forgetful vs. forgettable

Hey everyone, I hope you had a good weekend but now it's time for us all to get back to work before our summer vacation arrives~!

Today, I will be talking about the difference between:

forgetful

and

forgettable

Have you heard these words before?

Forgetful means you forget things easily, it is usually used to describe a person. In Japanese you would say: 忘れん坊 (わすれんぼう)

My father is getting old, he's been quite forgetful recently.

Forgettable means that something is easy to forget.

Movie characters' names are really forgettable. I never remember them~!

That TV show is easily forgettable, there's nothing special about it.

Actually, forgettable isn't used very often but its opposite is! The opposite word is:

unforgettable

which means it is impossible to forget!

My day yesterday was unforgettable, it was amazing!

There's even a song called Unforgettable, here's a clip from youtube:





Have a good week,

Phil

Window shopping

This Sunday I decided to post a quick vocabulary lesson about the expression:

window shopping

Have you heard this before? A long time ago, shops closed at 5-6pm so you couldn't go shopping in the evenings BUT most shops had huge display windows where they would make interesting displays and feature some products.

This meant couples on dates or people who were bored (before the internet, TV, even radio) would have fun by walking through town looking at the display windows... which is how we got the term window shopping!

Nowadays, the meaning has changed. We use the term window shopping when we talk about going to stores and JUST LOOKING at stuff-we aren't planning on buying anything.

After class, I'm gonna go window shopping.

Window shopping is fun and free~!

A: What did you do yesterday?

B: I went window shopping in Ginza.

Watch out! We don't usually use window shopping when we are doing it~!

Staff: Can I help you?

Customer: No, I'm just window shopping. X

This sounds really strange what you should say is this:

Staff: Can I help you?

Customer: No, I'm just browsing(or looking). O

Have a great Sunday window shopping!

Phil

Look vs. Look like...

Do you guys know the difference in when to use these two expressions?

It's actually pretty simple:

look like + noun

This cookie looks like a hamburger~!


That dog looks like a cat, weird.


He looks like an idiot.



look + adjective


You look hungry.

That cake looks delicious.

He looks stupid.


There are a few things you need to be careful about. Some nouns are ALSO adjectives so both structures are grammatically correct.

That looks like fun.

That looks fun.

Fun is both a noun AND an adjective so you can often hear it used with look or look like. The other thing is that the meaning of these two is a bit different, in my mind look is like ~sou (oishisou-look delicious, ureshisou-looks happy) but look like is like ~mitai (kodomomitai-looks like a child, bakamitai-looks like an idiot).

I hope that helps, have a good weekend!

Phil

Pronunciation, will

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a nice weekend. Today, I am going to talk about the verb:

WILL

This verb is often contracted in everyday English, most textbooks teach the basic contractions such as

I will ---------> I'll (AYul)

You will ---------> You'll (Yul)

He will ----------> He'll (Hill)

and so on. BUT there are many other times when will is contracted. They are used in casual English to speak faster and more smoothly so they will help you sound more natural to native speakers.

When will --------> When'll (whennul)

When'll he be ready?

What will ---------> What'll (whaddul)

What'll you do tomorrow?

Where will --------> Where'll (wherrul)

Where'll we meet?

Who will ----------> Who'll (whoul)

Who'll you go to the party with?

Why will ----------> Why'll (whyul, sounds like while)

Why'll you do that?

How will ----------> How'll (howul)

How'll you get there?

Actually, will can be contracted and joined to almost any word--it usually sounds like UL.

How long'll it take?

How longul it take?

Philip'll call you back later.

Philippul call you back later.

Don't worry, your dog'll come back.

Don't worry, your dogul come back.

Ok that is all for now, have a nice week!

Phil

School house rocks, verbs

Hey everyone, here is a quick Saturday lesson of an educational video I used to watch on Saturday mornings as a kid. They teach all kinds of things about English as well as about US history, culture and legal system.

Anyways here is the video about VERBS, I think I will post some more of these during August when I am on vacation...



That is all for now, there will be a new lesson this Monday!

Phil

Do you guys get along?

Hey everyone, just a quick lesson on this rainy Sunday before I go make dinner ^_-

Do you usually get along with your classmates?

Get along is a phrasal verb that simply means two(or more) people have a good relationship with each other. They don't fight or dislike each other.

When we were kids my brother and I didn't get along... we fought like cats and dogs~!

Ugh, I don't get along with that guy. He's a total jerk.

Since we shared an apartment, we don't get along anymore. I can't stand him, he's an idiot and a slob.

My girlfriend and I get along great! We hardly ever argue or fight ^_^

Here's a bonus phrasal verb:

get by

This means:

-to survive

I'm just getting by since I lost my job.
The money I have is just enough for me to live and survive.

She gets by on her looks.
She survives/lives based on her appearance.

-to pass someone/something

Excuse me, could you move so I can get by?
Excuse me, can you move so I can pass you?

or

A few mistakes got by my editor into the book.
A couple of mistakes got passed my editor into the book.

-to achieve the minimum necessary

In high school, he just got by.
He had passing grades only.

OK that is all for now!

Phil

I'm feeling lethargic...

Do you understand this sentence? Recently, Kyoto has been really hot and humid and it is making me feel lethargic.

Now, the medical definition of lethargic is that someone is in an almost coma-like state, they can't speak, move, etc. But when people use lethargic in casual conversation they usually just mean they feel tired and don't want to do ANYTHING-not even move! So lethargic is stronger than lazy.

Lazy is when you don't want to work, you want to do nothing.

Lethargic is when you don't feel like doing anything. Maybe you want to do something but you just can't find the energy to do it.

Sluggish is similar to lethargic but, to me, when I hear sluggish I think of moving SLOWLY and not thinking clearly. Whereas, lethargic people don't want to move at all.

If I feel sluggish, maybe I still want to do something but because of a hangover or something I am moving slowly and can't think as quickly as usual.

The opposite of lethargic is energetic. In Japanese, lethargic is:

不活発; 不活溌 (ふかっぱつ)

Lethargic is an adjective, the noun is lethargy.

He suffers from lethargy. (n)

He is lethargic. (adj)

Hmmm, maybe it is natsubate that is making me feel lethargic~! hahaha

Have a nice week,

Phil

P.S. this page has many sample sentences using lethargic

Speak vs. Talk

In response to Akiko's question, I decided to explain a bit about the difference between these two verbs. Generally speaking, there isn't such a big difference between them.

A) I talked to my friend
B) I spoke to my friend.

Both of these are correct but B) spoke sounds more formal/serious and if you say "I spoke with my friend", it sounds like you are angry about something.

So, talk is most often used for informal and casual speech whereas speak is used for formal situations.

Be careful~! Talk is a noun AND a verb BUT speak is ONLY a verb, the noun form is speech.

I gave a talk at work.
An informal presentation.

I gave a speech at work.
A formal presentation, this sounds like a much bigger deal.

The president gave a speech.
A formal presentation.

I had a talk with him about it.
A casual chat.

So let's recap:

Talk - more casual, not so serious, communication between two people or a group, exchanging or sharing information.

Speak - more formal/serious, it usually places emphasis on ONE person communicating, it isn't so much two way communication.

That being said there are many cases where speak or talk are more appropriate based on common usage.

I speak Spanish.
Speak is used for LANGUAGES.

I was talking on the phone.
Talk is usually used with PHONE. Using speak makes it sound formal/angry/serious.

Here are some links with more explanations:

English Spark

SpeakSpeak

Washington Faculty Say/Speak/Tell/Talk

Using English's online quiz

I hope that helped a bit Akiko, have a good weekend!

Phil