How well do you know the English language?

An ode of English Plurals

We'll begin with a box,
And the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox
Becomes oxen, not oxes.

One fowl is a goose,
But two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose
Should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse
Or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house
Is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man
Is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan
Be called pen?

New materials on speaking from "Splendid Speaking"

"Splendid Speaking" uses Skype as a learning tool for learning and improving English. They do a nice job, I think. Take a look at the newsletter and see for yourself.

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Splendid Speaking - http://www.splendid-speaking.com/

An easier and more effective way to improve your speaking skills and confidence in English.
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Sunday 27th January 2008
Welcome to the Splendid Speaking Newsletter. First of all, a big 'Thanks' for all the feedback we've received from our visitors over
the past few months. Your views will be invaluable in helping us develop the site further. This week we're pleased to announce some exciting changes and additions to our services. See our new Colloquial Vocabulary feature below and news of our new speaking task sheet for use in class and self study.
In this week's issue:
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• TASK SHEETS
• LEARN COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY
• DEVELOP YOUR SPEAKING SKILLS
• CONNECT WITH OTHERS
• SPREAD THE WORD!
  

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TASK SHEETS
This week we're pleased to announce the first of our new speaking task sheets. Each newly-designed sheet comes with two tasks: one presentation and one pair/group activity. We also include a vocabulary list and links to relevant recordings from our archive.
In addition, if you're looking to practise your presentation skills for work or your studies, preparing for an exam and will have to do a short talk then this week's featured recording, which looks at structuring a short talk will be of interest to you.
You'll find a link to the new task sheet, the featured recording and the transcripts from here: http://www.splendid-speaking.com/4.html
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LEARN COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY
Interested in improving your use of colloquial vocabulary? How many of the missing words below do you know? Visit our website on the dates below and use our three-stage quiz to help you learn the key words, understand the meaning and, most of all, remember the expression so you can recognise and/or use it later. Print this newsletter, then each day during week beginning 28 January 2008 fill in the gaps of any new expressions you come across. You can do the quiz here (Click 'Today's Vocabulary Quiz' - make sure your computer allows popups):
http://www.splendid-speaking.com/products/index.html
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Monday 28 January 2008. Topic: Communication
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1) If you need any help just ........ the word and I'll be round immediately.
2) Look, if there's something the matter just get it off your ........ and stop sitting there with a long face!
3) The builder was late again today. If he's not here at 9.00 tomorrow I'm really going to give him a ........ of my mind.
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Tuesday 29 January 2008: Agreeing and Disagreeing
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4) Sorry, but I've got to ........ issue with you over something you said earlier.
5) This discussion could go on for hours. Shall we just agree to ........ and move on? 
6) The two sides in the dispute are ........ odds over how to deal with the problem.
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Wednesday 30 January 2008. Topic: Money
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7) Frank used to make a ........ selling insurance before he went into teaching.
8) If you'd like to make a ........ buck do you fancy helping me with a job on Saturday?
9) We're beginning to ........ the pinch since Graham started to work part-time.
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Thursday 31 January 2008. Topic: Business
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10) I've just spoken to their sales department and they think they can supply us with what we need. But they have got a track record of not delivering the ........
11) We had a salesman in the office earlier trying to give us the ........ sell with a new photocopier. We just couldn't get rid of him.
12) I'm enjoying having my own business but if there's one thing I hate doing it's cold ........ to try to get new orders.
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Friday 1 February 2008. Topic: Learning
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13) Schools should go back to ........ and make sure children can read, write and do simple maths.
14) Nobody thought he would make the ........ but he surprised them all and ended up going to university.
15) I've been reading these instructions again and again but I just can't ........ my head around them.
Find out how to get immediate access to ALL 390 colloquial expressions!
http://www.splendid-speaking.com/products/expressions.html
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DEVELOP YOUR SPEAKING SKILLS
Are you preparing for an important English Speaking exam? Do you need to develop your speaking skills for work or university? The Splendid Speaking Course teaches you communication skills and strategies that will prove invaluable in your work or studies. It comes in two volumes ('Introductions and Small Talk' and Powerful Presentations') and covers 12 key strategies for communicating effectively, as well as a range of useful vocabulary and language topics. 'Splendid Expressions', our new three-stage approach to learning colloquial vocabulary, is also FREE to subscribers of the 'Splendid Speaking Self Study Course'. 
Find out more here: http://www.splendid-speaking.com/3.html
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CONNECT WITH OTHERS
Our new community on Facebook, the social networking website, is continuing to welcome new people with members from all corners of the world. If you're keen to meet up with others who want to develop their English speaking skills, why not join us? If you've never heard of Facebook before it's an extremely popular social networking site where you can create a personal profile, join groups, post photos and much more. To join our group:
1) create a Facebook account
2) join the Splendid Speaking group in Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2265574420
3) connect with our group friends
We look forward to meeting up with you on Facebook!
Read our 'Safety Guide' for safe use of communities such as this:
http://www.splendid-speaking.com/products/safety.html
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SPREAD THE WORD!
If you enjoy reading this newsletter and have a friend or colleague who you believe might also benefit from it, please forward it on.
That's all for this week!
Best wishes from the Splendid Speaking Team
Flo-Joe, Centre Court, 1301 Stratford Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, West
Midlands B28 9HH, UNITED KINGDOM