I had a few people ask me about metaphors, so I thought I’d write a post about them. Metaphors are like similes because they both show how 2 different things are alike. Similes use ‘like’ or ‘as’ and metaphors do not. So, metaphors are a bit more subtle than similes.
Here are a few examples of metaphors:
The United States is a melting pot.
My son’s stomach is a bottomless pit.
You are the sunshine in my life.
Life is a roller coaster.
Love is a camera, full of memories.
A simile is when you compare 2 unlike things using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. You can make a simile out of anything; however, here are some of the more common ones that I hear quite often:
He’s as busy as a beaver.
It’s as clear as mud.
It’s as easy as pie.
It’s as flat as a pancake.
She’s as mad as a hornet.
That’s as pretty as a picture.
It’s as smooth as silk.
It’s as white as snow.
She’s as wise as an owl.
He’s as blind as a bat.
It’s as big as a boat.
He fights like a lion.
She swims like a fish.
And my person favorite: He’s as bald as a baby’s bottom.
Please leave me a comment if you have a question about any of these! Or make up your own simile and let me know what it is!
Here are 3 words that sometimes people get confused: they’re, their and there. They are all pronounced the same way.
They’re is the contraction for ‘they are”.
They’re at the grocery store. (They are at the grocery store.)
Their is the possessive adjective of them.
It’s their book that I love reading so much. (The book belongs to them.)
There refers to a place either concrete or abstract.
Sally hid the gift over there.
There is the pet store.
Here’s a mini quiz to see if you have them straight in your head.
1. I really wanted to try some of _______ cookies.
2. ________ my best friends in the entire world.
3. I want to build my new house right ______.
4. _______ is no place like home.
5. Sue accidentally ate ________ candybars.
Answers:
1. their
2. They’re
3. there
4. There
5. their
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If you want to get someone’s attention – “Hey You!” Is probably not the most polite way to go about it, but it would work.
An extremely polite way to get someone’s attention is to say:
I beg your pardon, sir.
I beg your pardon, ma’am.
I beg your pardon, miss.
(However, I rarely (if ever) hear people say these where I live.)
A typical and still polite way to get someone’s attention is to say:
Excuse me, sir.
Excuse me, ma’am.
Excuse me, miss.
(Adding sir, ma’am or miss at the end make it more polite. You don’t have to use them though.)
If you’d like to get the attention of a friend, you can simply say their name.
“Sally…”
You can also use “hello” or “hi” as a way to get someone’s attention.
Another way is to get someone’s attention is to clear your throat. (But, you have to be close enough to the person for them to hear it).
If you are trying to get the attention of a whole group of people, you could whistle, if you can. Or, you can say, “Listen up!”
DUDE!!! This has to be one of my favorite words to say. You can ask any of my friends. I say it all of the time. What does it mean? It’s slang, and it means ‘man or person.’ 
Here’s how you can use it:
Dude, what are you doing?
Instead of saying the person’s name, you can just say ‘Dude…then the rest of the sentence. In order to say this, you should know the person you are saying this to fairly well. This is the same with most slang. You can use it with your peers/friends.
props
I am giving you props for that story you wrote. It’s great!
This means you are impressed with their work and you are giving them recognition.
armpit
This town is the armit of South Carolina.
It means that it is an undesireable place.
bent out of shape
Don’t get so bent out of shape. I was just joking.
It means that someone got really upset about something.
bonkers
He is bonkers. He just jumped off of that tree.
It means crazy.
come up for air
He has been working so hard that he really should come up for air.
It means take a break.
flick
That was a great flick, I watched last night.
It means movie.
get it
I told her 2 times, but she still didn’t get it.
It means to understand.
Do any of you have any problem areas in English that you’d like me to write about? Or are there any words that you find difficult to say?
I just wanted to let you all know that you can make requests about what I post about and I’ll be happy to write or record them for you! I’m your own personal English teacher!
So, let me know if you have any English questions at all!
Here are my favorite ways to say “I’m hungry!” in English.
I’m famished
I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.
I’ve got the munchies!
I’m starved.
I’m craving XXX. (When you are hungry for something specific.)
I’ve got a hankering for XXX. (What you are hungry for something specific.)
Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite way to say you’re hungry is or let me know what your favorite food is.
This post is about 3 different words that are sometimes confused:
To has many roles, like as a preposition or used as part of the infinitive phrase of a verb.
I walked to the store.
He went to the library, so that he could read.
I hope that he helps to clean up this mess.
Sally wanted me to cook her a big cake for her birthday.
Too is an adverb that means also or in excess.
She likes to eat ice cream too.
He was too tired to watch the TV show.
Two is the number 2.
I ate two pieces of cake.
A lot of the punctuation is the same for various languages, but a lot of the uses my be different. Even if you feel like you have a grasp on English punctuation, you might want to skim through this to make sure. I’m going to cover the main punctuation marks which serve a grammatical purpose.
Period . – This is used at the end of a sentence. It’s also used if you are abbreviating a word.
My name is Yvonne.
Mr. Crawford is my husband. (Please note in the UK, they do not put a period after the abbreviation of personal titles.)
Comma ,– This is used when you have 2 or more adjectives, when listing, separating a city and state, writing dates, breaking into a sentence with information that adds information, after an introductionary phrase, separating 2 independent clauses (with a conjunction like ‘and’), when you are addressing someone, or when writing dialog.
The big, brown cat is happy.
I have apples, oranges and grapes in my fruit salad.
I live in Charleston, South Carolina.
Today’s date is March 22, 2010.
Brian Crawford, my husband, is Canadian.
During my nap, I was startled by the doorbell.
My daughter slipped and fell, but she was okay.
Nicole, can you take out the trash?
Lucy said, “That’s my car, not yours!”
Question mark ? – This is used at the end of a sentence which is interrogative in nature.
Will you please bring me a glass of water?
Quotation marks “” – This is used when quoting an article/person or when writing dialog.
According to a book by Powers, life is “what you make it.”
Susan said, “Hello, how are you?”
Semi-colon ; – This is used to separate 2 related but completely independent clauses (without a conjunction like ‘and’). It’s used before a conjunctive adverb like however. Also, it is used in a list where commas are already there.
I went to the supermarket; I bought some milk.
I’m very poor; however, I just bought a new BMW. (make sure to put a comma after ‘however’)
I have visited many cities: London, England; Dublin, Ireland; and Paris, France.
Colon : – This is used to introduce a list. It should be used after a complete sentence only.
I have lots of children: Amelia, Lachlan and Callum.
Exclamation mark (exclamation point) ! – This is used at the end of a sentence and shows that the writer is excited or wants to add emphasis to a sentence.
I just won 100 dollars!
Apostrophe (single quotation marks) ‘ – This is used to show possession, make contractions, or writing a quotation within a quotation
This is Sally’s shirt that I am wearing.
Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.
Peter said, “Donny said, ‘How about those Cowboys?'”
Hyphen – – This is used for adding a prefix, compound words and with numbers.
He did a re-creation of the last huge party (You can use it if it might be unclear if you did not use it.) (re-creation, not recreation.)
I want to opt-out of the party.
Five-sixths
Dash – – This is used when you want to make a interruption in your sentence.
I was really surprised – as you assumed when you saw my face – that my mother gave me a new car.
This video will help English learners to learn and to practice the differences between the /r/ and the /l/ sounds.