Learning English (Aprendiendo inglés)

Too and enough

enero 15, 2021 Por Millinguals

Do you know how to use too and enough?

Too (demasiado) and enough (suficiente) are used to quantify adverbs, adjectives, nouns and even actions (verbs).

How to use too

Remember: too much with uncountable nouns and too many with countable nouns.

What about actions with too?

In that case, use TOO MUCH after the verb you want to quantify. For example:

Alice sleeps too much, I thinks she wastes the day in bed.

How to use enough

What about actions with enough?

Just use ENOUGH after the verb you want to quantify. For example:

You aren’t sleeping enough, you should go to bed earlier.

Practice time: too and enough

Let’s watch a video (pay attention to the pronunciation of too and enough) and write down the phrases where they are used. What kind of word are the quantifying in each phrase? Look at the structure and then try to write a similar dialogue in a different situation, and use enough, too, too much and too many.

Would you like us to check your dialogue? You can share it in our forum or send us an email (hola@millinguals.com). It’s free!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

diciembre 14, 2020 Por Millinguals

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This is a common expression to use when Christmas is just around the corner and people begin to prepare their Christmas decorations.

Christmas memories

If you close your eyes and think about Christmas in your childhood, what do you recall? Here you have some examples:

Baking Christmas cookies with my family

Playing in the snow with my friends

Decorating the house

Singing Christmas carols with my family

Did you have a special Christmas tradition in your family? For example:

I used to go to my grandmother’s house to help her trim the tree

I used to play boardgames with my siblings all night on New Year’s Eve

How do you feel about these memories? Why don’t you visit our forum and answer these questions?

Christmas activity. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Now we suggest this activity to practice your English:

Watch this video and then answer the following questions:

At the beginning of the video, why is the man looking at old pictures with a gloomy face?
What is he doing with the weight every day? Why?
What happens at the end?
What’s your opinion about the video? Did you like it? Why?
What kind of memories do you think the little girl will have about Christmas and her grandfather when she grows up?
What Christmas vocabulary can you elicit after watching the video?

If you want to comment on this, or if you want to get feedback for your answers, use our forum or write an email to us: hola@millinguals.com

You may also be interested in this Christmas post: Christmas vocabulary. Enjoy!

Halloween facts and vocabulary

octubre 20, 2020 Por Millinguals

Halloween facts and vocabulary

Halloween is coming!

Halloween is celebrated in several countries, and it is becoming popular all around the world. You have probably seen a lot of Halloween scenes in films and TV series, but what do you really know about this celebration?

Let’s begin with something simple. As you probably know, one of the most typical things about Halloween are scary things. So let’s learn (or review) some key vocabulary about it. Scary things (or spooky things) are used as costumes and decoration. Watching horror films or telling scary stories are also very popular activities.

What do you think about spooky things? Do you like them? Why do you think people like to feel scared sometimes, for example when watching horror films?

It’s interesting how Halloween is about being scared, but it can also be so fun! Most children love this celebration, they have costume parties, go trick or treating, and they aren’t afraid at all! Maybe because it’s not all about being scared, it’s about eating sweets, too. There are all kind of sweets, candies and chocolates just for Halloween.

Let’s continue with a presentation, including some Halloween facts and vocabulary, to understand a little bit more about the origins and the meaning of this celebration.

Have you seen the video and followed the instructions? Remember that you can click the check buttons in the presentation to see the answers.

What new facts have you learned? What information did you already know?

Would you like to know more?

Read about some interesting Halloween trivia clicking here!

What about you?

How do you celebrate Halloween? Do you have a similar tradition, maybe with a different name, in your country? Or do you celebrate a totally different holiday at the same time of the year? Tell us about it in our forum and share your experience!

-ed and -ing adjectives

septiembre 30, 2020 Por Millinguals

-ed and -ing adjectives

Surprised and surprising… What’s the difference?

You will find a lot of -ed and -ing adjectives in English, so this is important.

Encontrarás muchos adjetivos en inglés que acaban en -ed o en -ing, así que esto es importante. ¿Cuál es la diferencia entre surprised y surprising? Digamos que surprised significa sorprendido, mientras que surprising significa sorprendente. Esta es tu primera pista.

Veamos si puedes averiguar la diferencia entre los siguientes adjetivos:

Let’s see if you can find out the difference between the following adjectives:

BORING VS. BORED

Amanda is so bored at work. She has nothing interesting to do and she spends the day complaining.
Eleanor fell asleep at the cinema because the film was so boring.

AMAZING VS. AMAZED

We’ve just spent the most amazing day. We went parachuting!
When Ted arrived home he looked totally amazed. He didn’t know anything about the party!

TIRED VS. TIRING

Working more than eight hours a day is very tiring.
I’m tired because I’ve been doing sport all day.

Have you already noticed the difference between -ed and -ing adjectives?

¿Ya has notado cuál es la diferencia entre los adjetivos acabados en -ed y los acabados en -ing?

Let’s check…

Let’s try something now…

Try to match all the adjectives below with their -ed or -ing pair. Then think carefully about the difference in meaning and make some sentences.

Intentemos algo ahora…

Intenta emparejar todos los adjetivos de la nube con sus parejas acabadas en -ed o en -ing. Después piensa detenidamente cuál es la diferencia de significado y escribe algunas frases.

Any doubts? Do you want us to review your sentences? Just write an email to hola@millinguals.com

¿Tienes dudas? ¿Quieres que revisemos tus frases? Escribe un email a hola@millinguals.com

If you want some extra practice, try our free B1 level course. The first lesson is just about this! If you are interested, just go to courses, and click on Cursos completos de inglés gratuitos → Añadir al carrito → Ver carrito → Finalizar compra (don’t worry, you don’t have to pay anything! All you need to do is to create an account)

Si quieres algo más de práctica, prueba nuestro curso gratuito de nivel B1. ¡La primera lección trata precisamente de esto! Si te interesa, simplemente ve a cursos, y haz click en Cursos completos de inglés gratuitos → Añadir al carrito → Ver carrito → Finalizar compra (¡no te preocupes, no tienes que pagar nada! Lo único que tienes que hacer es crear una cuenta)

WORD FORMATION

agosto 28, 2020 Por Millinguals

Do you know how to use prefixes and suffixes? What are the typical terminations for a verb? Or for a noun? And if you have a noun but you need and adjective?

This knowledge can be very useful for your writing and for improving your fluency, especially if you are taking an official exam. In Cambridge exams, for example, word formation is an essencial part.

For example, approve is a verb. If you want a noun, you can add a preffix, such as -al (approval), or/and a suffix such as dis- (disapproval). Wide is an adjective, but if you want a verb, you add -en (widen).

Look at the following chart to check the basic rules (click on the pink magnifying glass icon to see examples):

Now, let’s see if you got it!

Here you have a list of verbs. Can you transform them into nouns?

PAY, INFORM, ERASE, WORK, ACT, ENJOY

Let’s try now transforming these verbs into adjectives:

CREATE, PERMIT, ACCESS, UNDERSTAND, INVENT, INTUIT

Now let’s do the opposite, transform this adjectives into verbs:

BROAD, MODERN, THICK, INTERNATIONAL

Now let’s make adjectives with the following nouns:

REGION, BEAUTY, CUSTOM, COMPLEMENT, MAGIC, DAY, POISON, FURY

And finally, let’s make some adverbs with these adjectives:

QUICK, GRACEFUL, HAPPY, HARD, POWERLESS

If you want to learn more, you can check this page by Cambridge Dictionary and keep practicing: WORD FORMATION

Do you have any questions? Would you like us to check your answers? It’s free!

You can use our forum or write an email to hola@millinguals.com

We’ll be glad to help you!

We also have a lesson about Word Formation (Lesson 1: Derivatives), it will be great for you if you want some extra practice and information. If you want to try this lesson, you just need to be registered in our web and select our C1 English course, totally free! So, if you don’t have an account yet, just go to My account and create it, we promise we won’t bother you with marketing emails! Then, go to Courses and click on Complete free Spanish courses – Cursos completos de inglés gratuitos → Añadir al carrito → Carrito → Finalizar compra. After this, you will have access to all our free courses. Remember, the lesson about Word formation is on FREE Complete advanced (C1) English course. Enjoy!

COUNTRIES, NATIONALITIES AND LANGUAGES

julio 10, 2020 Por Millinguals

PAÍSES, NACIONALIDADES E IDIOMAS EN INGLÉS

Juguemos al juego de las banderas. ¿Cuántas banderas puedes reconocer? ¿Sabes los nombres de los países y las nacionalidades en inglés? ¿Y qué hay de los idiomas que se hablan en estos países?

Let’s play the flags game! How many flags can you recognize? Do you know how to name the countries and nationalities in English? What about the languages spoken in these countries?

Countries, nationalities and languages

What about you? Where are you from? What languages do you speak? What is the official language in your country? Tell us in our forum!

Do you need a review? Watch this video to make sure you remember all the vocabulary!: COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD