Best sayings by Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare is the most well-known poet and playwright in English literature. He wrote around 38 dramas and 154 sonnets and two narrative poems.
The potency of his language and the novel expressions he used, made his sayings vivid and effective. Here are some of his most common and influencial sayings:

From King Lear

1. "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!" - ( Act I, Scene IV).
Meaning: Having a thankless child is even sharper than the tooth of a serpent.

2. "I am a man more sinned against than sinning". -  (Act III, Scene II).
Meaning: I have done wrong doings but the wrongs done to me are more and worse.

3. "My love's more richer than my tongue". (Act I, Scene I).
Meaning: I cannot express my love in words.

4."Nothing will come of nothing." (Act I, Scene I).
Meaning: If you have nothing, then you will give nothing.

5. "Have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest, lend less than thou owest". - ( Act I, Scene IV).
Meaning: don't expose all what you have.

From Romeo and Juliet

6. "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun" ( Act II, Scene II).
Meaning: Juliet is from the east and she is the sun because she is as beautiful as the sun that rises from the east.

7. "Good Night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow."
( Act II, Scene II).
Meaning: It is both sweet and sorrowful to part with the beloved that he wishes to say good night until the next day comes and they both meet again.

8. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet". ( Act II, Sc. II).
Meaning: would the rose smell sweet if we change it's name?

9. "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast". ( Act II, Scene III).
Meaning: We should not rush and take things slowly and rationally because hastling will engender stumbling.

10. "O! she doth teach the torches to burn bright" (Act I, Sc. V).
Meaning: she is so beautiful that she teaches the torches how to light and be bright.

11. love is blind, and lovers cannot see The pretty follies that themselves commit. ( Act ii. sce. 6. )
Meaning: under the influence of love, the lovers don't notice the silly things they do.

From The Merchant of Venice

12. "All that glisters is not gold." (Act ii. scene 7)
Meaning: Appearance is deceptive.

13. "If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?". - (Act III, scene I)
Meaning: We should have sympathy for others and not let any racial, religious, or other differences pose us to do injustice to them. Further, these who are being wronged against might revenge someday.

From Hamlet

14. "To be, or not to be: that is the question". (Act III, Sc. I).
Meaning: this is one of the most well-known sayings ever. It indicates the dilemma of hesitation and making decisive decisions.

15. "Brevity is the soul of wit". -  Hamlet (Act II, Scene II).
Meaning: to be brief is to be witty.

16. "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."
Meaning: our thinking determines the situation whether good or bad. In other words, if we control our thoughts, we can control the situation.

From Macbeth

17. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow. (Act V, Scene V)
Meaning: life is as short and fast as a shadow that passes by.

18. what 's done is done".  ( Act III, Scene II).
Meaning: we cannot bring back the past.

From his Sonnets

19. "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments." (Sonnet 116)
Meaning: We should not prevent those who love each other truly from getting married.

20. "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." ( Sonnet 18)
Meaning: As long as people live and read these verses, they will know about you. Therefore, you will be alive as they read about you.

Note: many of Shakespear's sayings became proverbs.

Read them, use them, and enjoy English!

Do you want to be a distinguished student?!

Excellent students are everywhere. They share some common things, yet they differ in the way they think and the attitueds they have. Every student wishes to be the best, but the wish will remain a wish if it is not put in action. The following tips are given from the viewpoint of a teacher and the experience of an excellent student. Remember, they are of little avail if you don't apply them and make them your studying discipline.

1.Prepare the lesson and write some questions before you come to class. Preparation provides you with an overview of the lesson and helps you create a mental picture of the lesson.

2. Be punctual. Come to class on time. Teachers tend to be disturbed by latecomers because they interrupt their train of thoughts and ruin the momentum of the lecture. Besides, latecomers usually make noise pulling a chair or asking a classmate about the page.

3. Sit properly and bring all the stuff you need for the class.
You better sit like a student in class rather than like you are at home. Further, you should come to class having all the stuff you need so that you don't disturb the class borrowing a pen or a ruler every now and then.

4. Smile during class and nod your head. When you smile you understand more. It's no joke! It's scientifically proven that smiling during lectures increases the mind's capacity to understand and obtain knowledge. Nodding your head, on the other hand, helps indicating to your teacher that you are following, so s/he will have a feedback and give all they have.

5. Participate. Feeling shy will not do any good. There are many intelligent students who don't participate due to their timid nature. Some of them get full grades,  but what's the use of excellent grades while they can't use their language? So, you should break the ice and speak your mind.

6. Be initiative.
Never wait for other students to do it. Go ahead and do it yourself. Raise your hand and try to answer any question no matter how difficult it is.
Accept any challenge and take responsibility.
Be the leader in any activity. Never be satisfied with the second rank. Always aspire for the first.

7. Jot down any new info. Whatever is new for you, write it down because you will surely forget a grat deal of it.

8. You've got to be an avid learner and have thirst for knowledge. Always ask and find answers for things you don't know. Make researches and make sure to learn at least one thing everyday.

9. When you go back home, study and revise. Understanding lectures is not enough. You surely need to organize and expand your information. Studying at home trims and orients your information and ideas.

10. Search further.
You should supply yourself with more than what the teachers or books provide. When you search, you make an effort and the information acquired after making an effort will be easily stored and remembered.

Remember: today' sweat will be tomorrow's sweet.

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Powerful tips to speak English fluently

Speaking English fluently is the dream that all English learners pursue. Actually, there are no pills you can swallow and wake up the next morning speaking like natives! And there is no speaking-English-button!
Speaking needs a lot of hard work and implementation for the two decoding skills(listening and reading).
In your journey to speaking English fluently, you'll need to get a 'special recipe'( a technique that shall guide you and make you a fluent speaker.

1. Be confident.
Having confidence is the key for speaking successfully because when you are confident, you can make use of the minimum amounts of resources effectively and skilfully. You can actually sound like professionals. In fact,  confidence magnifies you in people's eyes. Confidence conceals your shortcomings and makes your language impeccable. In order for you to  ooze confidence, you need to convince yourself that you are so. You just fake it and believe me you will make it.

2. Practice makes perfect.
The more you practice, the better you speak. Speaking is the way to put all what you have learned in action. So, it is the way to show what you are worth and to make use of all the accumulative knowledge that you have.

3. The more you listen, the more you speak.
Listening is the way to a smooth and automatic speaking. When you listen a lot, you will speak naturally and soud like natives because you will be, unconsciously repeating what you have listened to.

4. Listen and repeat.
When you listen and repeat, you train your tongue and adapt it to English. This is a guaranteed method to speak a native-like accent. Listen to a sentence, pause the listening material, repeat it many times, and then resume.
Mind you, you should do this technique persistently in order to have a tangible improvement in your accent.

5. Enrich your vocabulary repertoire.
If you have no words, you have no language. How can you speak about education if you don't know words like teacher, student, curriculum, or so?  Thus, increasing your English words  is a must. Moreover, you should have a variety of ways to express yourself; therefore, you need to have a number of words that communicate one idea.
Note: You should keep learning new words even though you feel like you know many, for English language keeps getting new words almost everyday.

6. Think in English.
As a matter of fact, this is the most powerful tip because when you think in English, you make it an integral part of your daily life. It is also a great and easy way to practise, for when we speak, we need to think first and then speak, but thinking in English requires the initial stage only what makes practice easier for you. Thus, your confidence will be built and reinforced.

Notice that when you love something, you keep thinking about it.  The same thing is applied to English. If you love it, you think using it.

Reading these tips only will do you no good. You need to put them in action. get the desired results, you should make use of this article and the ones about listening and vocabulary in the other articles.

If you share and tell your friends about us, we will save you the effort and send u the speaking-pills. :-P

Duplication

Duplication is one way of vocabulary growth in English. It is kind of amusing to use such words when you speak, but they are informal. By and large, duplication is doubling one word with a change in either the initial consonant or the medial vowel. From this basis, there are two types of duplication:

1. Change in the initial consonant.
Examples:
Mumbo-jumbo: magician
Helter-skelter: something done quickly and without order.
Hotch-potch/ hodge-podge: a number of mixed up things.
Hob-nob: to spend time talking to people who are in a higher social rank than you.
Teeny-weeny: very small.
Nitty-gritty: the important details.
Higgledy-piggledy: confused
Hocus-pocus/ hanky-panky: language or activity that is meant to trick or confuse people, especially those of magicians.

2. Change in the medial vowel.
Examples:
Zig-zag: a line with many left and right turns.
Ping-pong: table tennis
Chit-chat: a casual conversation.
Mish-mash: a confusing mess.
Flip-flop: a pair of hosewore shoes.
Wishy-washy: someone who doesn't have a clear idea of what they want to be and can't decide what they want.
Riff-raff: an insulting word for people who are noisy, badly-behaved, or from a lower class.
Tittle-tattle: gossip
Dilly-dally: waste time because of not being able to decide.
Tick-tock: sound of the clock.

Note: words like fifty-fifty, goody-goody, and bye-bye don't belong to duplication, for there is no change at all in these words.

Thanks for visiting our blog, and don't forget to share and tell your friends about us. :-)
Don't get higgledy-piggledy and enjoy English. ;-)

Eight tactics to Study any Book effectively

To approach any book, you should follow a procedure that would enable you to comprehend  it and get the best out of it. Here are eight tactics to help you get the maximum benefits of the book.

1. First of all, you need to explore the book thoroughly. You should first read the contents in order to have an overview of the whole book. Then read the entire book so that you get to know the different parts and understand the main idea of the book.

2. After having gotten a clear  general idea of the book, ask yourself how to benefit from the book, and how can the book make a turning point in your personality and life as a whole.

3. Raise some questions about the book and some of inquiries you expect to encounter.

4. Read the book again and pay attention to the details and underlying information. Don't forget to highlight keywords and significant points so that you can easily find the piece of info you look for.

5. While reading, try to summarize each chapter or section of a chapter.  When you finish reading the book, weave the chapter summaries into one integral summary for the whole book.

6. After havivg finished, answer the questions which you have already raised. Ask more questions and answer them.

7. Relate the book's theme to you and your society. This way, you can make a good use of the book and widen your intellectual scope of thinking and data association.

8. Write the lessons that you got from reading and studying the book and how you can apply them in your life.

Following these tactics will absolutely help you studying more effectively. If you like the article, please share and let others know about us.

Creative Methods for Teaching English Tenses

Teaching the tenses in English is something inevitable for all teachers. Moreover, the ability of the teacher to simplify his/her lesson, determines his/her proficiency in their career. Here we have a number of steps that would lead you to the best way to teach the tenses:

1. Provide the examples first.
The traditional technique of giving the rule then the examples is so much boring and ineffective because it makes the students' role so passive. But by giving the examples first, you give the students a chance to deduce the rule by themselves and have a contribution in the lesson. Here, the students interact and have an active role.

2. Let them infer the rule by themselves. After having given them the examples, let them infer the rule and then provide more examples by themselves.

3. Teach them the usage of the tense. Students must know appropriately when to use each tense so that they differentiate between them and use them aptly.

4. Give them the keywords. Keywords make it easy for students to determine the tense and use it properly.Examples of keywords are: soon, now, ago, since, already, usually, etc.

5. Teach them the negative and interrogative forms of the tense. They ought to be able to negate and interrogate  the sentences as they speak.

6. Let them give examples about their own lives. This helps them make grammatically correct sentences about realistic things they experience in their daily life.

7. As a task, write some statements and let them determine what are the tenses then change them into the negative and interrogative  forms.

Hope you like these new ideas and found them interesting and innovative. If you did, please share and tell a friend about us. O:-)

Mastering spelling

Spelling is one of the hardest parts of learning English language because of the huge difference between letters and sounds. To be able to spell a word correctly,  you need to consider these tips:

1. When memorizing a new word: look at it carefully. Consider each and every letter.

2.Break it down into it's basic constituents. For example: the word "international". Its root(basic constituent) is "nation". So, inter- and -al are infixes. Now it becomes easier for you to memorize the spelling of the word international after having known that it consists of three parts.

3.Think of a similar word in English. E.g: "notion" is similar to our word "nation". It is easier for us to learn when we make comparisons; therefore, comparing nation to notion helps us to remember its spelling.

4.Close your eyes and imagine the letters one by one. Sometimes we memorize the words while we think about other stuff. We might look at the word and say it out, but our mind is busy thinking about another issue. Consequently, closing our eyes and imagining the word would absolutely help solving this obstacle and keep the mind present.

5. Spell it aloud letter by letter.
You might be asked about the spelling of a word when you don't have a chance to write it down. You will be coerced to spell it out then. spelling out the words is difficult because the mind gets busy with two processes: speaking and thinking of the word's spelling simultaneously. But you will have no problem if you have already trained yourself by spelling out the words letter by letter.

6. You need to understand some basic rules for spelling. For instance, we use 'ie' except before 'c'. we use 'ei' as in believe, achieve, chief, etc and conceive, receive, ceiling, etc.
Remember: there are always exceptions like seize.

7. Memorize the words as smaller chunks. It's hard to remember long words that include silent and doubled letters. But when we divide such words into smaller parts it becomes easier. For instance, the word millennium can be divided as mill.enn.ium.

8. When you make a mistake in spelling, go and check it up in the dictionary instantly, for we learn better from our mistakes.

Applying these steps, you will be able to remember the spelling of words easily. It might be hard to apply them, but this is natural because everything is hard in the beginning.

Expect amazing lessons, tips, and information next time. Kindly, share and invite.

Ten Powerful Tips for Listening

Listening is the first skill to acquire a language. Actually, infants learn to speak through listening. They keep listening to peaple around them, and then they try to imitate. Bit by bit, they speak. Therefore, English learners should focus on listening and listen as much as possible because you will repeat, when you speak, what you have already listened to.

The following 10 tips make a powerful listening strategy that will enable you to both understand what you listen to and speak very well.

1. Try to, initially, get easy English audios or videos. There are many on the Internet. With the course of time, you can get advanced listening materials.

2. Identify the topic of the audio/video.
Identifying the topic makes it easier for you to understand the general idea and have a clear picture of the material. In videos, the topic is usually written rather than stated. Sometimes, the topic is not at all mentioned, so you ought to guess and infer it.

3. Identify whether it is a talk, a dialogue, a story, a lecture, or a discussion. This will help you understand who is speaking and whom is s/he speaking to. When doing so, you get the framework of the listening material and comprehend the situation. You will listen with a clear visual image of the situation.

4. Understand the main idea. Usually main ideas are preceded by key words such as: the main idea is, I will speak about, the bottom line is, what I am after is, etc. when you hear these or similar phrases, get ready for the main idea.

5. Understand details such as numbers, colors, names, etc.(you should have a notebook to help you jot down the info). In order for you to take notes easily and skillfully, you need to practice note-taking and learn how to write fast. Here is an exercise to help you: try to get some audios and write down all what you hear. Gradually, you will be able to simultaneously understand and write quickly.

6. Develop making inference ability to understand indirect information. Sometimes, information might not be stated clearly. For instance, a person might say: She uttered her first word when she was two years old. Three years later she joined school. How old was she when she joined school? You, as a listener, should enumerate and give the answer, which is "five". 

7. Intonation and change of voice are highly significant. When listening, you might encounter a man who suddenly changes his voice to imitate Marlin Monroe. Here, you should understand that he is imitating someone else. You should also understand the purpose for which he changes his voice. Further, understandung intonation helps you distinguished statements from questions, suggestions from invitations, and so on.

8. Keep your concentration on the listening stuff and don't let your mind wander. Keep your mind focused as possible as you can. To do this, you need to enjoy the thing you listen to or have a strong desire to comprehend it.

9. Listen and repeat. In order for you to improve your accent, you need to listen, pause the audio or video, then repeat the utterence. As a matter of fact, this is the best way to polish your accent and speak a native-like accent.

10. Do not get frustrated and quit when you listen but don't understand. It's just a matter of time and effort. You need to struggle and strain yourself in the beginning, but once you just learn the basics and apply these tips, it becomes second nature.

Reading without applying will lead you nowhere, so go ahead and start applying these tips.
Hmmmm and go ahead and share and tell your friends about us right away. O:-)

Articles

There are three articles in English: a, an, and the. Articles used to be categorized as a separate part of speech, but in the recent grammar books, they are classified under the heading of adjectives, apparently, because they, like adjectives, come before nouns or refer to them.

When using nouns, you have to use an article before them, depending on the type of nouns: definite or indefinite, countable or uncountable, singular or plural, and whether they begin with a vowel sound or a consonant one.

a, an vs. the:

"a" and "an" are indefinite articles. They precede indefinate nouns.(Nouns that are not specific.)
"The" however is a definite article. It precedes definate nouns. (Nouns that are specific.)

Countable vs. Uncountable:

countable nouns can be:
1.Singular: We use "a/an" and "the"
2. Plural: We use "the"
Uncountable nouns have only one form:
We use only "the" if the uncountable noun is definite.

Using "a" and "an":

If the noun begins with a vowel SOUND, we use "an".
For instance, an  apple, an orange, an animal, an athlete, an umbrella, etc.
Words like hour and honor begin with a silent "h" letter. So the first sound in these words is vowel. Thus, we use "an" before them.

On the contrary, if the noun begins with a consonant SOUND, we use "a". For example, a cat, a car, a hat, a man, etc.
Words like uniform and unicorn begin with a vowel letter and a consonant sound. Our focus is on sounds not letters. As long as they begin with a consonant sound, we use "a" before them.

Using "the":

We use "the" with singular, plural, and uncountable definite nouns.
1. It precedes nouns that are mentioned for the second time.
E.g: A cat showed up holding its kitten. The kitten was black.
2. It is used before nouns of which there is only one.
E.g: the moon, the sun, the universe, etc.
3. Before nouns that are known to both the speaker and listener.
E.g: Close the window, please.
4.Before nouns preceded by superlative adjectives.
E.g: the best player, the greatest dramatist, etc.
5. Before nouns preceded by ordinal numbers.
E.g: the first winner, the twentieth century, etc.
6. Before proper nouns.
E.g: the Nile River, the Red Sea, etc.
7. Before abbreviations.
E.g: the USA, the UK, the UNICIF, etc.
8. Before adjectives that describe a whole class of people.
E.g: the poor, the educated, the aristocratic, etc.

Using no artical(∅):

Sometimes we use no article before the nouns. This case is called ∅( no article). We use this case when we make a generalization when the noun is plural or uncountable.
Examples:
1. Cows give milk.
2. Milk is useful for the bones.
These two sentences begin with  nouns that are not preceded by no article because they are generalized. Notice that the first noun is plural and the second is uncountable.

To put it differently:

Nouns can be:

Countable:
1. Singular» a/an ( indefinite) 
2. Plural» the ( definite)
                   ∅ (generalization)

Uncountable
(Only one form)» the (definite)
                            ∅ (generalization)

Note:
We use articles before nouns or adjectives that precede nouns.
For example:
1. A tall man. 2. An elegant lady.
3. The strong wrestler.
Notice that the articles in the previous examples come before the adjectives(tall, elegant, strong) but they refer to the nouns( man, lady,wrestler).

With a little practice, it will be a second nature and you will master using articles. And remember: share and invite your friends. ;-)

Reading Strategy

To learn any language, you should consider its skills.   English language has four skills: listening, reading, speaking , and writing. The former two are decoding skills; that is to say, the  skills through which we get information. And the latter two are encoding skills; that is, the skills through which we give information. A skill can be improved by practice and following certain strategies.

Reading is the third skill of language acquisition and the second decoding skill. Through reading, we get information, expand our vocabulary, develop our minds and imagination.
To assimilate any text and get the potential of it, consider the following strategy:

Before reading:
Before approching the text, you should first describe the picture(s), if any, and guess the idea of the text via the picture(s). Wait, wait, wait! Don't rush and jump to the text. Read the title and guess the idea of the text from the title. Take it slowly and brainstorm for estimated ideas.

During reading:
Start your first reading and underline or highlight all the unfamiliar words while reading. In the first reading, don't bother yourself with details. Try to get only the main idea. When you read, try to create a visual image in your mind. In other words, if you read the story of the Harry Potter, then you should imagine the place, the people, the hanky-panky stuff, the whole atmosphere, etc.
Before you reach the end, you should stop and try to guess the conclusion by yourself, for this helps uplifting your imagination and creative thinking.

After reading:
Translate the new underlined words either by guessing or looking them up in the dictionary.
Then reread the text. This time you would probably understand a lot more.
Finally, summarize the text using your own words.
If still there are things you can not understand, then read the text for the third time concentrating on the special uses of words, literal meanings, and complex structures.

Still we got a lot! Share and tell your friends. Let everybody know how to master this language. :-)

How to be an Outstanding Teacher

Being a teacher of English as a foreign language requires both mastering the language and delivering information smoothly with a touch of creativity. In fact, every teacher is creative his/her own way, but teaching English requires more than just normal creativity.
To distinguish yourself from the massive number of teachers and become the hero of your students as well as your employer, you need to do the following:

1. Reflect a phenomenal first impression.
First impression is what sells you to your students. If you reflect a bad, weak, hesitant first impression, your students will disrespect you for the whole year and perhaps for your whole life! Indeed, first immpression is hard to change. As a result, the first lecture is immensely crucial. You must come fully prepared and energizes with confidence in order to reflect a fabulous impression.

2. Be enthusiastic enough to encourage your students and create an I-love-this-language attitude.

3. Love what you do.
If you don't love it, then forget about all this because when we do what we love, we do it perfectly. But wait a minute...
Don't withdraw and despair. You can fake it. ;-) convince yourself that you love teaching English and take it from me: you will.

4. Have passion.
Passion can be seen in your eyes, smile, and confident movements. You ought to show them that you really love what you do. Believe me they will get fascinated and love the lecture and the language.

5. Be creative.
Surprise your students everyday with new techniques, revolutionary activities, and superb ideas. Students hate monotony and easily get bored. So, you gotta liven them up.

6. Speak in English.
Teachers who don't speak English in the class indicate deficiency  as students perceive. So you have to show your students that your are as skilled in the language as you are in teaching it.

7. Study the mentality of your students.
Teachers who know how their students think will probably have better opportunities to deliver excellent lectures, for they know how their students understand better. Case in point, to understand your students' mentality, you should notice what makes them active in the classroom. For example, some students respond better to activities, others to technology, and others to tests and practice.

8. Imagine yourself the student. Students like it when the teacher remembers what it is like to be a student. So, show them that you really care and understand their conditions. But don't let them fool you and not bring the homework. :-P

9. Prepare before class. Preparation reduces the possibility of making mistakes, and you certainly don't wanna make mistakes in class.

10. Advise, urge, and inspire. Teaching is not about explaining the lesson only. Teaching is about evoking the thirst for learning, guiding and instructing, and making better generations for the years to come.

11.. Praise the good work. There are always students who are excellent, others who are trying to be so, and those who are not interested. With the first type, keep pushing forward. With the second type, praise and encourage. With the third type, inspire! Plant the seeds of success and desire for learning.

12. Never humiliate any student.
They are there to get knowledge from you, so deal with them accordingly. You are doing a noble mission, and you should really realize this. So do not treat your students like slaves! You don't know how much they suffer at home, so don't add the fuel to the fire.

13. Be sympathetic. You are not a robot. Giving a lecture and then getting back home. No! Keep their names, joke with them, ask them about their personal lives,  and let them know about you. No need to be the mysterious guy!

14. Have a sense of humor. There's nothing wrong with a joke or a funny comment from time to time. But remember: keep control of the class. It's quite hard to do both simultaneously. Though a good teacher knows well how to control the class with a single look!

15. Be their role model. Let them see what they want to be in your persona. Show them that you are the epitome of a great teacher and a human being. Be marvelous at what you do. Apply the former steps and enjoy teaching.

Kindly remember: share and tell a friend about us. Next time expect powerful steps to be an excellent student.

All Basic Information You Need to Know about the TOEFL?

Many English learners have the misconception that TOEFL is a course or a diploma.
TOEFL is the acronym for Test of English as a Foreign Language. So it is a test that measures the student's proficiency in English. TOEFL started in 1963 by scholarship programs, universities, agencies, and other institutions as the standared test of English language which measures English proficiency of the candidates. After the TOEFL many other standard tests popped up such as IELTS, TOEIC, GER, and others.
TOEFL is majorly based on the American Accent.
The TOEFL is used to measure the students ability to use English language in an academic setting like the university.

There are two types of TOEFL: TOEFL iBT( Internet-based TOEFL) and TOEFL PBT( paper- based TOEFL).
TOEDL iBT:
-It has four sections: listening, structure, reading, and writing.
- The score ranges from 0-300. Each of the three sections is graded from 0-30 and the total grade is multiplied by 10 and then divided by 3. For example. If your score is like this:
Listening: 27
Structure: 28
Reading: 25
The total is 80 multiply 10= 800 divided by 3= 266.7 so this is your score out of 300.
The writing section is evaluated separately from 0-6

TOEFL PBT:
It has four sections: listening, reading, structure, and writing.
-The score ranges from 310-677. Each of the three sections is graded from 31-68 and the total grade is multiplied by 10 and then divided by 3. For example. If your score is like this:
Listening: 50
Structure: 66
Reading: 62
The total is 178 multiply 10= 1780 divided by 3= 593. So this is your score out of 677.
The writing section is evaluated separately from 0-6

There is also a type called Institutional TOEFL. This type is special for institutions such as universities or companies. It is designed to test the language competence of  a student or an applicant. This type is also called the local TOEFL, and it is not internationally accepted.

Why does everyone crave to pass the TOEFL? well, everybody wants to get a good job. Getting a good job requires a globally approved certificate which can be gotten from the international  top-ranked universities. The enrollment in such universities is a mere dream, unless you pass an English test, and the TOEFL is the most popular and accepted test. Further, to complete your higher studies of master, PhD, or the like, you need to pass an English test, and, again, TOEFL is the most popular and accepted test. Thus, getting a good TOEFL score opens the gate for many people to pursue their dreams.

The minimum TOEFL score depends on the institution itself. That is, each intitution accepts a different minimum score depending on the field of study and level of study but generally you should aspire for at least 250 in the iBT and 600 in the PBT.
Mind you, Your TOEFL score is valid for only two years.

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Color Idioms:

Idioms are expreaaions that cannot be understood from the meanings of their separate words, but that has a special meaning of it's own. In fact, they are almost as numerous as words that they have special dictionaries. Using idioms makes you sound like foreigners, for they (especially Americans) use idioms excessively.
Here are ten useful idioms linked to colors orthographically but semantically refer to other ideas.

1. In the pink.
Meaning: becoming well after a long illness.
E.g: I am sure you will be in the pink soon.

2. Green with envy.
Meaning: envious/ jealous.
E.g: Don't give her a damn. She is just green with envy.

3. Have the blues/ be blue.
Meaning: be meloncholic and depressed.
E.g: I'll call you later. I am having the blues now.

4. Once in a blue moon.
Meaning: rarely.
E.g: Although he studies once in a blue moon, he gets high marks.

5. Have green fingers/thumb.
Meaning: be good at gardening.
E.g: Your garden is breathtaking. It looks like you have green fingers.

6. A black eye.
Meaning: a bruise in the eye.
E.g: If you don't shut up, I am gonna give you a black eye.

7. Black sheep.
Meaning: someone who doesn't fit with the rest of the group and is considered an embarrassment.
E.g: Mary is the black sheep in her family. They often go out on holidays without her.

8. White elephant.
Meaning: a lazy perosn who does nothing except sitting and watching TV.
E.g: Don't be a white elephant. At least do your homework.
Note: a similar idiom is " a couch potato".

9. In gray area.
Meaning: hesitant
E.g: you shoud not be in gray area. Make a decision as soon as possible.

10. The red eye.
Meaning: a night flight.
E.g: how was travelling on the red eye?

Finally, Enjoy English and remember: No pain, no gain.

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The Most Efficient Strategy to Retain English Words

Words in English are mercuric. It's quite hard for English learners to retain and use the new words.
How can I retain the new words? This is, actually, the most frequent question asked by English learners. So here is the answer:
Well, there's a potent strategy that shall absolutely help you.

1. First of all, get the words from the context whether a reading passage, a listening audio or whatever. Getting words in isolation would help increasing your vocabulary repertoire, but it will not help using these words properly.

2. Get a special notebook for the new words.
You, as English learners, tend to run into numerous words from different sources everyday. If these words aren't stored well, they will fade away from the memory and you will not be able to retrieve them.

3. Keep before u sleep and when you wake up!
This is the most powerful tip of all. Have you ever listened to a song before going to bed, and you woke up in the next day singing it all day long? Your answer would probably be "yes". To understand why, you should first know that when we are awake our conscious mind works, and when we are asleep our unconscious mind works. Consequently, when you go to sleep your unconscious mind will substitute your conscious mind. This means that the words you have just kept before going to bed will move to your unconsciousness. Thus, they will be processed during your sleep. When you wake up and read the words again in the morning, they will move to your consciousness. Hence, they will be in process all the day long.

4. When taking the words into your notebook, use them in sentences of your own and write the phonemic transcription of the words so that you pronounce them well.

5. Learn words in categories. Categories makes it easier for you to recall the other words that are linked to the words you have. For example, the word "father" belongs to the category of "family". So when you encounter the word "father", you will remember all other words that belong to the category of "family" such as mother, sister, son, husband, ..etc.

6. When memorizing, use your senses.
Suppose you have the word "book", look at the word with your Eyes. Say it out loud with your Tongue. Hear it with your Ears. And most importantly, imagine it and feel it with your Mind and Heart ; that is, imagine "a book" in your mind. Do this with all the new words because using all the senses makes memorizing easier.

7. Practice makes perfect.
If you memorize words without practising them when you speak, they will surely fade away with the course of time. Hence, you need to speak all the time in order to practise your words. If you have no chance to practise, then think in English! It's a great way to practise. Thinking in English is actually an integral part in the process of getting the hang of this language. When you think in English, you saturate yourself with it.

8. Whenever you cannot retrieve words or make a mistake in spelling or pronunciation , go back and check it instantly, for instant recalling consolidates the word in your mind.

9. Constant revision is a must. Everyday we run into a massive amount of data and knowledge. New words are only one part. So if we don't revise them, we surely will lose them.Try not to begin keeping today's new words until you revise yesterday's words, and allocate the weekend for revision only.

10.  Don't get frustrated for not using all the words. It is natural to use only those which correspond to your daily affairs. And don't worry the other ones will go nowhere. They will be stored in your vocabulary repertoire.

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