Vocabulary and a bit of Grammar

The new pillow has already proved its usefulness. 🤭 Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, it has become my cats' favourite spot. 🐈🐈‍⬛ The furry tails adore it when it feels snug. 🤗

Feline Social Behavior Of Furry Tails 🐈🐈‍⬛ It's known that cats are solitary animals by nature. But does such a thing as CATS' FRIENDSHIP exist? Cats are finicky animals, slow to warm up to new animals and situations which makes it difficult to integrate a new cat into the household. Some representatives of the species are able to bond with others, forging what we call a “friendship”. Although some cats may warm up to each other within a matter of days or weeks, it typically takes them from 8 and 12 MONTHS to form a bond close enough that they could be considered friends. In some cases, though, two cats may never bond. While this situation usually results in two cats that simply stay out of each other’s way, it sometimes requires one of the cats to be permanently rehomed. Scientists claim that most cats are perfectly content to live in a home with no other cats, however, the research shows that cats that do have partners live longer. Have you got a purring creature at home or is it two/several of them?

The WORDS of the WEEK Dear all, this week I would like you to learn the noun "URGE" (by the way, it is a verb too) and some family words. An URGE is a strong desire to do something. The pattern to use is "URGE TO DO something". I had a sudden URGE to hit him. "TO URGE" means to advise or try hard to persuade somebody to do something. The verb can be used as a synonym for "to recommend". The police are URGING anyone with new information to come forward. URGENT (adj.) equals pressing. Finally, an EMERGENCY is an unexpected and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening of the situation.

Have you ever asked yourself if you were supposed to use the word "SERIAL" or the noun "SERIES"? A SERIES means a set of programmes or podcasts that deal with the same subject or that have the same character while a SERIAL is one and the same story that is broadcast or published in several separate parts on television, on the radio, on the internet, in a magazine, etc. However, if the number of episodes is limited, the only lexical item you have is MINISERIES notwithstanding the illogicality. Are you a fan of the serials Downtown Abbey and Friends or do you fancy watching the series The Simpsons? Both? What a coincidence! Me too!

The WORD of the WEEK PASTIME is something that you enjoy doing when you are not working The noun can serve as a brilliant synonym for "hobby".    Watching television is still the most popular national pastime.    Fishing is an enjoyable pastime for people of all ages. Word Origin late 15th cent.: from the verb pass (verb) + time, translating French passe-temps. What do you consider a pleasurable pastime?

I Good evening, everybody! I am impatient to share with you what I have come to know during one of my working sessions today. A student of mine is taking part in an Online English language competition called "BEST IN ENGLISH" tomorrow. The usual thing is that one says "international", you hear "IELTS/TOEFL". But this competition is within the EU. Surprisingly, it's powered (as their page states) by the Czech republic. Last year's statistics does impress. More than 24 thousand students aged from 14 to 20 from 34 different countries competed. This year the best ones win a 2-week trip to Canada. Worth a try, huh? What is even more shocking, the tasks are great. The paper consists of three parts: Use of English, Reading and Listening. The only thing I didn't like is that the last two listening tasks are both True/False, but it has to be admitted the tapes themselves have absolutely nothing in common. While helping the girl to prepare, spotted the three grammatical topics as her weaknesses. They are Complex Object (the 2nd group verbs "have/make sb do sth Vs. the 1st group equivalents "force/get sb to do sth"), Subjunctive Mood (the advanced Formal Subjunctive patterns like "It was suggested that the secretary do it at once") and Inversion in negative sentences (Under no circumstances should one do it). Now, once the grammar has been successfully brushed up on, I sincerely hope the student has every chance to win. Let us all wish her good luck! 🍀 Interested in your weak spots? Give it a try! There's the 2023 public test available on the website. The only thing you'll have to lie about your age when filling in the forms 😁.