Download our Free App, Leopp!

Leopp for Google Chrome

Monday, January 18, 2010

Tips to Learn English in 2010

Learning English in the New Year is without doubt one of the main goals of many people. However, how can we learn/improve with our daily time restrictions?

For many people it is hard to find time to complete their goals or even fulfil their hobbies. In this post we’re going to see different ways to optimize our time and be able to learn English. A good idea is to immerse ourselves in the language and that means being surrounded by it.

When you get up in the morning try to tune the radio into English or listen to music in English. On the way to work / school keep listening to the radio / music or to the hundreds of podcasts that you can download from the Internet. Save your favourites in your mp3 player or mobile phone so you are able to listen to them whenever you want. If you travel by train, metro, bus or if you get a lift and you have a portable video player you could save some video in mp4 format (it’s usually the most acceptable format). Visit VOA News, TED and the Videos Category to download excellent videos.

Do you like reading? Then try to buy your favourite book in English. You’ll understand quite a lot because you have had previously read it in your native language, but don’t forget to look for the words that you don’t understand in context in one of the many free online dictionaries.

If you also like movies and serials we have to congratulate you; practically every movie can be found in English (mainly because the majority come from Hollywood). And the truth is that it’s nice to watch your favourite serials in English with the authentic voice from the characters (for example Grissom, the character from CSI).

If you wish to make friends and practice English with them, then we recommend you to visit some of the many social networks available on the Internet.

As you can see there are no excuses not to learn English in 2010. Don’t miss it out!
read-more

Monday, January 11, 2010

Gerund / Participle – Do you know the difference?

Gerundio vs Participio

Even some teachers of English confuse the present participle with a gerund. Both have the -ing form, but the present participle is verbal, while the gerund is a noun.

Look at these two sentences:

I'm driving the car.
('driving' in this case is a verbal form, therefore it's a participle)

I like driving.
(In this example 'driving' is the noun (gerund) and 'like' is the verb)

Likewise, you can say:

I loved swimming
I was swimming in the sea

Can you see the difference?
read-more

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Christmas Carols in English

Would you like to practise your English during Christmas? Would you like to improve the Christmas spirit among your family? We suggest that you do both things at the same time and kill two birds with one stone.

It’s something as simple as singing Christmas Carols in English; you surely will have listened to the very famous White Christmas or We Wish You a Merry Christmas. In this post we’ve collected almost ten songs that will delight everyone.

The songs are presented as videos. These videos include the lyrics, so it’ll be easier for you to understand them, as well as being able to sing, if you’re up for it.

The list with the Carols (and some lovely songs) is:

A Christmas Song



Link in YouTube

White Christmas



Link in YouTube

We Wish You a Merry Christmas



Link in YouTube

Amy Grant - Sleigh Ride



Link in YouTube

Perry Como - Jingle Bells



Link in YouTube

Rudolph - The Red Nosed Reindeer



Link in YouTube

Celtic Woman



Link in YouTube

Il Divo - When A Child Is Born



Link in YouTube

Mariah Carey - All I want for Christmas is you



Link in YouTube
read-more

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Reverso - an Excellent Online Dictionary you Might Not Know

Reverso Dictionary

Are you looking for a good online dictionary? We offer you a better one, and free! It’s Reverso Dictionary.

And why is it better? Because, apart from having other very interesting services, it does everything you’d ask an online dictionary to do. Moreover, Reverso Dictionary is a bilingual dictionary not only between English and Spanish but also between English and French, German, Russian, Portuguese, Italian and Chinese.

Reverso Dictionary allows you to translate words and sentences from English to the language of your choice and vice versa. You’ll also be able to look for the definition along with the list of synonyms and antonyms for the English word that you wish. For example, for the word easy there are countless synonyms and antonyms, more than 20.

Other feature to highlight about Reverso Dictionary is its function to conjugate verbs - simply awesome! You’ll be able to write the verb that you want and it’ll show you all its conjugations (present, preterit, infinitive, imperative, participle, past participle, present continuous, present perfect, past continuous, past perfect, past perfect continuous, future, future perfect, future continuous, present perfect continuous and future perfect continuous), in short, any conjugation you might need. It also works with phrasal verbs.

What are you waiting for? Visit Reverso Dictionary
read-more

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Master English Grammar

Perfect English Grammar Logo

Did someone say ‘grammar’? How terrible! Yes, grammar could be the thing that you least like studying. So, why do you need it if with some vocabulary to build sentences, speak and understand well when you can already communicate in English with no problems?

Well, it depends on what your goals are, but with a basic knowledge of grammar you can do quite a lot more. Moreover, there is no doubt that if you want to considerably improve, you can’t avoid grammar. It’s the key that will take you to the next level.

We’d like to introduce you to a page whose design might not be spectacular but whose content is excellent. It’s Perfect English Grammar, a website where you’ll find different resources to resolve all the doubts you may have about English grammar.

In Perfect English Grammar you’ll find videos and grammar explanations about a variety of topics such as: Question Tags, Conditionals, Reported Speech, Passive Voice, Irregular Verbs, State Verbs, Relative Clauses, Prepositions, Modal Verbs and Gerunds and Infinitives.

One of the most interesting things on this website is the proposed exercises which you can practise and thus consolidate your knowledge. You’ll also be able to check if your replies are right because the exercises contain the correct answers. These exercises can be completed online or downloaded in PDF format so you can later print them and use them as material in class or at home to study.

Link | Perfect English Grammar
read-more
 

| MMXX - learnenglishfromhome.blogspot.com

| This blog is under license Creative Commons

| You can see our Privacy Policy

contact