Tuesday 20 March 2012

ozdic.com: an online collocation dictionary, at last!



It has been a long time since the ast post, but I hadn't found anything worth posting. Today I want to introduce you to a new resource I have been waiting for a long time. It is an on-line collocation dictionary and its name is ozdic.comIt is very useful for your writing tasks and even when planning any speech for your class or work.

Most of the times, we stick ourselves to the same combination of words, basically because we are unable to find other words to use or combine with the ones we need. There is when a collocation dictionary like this comes handy. Don't get frustrated if you don't know what to write or how to describe something, got to a collocation dictionary and part of the problem is sorted.

Imagine you have to write about your holidays in a little village and you need to describe it. Sometimes we end up describing the place as nice or friendly, but there are more possibilities, as the picture shows, there are a wide range of options we can choose from, it is only us now to pick the most convenient to our interest.

It is also useful if we don't know how to combine a verb or noun. Remember that most languages have their natural way of mixing words which we need to be aware of so we do not get misunderstood. Take for example the noun "research", in most cases students use "do" or, in the worst case scenario, "make" which is incorrect. If you look up in a collocation dictionary, you can find out what are the verbs and adjectives most convenient for this noun. Take a look at the picture to check what has been said.

 Hope this brief tutorial can be of help. Any contribution os more than welcome.

Thursday 2 February 2012

Happy 200th Birthday Mr. Dickens

Dickens 2012

On 7 February, 1812, the greates British author of all times was born: Charles Dickens. It was in Portsmouth, South East England. His father was a clerk who went bankrupt and sent to prison when Dickens was only a child. At the age of twelve, he was sent to work in a factory and soon after he started his career as a journalist. A the age of 24, his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, gained a huge success and was the beginning of a prestigious career as a novelist. 

And this year we are ceebrating the bicentennary of his birth. 

Friday 13 January 2012

SiestaMovies: Original Sountrack Movies with subtitles

SiestaMovies

A really nice present for you all to start the year, SiestaMovies is a website with a good range of movies in different languages (mainly English) in their original soundtracks. There you have the option to download them with or without subtitles. In most cases those subtitles are in the original language, however a small number of them come with Spanish subtitles. And that is it! Now click on the link below and choose your next film for the weekend.

  Ingles | SiestaMovies.com

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