'tie the scarf' and 'tie the scarf on' Hi I know "She tied the scarf." is correct. But, is "She tied the scarf on." correct and does it have the same meaning as the first sentence? Thanks

gradually become or is gradually becoming The two sentences below are in the present simple tense. The tense is used, because, as I remember from many grammar books, the first one is about something that happens regularly (is in "The sun rises in the morning and sets at evening."). The second one is a book review. "After working for a while, getting a car gradually becomes more of a priority." "Although his pursuer searches for the body, it gradually becomes clear the man has vanished not through trickery but through divine intervention." And that's fine. My problem is with this sentence: "Aramaic gradually becomes the language of outer life..." I can't find an explanaton why the present tense is used here In my opinion the function of 'to become' in the 'Aramic' example is similar to "Lenovo is gradually becoming becoming more of a mobile firm..." So, the present progressive tense should be used in it. What do you think?

do you know of sites to find a speaking pal right away?

I'm looking for sites where you can find a speaking partner right away. Unfortunately, I think I know of all the them, that is speaking24.com, sharedtalk.com and www.speaksurfing.com , but on the other hand I hope I'm wrong... 

What does it mean to know a foreign word? Part 1 I think most of you, if asked what it means to know a foreign word, would say it means to know the word's pronunciation, spelling and meaning. The answer would be correct, but not complete. There are some more in-depth descriptions of a word. Perhaps, in the foreign language teaching, the most known of them is the description, or to be more precise, the model of a word by I. S. P. Nation. You can find more information about it in his book, Learning Vocabulary in Another Language, published in 2001. I'm going to provide you with some insight into the model. Nation distinguishes 9 parts that make up a word and calls them 'aspects'. They are grouped into three areas, form, meaning and use. 1st area: Form Spoken Form Written Form Word Parts 2nd area: Meaning Form and meaning Concept and referents Associations 3rd area: Use Grammatical functions Collocations Constraints of use I believe the easiest way to prove that this make sense is to put an example word (for example, the word example) into this model. So, if you would like to know the word example, you: Have to know how it is pronounced. I am Polish, so apart from that this word from its 8 sounds, includes, I suppose, 4 sounds that the Polish language doesn't have, it has a different pronunciation in British English and American English. It means that I have to choose a variety of English and learn 4 new sounds. Have to know how it is written. I, as a Pole, am fortunate that my language uses Latin alphabet. If I were Greek or Russian or Chinese I would have to learn this alphabet to be able to use spelled version of this word. Have to know its word parts. It means that you have to know that to make its plural form, you have to add the letter 's', not the letters 'es'. Have to be able to connect its form and meaning. So, we already know there are two forms, spoken and written (pronunciation and spelling). Ah, I know in the 'form' area, there are 3 aspects, but this 'word parts' aspect is not exactly a form, but it's here, because it helps to form the other aspects (forms, in this case), for example written form (exampleS), or spoken form (ɪɡˈzɑːmpəlZ, not ɪɡˈzɑːmpəlS). This is why Nation put this aspect in this area, I suppose. Coming back to the main thread, basically, a new element in this aspect is 'meaning'. Depending on dictionary, the word example has many meanings. In Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (http://www.ldoceonline.com/), it has 4 general meanings...

Do you know any books or sites with everyday English audio dialogues?

One of my ways of learning English is listening to English dialogues. However, now I find everyday conversations most preferable (you know, for example between a postman and a person he has a letter for, a car mechanic and a person who wants to have his or her's car repaired, and so on). I feel I really need English for everyday situations. Therefore, I'm looking for audio dialogues of this sort. Do you know any books or sites where you can find dialogues like these? Ah, I know ello.org, but it's not what I'm exactly looking for now.

 

 

open skype? go to skype? run skype? How to say in real everyday english that I've just run the application called skype? One more... If you anyone feels like answering this question, please write which English (American, British, Australian, etc) your phrase is used in, please.

to turn the power up and down on a hairdryer? Hi, you know, you can increase the power on some devices (btw, am I correct? 'On' some devices?), like a hairdryer, vacuum cleaner and so on. I just thought if you 'press a button to turn the volume up and down' on some devices, then am I correct saying 'you press a button to turn the power up and down' on, for example, a hairdryer?

spend time at/with/on my PC? Which word, at, with or on, is correct in the following sentence? 'I spend too much time at my PC, with my PC, on my PC.'

what do you say when somebody has to take an exam at the holidays to got throught to the next year? I don't know how exaclty British and American eduacational systems works, but here in Poland if somebody get an F at the end of the year, they have to take an exam at the middle of the school holidays to got throught to the next year. We say then that the person 'ma poprawkę z matmy'. The only translation I have found of it is 'to resit a math examination', but this translation says me nothing about if this is the meaning I'm looking for. by the way, If you're going to answer this question, write which eduactional system, British or American, your phrase refers to.