sound effects

"narf" is not a word, it's just a sound effect ... sound effects sound like the noise they describe... for example, "boom" for an explosion, or "bang" or "wham" ...

"slurp" and "gulp" are words, for example, it is rude to slurp your soup in North America, but it's ok to slurp in Japan.

Taxes & Taxis

TAX

tax (noun) - You have to pay your income tax.
taxes (plural) - There are too many taxes in Canada.

sales tax

tax (verb)
The government taxes goods at 13% in Ontario.
(past)
The government taxed cigarettes at a higher rate.
(future)
They will tax alcohol at a higher rate.
(progressive) taxing
The government is taxing cigarettes at a higher rate.

[ tacks ]

---

TAXI

taxi (car that you rent)
plural - taxis

verb - airplane moving on the ground
to taxi
The airplane is taxiing.
the airplane taxied for 10 minutes before it took off.

The plane taxies before takeoff. < I forgot the 'e' ... English is a terrible language :)

Planes taxi before takeoff.

7 English Language Mistakes

7 English Language Mistakes

common grammar mistakes in English

1. homonyms - WORDS THAT SOUND THE SAME, BUT ARE SPELLED DIFFERENTLY

i) there - e.g., (exempla gratia)
                for example
    The dog is there.
     There is the dog.

ii) they're - contraction for "they are"
   e.g. They're not coming.
          They're late.

iii) their - possessive pronoun
      - "belonging to them"
      That is their car.
     
2) Bob's dog is big.
     Charles' dog is big.
     The dog's hair is wet.
      Their two dogs' fur is wet.

3) your - something belonging to you (possessive)
     Snoopy is your dog.
    you're - contraction for "you are"
     You're stupid. You're smart.

4) it's - contraction for "it is"
     It's raining.
      its - possessive
      The cat rubbed its ears.

5) then / than
      5 is greater than 4.
      4 is less than 5.
      Canada was the best in hockey in the 1950s,
       then it fell behind Russia.

6) two - 2      123
    He has 2 dogs.
    too = also
    He has a cat, too.
     to
    He sent his cat to the moon.

7) accept / except
      I accept this award.
      He accepted the criticism.
      I ate everything except the pie.
      I didn't eat pie.
      Except for Canada, nobody criticized it.

pronoun with no clearly-defined antecedant

"ante" is Latin for "before".
It is often used in English;
 for example, "antebellum" means "before the war". ("bellum" is Latin for "war.")

"antecedant" means: the thing that came before

A common mistake in English is "the pronoun with no clearly-defined antecedant".
This means that you use a pronoun, but the reader doesn't know what the pronoun is referencing.

For example: The dog saw the cat. Then it ran away.
In this sentence, you don't know what "it" is.
You don't know whether the dog ran away, or the cat ran away.

AS THE CROW FLIES ...

... is an expression that means: the distance in a straight line (without thinking about roads or obstacles)

For example: The distance from Toronto to Manila is 8,220 miles (13,228 kilometers) as the crow flies, but a normal flight stops to refuel in Alaska and travels over 10K miles.

"K" is a slang abbreviation for "thousand". It is used in computer programming. It can also mean "kilometer".

ANIMAL NOISES

THIS IS A VIDEO ABOUT ANIMAL NOISES ...





lions roar

mice squeak

1 mouse
2 mice

rattlesnakes rattle

birds tweet
birds twitter
birds sing
 'tweet tweet'
birds chirp

ENGLISH LESSON - Business News

click here to see the newspaper article ...

Q1 - means "first quarter" of the company's business year
Q2 - means "second quarter"  of the company's business year
                    - for HP, this is January-March, because HP's business year starts October 1.
Q3 - means "third quarter"  of the company's business year
Q4 - means "fourth quarter"  of the company's business year

ENGLISH LESSON - Names of the Keyboard Characters

ENGLISH LESSON - Names of the Keyboard Characters

http:\\englishspacedog.blogspot.ca




~ tilde

~
! exclamation point

~!

@ the "at" sign
3 apples @ $2/apple
= $6
asdfasd@hotmail.com

~!@
# the pound sign
  the hash symbol
  the number sign

~!@#
$ the dollar sign

% the percent sign

^ carat
  the little hat

& ampersand
  Lennon & McCartney
   and

* asterisk
  star

() round brackets
    left
    right

_ underscore

+ plus sign

` tick mark

1234567890
- hyphen
  minus sign
  dash   I saw something --

= equals sign


QWERTYUIOP

{} squiggly brackets
    left right
    braces


| pipe symbol
  vertical line
  bar

qwertyuiop
[] square brackets
       left right


\  back-slash

ASDFGHJKL

: colon
   Star Trek: The Motion Picture

" quotation marks
  double quote

asdfghjkl

; semi-colon
   I saw something; it was red.

' apostrophe isn't Bob's dog
  single quote


ZXCVBNM

<> angle brackets
         left right

< is less than
> is greater than


?
zxcvbnm
, comma   apples, oranges, and bananas
          apples, oranges and bananas
          I came in, and saw the dog.
          I came in and saw the dog.
. period
  dot

/ slash

ON ERROR condition

"ON ERROR condition" is a computer programming term meaning that the program came to an error.

If you are a computer programmer, here is an example:


Private Sub cmdValidation_Click()

Dim strSIN As String

Dim str1 As String
Dim str2 As String
Dim str3 As String
Dim str4 As String
Dim str5 As String
Dim str6 As String
Dim str7 As String
Dim str8 As String
Dim str9 As String

Dim Int1 As Integer
Dim Int2 As Integer
Dim Int3 As Integer
Dim Int4 As Integer
Dim Int5 As Integer
Dim Int6 As Integer
Dim Int7 As Integer
Dim Int8 As Integer
Dim Int9 As Integer

Dim FirstDigit As Integer
Dim SecondDigit As Integer
Dim lngSIN As Long

Dim strTEST As String
strTEST = "N" ' not in test mode


txtTEST.SetFocus 'set focus on textbox
strSIN = txtTEST.Text

On Error GoTo InvalidSIN
lngSIN = CLng(strSIN)
On Error GoTo ErrorRTN

If lngSIN > 999999999 Then GoTo InvalidSIN


str1 = Mid(strSIN, 1, 1)
str2 = Mid(strSIN, 2, 1)
str3 = Mid(strSIN, 3, 1)
str4 = Mid(strSIN, 4, 1)
str5 = Mid(strSIN, 5, 1)
str6 = Mid(strSIN, 6, 1)
str7 = Mid(strSIN, 7, 1)
str8 = Mid(strSIN, 8, 1)
str9 = Mid(strSIN, 9, 1)

' for testing only
If strTEST = "Y" Then MsgBox _
 str1 & " " & _
 str2 & " " & _
 str3 & "-" & _
 str4 & " " & _
 str5 & " " & _
 str6 & "-" & _
 str7 & " " & _
 str8 & " " & _
 str9

Int1 = 1 * CInt(str1)
Int2 = 2 * CInt(str2)
Int3 = 1 * CInt(str3)
Int4 = 2 * CInt(str4)
Int5 = 1 * CInt(str5)
Int6 = 2 * CInt(str6)
Int7 = 1 * CInt(str7)
Int8 = 2 * CInt(str8)
Int9 = 1 * CInt(str9)

If Int1 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int1 - 10
    Int1 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If
If Int2 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int2 - 10
    Int2 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If
If Int3 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int3 - 10
    Int3 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If

If Int4 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int4 - 10
    Int4 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If
If Int5 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int5 - 10
    Int5 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If

If Int6 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int6 - 10
    Int6 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If
If Int7 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int7 - 10
    Int7 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If

If Int8 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int8 - 10
    Int8 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If
If Int9 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int9 - 10
    Int9 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If

' for testing only 2
If strTEST = "Y" Then MsgBox _
 Int1 & " " & _
 Int2 & " " & _
 Int3 & "-" & _
 Int4 & " " & _
 Int5 & " " & _
 Int6 & "-" & _
 Int7 & " " & _
 Int8 & " " & _
 Int9

 Dim intSum As Integer
 intSum = Int1 + Int2 + Int3 + Int4 + Int5 +

Int6 + Int7 + Int8 + Int9

 txtTEST2.SetFocus
 txtTEST2.Text = intSum

 If intSum = 10 _
 Or intSum = 20 _
 Or intSum = 30 _
 Or intSum = 40 _
 Or intSum = 50 _
 Or intSum = 60 _
 Or intSum = 70 _
 Or intSum = 80 _
 Or intSum = 90 Then
    txtTEST.SetFocus
    MsgBox txtTEST.Text & " is a valid SIN

number" _
       & vbCrLf & " intSum=" & intSum
 Else
    txtTEST.SetFocus
    MsgBox txtTEST.Text & " is NOT a valid SIN

number" _
       & vbCrLf & " intSum=" & intSum
 End If


 Exit Sub


InvalidSIN:
    txtTEST.SetFocus
    MsgBox "Invalid SIN: " & txtTEST.Text &

vbCrLf & "SIN must be a 9-digit number with

no hyphens"
    Exit Sub
   
ErrorRTN:
    txtTEST.SetFocus
    MsgBox "ErrorRTN-- SIN: " & txtTEST.Text &

vbCrLf & "SIN must be a 9-digit number with

no hyphens"
    Exit Sub
   
End Sub

English Conversation - at the cashier 3

at the cashier 3
----------------------

"That's $12.30 all together."

"Oh, sorry, I only have $10 ... on me."
 ... with me.
"Can you leave out the soup?"
or
"Can you leave the soup?"
or
"Can I leave the soup?"

"$9.30"

English Conversation - At the Cashier - 2

at the cashier 2

customer: How much is it?
or
 What's the damage?

Clerk: $12.30.

Customer: Oh, I left my wallet at home.
Oh, I forgot my wallet.
Shit, I forgot my wallet.

       Sorry, can you hold this/that till I get/come back?

       I'll go get my wallet and be back in 10 minutes.
                                              in half an hour.

Clerk: Sure.


x fetch

SIN Validation

S.I.N. is the Social Insurance Number in Canada.

Here is a formula in VBA to validate the S.I.N.


Private Sub cmdValidation_Click()

Dim strSIN As String

Dim str1 As String
Dim str2 As String
Dim str3 As String
Dim str4 As String
Dim str5 As String
Dim str6 As String
Dim str7 As String
Dim str8 As String
Dim str9 As String

Dim Int1 As Integer
Dim Int2 As Integer
Dim Int3 As Integer
Dim Int4 As Integer
Dim Int5 As Integer
Dim Int6 As Integer
Dim Int7 As Integer
Dim Int8 As Integer
Dim Int9 As Integer

Dim FirstDigit As Integer
Dim SecondDigit As Integer


txtTEST.SetFocus 'set focus on textbox
strSIN = txtTEST.Text

str1 = Mid(strSIN, 1, 1)
str2 = Mid(strSIN, 2, 1)
str3 = Mid(strSIN, 3, 1)
str4 = Mid(strSIN, 4, 1)
str5 = Mid(strSIN, 5, 1)
str6 = Mid(strSIN, 6, 1)
str7 = Mid(strSIN, 7, 1)
str8 = Mid(strSIN, 8, 1)
str9 = Mid(strSIN, 9, 1)

MsgBox _
 str1 & " " & _
 str2 & " " & _
 str3 & "-" & _
 str4 & " " & _
 str5 & " " & _
 str6 & "-" & _
 str7 & " " & _
 str8 & " " & _
 str9

Int1 = 1 * CInt(str1)
Int2 = 2 * CInt(str2)
Int3 = 1 * CInt(str3)
Int4 = 2 * CInt(str4)
Int5 = 1 * CInt(str5)
Int6 = 2 * CInt(str6)
Int7 = 1 * CInt(str7)
Int8 = 2 * CInt(str8)
Int9 = 1 * CInt(str9)

If Int1 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int1 - 10
    Int1 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If
If Int2 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int2 - 10
    Int2 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If
If Int3 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int3 - 10
    Int3 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If

If Int4 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int4 - 10
    Int4 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If
If Int5 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int5 - 10
    Int5 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If

If Int6 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int6 - 10
    Int6 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If
If Int7 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int7 - 10
    Int7 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If

If Int8 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int8 - 10
    Int8 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If
If Int9 > 9 Then
    FirstDigit = 1
    SecondDigit = Int9 - 10
    Int9 = FirstDigit + SecondDigit
End If

 MsgBox _
 Int1 & " " & _
 Int2 & " " & _
 Int3 & "-" & _
 Int4 & " " & _
 Int5 & " " & _
 Int6 & "-" & _
 Int7 & " " & _
 Int8 & " " & _
 Int9

 Dim intSum As Integer
 intSum = Int1 + Int2 + Int3 + Int4 + Int5 + Int6 + Int7 + Int8 + Int9

 txtTEST2.SetFocus
 txtTEST2.Text = intSum


End Sub

at the cashier 1

Here's a sample conversation of a customer talking to a cashier ...

at the cashier
----------------------
buying a video
------------------------

Clerk: That's $12.30. They're all $12.30.
Clerk: $12.30.

Al: Oh, sorry, I'm short $2.30.
      I only have $10 on me.
or
      Can I get a discount?

Clerk: Ok, well, $8.70 then.
Ok, well then how about $8.70.

Al:Thanks, here you are.
OK. You've got a deal.
That's good.
(I give him $10.)

Clerk: Here's your change, $1.30, thanks.
            $1.30.

p.s. $10.00 - $8.70 = $1.30. I said "$1.20" in the video. My bad.

comic strip

...

English Conversation (Japanese) - Part 1

English Conversation (Japanese) - Part 2

not so much ...

"not so much" is an expression that is used in the following structure:

1) a sentence about something positive
2) a mention of something else, ending in the expression "not so much."
This means that the second thing is very bad.

For example:
 The weather yesterday was nice. Today, not so much.

Here's a paragraph from the news:

A Conference Board of Canada report puts Canada's three oil-rich provinces - Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador - on top of the world in terms of economic performance. The rest of Canada, not so much.

ENGLISH CONVERSATION - Watching TV

http://www.herostratus.ca/ESL.htm

Energizer Bunny

My web page for learning English is:

http://www.herostratus.ca/ESL.htm

"Energizer Bunny" is an expression from a TV commercial.

It means: something or someone who keeps moving for a long time, or lives for a long time.

"passed away" ...

My website for learning English is here:
http://www.herostratus.ca/ESL.htm


"passed away" is the polite expression for "died".
For example: He passed away in 2012.
Usually it is too direct to say: He died.

Here's a fun video:

The original link is here:

https://www.google.com/doodles

BBQ

"BBQ" is an abbreviation for "barbecue".
It means: meat that is cooked over a slow fire.
For example: BBQ chicken

PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE (CONTINUOUS) TENSE

ENGLISH EXPRESSION OF THE DAY - Phrasal Verb - to eat up

"to eat up" is a phrasal verb that means: to eat all of something
for example:
 The mouse is eating up the cheese.
or
 The mouse is eating the cheese up.

A phrasal verb is a verb + a preposition,
for example:
  verb - eat
 preposition - up

phrasal verbs

verb + preposition

to eat up
= to eat all of
something

Eat up your food!

The mouse
ate up all the
cheese.

Eat up your food!
Eat your food up!

Eat the spaghetti up!
Eat up the spaghetti!

I ate the spaghetti up.
I ate up all  the cheese.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE - PRACTICE

Here's a video where I read a news article out loud ...

up the creek ...

... is an expression. It is short for "up the creek without a paddle."

It means: in big trouble

A creek is a small river.
If you are up the creek without a paddle, you have no way to get home.

Good news / bad news ...

click here to see video

Good news / bad news ... is a kind of joke in English, where the bad news is usually worse than the good news.

For example:
 I have good news and bad news. The good news is that it's not raining. The bad news is that it's snowing.

(Actually, this is an old photo ... it's not snowing today :)

Abstract Art

... means: art that doesn't look like anything.

(The opposite is: Realistic Art)

COBOL

... is an old computer programming language.
It stands for "COmmon Business-Oriented Language.
Here's an example:

       program-id. Program1 as "ConsoleApplication1.Program1".

       data division.
       working-storage section.

       77  K PIC 99 VALUE ZERO.

       01  STR.
           05 A PIC X OCCURS 10.

       procedure division.
       000-BEGIN.
           MOVE "ABCDEF" TO STR.
           DISPLAY STR.
   
      *****EXAMINE STR REPLACING ALL "D" BY "X".
           PERFORM 2000-EXAMINE 10 TIMES.        
     
           DISPLAY ">" STR "< PRESS THE ENTER KEY:".
           ACCEPT K.
         
           goback.


       2000-EXAMINE.        
           ADD 1 TO K.
           IF A(K) = "D" THEN MOVE "X" TO A(K).

       end program Program1.

---

       program-id. Program1 as "ConsoleApplication1.Program1".

       data division.
       working-storage section.

       01  IN-RECORD.
           05  BIRTHDATE PIC 9(8).
           05  THENAME   PIC X(72).
         
       01  TAPE-REC.
           05  BIRTHDATE PIC S9(7) COMP-3.
           05  NAME      PIC X(76).
         
           HEX
           0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
           OOO0 0
           OOO1 1
           OO10 2 BASE 2
           OO11 3 BASE 2
           O100 4 BASE 2
           O101 5
           O110 6
           O111 7
           1000 8 BASE 2
           1001 9
           1010 A
           1011 B
           1100 C
           1101 D
           1110 E
           1111 F
     
       01  DETAIL-LINE.
           05  BIRTH-DATE PIC 9(8).
         
       procedure division.

           goback.
         
       end program Program1.

Bob's your uncle. ...

is a rare old British expression that means: Everything will be ok.

This expression comes from an old British general named Robert (Bob) who always took care of his troops.

prick up your ears ...

... is an expression that means: (you) hear something and listen carefully

ham

... is the meat of a pig.

It is also slang for a bad actor, or someone who acts badly ... someone who overacts.

For example: He told the policeman that he wasn't speeding, but he was hamming it up too much.

AfterUpdate event

'event' is computer jargon meaning: something that happens in a computer program.

Here's an example:

Option Compare Database

Private Sub Form_AfterUpdate()

    Dim theDatabase As Database ' DEFINE A DATABASE VARIABLE
   
    Set theDatabase = CurrentDb ' SET IT TO THIS HERE DATABASE
   
    ' EXECUTE AN SQL COMMAND TO ADD A RECORD TO LOGFILE
    theDatabase.Execute "INSERT INTO tblLOGFILE (LogDesc) " _
                        & " VALUES ('" _
                                  & PlanetName _
                                  & "' & ' updated'" _
                                  & ")"
               
    theDatabase.Close ' CLOSE THE CONNECTION TO THE DATABASE
   
    Set theDatabase = Nothing ' CLEAR OUT THE MEMORY USED BY IT
   

End Sub

dumpster ...

... is slang for a container that is used to hold garbage.
"Dump" is old slang for a place where garbage is thrown.