Tell me what you make of this short film; it’s less than 3 minutes long but leaves quite an impression.

https://youtu.be/P5_Msrdg3Hk?si=6TaaWF4gYSETqYlC

#DailyReading

A lot of people think getting rid of standardized tests helps disadvantaged students — but what if it’s actually the opposite?

This article from The Economist makes a pretty strong case for why keeping the SAT and ACT might do more to level the playing field than we realize.

#SelectArticles
#TheEconomist

I only post a #WordOfTheDay when I truly think the word is worth a closer look.

So, how confident are you with the word “given”? Let’s explore!

📖 #WordOfTheDay: GIVEN

Even though the OALD above highlights the adjective meaning of “given,” I thought it’d be helpful to explore its other uses too.

🔹 Preposition:
"Given the weather, we canceled the picnic."
*(= Considering; taking into account)*

🔹 Adjective:
1️⃣ "The assignment must be done by a given date."
*(= Already arranged or specified)*
2️⃣ "At a given moment, the signal will flash."
*(= Particular; specific)*
3️⃣ "She’s given to dramatic outbursts."
*(= Inclined or prone to something)*

🔹 Conjunction ("given that"):
"Given that it’s raining, we’ll stay indoors."
*(= Because; since)*

🎯 Idiom: "To be given to (doing) something" = To have a habit/tendency.
*Example*: "He’s given to biting his nails when nervous."

💡 Bonus: As a noun, *"given"* means a known fact ("It’s a given that practice improves skills!").

Which usage surprised you the most?

#CommonErrors

Each of these sentences contains a mistake that many English learners make. See if you can spot them WITHOUT consulting the AI:

1. During the protests, some students were killed and others were seriously damaged.

2. Most of the damage has been produced by acid rain.

3. We all know about the damage that smoking can do in our health.

4. The car crashed into a tree and suffered a serious damage.

Here are the correct answers with explanations:

❌ During the protests, some students were killed and others were seriously damaged.

✅ During the protests, some students were killed and others were seriously wounded/injured.

Explanation: People are hurt/injured/wounded, not damaged — that word is used for things.

❌ Most of the damage has been produced by acid rain.

✅ Most of the damage has been caused by acid rain.

Explanation: Use cause/do damage — NOT make or produce.

❌ We all know about the damage that smoking can do in our health.

✅ We all know about the damage that smoking can do to our health.

Explanation: The correct preposition is to, NOT in.

❌ The car crashed into a tree and suffered a serious damage.

✅ The car crashed into a tree and suffered serious damage.

Explanation: Damage is usually an uncountable noun, so no “a” or plural here.

But there is a context where “damages” (with an -s) is correct. Any guesses?

Should not it be Oral spoken words?
Instead of a Cyrillic R? As far as I know, English language primarily used Latin alphabet.

OPAL stands for Oxford Phrasal Academic Lexicon.

#comedy #standup

When the delivery is funnier than the punchline 😁

But don’t get me wrong: the punchline was funny too, but the delivery kinda stole the show.

The latest edition of The Economist is out, and this short article caught my eye; it contains some useful language for IELTS Writing Task 1.
The problem with The Economist is that the language is often too complex for English learners. So, I’ll be using ChatGPT later to provide a simplified version of the article.

I’ve been a bit busy over the past couple of days, but as promised, here’s the simplified version of the article.

Read both versions back-to-back and make a list of the changes ChatGPT made.

https://telegra.ph/Unsafe-haven-the-simplified-version-04-27

Now compare that (the original Economist piece) to this short article from The New Scientist. The language here is much closer to what you typically see in IELTS reading passages.
When you're told to practice your reading, make sure you're practicing with the right kind of materials.

Here is what Chat GPT had to say about the difference between The Economist and The New Scientist.

#funny
What voice do you use most often? 😂

Stanislav Boyko 👏👏👏

Words can’t express how happy I am for my old friend!
Maybe tomorrow I’ll write a longer post.

For now, I just want to say that exactly six years ago, on April 28, 2019, we met in person when I was in Urgench for my Masterclass session.

Thinking of giving away my old Kindle — it’s a 10th gen Paperwhite with 8GB of storage. Still in great condition!