Homonyms - Mean

·         What does ‘ludicrous’ mean (verb)?

·         Mean (adjective) people are often miserable people.

·         That was a rather mean (adjective) thing to say to Vincent. You ought to apologize to him.

·         We’d love to come to your party. Unfortunately, we have no means (=no way) of getting there.

Homophones - Meat V Meet V Mete

Meat

• My brother has never gone a day without consuming meat.

Meet

·        Extroverts enjoy meeting people while introverts tend to shy away (=avoid) from people.

Mete (something out) – to give or order  

• The emperor regularly meted out harsh punishment to anyone who disobeyed or defied him.

Phrasal Verbs - Call (Call for V Call off V Call on/upon sb V Call on/upon sth)

Call For – require

• Your promotion calls for a celebration. Where would you like to celebrate?
• The dire economic climate calls for stringent measures by the government.

Call Off – abandoned or cancelled

·         The meeting was called off as the manager was still out of the office.

·         The company managed to persuade the union to call off the strike at the last minute.

Call on/upon (sb) – to ask formally for someone to do something

·        I would now like to call upon Mr Wilkins to hand out the prizes to our lucky winners.

Call on/upon (sth) – to make use of something

·         Many companies have called on Sean’s expertise to boost their social media presence.

·         She had to call on all her emotional strength to get through the tough times.

Confusing or Misused Words - Continual V Continuous

Continual (adjective)– happening repeatedly with periods of silence in between

• I’ve had continual problems with this bicycle ever since I bought it.
• It’s almost impossible to work with the continual interruptions from the renovation next door.
• Ben and Jenny have been arguing continually (adverb) about money lately.

Continuous (adjective) – without a pause or interruption

• Sam’s been experiencing continuous pain in his right foot for the past three days.
• Ken worked continuously (adverb) for 4 hours till his wife called him down for lunch.

Phrasal Verbs - Brush Up (On Something)

Meaning – refresh your knowledge of it

• I must brush up on my Spanish before I go to Europe next year.

Grammar - Prepositions of Time and Duration (Until, Between...and, For, Since)

Compiled from Grammar Builder Book 3

The rules:

1. To, from…to, until
• To is used to refer to an exact time before the stated hour.
• From…to is used to refer to a period of time when an activity or event begins (from) and when it ends (to).
• Until is used to period of time but the focus is on when the activity or event ends.                 

Examples:

·         The annual general meeting ended at quarter to five.

·         The bank is open from 9am to 4pm.

·         The boys were playing basketball until 7pm.

2. At, between…and

·         At is used to refer to exact times.

·         Between…and is used to refer to an action that takes place after a stated time and before the second stated time.

             Examples:

·                     Randy will arrive here at 6 o’clock this evening.

·                     Sally will arrive here between 5 o’clock and 6 o’clock. (We           do not the exact time Sally is arriving)

3. For, since

·         For is used to refer to how long an event or situation continues or lasts (ie minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or years).

·         Since is used with an event or time in the past to point out that the activity, event or situation is going on from then until now.

             Examples:

·                     Lenny stayed with her aunt for a month before returning               home.

·                     Danny has been here since January. (He is still here.)

4. Prepositions of time (in and on) are not used before noun groups that begin with this.

           Examples:

·                     Mr Wilkins will be retiring this month. (NOT retiring in this             month.)

·                     I will see you this Saturday. (NOT see you on this                       Saturday.) 

Remember!

• Prepositions at, in and on can’t be used before each, every next, one and last.

Common Idioms - Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

Meaning – to undertake to do something which is too much or too difficult for you to manage

• While I admire Vincent’s tenacity and confidence, I think he’s bitten off more than he can chew this time. I haven't seen him so tired or stressed out in a long time.