Mount Rushmore
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.
Mount Rushmore is a very big memorial sculpture carved into the granite face of the mountain near the Black Hills of South Dakota. It features the 60-foot-tall (18 m) heads of four United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Rossevelt. Mount Rushmore represents the nation’s birth, growth, development, and preservation.
Reading and Listening Tip
Language Level – B2
Read the subtitles as you watch this TedEd video about the history of Mount Rushmore:
Grammar Tip
Language Level – B1
Imperative sentences with an implied YOU.
An imperative sentence gives a direct command, such as:
Close the door! or Call me tonight.
The command can be forceful, such as:
Don’t drop that!
Or it can be a request, such as:
Please pass the salt.
It can also be advice:
Don’t eat the yellow snow.
Or it may be instructions:
Turn right at the corner.
It could also be a warning:
Look out!
You may notice that there is no subject in each of those examples.
That is because the subject (YOU) is implied – meaning, as a direct command, we know that the sentence is directly addressing you.
You cannot, however, pair your imperative verb with any other words of that type, e.g., “myself,” “himself,” “herself,” and “ourselves.” These are known as reflexive pronouns.
Let’s Practice!
Select the imperative sentence from each pair below:
- Do you live abroad?
- Don’t do that!
- Go!
- I can smell the barbeque.
- Please wrap my hamburger to go.
- The hamburger was wrapped to go.
- Leave the room after the speech.
- The speeches were difficult to hear.
- You must contact your office manager with questions.
- Contact the office manager.
- Swim with a friend to avoid shark attacks.
- Shark attacks are on the rise.
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.
- Emerge (v)
- Emotional (adj)
- Emphasis (n)
- Enable (v)
- Encounter (v, n)
- Engage (v)
- Enhance (v)
- Enquiry (n)
- Ensure (v)
- Enthusiasm (n)
Use this quizlet to study this vocabulary (it’s free!)
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 – C1
This grammar nerd just discovered a new grammatical term – Zeugma – and thought I would share the joy!
Zeugma – A figure of speech where a single word is used with two or more parts of a sentence. It is most often used to create a specific literary or creative effect.
Zeugma is often used to add emotion, produce a level of shock, create a thoughtful effect, or add emotion.
Here are some examples:
I held her hand and my tongue.
She broke his car and his heart.
His footsteps were as light as his fingers.
Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtle; natural philosophy, deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. (Sir Francis Bacon)
Read each sentence below. Is it Zeugma? Write YES or NO
- He lost his money and his confidence.
- We saw snakes and bears at the zoo.
- She found her sweater and her calling.
- She fell down the stairs and out of love.
- I eat meat and fish.
- He watched the children and dogs play on the beach.
- He skated to school and close to the edge.
- Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.
Questions?
