Topics

1

English / Do you AGREE or DISAGREE?

« on: January 29, 2013, 12:45:44 PM »

Dear Students and enthusiasts,
Answer the following question. Everyday you will get a new question to answer.

1) Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?
People are never satisfied with what they have; they always want something more or something different. Use specific reasons to support your answer.

2

English / LISTENING ENGLISH COMPETITION

« on: February 12, 2012, 12:15:37 PM »

Listening competition

Dear students,
I have decided to bring you a new type of activity. I know how tedious it can be to work on your own doing one exercise after another. It gets boring, even though you are really motivated to learn English. How different the computer games are! They are competitive and you can be better than your friends. That is why I have decided to start a listening competition.
The aim of this competition is to give you a chance to compare your listening comprehensibility with that of other students. There will be 3 phases: PRE LISTENING: where you will guess the story after having a look at the vocabulary, WHILE LISTENING: listen to the story and check out whether your guess is right or not, POST LISTENING: finally solve the MCQ (Multiple Choice Question). Through this competition you will be able to see how well you perform.
Thus you should get motivated to do more tasks and improve your listening skill.

There are three prizes for the first, second and third best listeners.


RULES:
1. To ensure your participation you are to fill a form.
2. The forms will be available from Feb-15, 2012 at English Department Office, Prince Plaza, DIU




Swapan Kumar Bhowmik
Lecturer
Dept. of English

3

English / -==EVERYDAY ENGLISH==-

« on: June 25, 2011, 02:17:37 PM »

EVERYDAY ENGLISH-1

Everyday we make a lot of mistakes. This is either because of your lack of knowledge or of your state of carelessness.
You should be discrete of what you are going to speak or write.
I have noticed that many of our students make mistake at the very beginning of their presentation,
or conversation as it usually begins with a wish. Like Good morning, Good evening, etc

To overcome this type of mistakes I believe that this site may be helpful.

Good morning, anytime after 6:00Am and before 12:00pm
Good afternoon, anytime after 12:00Pm but before 6:00Pm
Good evening, anytime after 6:00pm and before 12:00am
Good Night, anytime after 6:00pm to before 12:00Pm but to say good bye
Anytime after 12:00 but before 1:00am is known as midnight.

NOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good Night is quite different from Good Evening because it refers to Good Bye.
So, if you want to mean welcome any time at night, you should say Good Evening, but not Good night.

4

English / Common Mistakes and Confusing Words

« on: June 22, 2011, 02:13:34 PM »

Some words in English are confusing. A lot of words are similar but with different meanings. It is almost impossible to avoid making mistakes in English, but if you can get your head around these explanations, you might be able to avoid making these ones.

accept vs except
advice   vs   advise
affect  vs   effect
a lot   vs  alot/allot
all ready   vs   already
all right   vs   alright
allude   vs   elude
alone   vs   lonely
altogether   vs   all together
ambivalent   vs   indifferent
any vs some
any one vs anyone
apart vs a part
astrology vs astronomy
at vs in
been vs gone
beside vs besides
bored vs boring
borrow vs lend
bought vs brought
by vs until
career vs carrier vs courier
certain vs curtain
check vs control
come over vs overcome
complement vs compliment
concentrate vs concentrated
council vs counsel
Councillor vs counselor
curious vs interesting
curtain vs certain
data vs datum
decent vs descent
defrost vs melt
desperate vs disparate
discreet vs discrete
do vs make
don't have to vs mustn't
dose vs doze
downside vs underside
dress up vs get dressed
driving test vs test drive
effect vs affect
e.g. vs i.e.
-er vs -re
either or vs neither nor
either vs as well / too
enquire vs inquire
enquiry vs inquiry
every day vs everyday
excited vs exciting
expand vs expend
experience vs experience(s)
fewer vs less
for vs since (time)
get dressed vs dress up
good vs well
going out vs outgoing
gone vs been
hard vs hardly
hear vs listen
heroin vs heroine
he's vs his
holiday vs the weekend
homework vs housework
"How do you do?" vs "How are you?"
improve vs improvise
interested vs interesting
interesting vs interested
later vs latter
lay vs lie
lay down vs lie down
learn vs teach
less vs fewer
look after vs look for
look at vs watch
look forward(s) vs look forward to
look over vs overlook
loose vs lose
massage vs message
me vs I
me vs my vs mine
moan vs mourn
moral vs morale
most vs the most
most vs mostly
my vs me
neither vs nor vs or
outgoing vs going out
overlook vs look over
overtake vs takeover / take over
of course vs off course
personal vs personnel
practice vs practise
precede vs proceed
principal vs principle
quiet vs quite
raise vs rise
regard vs regardless vs regards
remember vs remind
replay vs reply
said vs told
say vs talk
say vs tell
scared vs scary
see vs watch
shortage vs shortness
so vs such
some vs any
some time vs sometime vs sometimes
stationary vs stationery
take care vs take care of
talk vs say
teach vs learn
tell vs say
than vs then
then vs than
told vs said
to/too/two
there/their/they're
trainer vs trainee
travel/trip/voyage vs journey
used to vs used to do
wander vs wonder
watch vs look at
watch vs see
what vs which
who vs whom
wrong vs wrongly

Swapan Kumar Bhowmik
Lecturer, Dept. of English
Daffodil International University