EnglishisEasy/Elinglésesfácil

Stephen King is famous as being a "master of horror" and he deserves the title. His contributions to the genre  include novels such as It, Carrie and Misery . His narrative style is nothing out of this world though, and he himself has recognized that more than once and even advises to write just keeping it simple. I would say that his main quality is his creative capacity and his vivid imagination. In special I like The Dead Zone as he presents an intricate plot which sees an ending where everything fits in the right place.  It is about a young man named Johnny Smith who after suffering an accident falls into a profound coma from which he awakes after several years. When he does, everything in his life has moved on such as his girlfriend who is now married to another man and has a child. Inadvertently he has also changed for he has the power of precognition: touching a person is enough for him to see the future of a person. The novel progresses showing us how this man ...

Another zombie movie.  Another Brad Pitt movie. I was not really thrilled before this film began. Brad Pitt in action films has in my opinion been disappointing and also there is so much material about zombies out there that frankly I find the concept overrated already. But then again... This film begins with the "attack" of an unknown virus that spreads in an onslaught that cannot be contained. Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) who used to work for the United Nations and is now a retiree and has a wife and two daughters sees how his idyllic life is abruptly interrupted when the virus spreads in his city. Lane and his family have to find shelter in the apartment of other people because they find themselves unable to return to their home. Soon most of the entire population has been zombified. It is not that they die: once someone is infected the victim becomes extremely violent and has this ceaseless and insane desire to attack and bite healthy people thus spreading the infection...

PUBLICITY or ADVERTSING both mean the same but there is a connotation about the use of PUBLICITY.  When we get unitended attraction for something we did then we are getting PUBLICITY. When we get public exposure or gain the attention of the media it is for free and if it is positive then it is definitely a good thing to happen. Stars and politicians usually get bed publicity. When we want to sell one of our products then we begin a marketing campaign for this to happen and part of that campaign involves ADVERTISING our product and that requires the use of the media or a form of the media. That of course implies we have to pay for that. For what in Spanish we understand as PUBLICIDAD,  the one that gets closer in meaning is definitely ADVERTISING whereas PUBLICITY is mas bien NOTORIEDAD.

The Dash is one punctuation mark that is seldom used by E.English learners. In Spanish at least, the reason is we don’t just have it which explains why we rarely use it. A Dash is a good alternative for situations when an ellipsis or a parenthesis are required. Let´s say we need to clarify an aspect of a concept we are trying to explain: In other words, it is sunlight -- not moonlight -- what comes from the moon since our satellite reflects but does not produce any light. A Dash is not a hyphen. Hyphens are shorter while dashes are slightly longer. Also h yphens are used to either put words together and to separate syllables in a word but not to introduce a short message to clarify what is being said. There are really two types of dashes the en dash and the  em dash .  An en dash is used if you want to establish a number range: I  have students who are 15-16 years old. It is also used when there is a connection between two specific term: The London-New York b...

This one is not so simple. We know that AMANECER is SUNRISE (as much as Atardecer is Sunset), but what about ALBORADA?  We have two candidates: DAWN and DAYBREAK. Both are defined as the first appearance of sunlight during the day. There is no way to tell what word really is ALBORADA, also called ALBA, so I will only bet on the longest: DAYBREAK with ALBA being only DAWN.     Of course at the end of the day all these words are synonyms and thus interchangeable.                                                                

Is there a crazier movie than this? I dont think there is a crazier character in all filmography than this green-faced man that turns up whenever someone decides to put on that mask.  Apparently the Mask is an ancient relic that gives extraordinary powers to whoever is wearing it. Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey), a hard-luck young man finds this wooden mask and becomes this almighty character called The Mask. The truth is that the mask used to belong to Loki the the trickster god of the Norse mythology, hence its incredible abilities. Ipkiss accidentally meets and falls in love with  Tina (Cameron Díaz), a voluptuous woman who is involved with gangsters. It will be thanks to The Mask and his reality bending powers that Stanley will overcome his inhibitions, help the Police get theb gansters and obtain Tina's affections, but not before a lot of craziness (emphasis in craziness). What a great fantasy comedy this is! In its time it was so successful it helped boost Carrey's an...

When you say SOME TIME you either mean a short time or a long time.  The event that you mention too place SOME TIME ago.  If in only one word then SOMETIME has another meaning implying at an indefinite time.  Paul arrived sometime during the party. When us with a final S, SOMETIMES is an adverb of frequency and is best positioned before the principal verb and after the verb to Be if such verb is present in the sentence.     I  I am SOMETIMES puzzled when I see why people act the way they do. SOMETIMES, she comes in the afternoon, too. We SOMETIMES come on Wednesday, but not all the time.                                     

In English you just need one word for that and it is MOONLIGHT. In its simplest definition MOONLIGHT  is the light of the Moon or perhaps we could say the light that seems to come from the Moon since the Moon is not a star and thus is incapable of emitting any light at all. Another good definition would be the sunlight we receive on Earth after such light is reflected by the Moon surface. In that case another term could be more accurate and that is MOONSHINE (pretty much the same thing). MOONLIGHT can also be an adjective so we can say things such as a "A Moonlight Ride" or "A Moonlight View".  It is also the name of Beethoven's most famous piano piece, one so beautiful that even those who don't know anything about Classical music would stop to hear.  An old TV series was also called MOONLIGHT and it was starred by none other than a very young Bruce Willis and Cybill Sheppard. As a verb MOONLIGHT  refers to any activity other than one's regul...

The correct word is OVERPASS which is basically a road passing over another road.  In Great Britain they are called FLYOVERS. Though mostly they are built to facilitate traffic there are also OVERPASSES created for the use of pedestrians only and they are called PEDESTRIAN OVERPASSES. An OVERPASS is not only built for cars or pedestrians but also trains. Once believed to be the solution for traffic problems in the big cities, an OVERPASS is no longer regarded as a solution and in fact in many places they are being taken down because really they affect the panorama of a city. In other words, overpasses have allowed drivers to make every one's lives easier but that was in the past. Modern architecture has modified its standards and OVERPASSES are not only impractical all of a sudden but also awful-looking.                                                   ...

Once your students have reached at least an intermediate level, if not advanced, it is indispensable to have them participate in activities that help them sharpen their skills. One of those activities is a Round Table. Well, if you see the picture we did not exactly have round tables in our classroom but we just put together our desks and that was enough.  This activity works out better in small groups (the teacher and three or four students). Obviously that means the rest of the class will be somewhat unattended for a while so it is advisable to assign an activity to keep them busy in the meantime. Each round table session should last 15 to 20 minutes tops so then you can continue with another group. Also each session should begin with a question brought by the teacher which will serve to introduce the theme of the discussion. Something like this could work: "What are the benefits and the problems that Internet has brought to our lives?" Students must be instructed...

True, what we know as SANDWICH has a story that is a bit funny.  We know what a  sandwich is: two or more slices of bread with one or more fillings between the slices, fillings that can vary in nature which is what makes sandwiches so popular. That versatility and at the same  time  practicality allows the creation of the most unsuspected meals you can imagine                                                                                                                   imagine you can make sandwiches with pretty much anything that can be eaten (a friend of mine loves his "Bean" sandwich). Sandwiches are ideal as an alternative for a quick and delicious lunch. Even the bre...

George Reeves, Dean Cain, Brandon Routh, Tom Welling, Henry Cavill... What do all these names have in common? The answer is obvious: they all have played Superman (and Clark Kent). Were they great at that? No doubt about it. They all contributed to keep the image of Superman and his message of courage and hope in everyone´s minds. Still none of them were truly Superman, if you know what I mean. The one who earned that honor was Christopher Reeve (1952-2004). This British actor played Superman in   Superman I,II,III and IV , and every time you could say he got everything right: his presence was appropriate, the S curl was the classic one, the uniform was right as it was the way Superman is introduced to the world: by saving Lois Lane from a falling helicopter. Every time Reeves donned the cape and suit you could see the closest to what Superman would look like had he been real. It is true that the plot of those films does not contain so much action but if you don't have super...

Knowledge can be found in the most unlikely sources.  Let's take as an example the U.S. one-dollar bill where you can find the unusual image on  your left. It is the reverse side of what is called The Great Seal of the United States. The anverse side shows a bald eagle, a better known symbol of the American union. The eagle and the several articles that sports, is also an unusual image that has been subject of study in the past but not as this one. The reverse side of the seal is full of meanings, some of them a bit obscure and some not so much. This image shows in the center a thirteen-level unfinished pyramid and on top of it an All Seeing Eye. This All-Seeing Eye is supposed to be Egyptian originally.  And it begs the question : What is an Egyptian symbol doing in the one-dollar bill? Also here is another: What is the meaning of the unfinished pyramid? The words: Novus Urdo Seclorum are clear enough (I consulted one of those multi-language electronic dictionari...

My class is made up by many different types of people.  Some of my students, like C, are extremely polite and considerate and for example they would never leave the room without letting me know first where they are going.  That helps me a lot because all my students are my responsibility despite the fact they are all middle teens and are therefore quite capable to look after themselves.  Others such as E are a big interrogation mark. They are quite unpredictable sometimes so the best thing to do if you have their type in your class is to keep them busy at all times or else…well things happen . C: Teacher… T: Yes? C: I need to go to the restroom. T: I was about to announce something important, C. C: Mister, it’s really urgent. T: Surely, you’re exaggerating. C: No, it´s for real. I need to pee… T: All right C, if you have to go you have to go. Before I could finish C had already left. E: Excuse me mister…eh, teacher. T: Yes, E. What do you wa...

I have heard all sorts of hypotheses from my EFL students about how to say PUNTO SUSPENSIVO in English. Some are funny and some are serious attempts to find logic behind the expression so as to come up with a suitable replacement. The word is ELLIPSIS and is used to represent an omission, something that is ultimately never said or expressed in words. The cause of this omission varies. Sometimes it is something that can be easily guessed by the context of the situation, sometimes it only reflects hesitation. I saw her standing only some feet away from me ... I couldn't say a word. She was happy to see me   ...  I guess. In any case it is a punctuation mark that is more often used in Spanish than in English since English has an extra punctuation mark called Dash often used as an alternative for ELLIPSIS. We go out of the school    —  we go to her house. The plural of ELLIPSIS is Ellipses.

If you had high expectations about this movie maybe they are not really founded. This is just an average sci-fi film that tells the story of Kitai, a young boy (Jaden Smith), who gets stranded with his father, some sort of legendary figure, General Cypher Raige (Will Smith), in a planet that is full of deadly creatures. Cypher's legs are broken and the star ship in which they were traveling broke into two pieces after going through a meteor shower in space. It turns out that Cypher is bleeding and in order to save his father Kitai has to go look for the tail section of the spaceship that landed kilometers away from where they ended up. Luckily Kitai has received heavy military training and is somewhat ready for the challenges ahead in a planet full of threats, a planet that used to belong to mankind and has remained abandoned for a long time. That planet is called Earth (so predictable!).  It turns out that the once overcrowded planet had to be abandoned for a planet in anot...

Have you planned to go anywhere on the weekend? Yes? No? Well, in both cases I recommend you to go to the nearest cinema theater and watch this film because it is really awesome. Where should I begin? Krypton is a good starting point. The planet that is doomed to die is full of life, much more interesting visually speaking than the Richard Donner's version. Jor-El played by Russell Crowe looks far more interesting than Marlon Brando's impersonation and definitely Ayelet Zurer as Lara is by far the greatest interpretation of the character ever made.This is a new Krypton more vital but still troubled by a government that has failed in keeping the planet safe and neglects hearing Jor-El warnings.  I loved the science fiction feel of the movie. Alien technology really looks "alien" and it is dark and unpredictable as it should be. Also the reasons given for the imminent destruction of the planet and the fact that Kryptonians long ago had abandoned the colonization ...

RISE is to move upwards. RAISE is to move to a higher position. Here are some examples of the use of Rise. - The Sun RISES in the East and sets in the West. - How unusual. The temperature today is RISING quite rapidly! - Rome ROSE to power mostly due to the belief that they were predestined to do so. - A mushroom-like cloud has RISEN on top of the volcano. On the other hand, To Raise admits the presence of a direct object. In each of the following examples the direct object appears in blue lettering. - RAISE your hand if you have a question. - All these scandals are RAISING a lot of doubts on the artist’s reputation. - The general’s passionate speech RAISED the morale of the Army . - The recent riots have RAISED the level of distrust in our public institutions . Another difference, though not really that important, is that RISE is an irregular verb and RAISE is regular.

This one does not contain any soup at all. You do not say such thing as PLATILLO VOLADOR.  The usual way to refer to these objects in English is FLYING SAUCER and the problem with that is that the translation in Spanish, Plato Sopero Volador, really would be a funny thing to say, too funny in fact. Given that circumstance, it is that Spanish speakers prefer to say PLATILLO VOLADOR and not  Plato Sopero Volador. In English, the translation would be Flying Little  Dish. To say such a thing as Flying Little Dish also sounds funny in English.

This is an interesting movie that explores that part of our lives that people call "coming of age". It centers on a boy called Charlie (Logan Lerman). He has recently become a freshman  and is feeling anxious because he would like to have friends but no one is interested in becoming Charlie's friend who in turn remains isolated and is being frequently bullied.  There is little happiness in Charlie's life. His best and only friend committed suicide the year before and the aunt he idolized died in a car accident on Christmas' Eve. Besides an unrevealed childhood trauma comes to haunt him whenever he is depressed. Charlie is going downwards in a spiral but then one day he meets and befriends a couple of senior students, Patrick (Ezra Miller) and his stepsister, Sam (Emma Watson).  Patrick has no inhibitions and nor does Sam and they are basically great people. They both get to like Charlie and introduce him to their circle of friends. Charlie finally has someb...

Both are correct depending on the context. Everyday, as in only one word, is an adjective and is used in that manner: Reading a good book is one of those everyday habits that I got from my parents.   In the example EVERYDAY is clearly an adjective since it is directly modifying a noun ( habits ). In this case its meaning is common, normal, or  ordinary. EVERY DAY (separated) is actually an adjective-noun combination that works as a time clause to describe past or present routines. I visited Ellen every day while she was in hospital. The president checks his agenda every day .  In the examples given EVERY DAY functions as a time clause modifying directly visited and checks respectively .  

For everyone to get this clear this article refers to the first gas-powered vehicle and its inventor was not Henry T. Ford. This machine was invented in 1885 by Karl Benz (1844-1929) , a German engineer who created his Benz Patent Motorwagen  back in Europe at the end of the XIX century. As the first of its kind this model had several problems with the most important one being its constant overheating and also its unaffordable price.  Henry T. Ford (1863-1947) did not invent the first car but brought the concept of assembly lines to its company which helped increase the production ostensibly and at the same time it reduced the price so people of the middle class could afford a car. In other words his innovations were what was needed for this technology to persist and improve all these years.

The correct term is TO BE IN MOURNING. It is by definition that period during which the relatives and friends of someone who has recently deceased grieve. The ways in which this expression of sorrow is manifested varies from culture to culture. If we take the Occidentals as an example, we will find a preference for dressing in black or at least wearing something of that color as the ribbon in the picture suggests. Even among Occidentals there are differences some subtle, some quite evident, concerning the way mourning is performed, so to speak. In the U.S. for example it is customary to dress in black when attending a funeral but wearing black after that is not really necessary. In Ecuador, what society dictates on this aspect has quite relaxed and is no longer necessary to wear black all the time as long as a proper and respectful behavior is observed. In other countries such as India where Death is not believed to be the end but a passage to the next stage in the quest fo...

                                    "This would be a great addition to your collection."                      Is that another example of a Dangling Modifier? The word dangle means to hang, to carry, or to hold loosely. Also, many words fall under the description of what a modifier is. Any word that adds to the meaning of another word or alters it to some degree is a modifier; and according to that adjectives, adverbs, articles and even nouns fall into that description. Most of us know how to use them but even the most seasoned writer falls into an inadvertent erroneous use of modifiers which is when these words are labeled as "dangling" modifiers. Let's use as an example the second sentence of the paragraph: Any word that adds to the meaning of another word or alters it at some degree is a modifier. Let's eliminate the term word from ...

After two Hangovers, what else can you do to improve? Really, very little. So then…well, no hangover this time. This seems to have been the approach that the producers and director of The Hangover tried to give this time to the film that completes the craziest but also funniest comedy trilogy ever. This is one of the few times when actually the formula that was used the first time does not lose its power and it actually gets better the second time and it even improves for a third. TH3 is different from the others not only because there  is no hangover situation in the entire film but because it's grittier and darker (at least three characters are shot and die instantly) and there is also a greater does of black humor such as in the scene where Alan (Zack Galifianakis) buys a giraffe and on his way home does not realize that he goes under a low bridge resulting in the giraffe being beheaded; then the head falls on someone's windshield making the driver freak out and the...

This is one movie where everything, every other element, is second to one of them, in this case the visual effects. This is also one movie about a painting where the painting itself is the main protagonist.  It was at some point in 1564 that Flemish artist, Pieter Bruegel The Elder (Rutget Hauer) finished his masterpiece called The Procession to the Calvary . The movie The Mill and The Cross (2011) refers to that event showing the people he used as inspiration for the more than five hundred characters depicted in his painting where a mill represents Heaven and the miller is God. Hauer does not make much of an effort becoming Bruegel whom he seems to have understood perfectly and there is also Michael York as the man who commissioned Bruegel to create such work and also Charlotte Rampling as Bruegel's wife. I don't know much about the director, Lech Majewski, but you can see his hand through the entire work which it is obvious came to be thanks to a personal vision, probabl...

I have seen really many but movies but this one rannks among the worst. First of all, it goes for a plot that has been used countless times before. Second the story is really confusing.  Is this the same Richard, the Lionheart) that fought in the Cruzades and is mentioned in the Robin Hood tale? What is the purpose of some characters? There is a Celtic figure and a villain wwho is the bad guy, and is Roman... or not.  Then thsi "predestination" treatment to the figure of Richard who was not truly the magnanimous figure that movies depict and not was he such a brave man (in fact he was captured by the Muslim and held prisoner before a ransom was paid). The visual effects are also a no-no. Sometimes the environment in the movie changes color, perhaps to accompany the sequence of events more closely, but does it really accomplish it? I would say definitely no. Do the music and other sound effects help? Not really and you would expect at least something better since t...

The answer is  Children's Day.  Celebrated on June first, its real name is Universal Children´s Day. This special time is celebrated on different dates depending on where you are from. If you are in Ecuador the date is June 1st, but in other places it is celebrated on November 20th. In spite of when it is celebrated, the message is still the same, it is loud and it is clear: our children are precious. We were children once and we were brought up by our parents. Now it´s our turn to look after our own children.

It depends.   There are two words for CABALLERO in English but each one refers to different things.   If you mean CABALLERO as the man who dons an armor, rides a horse and fights for justice (as the one in the left picture), that one is a KNIGHT. This word is pronounced without the K as in night.    If you mean a man who treats others in a respecful and kind manner, even more so to the ladies, then that is a GENTLEMAN.   The term KNIGHT of course is no longer used since there are no knights anymore; yet the fascination that the Arthurian myth awakes in many people has maintained the term in dictionaries (heck, even Batman is called The Dark Knight!)  The word CABALLERO is used quite frequently in Spanish to refer to a man who is exceptionally corteous and well-mannered. In English it`s not necessarily used the same way, though it is common to address men who are misbehaving by saying: "Gentlemen, please!"  Though subtlety escapes to more t...