Astrology
I will send out some handy tips and useful exercises for adults learning to navigate and use the English language each week. Please feel free to share this newsletter with friends and colleagues.
Oh yeah! It’s my birthday! 💃🏼
As a shy Leo, I thought it would be fun to shine the spotlight on myself and discuss astrology this week.
Reading Tip
Language Level – B2
Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world. Although it’s not scientifically proven, many people enjoy astrology for personal insight or entertainment.
Read this article to learn more about astrology and find your zodiac sign: What is Astrology, a Beginner’s Guide.
Listening Tip
Language Level – B1
I love a good Crash Course video. They are fun and colorful, and I always learn new things. As my gift to you this week, here is a Crash Course video on the Zodiac Constellations:
Grammar Tip
Language Level – B2
Clauses – continuing from last week’s look at relative clauses, let’s explore a few others.
A clause is a group of words that have a subject and a verb.
1. Independent Clause – Can stand alone as a complete sentence.
Example: John eats.
2. Dependent Clause – Cannot stand alone and often have a different function in a sentence.
- Relative Clause – Gives us more information about someone or something. They include:
2a. Adjective Clause – To give us more information about a noun in a sentence.
Example: John eats eggs that his chickens lay. (It modifies eggs (n) – telling us which eggs John eats.
2b. Adverbial Clause – To give us more information about a verb or adverb in a sentence.
Example: John eats eggs when his chickens lay them. (It modifies eats (v) – telling us when he eats them.
2c. Noun Clause – Gives us more information about the subject of the sentence (but remember each clause also has a subject and verb)
Example: John eats what his chickens lay. (What his chickens lay is a dependent clause that tells us what John eats and functions as a noun in the sentence)
Clauses vs. Phrases
A clause has a subject and verb and a phrase does not.
Example clause: John eats (when he wakes up).
Example phrase: John eats (in the morning).
Let’s practice!
Determine if the bold words in each sentence below are a phrase or a clause. If they are a clause, label them with the type of clause, using the definitions above.
- Show Simon your project when he arrives.
- The boy with autism is the group leader.
- Let’s find a table that gets sunlight.
- My dog has eaten my birthday cake, which I left on the table to cool.
- The man who stole your bike has been caught.
- My dog has eaten my birthday cake, which I left on the table to cool.
- I saw what you did yesterday.
- Whoever designed this newsletter is a genius.
Vocabulary Tip
Language Level – B2
We continue to add to our vocabulary words from the Oxford 3000.
A list of 3000 words someone should know if they are taking the CEFR (Common European Framework Reference) language tests.
- Bond (n)
- Border (v)
- Breast (n)
- Brief (adj)
- Broad (adj)
- Broadcast (v, n)
- Budget (n)
- Bullet (n)
- Bunch (n)
- Burn (n)
You will find the definitions for this list of B2- level words in this quizlet.
Each week new words are added to the same quizlet, so all of the B2 level words will be in one list for practice.
Weekly Challenge
Language Level – B2
I found this article about successful business environments quite fascinating and thought I would share it with you for some extra reading material this week:
Google Spent Years Researching 180 Teams. The Most Successful Ones Shared 1 Remarkable Trait | Inc.com
Questions?
