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‘Matter’ vs. ‘question of time’ in English
The equivalent to the phrase “a matter/question of time” in most European languages is literally “a question of time”, e.g. una cuestión (...)
January 10, 2014 – Jakub Marian – English
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‘Crying need’ – English idiom with meaning and examples
Crying need is an informal expression for a desperate or a very strong need for something (or someone). For example:
There’s a crying (...)
January 7, 2014 – Jakub Marian – English
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‘At the end of the day’ – English idiom with meaning and examples
At the end of the day is an idiomatic expression meaning “ultimately”, “in the end”, and it also often has a flavour of “after all”. For (...)
January 5, 2014 – Jakub Marian – English
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Witty and funny quotes about art by Twain, Bukowski, Edison, Valéry and others
“Abstract art: a product of the untalented sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered.” (...)
January 1, 2014 – Jakub Marian – English
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The true meaning of the word ‘decimation’
Every time someone uses the word “decimate” in the sense of “severely reduce”, a raging language purist appears out of nowhere explaining (...)
December 30, 2013 – Jakub Marian – English
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By the way, have you already seen my brand new web app for non-native speakers of English? It's based on reading texts and learning by having all meanings, pronunciations, grammar forms etc. easily accessible. It looks like this:
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Internal monologue (“speaking in your head”) as a form of language learning
There is one method I’ve been using for years for every single language I learn: the so called “internal monologue” or “inner voice”. It (...)
December 18, 2013 – Jakub Marian – Language learning
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‘Work as a charm’ vs. ‘work like a charm’ in English
The useful English idiom is to work like a charm, meaning “to work/operate perfectly” or “to have exactly the desired (...)
December 18, 2013 – Jakub Marian – English
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“Information is” / “informations are” – is information plural or singular in English?
This is one of the most common mistakes among English learners. There’s nothing wrong with saying “Informationen” in German or (...)
December 3, 2013 – Jakub Marian – English
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“Different from” / “different than” / “different to” in English
Prepositions are a common source of errors for non-native speakers, but fortunately, this should not be one of them because all three (...)
December 1, 2013 – Jakub Marian – English
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‘Effect’ vs. ‘affect’ in English
Both “effect” and “affect” can be used as a noun or as a verb. If you have found this page using a search engine, the odds are that if you (...)
December 1, 2013 – Jakub Marian – English
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