returned 5,520 search results from Italy.
“Yeah Baby” site:ru returned 17.900 search results from Russia.
So, from this experiment, I would ascertain that the phrase “Yeah Baby” is more popular in the United Kingdom than Russia and much more popular than in Italy.
Make sense?
3. Is there a word missing?
By using an asterix in a sentence, Google will assume that a word is missing and search for phrases that it thinks fills in that blank. For example…
By searching, How are you * today?
Google returns search results that includes:
* “How are you doing today?”
* “How are you feeling today?”
* “How are you guys today?”
* “How are you coping today?”
Click here to see for yourself and pay attention to the phrases that are bolded.
4. Is there another word I could use?
By using Google’s Tilde command (~), you can find words that Google thinks is synonymous to the word you are searching for. For example, if I wanted to find words that are similar and/or associated with “coffee,” I would perform the following search:
~coffee
Click here to see the results. What you will notice is that certain words are bolded and these are the keywords to focus on. In this case, these keywords include: Starbucks, Starbucks Cofee, caffeine and cafe.
These are just a few tips, but there are more posted on EnglishCafe.
* How to make Google your English Teacher - Part 2
* How to make Google your English Teacher - Part 3
* Click here to download a 5-page guide of Google tips courtesy of EnglishCafe.
Cheers,
Jim Stroud
Social Media Development Manager
EnglishCafe
http://www.EnglishCafe.com
EnglishCafe is the premier English learning community for global professionals.
englishcafe inscribed these words of wisdom on Tuesday Dec 16, 2008 at 03:59 AM
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