Phrasal Verbs - Turn Down

 

1. to refuse. 

• I thanked Mr Smith for the job offer, but turned it down.
• Would you turn down money to do something you don't enjoy?
• I offered to give her a lift to work, but she turned down my offer.
• The bank turned Sally down for a loan.

2. to reduce.

• Could you please turn down the volume of the TV? I'm trying to study.
• Everyone was annoyed with Tim because he kept turning the central heating down.

Homonyms - Arrest (As a Noun and Verb)

 1. (verb) - to catch.

• The police arrested Sam when they found drugs in his car.
• Alexa was arrested for shoplifting at the age of 16.

2. (verb) - to stop.

• The vaccine has failed to arrest the spread of the virus.
• The latest treatment has done little to arrest the spread of the cancer in her body.

3. (noun) - the act of arresting somebody.

• Two arrests were made, but no one has been charged yet.
• He was stopped at the airport and placed under arrest.

Words and Phrases You Can Stop Using

 Hi everyone!

Just thought I'd share this list of redundant words and phrases compiled by Grammarly (in link below). Certain words and phrases make your text unnecessarily long, and sometimes confusing. Lean writing requires knowing which words or phrases to leave out. 

Hope you find the tips in this article useful!

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/more-words-and-phrases-to-avoid/

Words From The Same Family - Explanation v Explanatory

 Explanation (noun) - details or reasons given to   make sth clear or easy to understand.

• Could you please give us a quick explanation of how this machine works?
• What was Randy's explanation for not attending the party?
• William had no explanation for being late today.

Explanatory (adj) - to help make sth clear or understandable.

• The explanatory notes below the diagram definitely helped me understand the lesson better.
• Please include some explanatory words at the bottom of every chart in your report. 

Phrasal Verbs - Look Into Sth

 

Meaning - to study the facts about a situation or problem.

• We're looking into buying a new printer for the office.
• John was looking into hiring another chef, but it was too expensive.
• If you really look into it, you'll probably find that it's not a very good deal.
• We're looking into the possibility of visiting my aunt in Australia during Christmas.

Words From The Same Family (Theft v Thief)

 Theft (noun) - the act of taking sth that doesn't   belong to you and keeping it.

• There's been an increase the number of minor offences such as traffic violations and petty theft in the country.
  
• Unfortunately, we've had several thefts in the neighbourhood recently.
• Two employees were arrested for theft of company information.

Thief (noun) - a person who steals.

• Thieves broke into the art gallery last night and got away with three valuable paintings.
• The police believe he's the thief, but they can't prove it.
  
  

Homonyms - Stable (As a Noun and Adjective)

 

1. (adj) - firmly fixed or unlikely to move or change.

• After several part-time jobs, John finally has a stable job in a hotel.
• Sally's family was relieved to learn that she was in a stable (=unlikely to get worse) condition following her operation. 

2. (noun) - a building where horses or cattle are kept. 

• Randy was busy cleaning the stable when his friends arrived.
• The horses in the stable look well-fed.