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Prepositional Words and Phrases

Touch up: repair.

e.g. Can you touch up the scratches on the car?

e.g. This chair needs some touch-up.

Make up: invent; apply cosmetics; become reconciled.

e.g. He had to make up an excuse explaining why he was so late.

e.g. She made up beautifully before she put on the fancy dress.

e.g. After the heated argument, the man and his wife made up.

Run against: compete.

e.g. I am going to run against him in the coming mayor election.

Die away: disappear.

e.g. The noise died away and it was silent.

Hand over: yield control of.

e.g. The manager has handed over the human resources section to the assistant manager.

Call off: cancel

e.g. Due to the bad weather, the meeting was called off.

Walk over: go to where someone is.

e.g.  I have something to give to you. Can you walk over?

Back out: desert; fail to keep a promise.

e.g. You said you would help us, but you backed out the last minute.

Stephen Lau

Idiomatic Expressions

Idiomatic expressions are sentences or phrases whose meanings cannot be easily worked out from the words they contain. As an ESL learner, avail yourself the opportunity to learn some common idiomatic expressions every day. Here are some common ones:

In the clear: safe, secure; out of debt.

e.g. He was suspected of driving under the influence, but now he is in the clear.

e.g. After paying back his gambling debts, he is now in the clear.

Get cracking (informal): start doing something; it is similar to get going.

e.g. Let's get cracking, we still have much to finish before the day is over.

e.g. We'd better get going if we don't want to miss the flight.

For good: for ever.

e.g. After their quarrel, she left him for good.

e.g. In the accident, our new car was totaled (destroyed) for good. 

In the raw: without material comforts; very poor.

e.g. If you had been a refugee, you would know what it would be like living in the raw.

In the same boat: in the same bad situation.

e.g. We are in the same boat now that I,  too, have lost my job.

Gt something into one's head: get an idea stuck into one's head; become obsessed or stubborn with an idea.

e.g. Don't get it into your head that she will never help you financially; after all, she is your mother.

Strange to say: surprisingly.

e.g. The car plunged into the waterfall; strange to say, the drive survived without any injury.

For a song: very cheaply

e.g. Do you want my car? I'l sell it to you for a song.

Red-letter day: a very important day.

e.g. Tomorrow is a red-letter day: my son is getting married.

Also, learn some American idioms: Everyday American Idioms for ESL Learners.

Look here: emphasizing a point.

e.g. "Look here, I can't help you right now; I'm cooking our dinner."

e.g. "Look here, it was impolite to talk to your parents like that."

Stephen Lau 

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Everyday American Idioms

Learn some idiomatic expressions. The English language is rich in idioms. A student with only limited knowledge of idioms will find himself or herself in a serious disadvantage in reading, discussions, and debates, not to mention in effective writing.

In hot water: in serious trouble.

e.g. If you don't listen to me, you'll find yourself in hot water.

A rough house: a fight.

e.g. We'd better leave before there is a rough house.

All the rage: fashionable; in great demand.

e.g. Pink will be all the rage this summer.

Article of faith: an important element in one's philosophy.

e.g. Honesty is one of my articles of faith.

Come off second best: lose a fight or contest.

e.g. Despite all his efforts, he came off second best in the competition.

Writing on the wall: a warning of impending doom.

e.g. There were obvious signs that the company would soon be out of business; they should have seen the writing on the wall.

Third degree: physical or mental torture.

e.g. The police gave the suspect the third degree, but were unable to get any information about the crime.

Let the cat out of the bag: give away a secret

e.g. If you tell him that, you are letting a cat out of the bag; he has a big mouth!

Come to naught: come to nothing.

e.g. Despite all the efforts, the project came to naught.

A diamond in the rough: a person or thing with hidden value or qualities.

e.g. Don’t underestimate her—she’s a diamond in the rough.

Get on the wrong side of someone: to displease, or get out of favor
e.g. If you keep on bugging her, you will soon get on the wrong side of her.

In the melting-pot: not yet decided.

e.g. Because the President is not here, all the arrangements are backin the melting-pot again.

As safe as houses: very safe and secure.

e.g. Your money invested in this stock is as safe as houses.

Bad blood: unfriendly feelings.

e.g. There has always been bad blood between the two brothers.

Attitude of mind: mindset, way of thinking or feeling.

e.g. In order to succeed, you must have the right attitude of mind.

Bug off: stop bothering.

e.g. Bug off! And leave me alone!

Capitalize on something: make the most out of; exploit something to one’s advantage.

e.g. You should capitalize on your talents, instead of whiling away your time.

Keep an even keel: remain cool and calm.

e.g. In this situation, it is difficult to keep an even keel and not panic.

Have other fish to fry: other more important work to do.

e.g. I am not wasting my time over this matter; I just have other fish to fry.

Stephen Lau
All About Stephen Lau

Better English For You

 BETTER ENGLISH FOR YOU

WHAT this book is all about:

This book is about every aspect of both written and spoken English.

It covers the basics as well as the essentials of good and effective written and spoken English.

It helps you avoid all the common errors made by both native and non-native speakers of English.

WHY you should read this book:

This book is for every one who speaks and writes English every day.

This book is especially for ESL learners who are not familiar with the use of the English language.

This book is also for native speakers of English, who need to write good English in their education, and throughout their careers.

CONTENTS

ONE: WHY BETTER ENGLISH
TWO: HOW TO HAVE BETTER ENGLISH
LEARING TO SPEAK BY SPEAKING AND TO WRITE BY WRITING
GETTING BASIC TOOLS FOR BETTER ENGLISH
      An English Dictionary
      A Thesaurus
THREE: BETTER WRITTEN ENGLISH FOR YOU
THE PURPOSE OF WRITING
THE ENGLISH GRAMMAR BASICS
     Nouns
     Pronouns
     Adjectives
     Verbs
     Adverbs
     Conjunctions
     Prepositions
     Interjections
THE ENGLISH SENTENCE
     Sentence Patterns
     Different Types of Sentences
     Balanced Sentence Construction
THE TENSES
THE PUNCTUATION
      The Comma
      The Semi-Colon
      The Colon
     The Dashes
     The Period (Full-Stop)
COMMON SENTENCE ERRORS
     Avoid Double Negatives
     Avoid Omission of Key Verbs    
     Avoid Omission of Words in Comparison
     Avoid Dangling Participles
     Avoid Misusing Dependent Clause
BEGINNING TO WRITE
     Paragraph Development
     Learn Commonly Used Difficult Vocabulary
     Learn Commonly Used Difficult Vocabulary
     Learn Idioms and Colloquial Expressions
     Learn to Know the Difference
     Learn to Avoid Wordiness
DEVELOPING THE TOPIC
     Point of View
     Tone
     Planning the Writing
     Writing the Introduction
      Planning the Outline
      Expanding the Writing
      Writing the Draft
GOOD WRITING
      Clichés
      Figures of Speech
      Italics
      Simplicity in Writing
FOUR: BETTER SPOKE ENGLISH

      Slang and Colloquial Expressions

How to Construct Sentences

Effective writing is about expressing what is in your mind. You can construct different types of sentences to express your ideas. There is no right or wrong way to do that, but your sentence construction reflects what is in your mind.

To illustrate, you have these ideas in your mind:

a beautiful day

a bomb exploded

many children killed

a tragedy

Writing sample one

It was a beautiful day that ended in a tragedy. A bomb exploded and killed many children.

“It was a beautiful day that ended in a tragedy.”—a complex sentence (a simple sentence + a subordinate clause joined by a subordinating conjunction “that”).

“A bomb exploded and killed many children.”—a compound sentence (two simple sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction ”and”).

Writing sample two

It was a beautiful day. But it ended in tragedy: a bomb exploded, killing many children.

“It was a beautiful day.”—a simple sentence for emphasis.

“But it ended in tragedy: a bomb exploded, killing many children.”—a compound sentence (two simple sentences joined by the punctuation mark “:” to replace a coordinating conjunction e.g. ”and”, “but”, “or “ , “nor”, and "yet."

Of course, there are other ways of expressing the same ideas. Remember these:

A simple sentence is often used to express a simple idea, and usually for emphasis.

A compound sentence is joining two or more simple sentences to show their relationship: “A bomb exploded and killed many children.”

“A bomb exploded, killing many children.” becomes a simple sentence, putting emphasis more on “bomb exploded” than on “killing many children.”

A complex sentence is joining a simple sentence and one or more subordinate clauses. In the complex sentence “a bomb exploded that killed many children”, the emphasis is more on “bomb exploded” than on “killed many children.”

As mentioned earlier, there is no right or wrong way of constructing your sentences, but remember the importance of variety and emphasis.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Slang for ESL Learners

Language is forever changing. What is currently acceptable or popular may be replaced by something else in years to come, and the use of slang is a strong testament to that. Slang is just an alternative way of saying something. It is sometimes hard to identify what is slang and what is not. Slang and colloquial expressions are often acceptable in informal writing because they are used in communication in movies, newspapers, radio, television, and the media.

Easy on the eye: good looking.

e.g. I say, your girlfriend is easy on the eye.

Beefcake: a muscular man.

e.g. She has been dating a beefcake.

e.g. He goes to the gym regularly because he wants to be a beefcake.

Caught short: caught at a disadvantage.

e.g. The market plunged, and we were caught short just as thought we were on the road to recovery..

Killer: a very funny joke.

e.g. That last one was really a killer;  everybody laughed.

Kick back: relax and enjoy.

e.g I really want to kick back and enjoy the music.

Daylight robbery: too costly.

e.g. That’s daylight robbery; to pay $300 just to fix this!

Not in the same street: of a different quality (usually inferior).

e.g. These two dresses may look similar, but they are not in the same street. This one looks much more elegant than that one.

Alive and kicking: in good health.

e.g. "How is your grandmother doing?" "Very much alive and kicking."

Bad shot: wrong guess.

e.g. “He came with his wife, didn’t he?” “Bad shot: he came all by himself.”

In a jiffy: soon.

e.g. The manager will see you in a jiffy.

Next to nothing: hardly anything.

e.g. “Did she leave you anything at all?” “Well, next to nothing.”

Not so dusty: quite good.

e.g. Well the performance was not so dusty; much better than I expected.

Whistle for: wish in vain.

e.g. The stock market has fallen sharply. You can whistle for your money invested.

Head above water: out of debt.

e.g. Nowadays, it is not easy to keep your head above water.

Mean-green: money.

e.g. Can I borrow a little mean-green from you?

Break a leg: good luck!

e.g. "I'll have my first piano competition tomorrow." "Break a leg!"

English Slang and Colloquial Expressions

Stephen Lau

The Choice of Words

Writing has to do with words, in particular, the choice of words. A good stock of vocabulary is of course important. But other than that, you also need to know the exact meaning of each word so that you will use it correctly. There are many words that may sound similar, but they have different meanings, and thus they are confusing. 

Mellow / Melodious

Mellow: mature; soft and pure; rich and full.

e.g. As he continues to age, he become more mellow and compassionate.

Melodious: tuneful; pleasant to the ear.

e.g. He voice is melodious; he should take up singing.

Reign / Rein

Reign means to rule over; rein means to control (e.g. an animal)

e.g. The emperor reigned over the country for decades.

e.g. You must rein in your hot temper.

e.g. Beware of giving free rein to your reason. (i.e. not release from any restraint).

Defuse / Diffuse

Defuse means to decrease the danger, such as deactivate a bomb; diffuse means to spread over a wide area.

e.g. It is difficult to defuse the conflicts in the Middle East.

e.g. Once you open the bottle of fragrant herbs, their scents will diffuse.

Genteel / Gentle

Genteel: well-bred, polite; imitating the lifestyle of the rich.

e.g. Your friend is genteel. Is he very rich?

e.g. All along he has been living in genteel poverty. He is not practical.

Faint / Feint

Faint (both as a noun and a verb) means loss of consciousness; feint means a misleading attack.

e.g. She fainted when she heard the bad news.

e.g. The robber, who gave a feint, began to attack the policeman.

Studio / Studious

Studio: a place where pictures are taken, or films are made.

e.g. The film was made in a Hollywood studio.

Studious: fond of study; careful and thoughtful.

e.g. To be a good scientist, you must be studious.

Hail / Hale

Hail means to greet or salute; hale means healthy and strong.

e.g. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee."

e.g. A man is hale when his complexion is rosy.

e.g. This dress is too loose for you (not tight enough).

Some time / Sometime / Sometimes

Some time means a period of time.

Sometime, as an adverb, means approximately; as an adjective, means former or occasional.

Sometimes, as an adverb, means now and then.

e.g. We have been for the train for some time.

e.g. Why don't you visit me sometime?

e.g. She was my sometime girlfriend.

e.g. Sometimes I like her, and sometimes I don't -- that's our relationship.

Accountable to / Accountable for

Accountable to means responsible to someone; accountable for means responsible for something or having to explain.

e.g. The Manager has to be accountable to the Board; he has to be accountable for all his business decisions.

Lose / Loose

Lose means being unable to find; loose means to set free or to become less tight.

e.g. Here is your ticket to the game; don't lose it.

e.g. Don't lose your temper (become angry).

e.g. You are too loose with your children (you have little or no control over them).

Impersonate / Personate

Impersonate is to copy or imitate a person for fun; personate is to claim to be another person with the purpose to cheat or deceive.

e.g. The comedian impersonated the President to entertain the audience.

e.g. Someone personated the client, and took the money.

Recourse / Resort

Recourse means turning to others or something for help; resort means to turn to for help (both noun and verb).

e.g. His only recourse was the police.

e.g. The police should not resort to violence to stop the peaceful demonstration.

e.g. The army decided using violence as the last resort.

Decorative / Decorous

Decorative: having an artistic or showy effect.

e.g. The ballroom with all the ribbons and flowers are very decorative.

Decorous: showing good taste.

e.g. The Princess looks decorous in that simple but elegant dress.

Foul / Fowl

Foul means dirty or offensive; fowl  a fowl is a bird, such as hen.

e.g. The smoke from that factory fouls the air. (as a verb)

e.g. He always speak foul language, even in the presence of ladies. (as an adjective)

e.g. We are going to have a roast fowl for Thanksgiving.

Admit / Admit of

Admit means to confess an act; admit of means allow of or leave room for.

e.g. He did not admit taking the key without permission.

e.g. The circumstance admits of no delay.

e.g. His admission of guilt shows his honest personality.

e.g. There is no admittance for error.

WORDS AND PHRASES FREQUENTLY CONFUSED AND MISUSED

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau