Learn English
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Tear and desert
02 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Tear and desert ‘Tear’ and ‘desert’ are words that are pronounced differently to indicate their meaning. The noun tear, which is a drop of fl...
Gonna and Gotta
16 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Gonna and Gotta In informal English conversation, we often use shorter, versions of common word combinations. One of the most common is ‘gonna’ ...
Practising contractions
16 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Practising contractions Pronouncing contractions can be tricky - let’s practise some: ‘I am’ becomes ‘I’m’. I’m I’m going to the be...
Doubt or Question?
16 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Doubt or Question? Many English learners confuse the nouns ‘doubt’ and ‘question’. A ‘question’ is something you ask when you want to fi...
How to join a conversation
16 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
How to join a conversation If you hear an interesting conversation, it’s a good idea to listen in and make sure it’s appropriate to join. If it...
Carnivores, Herbivores and Omnivores
10 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Carnivores, herbivores and omnivores A ‘carnivore’ is a meat eating animal. It eats other animals. ‘The lion is a carnivore, as is the leopard...
'S' Sounds
10 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The final ‘s’ sounds in words can be confusing as there are three different ways that we can pronounce ‘s’ endings. Listen to the following th...
More Tongue twisters
10 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
More tongue twisters Tongue twisters are an excellent way to practise your pronunciation. Listen to the following tongue twisters and follow the scri...
Word Pairs
10 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Word Pairs ‘Wine and dine’; means to entertain someone with food and drink - often with a motive in mind. The only way to win the new contract ...
Up
10 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Up ‘Bring up’ means to take care of and educate a child. Some people think it is better to bring up a child in a small country town. The past te...
Wander or Wonder?
05 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Wander or Wonder? To ‘wander’ is to walk around without a clear purpose. An elephant wandered into the garden. ‘Wonder’ refers to feeling ...
Advice or Advise?
05 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Advice or advise? ‘Advice’ is the noun. 'You should follow your doctor’s advice.' ‘Advise’ is the verb. 'I advise you to listen carefully....
Used to or Used for?
05 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
'Used to' or 'Used for'? ‘Used to’ refers to something that was true in the past. 'I used to ride to work every day, but I live too far away now...
Lend And Borrow
04 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Lend and borrow Borrow something [from someone] Lend something [to someone] Lend someone [something] We use borrow to say that we take something tem...
Friendship expressions
28 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
‘Stay in touch’ means to keep contact. I will be leaving today to go camping and will be away for a month, but don’t worry I will stay in touch...
Loud Aloud Allowed
27 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Loud / aloud / allowed ‘Loud’ is an adjective and means to make a lot of noise. Turn the music down, it is so loud. And it can also refer to brig...
Debate And Discussion
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Debate and discussion A discussion is a detailed conversation. ‘We had a long discussion about which school I should go to next year.’ ‘The di...
Concern And Sympathy
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Concern and Sympathy There are many ways we can express concern and sympathy. We could say: ‘That’s terrible.’ I had a car accident on the w...
Asking For Advice
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Asking for advice. There are many ways to ask for advice, here are some of the more common ones: What do you think I should do about _____? ‘What ...
Past Continuous
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Past continuous You use the past continuous tense to talk about something that occurred in the past. Past continuous tense is used when the action y...
Keeping A Conversation Going
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Keeping a conversation going To keep a conversation going it is important to show you are listening and want the conversation to continue. Here are ...
Syllable Stress
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Syllable stress A syllable is a word, or part of a word, which contains a single vowel sound. Every word contains at least one syllable, Some example...
Get
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Get We the verb 'to get' in many different ways. Here are some of the more common usages. 'Get' meaning to acquire or come into possession of somet...
Tongue twisters
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Tongue twister A tongue twister can be a fun way to practice the different sounds of English. Try these tongue twisters, how well can you say them? ...
Starting A Conversation
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Starting a conversation To start a conversation in an informal social situation - like a party - it’s a good idea to find light, friendly topics to...
Complimenting food
23 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Complimenting food There are a number of ways that we can compliment food, or the person that prepared the food. Here are some of the most common ph...
Pronunciation of 'ed' sounds
23 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ed Regular verbs in the simple past end in ‘ed’. There are three ways that we can pronounce a word that ends in ‘ed’ Can you hear the differ...
Certainty and Uncertainty
23 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Certainty and uncertainty ‘Certainty’ is the firm belief that something is true. ‘Do you think it will rain today?’ ‘I am certain it is go...
Similar sounds
23 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
English has a large number of similar sounds with only very small minor variations. Today, we are going to practise two similar vowel sounds; /e/ an...