CLICHÈ

Sometimes we do typical things or have certain stereo type ideas and they remain the same without any change. The word cliché basically means an overused expression or an idea which has lost its originality and is no longer interesting or effective. Cliché is a French word and it used in English too. When a person behaves in a predictable manner, it means his behavior is cliché. 

Something that has become too common because it is overdone, is cliché. The word cliché is a noun and the word clichéd is an adjective as it describes something of being common or overused. For example, when your friend tells you that her mother is more of a friend rather than a mom, it sounds cliché. This is because you may have heard this several times before and it is very common now.

Example 01 : The macho cop of Hollywood movies has become a cliché.
Ex 02 : The old cliché 'A woman's place is in the home' is no longer the same, women today multi task as they manage their professional work and home both.
Ex 03 : Posting images with friends at the bar and mirror images with tons of like and comments such as OMG and LOL are the some of the Facebook photo clichés.
Ex 04 : Samantha has been a radio host for many years, she's so cliché in the way she airs her show, she hasn't even changed it a bit.
Ex 05 : Peter asked William, " How do I propose marriage to Samantha? Going down on my knees with a ring is too cliché now, I want to do something different."
Ex 06 : The nutritionist said, "You are what you eat, it sounds cliché but you will realize it soon."
Ex 07 : When the actress was asked whether she was dating the charming actor, she gave the most cliché reply, "We are just friends."
Ex 08 : When the creative team showed the manager their newly designed company logo, he said, " The use of an eagle in a logo is cliché, you need to rework on this."
Ex 09 : Michelle told her colleague, " Richard's habit of coming late is quite cliché, there's no point in telling him anything as he's not going to change until he gets fired."

WORD FREQUENCY GRADED READERS

To me the major task in language learning is the acquisition of vocabulary. If this is done through massive listening and reading, it will naturally bring with it a constantly improving familiarity with the language, making it easier and easier to understand grammar explanations, and eventually making it possible to learn to express oneself in writing or orally. Vocabulary is the key, in my view. The more vocabulary we learn, the more we can acquire. In vocabulary, the rich get richer and the poor stay poor.

FUTURE WILL - BE GOING TO

Topic: Forms and uses of WILL and BE GOING TO. 
Level: Intermediate and advanced
This series is designed for upper level students. We will review how each verb tense is formed and used. We will be comparing and contrasting verb tenses as well.
De : "ENGLISH WITH JENNIFER" A site for language learners.

THE GIFT OF THE GAB

You often come across people who are good with words, they speak very well and sound very convincing. The idiom 'to have the gift of the gab' basically means to have the ability to speak and confidently and convincingly. If you have the gift of the gab, you can actually persuade people to do what you want. You do this by speaking in a persuasive and an interesting manner so the people are keen to listen to you.

You are a smooth talker and manage to convince people to believe you. In short, a person with great verbal communication skills has the gift of the gab. For example, the hawker on the street convinces the passers-by to buy his products even though they are not of a superior quality. He does this by talking smoothly and convincingly to his prospect buyers.

Example 01 : The speaker at the conference had the gift of the gab, he could retain the audience's attention and tackled all the questions asked to him very effectively.
Ex 02 : With his gift of the gab, William calmed down his girlfriend who was upset as she suspected him of double timing her.
Ex 03 : The fortune teller, Hilda, has the gift of the gab, she knows how to get people to go to her for advice.
Ex 04 : Smith makes a good car marketer, he is a smooth talker and his gift of the gab helps him to achieve his sales targets.
Ex 05 : Father told Richard, " If you use your gift of the gab at your court sessions, I'm sure, one day you'll be a successful lawyer."
Ex 06 : Michelle is a pleasant and a sincere team leader, unfortunately she doesn't have the gift of the gab and is unable to handle conflicts diplomatically at work.
Ex 07 : When Samantha wasn't allowed to party, her friend said, " Do you want me to seek permission from your parents? I'll manage to cajole them, I've got the gift of the gab.
Ex 08 : My boss has the gift of the gab, he really knows how to motivate us to work beyond our office hours even though we are exhausted.
Ex 09 : John is the most popular teacher in school, he has the gift of the gab and can handle notorious children with ease.

THE TROIKA PARTY

Dear all,

As many of you know, one of the campaign proposals that came from the Amsterdam strategy meeting last October was the creation of The Troika Party. The work has advanced quite a lot in the last months, building the website, visual material, research and contents, videos, social media strategy and more. In less than one month we will launch the campaign all over Europe, which will last until the European Elections. There is still much work to do and we are inviting you to take part of this process. There are different levels on how to get involved, here I mention the most immediate:

- Follow the Twitter accounts @TheTroikaParty & @TRKparty so when the material is released you can spread the word. Facebook account will follow soon.
- Write to the.troika.party@gmail.com specifying how you want to get involved. It might be that you only want to give your email to spread the word when new videos, articles or actions are spread. All the material will be initially available in English, French and Spanish. We are studying more languages, help is welcome.
- The campaign will have 5 axes: Debt, Competitiveness, TTIP, Commons and Democracy. We need particular help to develop the content for the later two (we will use sarcasm and humour to popularize it, see more info in different languages in the docs. I enclose).

Please write to the.troika.party@gmail.com to get access to the material under development and add your expertise to this project. We also would be very grateful if you could spread this email through your internal networks (not to the general public yet). 

Warm regards,
The Troikans Europe

HAZ CLICK SOBRE LOS CARTELES PARA LEERLOS. 




HAZ CLICK AQUI PARA LEER LAS TRADUCCIONES

PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

Topic: Forms and uses of the simple past perfect progressive. We will also look at time expressions used with the past perfect and past perfect progressive.
Level: Intermediate and advanced
This series is designed for upper level students. We will review how each verb tense is formed and used. We will be comparing and contrasting verb tenses as well.
De : "ENGLISH WITH JENNIFER" A site for language learners.

AVERSE

Sometimes you may feel uncomfortable or uneasy when you are dealing with certain people or things. The word averse means to have a strong disliking or an opposition towards someone or something. When you try to avoid a situation that you wish not to be in, or a person because of his behavior, it means you are averse to such a situation or a person. You are actually reluctant and unwilling to deal with something as it may be very unpleasant.

For example, A person who is a vegetarian can't stand the sight of raw meat as he dislikes it, so he is averse to it. The word averse is an adjective as it describes a person's feeling of dislike towards something. Averse can never be used as a verb. The word aversion is used as a noun. The word aversively is an adverb as it describes the action of disliking someone or something.
Example 01 : After an ugly argument, Samantha and Peter looked at each other with mistrust and aversion.
Ex 02 : At the Chinese restaurant, Jennifer told the chef, " I'm not averse to broccoli if it's cooked right."
Ex 03 : Due to her failure at high school, Sheila has lost all hope and is now averse to hard work as she feels it's pointless.
Ex 04 : With her nasty attitude, Kelly was not averse to criticizing and picking up fights with everyone around her.
Ex 05 : As Catherine has a deep aversion to waking up early in the morning, she has taken up the second shift at work.
Ex 06 : Michelle found her boyfriend's mother very stern in their first meeting and has developed an instant aversion towards her. 
Ex 07 : After the big budget film flopped, the popular director kept a very low profile and was averse to media attention and interviews.
Ex 08 : The parents were averse to the idea of sending their son for an overnight picnic, as they felt he was too young for such an experience.
Ex 09 : Charles usually dislikes drinking, but is not averse to an occasional beer when he is with his friends.
Ex 10 : With the downfall in share market, the investors are now averse to investing more money.
Ex 11 : Maria is not a confident person, she has an inferior complex and is averse to facing people, she avoids going out.