Writing Assignment: At a Hotel

Posted on 2012/05/04
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hotel pool

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Vocabulary

Check-in
Check-out
Front desk
Wake-up call
Bellhop
Lobby
Room service
Do not disturb
Pool
Exercise room
Ice machine
Vending machine
Room key
Toiletries
Suite
Housekeeping
Rollaway bed
Crib
Elevator
Emergency exit
Fire exit
Breakfast hours
Room safe
Wardrobe
TV guide
Amenities
Mini-fridge
Microwave
Coffee maker
Concierge

1.    Where was this picture taken?
2.    What are the people in the picture doing?
3.    What kind of building do you see in the picture?
4.    What do people usually do at that type of building?
5.    How long can you stay at a hotel?
6.    What is it called when you register at a hotel?
7.    Where do you go to check in at a hotel?
8.    Where is the front desk located?
9.    If you need help with your luggage, who can help you?
10.    What kind of amenities does a hotel often have?
11.    Where can you go if you want to relax at a hotel?
12.    Where can you go if you want to get some exercise at a hotel?
13.    Whom do you call if you want to have food delivered to your room?
14.    What can you do if you want to make sure you will not oversleep in the morning?
15.    What can you do if you want to sleep in and don’t want housekeeping to come in?
16.    What can you do if you forget shampoo, toothpaste, or other such items?
17.    What other furniture might a hotel room have, besides a bed?
18.    What can you do if you need an extra bed, or perhaps a bed for a baby?
19.    If you have some valuables, what can you do to keep them safe?
20.    Can you take your pet to a hotel?

Paragraph:  At a Hotel

Most people have stayed at a hotel.  Some hotels are plain, and others are fancy.  What kind of hotel have you stayed in?  How was your experience?  Write a brief paragraph describing your stay at a hotel.

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Grammar Basics: Unit 40 – It… (Solution)

Posted on 2012/05/04
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Exercise.  Complete the sentences with either it’s/it is or is it.

Example:

________ only five degrees outside.  ==> It’s only five degrees outside.

1.    It is so quiet in the classroom that you could hear a pin drop.
2.    Is it time to leave for the airport yet?
3.    It’s rare to get this much snow in November.
4.    Is it safe to enter the room now?
5.    Is it easy to bake cookies?
6.    The sign says it’s 93 miles to the next gas station.
7.    I don’t know why it’s so difficult for Jack to understand algebra.
8.    Is it fair that you get three cookies, and I get none?
9.    It’s a two-hour hike up the mountain to the temple.
10.    Is it Friday already?  This week sure went by fast.

Exercise.  Make questions with the given information, using How far…?

Example:

the hotel / the airport ==> How far is it from the hotel to the airport?

1.    How far is it from Boston to New York?
2.    How far is it from here to the library?
3.    How far is it from the hostel to the market?
4.    How far is it from the train station to the bus station?
5.    How far is it from your house to the river?

Exercise.  Complete the sentences, choosing an appropriate word or phrase from the lists.

Example:

It’s (easy / stupid / silly) to (get up early / eat your vegetables / wash your clothes) when you’ve had enough sleep.  ==> It’s easy to get up early when you’ve had enough sleep.

1.    It’s difficult to make four goals in a row.
2.    I don’t like these new rules.  It’s stupid to make us fill out fifteen forms just to import paper clips.
3.    Bill and Bob are twins.  It’s impossible to tell them apart if they wear the same clothes.
4.    It’s nice to stay at a decent hotel for a change.
5.    It’s rare to spot an opossum in broad daylight.
6.    Leave your cigarette in the car.  It’s dangerous to pump gas while smoking.
7.    It’s interesting to look at all the different people you find in an airport.
8.    What was the travel agent thinking?  It’s crazy to drive from Berlin to Rome in one day.
9.    It’s sad to see so much poverty and suffering in the world.
10.    It’s good to come home after a long trip, isn’t it?

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Grammar Basics: Unit 40 – It…

Posted on 2012/05/03
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“It” is sometimes called a “dummy subject”, or “dummy pronoun,” because it is often used in place of a “real” subject.  In particular, “it” is used to introduce:

Day / Date:

What day is it?  —It’s Monday.
What date is it?  —It’s May 3rd.
It will be our wedding anniversary next Tuesday.

Distance:

How far is it to the post office?  —It’s about three blocks.
It’s about 1200 miles from Chicago to Miami.
If I had known it was going to be that far from the train station to the office, I would have taken the bus instead of walking.
It won’t be long now – we are just three miles from our destination.

Time:

What time is it?  —It’s 2 o’clock in the afternoon. /  —It’s noon.
It’s 3 o’clock in the morning?  Why on earth are you calling me?
It’s about time he got a job.  He’s been living with his parents since he graduated college.
We’d better be going home now.  It’s getting late.
Rise and shine!  It’s time to get up!
It took an hour for the accident to be cleaned up so the traffic could move again.

Weather:

It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring.  (First line from a children’s rhyme)
You don’t have to take your umbrella – according to the weatherman, it’s not supposed to rain today.
It’s awfully humid out.  Let’s go for a swim later, okay?
It’s a beautiful day for a picnic.
When it rains, it pours.

Other uses of “it” as a dummy subject:

It’s nice to…
It’s a good thing…
It’s a shame…
It’s difficult…
etc.

It’s nice to take a vacation when you’ve been working hard.
It’s a good thing I packed some extra clothes.
It’s a shame Tom didn’t get to finish university.  I know he wanted to study engineering.
It’s difficult to imagine all the hardships the Pilgrims faced when they first came from England.

Exercise.  Complete the sentences with either it’s/it is or is it.

Example:

________ only five degrees outside.  ==> It’s only five degrees outside.

 

1.    ________ so quiet in the classroom that you could hear a pin drop.
2.    ________ time to leave for the airport yet?
3.    ________ rare to get this much snow in November.
4.    ________ safe to enter the room now?
5.    ________ easy to bake cookies?
6.    The sign says ________ 93 miles to the next gas station.
7.    I don’t know why ________ so difficult for Jack to understand algebra.
8.    ________ fair that you get three cookies, and I get none?
9.    ________ a two-hour hike up the mountain to the temple.
10.    ________ Friday already?  This week sure went by fast.

 

Exercise.  Make questions with the given information, using How far…?

Example:

the hotel / the airport ==> How far is it from the hotel to the airport?

 

1.    Boston / New York
2.    here / library
3.    the hostel / the market
4.    the train station / the bus station
5.    your house / the river

 

Exercise.  Complete the sentences, choosing an appropriate word or phrase from the lists.

Example:

It’s (easy / stupid / silly) to (get up early / eat your vegetables / wash your clothes) when you’ve had enough sleep.  ==> It’s easy to get up early when you’ve had enough sleep.

 

It’s:
crazy
dangerous
difficult
good
impossible
interesting
nice
rare
sad
stupid

to:
come home
drive
look at
make four goals
make us
pump gas
see
spot
stay
tell them apart

 

1.    It’s ________ to ________ in a row.
2.    I don’t like these new rules.  It’s ________ to ________ fill out fifteen forms just to import paper clips.
3.    Bill and Bob are twins.  It’s ________ to ________ if they wear the same clothes.
4.    It’s ________ to ________ at a decent hotel for a change.
5.    It’s ________ to ________ an opossum in broad daylight.
6.    Leave your cigarette in the car.  It’s ________ to ________ while smoking.
7.    It’s ________ to ________ all the different people you find in an airport.
8.    What was the travel agent thinking?  It’s ________ to ________ from Berlin to Rome in one day.
9.    It’s ________ to ________ so much poverty and suffering in the world.
10.    It’s ________ to ________ after a long trip, isn’t it?

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Culture Focus: Crossing Fingers

Posted on 2012/05/02
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crossing my fingers

Keep your fingers crossed!

Did you ever watch a movie or TV show where one of the characters crossed his fingers when he said something?  Have you ever wondered what that meant?

Crossing one’s fingers has two meanings in American culture, depending on the situation.  The first meaning is a positive one.  It is a wish for good luck.  We cross our fingers to express hope that a job interview, a test, or some such situation will turn out favorably for us.  Crossing the fingers of both hands would be the equivalent of a double wish, or wishing extra hard that things turn out.  It is believed that this custom of crossing fingers comes from the Roman Catholic practice of making the sign of the cross as a way of asking for blessing or protection.  Making the sign of the cross involves not only the hands, but the arms, so it is very obvious when somebody does this.  But crossing one’s fingers is easy to do secretly, quickly and quietly.

The other meaning of crossing one’s fingers is negative.  Someone might cross his fingers as a kind of protection for telling a lie.  We all know that we should tell the truth, and that lying is bad, so the popular belief is that we can protect ourselves from divine punishment if we cross our fingers when we tell a lie.  Crossing our fingers then becomes an indication that we don’t really mean what we are saying.  Sometimes in a movie, you might see one character crossing his fingers behind his back when he is making a promise or saying something to somebody else.  Seeing the crossed fingers gives us a clue that the character is either lying or insincere.

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Grammar Basics: Unit 39 – There was / were, There has / have been, There will be (Solution)

Posted on 2012/05/02
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Exercises.  Complete the sentences using there + is / are / was / were / has been / have been / will be.

Example:

__________ some nice apples at Tom’s Apple Orchard this year.  ==> There are some nice apples at Tom’s Apple Orchard this year.

1.    There have been an unusual number of bees this summer.
2.    There are DVDs and CDs available for checkout at the library.
3.    Luckily, there was one vacancy left at the Sleepy Hollow Motel.
4.    There will be roll call early tomorrow morning, so make sure you get a good night’s sleep.
5.    There were 22 boys and 20 girls in my graduating class.
6.    There is nothing as good as Mom’s cooking.
7.    The Farmer’s Almanac says there will be a cold winter next year.
8.    There was a black bear in the back yard when I got up this morning.
9.    Guess what?  There has been an earthquake in California.
10.    There’s no use crying over spilled milk.

Exercises.  Complete the sentence using there + is / are / was / were / has been / have been / will be, and make the sentences negative.

Example:

I looked high and low, but __________ any keys on the desk.  ==> I looked high and low, but there weren’t any keys on the desk.

1.    Are you sure there wasn’t any milk left in the fridge?
2.    Goldilocks went into the cabin, but there wasn’t a soul around.
3.    There haven’t been any customers all day.
4.    There weren’t that many people at the nightclub last night.
5.    There aren’t any pencils in my pencil cup.  Please go to the supply room and get me a new pack.
6.    I checked in the supply cabinet, but there weren’t any pencils.
7.    Wasn’t there even one pack left?  I thought I had ordered some.
8.    No, there haven’t been any pencils in the supply cabinet for a whole month.
9.    You’d better lock your desk, then, when you leave for the night.  Apparently there’s been a pencil thief here lately.
10.    Whoever’s been taking the pencils had better come clean, or there will be trouble in River City!

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Grammar Basics: Unit 39 – There was / were, There has / have been, There will be

Posted on 2012/05/01
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In our last Grammar Basics, we looked at the phrase “There is / are…”  For the simple past tense of this phrase, we have:

There was…. (singular) // There were… (plural).
There wasn’t (was not)…. (singular) // There weren’t (were not)… (plural).

There was an accident at the train station.
There were a lot of people at the concert.
Was there a baseball game on TV today?
There weren’t (were not) any parking spaces in that lot.
There wasn’t any sale on eggs at the grocery store.

For the present perfect, we have:

There has been…(singular) // There have been…(plural).
There hasn’t been (has not been)…(singular) // There haven’t been (have not been)…(plural).

Waiter, there’s been (there has been) some sort of mistake.  I ordered steak, not fish.
There have been a lot of tornadoes lately.
Have there been any phone calls for me this morning?
There hasn’t been any rain for the past month.
There haven’t been any complaints for our department for three weeks now – good job!

For the future, we have:

There will be…
There won’t (will not) be…

Are you coming to the reunion?  There will be a live jazz band.
Will there be dancing? – Yes, so be sure to wear your dancing shoes.
There won’t be (there will not be) any school next Monday.  It’s a holiday.

Exercises.  Complete the sentences using there + is / are / was / were / has been / have been / will be.

Example:

__________ some nice apples at Tom’s Apple Orchard this year.  ==> There are some nice apples at Tom’s Apple Orchard this year.

1.    __________ an unusual number of bees this summer.
2.    __________ DVDs and CDs available for checkout at the library.
3.    Luckily, __________ one vacancy left at the Sleepy Hollow Motel.
4.    __________ roll call early tomorrow morning, so make sure you get a good night’s sleep.
5.    __________ 22 boys and 20 girls in my graduating class.
6.    __________ nothing as good as Mom’s cooking.
7.    The Farmer’s Almanac says __________ a cold winter next year.
8.    __________ a black bear in the back yard when I got up this morning.
9.    Guess what?  __________ an earthquake in California.
10.    __________ no use crying over spilled milk.

Exercises.  Complete the sentence using there + is / are / was / were / has been / have been / will be, and make the sentences negative.

Example:

I looked high and low, but __________ any keys on the desk.  ==> I looked high and low, but there weren’t any keys on the desk.

1.    Are you sure __________ any milk left in the fridge?
2.    Goldilocks went into the cabin, but there __________ a soul around.
3.    __________ any customers all day.
4.    __________ that many people at the nightclub last night.
5.    __________ any pencils in my pencil cup.  Please go to the supply room and get me a new pack.
6.    I checked in the supply cabinet, but __________ any pencils.
7.    __________ even one pack left?  I thought I had ordered some.
8.    No, there __________ any pencils in the supply cabinet for a whole month.
9.    You’d better lock your desk, then, when you leave for the night.  Apparently __________ a pencil thief here lately.
10.    Whoever’s been taking the pencils had better come clean, or __________ trouble in River City!

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Education Focus: Spelling Bees 1

Posted on 2012/04/30
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spelling bee

Who will be the spelling champion?

One of the subjects that American schoolchildren study is English.  Of course they must study reading, writing, and grammar, but another thing they need to study is spelling.  Every week the teacher gives the students a list of words to study, and the students are tested at the end of the week.  Sometimes, as a fun way to practice spelling, the teacher might have a spelling bee, or spelling contest.

Generally speaking, a “bee” is when people get together to accomplish some task.  When people help each other, it is easier to finish a project.  In the old days, for example, women would get together for quilting bees – where the women would work together to make quilts, or blankets – and men would get together for a barn-raising bee, and so on.  Other types of bees are apple bees, husking bees (or shucking bees), knitting bees, logging bees, paring bees, and spinning bees.

Spelling contests became especially popular in the 1800s.  The term “bee” was adopted to describe these competitive events, even though a spelling bee isn’t really a communal effort like a quilting bee or a husking bee.  There were spelling bees not only in schools, but also local ones which the community could participate in, sometimes for prizes.

Often, spelling bees are intramural:  a teacher will have a spelling bee for the class, and then the winner of the spelling bee might have the opportunity to compete against the best spellers in the other classes of that school.  For each round, the participants are each given a word to spell by the pronouncer.  Any participant that spells his given word incorrectly will be eliminated from the competition.  If all the participants in a round misspell, all remain in the competition, and there will be a new round.  If only one participant in a round spells correctly, there will be a final round, and the participant will have to spell that final word correctly to win the spelling bee.  If he misspells the final word, then all who had misspelled before that final round are back in, and a new round starts.  The spelling bee continues in this manner until only one speller is left – the champion.

In a formal spelling bee, the pronouncer is the one who reads the spelling words from a list for the spelling bee participants.  He has to pronounce the words as indicated in the dictionary.  The speller may request the pronouncer to repeat the word, define the word, use it in a sentence, provide the language of origin, provide the part of speech, or give an alternate pronunciation.  Judges uphold the rules, and make the final determination whether or not words are spelled correctly.  The speller must pronounce the word before and after it is spelled, and he must face the judges so they can tell by the speller’s lip movements if the word has been spelled correctly.

Sometimes, though, spelling bees are extramural – the winners might go on to compete against the best spellers from other schools in regional contests.  Excellent spellers can advance to the state level, or even the national level, competing against the very best from all across the country.  In the United States, the most famous of these national contests is known as the Scripps National Spelling Bee.  We’ll take a look at this well-known contest next week.

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Crossword – Basic Vocabulary 12 (solution)

Posted on 2012/04/30
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crossword puzzle solution

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Crossword – Basic Vocabulary 12

Posted on 2012/04/29
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crossword puzzle
Across
1 a particular part of a country, town, etc (4)
2 in addition to something else that you have mentioned (4)
4 sick (3)
5 a thick flat object made of cloth or rubber, used to protect or clean something, or to make something more comfortable (3)
6 sure, without any doubts (7)
9 something that makes someone or something move or react (8)
10 the fifth month (3)
11 a hard, white type of ceramic (5)
12 opposite of in (3)
13 the number between nine and eleven (3)
15 an accident in which two or more people or vehicles hit each other (9)
16 also (3)
17 the distance around a circle (13)
18 the final number, after everything has been counted (5)
19 when tears come from your eyes (3)
21 the sound a cat makes (4)
23 in or facing the inner part of something (6)
25 cloth made from the flax plant (5)
28 a preposition used to show what a part belongs to or comes from (2)
30 conjunction used for comparing two things (2)
31 nose hole (7)
33 to move from one place to another (2)
34 a solid food made from milk, which is usually yellow or white in colour, and can be soft or hard (6)
35 going far down (4)

Down
1 the number of years someone has lived, or something has existed (3)
2 a small change made to a machine, system, or calculation (10)
3 something that has been built, especially something large (9)
4 a person (10)
5 someone kept in prison as a legal punishment for their crime (8)
6 an organized event in which people or teams compete against each other (11)
7 a straight, narrow beam of light (3)
8 the process of getting faster (12)
9 a feeling of happiness or pleasure because you have achieved something or got what you wanted (12)
14 not wide (6)
15 an alcoholic mixed drink (8)
20 opposite of no (3)
21 an event where people come together, usually for discussion (7)
22 a preposition used to say that someone or something moves to a position on a surface, area, or object (4)
24 a preposition that refers to the inside or inner part of a thing, place, area, etc (4)
26 a word used when talking about something that might happen or be true, or might have happened (2)
27 the part of an object that is farthest from its center (4)
29 not empty (4)
30 a curved shape or line (3)
32 rock or earth from which metal can be obtained (3)

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Idiom Focus: Animal Idioms 19

Posted on 2012/04/28
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Every Saturday I’ll give you a couple of idioms to learn. An idiom is a saying or phrase whose meaning cannot be taken from the literal meanings of the words.

kangaroo court:    a self-appointed group that decides what to do to someone who is supposed to have done wrong.

Example:  

Tom has no hope for true justice – that kangaroo court will take one look at the manufactured evidence and convict him on the spot, I fear.

lead a dog’s life:    work hard and be treated unkindly

Example:  

Cinderella led a dog’s life when her stepmother and stepsisters came on the scene.

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