Unit 18: A nip and a tuck: cosmetic surgery
Relative clauses
Select a unit
- 1Pop-ups
- 2Hidden talents
- 3Can't buy me love
- 4Travellers' tales
- 5The colleague from hell
- 6Jurassic mystery: unpacking the past
- 7Career changes
- 8Art
- 9Project management
- 10The dog ate my homework!
- 11The diary of a double agent
- 12Fashion forward
- 13Flat pack skyscrapers
- 14Extreme sports
- 15Food fads
- 16Me, my selfie and I
- 17Endangered animals
- 18A nip and a tuck: cosmetic surgery
- 19I'm really sorry...
- 20Telling stories
- 21Fakes and phrasals
- 22Looking to the future
- 23Becoming familiar with things
- 24From rags to riches
- 25Against the odds
- 26Our future on Mars?
- 27Where is it illegal to get a fish drunk?
- 28Dodgy dating
- 29Annoying advice
- 30I'll have been studying English for thirty weeks
Session 1
NASA, LOL, OMG! Why say the whole expression when you can say a few letters? Learn more about acronyms in this session.
Activity 2
Is that a word?
The shorter the better
In 6 Minute English we learned some acronyms for organisations, and a few acronyms that we use in everyday life. Some of them, like NATO, are said as words and some, like ATM, are said as letters. Strictly speaking, we should call the second group 'intialisms' – because they are formed from the initial (first) letters of each word.
So, what happens if you're reading a text in English and you see a group of capital letters – do you read them as a word or just read out the initial letters individually? This game will help you learn a few common examples.
ነቲ ጽሑፍ ብምንባብ ነቲ ስራሕ ዕመምዎ
To do
Drag each acronym and initialism into the correct column. Some were in the programme, some are new. Tip: Try to read each one out loud – is it possible to read it as a word? If so, it could be a true acronym.
There is a list of their meanings under the quiz.
Words and letters
8 Questions
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
The UN is made up of many organisations. This is one of them. It has vowels between the consonants... Try to read it as a word... can you do it?ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
Can you read this as a word? There are vowels there, but it looks difficult to read in English.ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
This is another UN organisation. It was in the 6 Minute Vocabulary programme. There are some vowels here, but can you say it as a word?ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
You use these to watch movies and store information.ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
Be careful with this one. It looks like a common word. So if it was read in the same way, that might be confusing...ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
This was in 6 Minute Vocabulary. It's another international organisation.ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
Do you watch a lot of science-fiction movies? If so, you might have seen one of these in the sky. But how is it pronounced?ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
This is used at the end of meetings.Question 1 of 8
Read as a word
Read as letters
Excellent!Great job!ሕማቕ ዕድል!ዘመዝገብኩምዎ ነጥቢ ...:
Words and letters
8 Questions
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
The UN is made up of many organisations. This is one of them. It has vowels between the consonants... Try to read it as a word... can you do it?Question 1 of 8
ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
Can you read this as a word? There are vowels there, but it looks difficult to read in English.Question 2 of 8
ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
This is another UN organisation. It was in the 6 Minute Vocabulary programme. There are some vowels here, but can you say it as a word?Question 3 of 8
ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
You use these to watch movies and store information.Question 4 of 8
ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
Be careful with this one. It looks like a common word. So if it was read in the same way, that might be confusing...Question 5 of 8
ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
This was in 6 Minute Vocabulary. It's another international organisation.Question 6 of 8
ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
Do you watch a lot of science-fiction movies? If so, you might have seen one of these in the sky. But how is it pronounced?Question 7 of 8
ሓገዝ
Activity
Which of these do you read as words? Which do you read as letters?
ኣመት
This is used at the end of meetings.Question 8 of 8
Excellent!Great job!ሕማቕ ዕድል!ዘመዝገብኩምዎ ነጥቢ ...:
Acronyms and their full meanings
AOB
Any Other Business (used in meetings and business communication)
DVD
Digital Versatile Disc
FYI
For Your Information (used in business communication, and sometimes spoken)
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
UFO
Unidentified Flying Object
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
UNICEF
United Nations Children's Fund
WHO
World Health Organisation
Next
Well done. Now it's time to look at a few acronyms and initialisms in context and work out the meanings. See you there.
Session Vocabulary
AOB
Any Other Business (used in meetings and business communication)DVD
Digital Versatile DiscFYI
For Your Information (used in business communication, and sometimes spoken)NATO
North Atlantic Treaty OrganisationUFO
Unidentified Flying ObjectUNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural OrganisationUNICEF
United Nations Children's FundWHO
World Health Organisation
