Good Morning!

It is the nineteenth of August 2010. It is Thursday.

It is a barren day in the garden. It is not a good time for planting. Wait until Sunday to plant above ground crops.

On this day in 1994 Linus Pauling passed on. Groucho Marx also died on this day.

In some countries birthdays are celebrated but in others they are not considered to be of great importance.

In some countries death days are observed but in other countries such a thing is not so formally noted.

What is the situation in your country? Do you observe “death days” or “remembrance days” for family members? In Japan we do. In Thailand we do as well.

What is the situation in your country? Explain it clearly. Talk about birthdays and death days. Do it now. Do it orally

What is the situation in your country?

After you have explained the situation in your country orally, write an answer in the “comments” section below.

THE WEATHER

It is clear.
It is wonderfully clear.
You can see for miles.

Look at these uses of the word “clearly”

speak clearly
explain clearly
see clearly

Clarity or “being clear” is not just associated with sight. It is also associated with sound. We often use this expression:

as clear as a bell

I can hear it. It is quite clear. As clear as a bell.

Word Families

Look at this word family:

clear (adjective)
clearly (adverb)
clarity (noun)

Now I want you to tell me about the weather where you are. What is the weather like where you are? Answer this question. Say your answer aloud.

What is the weather like today?

Now write an answer. What is the weather like today in your area? (Post the answer below in the “comments” section)

THE NEWS

Here is a current news headline:

Brazil sets up grammar hotline

In English “newspaper headline” style present simple tense is used instead of present perfect tense so

“Has set up”

has become

“sets up”.

The government of the state of Rio de Janeiro has established a call-in service for people who have questions about correct usage of the Portuguese language.

The government has set up a grammar hotline in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The socio-economic diversity in Brazil and the linguistic diversity have meant many people have not been educated in the standard form of the language. If they are unsure about how to say something correctly or write something correctly, they can ring in.

Look at these variations:

have not been educated
have not been given access to information
have not been given opportunities
have not been given a chance

has set up a service
has established a service
has created a service

say something correctly
say something clearly
say something incorrectly
pronounce something incorrectly
pronounce something correctly
pronounce something clearly

Do you know Lula?

The President frequently makes grammatical mistakes. To some this is a source of embarrassment. To others it is a source of pride as it shows that a man can achieve great things even though he was not born into a wealthy family and this is a testament to the power of the human spirit.

Look at these phrases:

a source of embarrassment
a source of pride
a source of concern
a source of joy
a source of strength
a source of information
a source of diplomatic tension

a testament to the power of the human spirit
a testament to the power of the almighty dollar
a testament to the might of nature
a testament to the might of God
a testament to the endurance of the human spirit

Is anybody there Brazilian? What do you think, Brazilians (and Portuguese)? Is Lula a source of embarrassment or a source of pride? How do you feel about this question of language and social class?
How do you feel about it? Tell us.

How do you feel? How do you feel about it?

Answer the question orally and then write an answer in the “comments” section below.

Look at another headline:

China increases military spending

This means:

China has increased its military spending since last year according to a US report.

Again present simple tense is used instead of present perfect tense so

“has increased its military spending”

has become simply

“increases military spending”

China has increased the capability of its military to help deal with disasters like the current mudslides which are plaguing the country. It has also expanded its capacity for long range operations like dealing with Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.

Look at these variations:

long range operations
mid range operations
short range operations
local operations

Taiwan remains a source of diplomatic tension between China and the US, which supplies the Taiwan military with weapons. China has not confirmed the US report.

So far today we have seen two headlines that use present simple tense instead of present perfect tense. Now we are going to see how it works with the passive. We are going to look at two headlines that use past participles to replace the present perfect tense in passive voice.

If you have trouble understanding “passive voice” go to “The Banjo Player”s Brother” and click the links. You will find many many examples of passive and active voice.

Here is the first headline with a past participle:

US – Colombia pact declared illegal.

A past participle has replaced a passive verb phrase.

“Declared”

has replaced

“has been declared”.

We saw this word in the almanac a couple of days ago when Obama declared the US Gulf coast safe after the oil spill. We use this word at customs.

A US Colombian pact pact that allows the United States to use seven Colombian airbases has been declared illegal by the constitutional court. it was argued during the case that such an agreement should have been debated in Congress in order to conform with normal constitutional protocol.

Look at these present perfect phrases which are in passive voice:

has been declared illegal
has been declared unconstitutional
has been declared “out of bounds”
has been declared “off limits”

In Australia we have these courts:

Magistrates Court
District Court
Supreme Court
High Court

There are also:

the Privy Council
the Family Court

What is the court system in your country? How many courts do you have? Tell us about the legal system:

How many courts do you have? How many courts do you have and what are they called?

Here is another headline which uses a past participle:

Google subpoena-ed in Spain

“Has been subpoena-ed”

has become simply

“subpoena-ed”.

Subpoena is a Latin word. Latin expressions are often used in English legal terminology. An equivalent term is “summons”.

He was subpoena-ed
He was summons-ed
He was summoned
He was served a summons
He was given a summons

They all mean:

He was ordered to appear in court.

Here are some details:

Google has come under fire in Germany and several other countries for its streetview program because during the collection of data it illegally obtained personal information from people’s wi-fi networks. Google says it obtained the information by mistake and will never use it.

Look at these phrases:

has come under fire
has been criticised
has received criticism

Look at these opposites:

it obtained the information by mistake
it obtained the information deliberately

We see legal vocabulary again here:

A Madrid judge has ordered a representative of Google to appear in court on October 4 to answer charges that it violated people’s privacy and violated the penal code.

“Violated the penal code”

is another way to say

“broke the law”.

What do you think? Do you think Google gathered all that personal information by mistake? Do you think they should discard it (throw it away) Should they be made to discard it?

Answer the question orally then write and answer in the “comments” section below:

What do you think?

News and weather Summary

Now listen to a summary. If you do not understand everything you hear, go back and read the text again. Look up all the new words in the dictionary.

Download audio file (nw190810.mp3)

Good Morning!

It is the eighteenth of August 2010. It is Wednesday.

THE WEATHER

It is fine.
It is fine and clear.
There is not a cloud in the sky.
It is cold early in the morning but the sun quickly warms everything.
There is a big difference in temperature between being in the sun and being in the shade.

Look at this scale:

There is not a cloud in the sky.
There are a few clouds in the sky.
It is cloudy. (It is overcast)
It is very cloudy.
It is very very cloudy.

Here is another:

a big difference
a small difference
a slight difference
no difference at all

Now I want you to tell me about the weather where you are. What is the weather like where you are? Answer this question. Say your answer aloud.

What is the weather like today?

Now write an answer. What is the weather like today in your area? (Post the answer below in the “comments” section)

THE NEWS

Here is a current news headline:

Mexican mayor kidnapped
This means:

A Mexican mayor has been kidnapped.

A past participle has replaced a passive verb phrase.

“Has been kidnapped”

has become simply

“kidnapped”.

Here are the details:

In Santiago near Monterrey the local mayor has been kidnapped by cartels. Twenty-eight thousand people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since 2006.

Look at these phrases:

has been kidnapped
have been killed

The grammar is exactly the same. They are both present perfect passive phrases. The first one is singular. The second one is plural.

Look at these degrees of injury:

he was frightened
he was hurt
he was injured
he was seriously injured
he was badly injured
he was critically injured
he was killed

Here is another headline:

French activists uproot vines

This means

French activists have uprooted grapevines

“Have uprooted vines”

becomes simply

“uproot vines”.

Present simple tense is used instead of present perfect tense.

A plant has a root. Plants have roots. A root is a noun. It is a thing. It is a concrete noun. Look at these phrases:

the root of the problem
dig it out by the roots

Propagation from a Cutting

The word, root has a verbal meaning too. If you take a cutting of a fruit tree and dip it in rooting powder then place it in good soil, it will “root”.

A plant “roots”.

You can say:

It roots.
It has rooted.

or

It takes root
It has taken root.

That means roots have grown out of the main stem and into the soil. The plant has taken root. Beautiful!

“To uproot”

means

“to pull out by the roots”.

Here are some details:

French activists have uprooted transgenic grape vines in a protest against the introduction of genetically-modified food. Global food supply is becoming increasingly more heavily centralized and transgenic food is a powerful tool in the armory of the food corporations as they struggle to maximize their profits. The French anti-GM food activist group Faucheurs Volontaires (voluntary reapers) wants to pull genetically engineered plants out by the roots.

Look at these phrases:

transgenic food
genetically modified food

is becoming increasingly more centralised
is becoming increasingly more difficult
is becoming increasingly more frequent
is becoming increasingly more common
is becoming increasingly more endangered

the French anti-GM food activist group
the Dutch anti-GM food activist group
the German anti-GM food activist group
the Norwegian anti-GM food activist group
the Danish anti-GM food activist group
the Swedish anti-GM food activist group
the Croatian anti-GM food activist group

the struggle to maximise profits
the struggle to minimise environmental damage

What do you think about genetically modified food? Think about it. Read about it. Are you aware of any dangers? Answer the question now. Answer it orally (Say your answer aloud!)

What do think about genetically-modified food? Are you aware of any dangers?

Now write your opinion in the “comments ” section below.

Here is another headline:

Disaster unfolds in Pakistan.

In this case present simple tense is used instead of present continuous tense.

“Unfolds”

means

is unfolding

That means “catastrophe is taking place right now”.

A fifth of the country is underwater and millions of people have been made homeless. Little help has come. There is a danger of cholera epidemics.

You fold and unfold a scroll. A scroll is a long piece of paper or cloth. In the past everything was written on scrolls. All stories that were written, were written on scrolls. The scroll was unfolded and then folded up again when it was read.

Look at these passive phrases:

It was unfolded.
It was read.
It was folded up again.

Nowadays we say that a story unfolds because in the old days a scroll was unfolded to reveal the story (in the case of a written story or message).

A sad story is unfolding now in Pakistan. Is anybody in Pakistan listening? Are you OK?

News and weather Summary

Now listen to a summary. If you do not understand everything you hear, go back and read the text again. Look up all the new words in the dictionary.

Download audio file (nw180810.mp3)

Good Morning!

It is the sixteenth of August 2010. It is Monday.

THE WEATHER)

It is fine.
The sky is clear.
It is clear and it is quite windy.
Yesterday the wind picked up.
It is cold.
It is quite cold.
It is quite cold but it is getting warmer.

Look at this scale:

It is quite windy.
It is windy.
It is very windy.
It is extremely windy.
The wind is very very strong.
It is blowing a gale.

How does the wind affect your emotional state? Does it un-nerve you? Does it make you feel uneasy? How does it make you feel?

Answer the question orally. Say your answer aloud. Say it now:

How does it make you feel? Does it un-nerve you? How does it make you feel?

If you have trouble, use these words in your answer:

The wind makes me feel…

Write your answer in the “comments section below at the bottom of this post.

Look at these variations:

It is getting hotter.
It is getting warmer.
It is getting cooler.
It is getting colder.

Here is a quick listening test. Look at this phrase:

The wind picked up.

Can you find a phrase which has the opposite meaning? Listen to the first part of this weather report

and find the phrase which means the opposite of:

The wind picked up

If you cannot find the phrase read the text at this link: Almanac – 14 August – 2010

then listen again. Write your answer in the comments section at the bottom of the post.

Now I want you to tell me about the weather where you are. What is the weather like where you are? Answer this question. Say your answer aloud.

What is the weather like today?

Now write an answer. What is the weather like today in your area? (Post the answer below in the “comments” section)

The news is next but first here is a commercial from a sponsor:

THE NEWS

Here is a current news headline:

Flood and fire rock Eurasia

In “news headline English” we use present simple tense to show present continuous tense or present perfect tense. Look at these examples from other current headlines:

UN chief urges aid for Pakistan

which means

The UN chief has urged aid for Pakistan

or

The UN chief is urging aid for Pakistan

and

PKK announces ceasefire in Turkey

could mean

The PKK has announced a ceasefire in Turkey for Ramadan

or

The PKK is announcing a ceasefire in Turkey for Ramadan.

Present perfect tense is used for a completed action (in the past) while present continuous tense is used for a current event or action right now at this moment.

Flood and fire have rocked Eurasia with Himalayan run-off waters causing devastation in the south of the continent and wildfires causing the same thing in the north.

To rock

means

to move in a vigorous manner

or in this context, one of these:

wreak havoc
destroy
cause widespread damage
cause widespread devastation
cause widespread destruction
cause mayhem

Russia is located in the northern part of the Eurasian continent and Pakistan is in the southern part next to China and on the other side of the mountains.

In Pakistan 20 million people have been affected by the devastating floods and in China a national day of mourning has been observed for the more than 1200 victims of mudslides on the other side of the Himalayas.

IELTS tip

Are you doing an IELTS test? When you do the IELTS test, in the written section, you have to write numbers in words like this:

twenty million

not like this:

20 million

The IELTS test is based on British English.

Look at this progression:

a national day of morning has been scheduled
a national day of morning has been announced
a national day of mourning has been observed

Look at these opposites:

on this side of the Himalayas
on the other side of the Himalayas

Russia stretches from Europe to Asia.

In the Russian controlled part of the continent, hundreds of wildfires are burning out of control. The harvest has been severely damaged and the export of wheat has been prohibited to protect the local market. The United States has sent fire-fighting equipment to help fight the fires.

Look at these variants:

bush fires
forest fires
wildfires

Look at these opposites:

the export of wheat
the import of wheat

Look at these variants:

has been prohibited
has been banned
has been made illegal

Look at these terms:

fire-fighting equipment
fire-fighting teams
fire-fighting crews

Let’s look at another headline but first here is a message from our sponsors:

Cartel leader believed shot

In this headline, the past participle is used as an abbreviation for a passive phrase so

is believed shot

or

is believed to have been shot

has become simply:

believed shot

Mexican soldiers said the man was shot.

Cartels have blockaded the streets of the industrial city Monterrey, which is Mexico’s richest city. Gunmen ordered people from their cars, which were then used to make barricades that closed thirteen major roads.

Look at these phrases:

have blocked roads
have blockaded roads
have blocked streets
have blockaded streets

They have pretty much the same meaning but remember a road can be a road from one city to another but a street does not usually lead to another city.

The blockade was a show of force by the cartel after soldiers killed its local leader, El Sonrics, who only replaced Raul Luna Luna recently, after he was killed.

Look at these phrases:

the previous leader (the former leader)
the current leader (the present leader)

the former president (the previous president)
the current president (the incumbent president)

In Mexico the drug cartels have more power than the government. The previous President has recommended legalising drugs and treating addiction as a medical problem in order to break the back of the cartels by destroying their earning power.

Look at these opposites:

have more power
have less power

have more money
have less money

Look at this nest of phrases:

legalising drugs
de-criminalising drugs
outlawing drugs
controling drugs
prescribing drugs

What a mess! Use your dictionary to find out exactly what each term means then write a report and post it in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

To break the back of something

means

to destroy its power

You can hear this idiom in another conversation about OPEC if you click this link.

News and weather Summary

Now listen to a summary. If you do not understand everything you hear, go back and read the text again. Look up all the new words in the dictionary.

Download audio file (nw160810.mp3)

That is all for now. See you tomorrow!

at The Field Museum Library

Kiwi: I grew up…well that was our weekend treat,…was to go out to the holiday house at Rangitoto Island and one of the friends on Rangitoto Island about four years older than myself; he got into boat building; served his time with the New Zealand Navy as a boat builder. In those days they were building wooden clinker type boats. That’s where the planks are overlapping each other. All your planking is steamed for the shape…You have the…
Ozzie: That’s a clinker?
Kiwi: Yeah. You have the internal ribs which have to be steamed. You know?
Ozzie: Tongue and groove?
Kiwi: No, no. Your planks actually overlap each other but each plank has to be individually shaped.
Ozzie: Like weatherboard?
Kiwi: Yeah. Shape the edge then bring the other one over the top of it and then they are riveted through with copper rivets to an internal ribcage (that) you have inside there so you actually build the boat on a wooden frame first. You form the shape of your boat on a wooden frame. Ok? The whole thing.
Ozzie: The wood. The frame is wooden too?
Kiwi: Well it is just a temporary frame but it is the shape of what the boat is to look like.
Ozzie: Right.
Kiwi: So you build your frame first, ok?
Ozzie: Right.
Kiwi: And then you lay your planks around the frame, ok?
Ozzie: M-hm.
Kiwi: To get the shape of the frame. And this is where the clinker type came…that the planks overlapped each other maybe by about ten twelve millimetre. Each plank had to be individually shaped and then they were copper riveted through to hold the two planks together. And then once you had formed the shape of the boat over the frame, you turned the boat up the correct way. You had this internal wooden frame inside.
Ozzie: Right.
Kiwi: Then you started to remove that frame and you put these what we call ribs inside. They were a thin strip of timber mainly formed from green oak and you put that through there and again you riveted through from the exterior planking through that rib with a little copper nail with a little copper washer over them. You cut it roughly to length; left it a little bit longer and you riveted it over so it held the rib to the actual wooden side plank.
Ozzie: Right. And it is all copper to stop corrosion.
Kiwi: All copper nailed. Yeah. All copper nailed. And that was the real traditional boat-building style before fibre-glass boats came on the market. And of course they taught that skill at the New Zealand Navy. All their small boats, training boats; they had sails and all that sort of thing…were formed in that type of fashion.

at edmittance

Man: So multi-level marketing…
Woman: That is right.
Man: So what exactly is that?
Woman: Oh just. You can go into the website. There are just thousands. It is like I introduce two people. Two people introduce two people. And so there are tiers to this marketing.
Man: Like Amway?
Woman: Network marketing or multi-level marketing. Yeah.
Man: Tupperware and Amway. Are they examples?
Woman: They are good examples. Yeah. They are in the same category.
Man: How did you get involved in it?
Woman: A very good friend of ours introduced us to it when my husband and I came to the Gold Coast.
Man: M-hm.
Woman: We were approached by this couple who became friends and we were introduced by friends, which is the deceptive element in multi-level marketing because very often they recruit friends and because they are your friends you naturally assume…
Man: That they are ok.
Woman: Yeah… have your interests at heart. Unbeknowns to us our friends although they are good business people they themselves were quite inexperienced in this particular business so they actually without meaning to misled us.
Man: Right. Ok. And what product initially..?
Woman: Well this company is called Omega trend and it is a sort of a replica of Amway.
Man: Right.
Woman: And so they started with cleaning products and…
Man: They broke away from Amway?
Woman: Yeah. They actually are a breakaway from Amway though they didn’t like people to know that because of Amway’s rep.
Man: Amway has a bad rep?
Woman: Incredibly bad rep so that Amway had to change its name that many times to disguise its…
Man: Past.
Woman: Yeah past or…
Man: I thought Amway like…I have that heard it is expensive but the products are quite good.
Woman: Actually that is what most people say and I think there is something to be said for quality. I think it is quite good quality but the fact is there is a high profit margin so I think it is inherently unethical and they pump up the price and they have to because the different tiers of people have to make their profit along the way, to me, for me, I think it is unethical.
Man: And you felt you got burned? You felt like deceived. You weren’t happy with your experience?
Woman: I felt, yeah….

Use this post to learn English and German at the same time.

What is that?

It is a photograph.

Who is that?

That is my father.

How old is he?

He is sixty-five.

Where does he live?

He lives in Berlin.

Who is this?

This is my mother.

How old is she?

She is sixty-one.

Do you have a brother?

Yes, I do.

Where is he?

He is in France.

How old is he?

He is thirty-eight.

What does he do?

He is an engineer, an artist, a novelist.

Who is this?

This is my sister.

Where is she?

She is in America.

What does she do?

She is a nurse.

Is she married to an American?

No , she is not.

She is not married.

She is single.

Are you married?

No, I am not.

I am divorced.

Are you divorced?

Yes, I am.

You too?

Yes, me too.

at clstal

Mark: I am just sitting here at a cafe in the Pahar Ganj area of New Delhi with Michael. Michael, you are not feeling very good?
Michael: No, I am certainly not.
Mark: What is the problem?
Michael: Well. I got diagnosed with amoebic dysentery about eight nine weeks ago when I was up in the mountains and I got treated for it then by a very good doctor with antibiotics but I fear that it has not yet gone away as I have had recurring problems.
Mark: You vomited this morning?
Michael: That is right. I got some new pills, that somebody at this very cafe recommended, that I take.
Mark: Ayurvedic?
Michael: No, no. Not those ones. These were some other pills. I forget what they were called. This man said that his sister was a nurse and these were the pills to take and I found them at a chemist, took a couple and I was violently sick this morning not long after taking one of these pills on the street, which was quite interesting.
Mark: Mm. That is terrible. How are you feeling now? Are you feeling a little better?
Michael: Not really I am feeling very weak I have to take some of these… you know… what do you call them…re-hydration salts.
Mark: And you are going to eat some banana and papaya as well?
Michael:Well I have got a papaya juice coming and yeah perhaps I will have some banana. I have heard that that is good for you.
Mark:I hope you feel better soon.
Michael: Thank you very much.
Mark: This man wants to clean your shoes.
Michael:Yes, I…

at ton3vita

Woman: When I finished school I went to university, Melbourne University, and studied science, a bachelor of science . I then did my honours degree and after that I worked in a heart disease research institute.
Man: In Melbourne?
Woman: In Melbourne. It is called the Baker Heart Research Institute. So I worked for a year, a bit over a year on cholesterol and the metabolism of cholesterol in the body.
Man: How the body breaks it down?
Woman: How it is actually transported. So I was looking at a protein, that determines how the cholesterol in the blood is modified and delivered to cells and how it is returned back to the liver..
Man: Right.
Woman: …to be broken down into bile. So we were working on that and then I wanted to have a break so I went traveling and I traveled through western Europe and ended up in London and I worked at the Guildford Surrey County Hospital in an immunology lab and that was more diagnostic work. It was quite interesting. And after that I moved to Finland. Helsinki.
Man: Wow!
Woman: And I did my PhD there.
Man: In Helsinki? In English?
Woman: In English. Every student who is doing their PhD; they have to write their PhD in English.
Man: Right.
Woman: And the seminars are given in English.
Man: So you were in Helsinki for like five years.
Woman: Five years.
Man: Do you speak Finnish?
Woman: Not very well. I can understand a bit, but it is quite a difficult language and because English was my mother tongue they wanted to practise their English.
Man: Right.
Woman: And preferred to speak English with me. But yeah I did take lessons and try and learn it…and that was all… So the PhD was all metabolism and transport.
Man: Right.
Woman: And after that I decided to move back to Melbourne so I took the trans-Siberian train.
Man: Wow!
Woman: And went that direction into Beijing.
Man: Into China, yeah.
Woman: Yeah. Then got back to Melbourne and I started my post-doctoral research which was in a different field.  It is blood diseases like leukemia and I was researching stem cells in the bone marrow and a signaling pathway…
Man: Stem cell research; that is illegal in some places, isn’t it?
Woman: It is. This is adult stem cells. Not embryonic.
Man: Right.
Woman: So we all have stem cells in our bone marrow and they are constantly re-populating the marrow and providing us with our whole immune system.
Man: Right.
Woman: But they are normally dormant or “quiescent” as we call it. And they only go into division when they need to produce certain cells. So I was trying to figure out or understand what controls; like what signals they get to move them from quiescence to an active state
Man: Right.
Woman: So that was three years and that was in Melbourne. So I just published the work from that and decided to travel…

At what age should we hold people responsible? (active)

From what age should society hold people responsible? (active)

Sentence Variations

Children are generally not held to be criminally responsible for their actions until they are mature.

Children are generally not thought to be criminally responsible for their actions until they are sixteen.

Young people are generally not held criminally liable for their actions until they have reached a certain age.

Did they draft him or did he volunteer?