VOCABULARY

PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE

Japanese has the sound "shi" but not "si". Practice these pairs:

 see she
 sea sheet
 seen sheen


Also practice the word "sit". If you say this with the "shi" sound, the meaning is impolite.

For more examples, see Pronunciation / si / / shi /

See also Listening and speaking practice and Pronunciation

COMMON WORDS IN ENGLISH

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the 10 commonest NOUNS in English are:
time, person, year, way, day, thing, man, world, hand .

The 10 commonest ADJECTIVES are:
good, new, first,  last, long,  great , little, own, her, old.

The 10 commonest VERBS are:
be, have, do, say, get, make, go, know, take,see


There are some interesting facts about common words in English on this page:
Words http://www.askoxford.com/oec/main page/oec02/?view=uk

A BASIC WORD LIST

It is said there are around 1,000,000 words in the English language.
However,it is estimated that most of us use only 850 words in our every day life.
These 850 words are called the Basic English core vocabulary.
You can find a list of the words at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Basic_English_core_terms

If you know and can use these words, English conversation will be much
easier!

PHRASAL VERBS

Make is a very common verb in English, It is often used as phrasal verb. A phrasal verb consists of a verb and a preposition or adverb that modifies or changes the meaning. For example, "make up'" is a phrasal verb that means 'invent or compose"something.

Here are some other other examples with "make":

Also see Using make, Phrasal verbs, lay on, tuck into

ANIMAL IDIOMS: SHARK

The shark has a reputation for being dangerous predator.

In English, a "loan shark"  is a money lender who charges a very high interest rate.

A "card shark" is a person who plays cards for money and cheats to win,

Avoid load sharks and card sharks!

See also Horse idioms

LISTENING AND SPEAKING PRACTICE

Here is one of the sentences we used for listening practice:

In Japanese, the word "shirt" is pronounced "shatsu". Listen to how a native speaker pronounces this word. It is quite different!
Here is a sample conversation:

Jane: You have a nice shirt on.
Tom: Thanks. I bought it yesterday.
Jane: Was it expensive?
Tom: No, it was cheap.


Some English words that begin with "wo" are difficult to pronounce as the
sound does not exist in the Japanese language.
Here are some words to practice with a teacher:


Hearing the difference between "r "and "l" sounds can also be difficult for
Japanese speakers.
Practice these pairs of words:

rice lice
grass glass
pray play
fry fly
crowd cloud


See also Pronunciation / r / / l /

You can listen to an American speaker saying some of these word pairs at
this web site:

http://www.manythings.org/mp/m23.html

A POPULAR WORD GAME

One of the most popular word games in English is called Hangman. Children
like to play this game. All you need is a pencil and paper.
There are several online versions of this game. Here are some to try:

http://www.askoxford.com/wordgames/hangman/?view=uk
http://fun-with-words.com/hangman.html
http://www.theproblemsite.com/hangman/hangman_play.asp

USED TO

"Used to" refers to an action that happened in the past but does not happen not now. For example:

This means I smoked in the past but I do not smoke now.

This means he lived in Tokyo in the past but he does not live there now.

We had a dog in the past but we don't have one now.

WORDS ENDING IN "HOLIC"

Here are some more words that end in"aholic". These are humorous words.

People sometimes invent words ending in "aholic".On a web site I saw the word dance-aholic. This referred to people who are addicted to dancing.

ENGLISH ONLINE
There are many web sites that can help you to learn English. This site is good for beginners:

http://www.languageguide.org

I use this site to practice Japanese.

SAYING GOOD-BYE
In Japanese you say ja mata ne. In English you can say:

or

or