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Vous trouverez ici toutes les actualités de l'école, les nouveaux cours, divers points hebdomadaires de grammaire ou d’humour ainsi que des articles supplémentaires sur nos réseaux sociaux.
Verb of the day :
29 mai 2023

Verb of the day :

Suffering from perfectionism ? Don’t worry, I have the perfect verb for you.
To fine-tune something : “to make small adjustments to (something) in order to achieve the best or
a desired performance.”

Examples :

Person A : Wedding arrangements done ?
Person B : Not quite, I still have to fine-tune a few things.

“Leandro, our football coach, tends to spend hours fine-tuning his game tactics. They call him the new Guardiola.”
"Once in a blue moon"
15 mai 2023

"Once in a blue moon"

Nope, it’s not a Star Wars planet. The moon tends to be more white/yellow than blue…
If something happens once in a blue moon, it happens rarely, not often at all !
 
Examples :
- “My husband picks up his socks from the floor once in a blue moon. That’s why I’m divorcing him.”
- “I only check my gmail account once in a blue moon.”
Neutral disagreement…
8 mai 2023

Neutral disagreement…

…Something British and Swiss governors must do well even though England is not technically neutral.

English people master the art of understating. Here is a list of structures to politely show that you disagree.

Do it the British way. Stay diplomatic.

The “neutral disagreement” list :
 
I don’t completely agree with you on that."
completely : although this suggests you agree to a large extent, it usually means the contrary
"I really can’t agree with you on that."
"I can’t say that I share your view."
"We’ll have to agree to differ."
we’ll : a convenient way to stop the argument if there doesn’t seem to be any way to reach agreement on the subject.
"I’m not totally convinced by your argument."
"I can’t accept your point of view."
"I can’t help feeling that ..."
"I feel I must disagree."
"I really must take issue with you here."
issue : argue
Using modal verbs in reported speech :
1 mai 2023

Using modal verbs in reported speech :

Have you ever thought about how many conversations or things you’ve heard you talk about in the third person ? Probably not … Simply because you’re spending most of your time a actually reporting speech.

Ironic, don’t you think ?

Today we’re going to look at how to move from direct to indirect speech with the modal verbs “must/have to”.

Have to/must becomes “had to” when used in indirect/reported speech.
 
Examples :

Direct speech : “I have to/must leave town to go and see Bruce in concert.”
Indirect speech : My boss told me she had to leave town to go and see a guy called Bruce in concert. He’s a boss too, apparently.

Direct speech : “I have to/must focus on on the alpha project".
Indirect speech : He said he had to focus on the Alpha project first.