Since England is an island, it has a rich maritime history and lots of idiomatic expressions that come from sailing and ships. In this podcast, I cover the following:

* “Dead in the water” 
* “Three sheets to the wind” 
* “To go by the board” 

For a full transcript of this podcast, go to https://www.difficultenglishexplained.com/nautical-idioms-part-2/.

Difficult English Explained

Nautical Idioms in English, Part 2:  What do they Mean and Where did they Come from?

Understanding the most common prefixes and suffixes in English is a great way to build your vocabulary. In this blog post, I cover how we form adjectives in English using "-y" as a suffix.  

For the full text of the article, go to https://www.difficultenglishexplained.com/adjectives-that-end-with-y/.

For a visualizer, go to:  https://youtu.be/eWxfzuEqlvs.

Adjectives that end with "-y"

Students regularly ask me, "How do I know what comes after a verb?" If a verb takes another verb as a complement, it is usually either a full infinitive or a gerund (e.g., "to do" or "doing").  Bare infinitives (e.g., "do") can only be complements for a small number of verbs, but these verbs are very common.  In this article, I take a look at some verbs that take bare infinitives as complements.  

To access the full text of this podcast, please go to https://www.difficultenglishexplained.com/what-comes-after-verb-2/.

Be sure that you read the first post in this series!  You can find it at: https://www.difficultenglishexplained.com/what-comes-after-a-verb-to-do-do-or-doing-part-1/

What comes after a verb? "To do", "do," or "doing"? (Part 2)

Students regularly ask me, "How do I know what comes after a verb?"  This is a tough question, and it's no surprise that most EFL textbooks don't talk much about it.  There aren't any easy answers but at the same time, there are some guidelines.  

To access the full text of this podcast, please go to https://www.difficultenglishexplained.com/what-comes-after-verb-1/.