Good bye and Good Luck to Juliette!
HELLO FROM SAMANTHA
So, it’s the end of Juliette’s time with us and we must say good bye to her. She wrote a great deal in her interesting blogs, which gave us an insight into the life of a journalist and the issues that concerned her. I know from reading the comments sent into the site that you enjoyed reading her blogs, so I am sure you will join me in wishing Juliette all the best in her future endeavours. Thank you Juliette!
The month has changed since I last wrote this blog, it is now March. I like March because it heralds the start of spring for me. I find the winter months depressing, mainly because the days are so short and the winter skies are often grey and overcast with dark clouds. The British isles are located between fairly northerly latitudes compared to many of your countries, and this means that in winter (approximately from late October to the end of January) the amount of daylight we get is very limited. In January, sometimes it is still dark when I arrive at work at eight in the morning! And night falls at around 4:00pm! Somehow I find the dark evenings very tiring. But from mid-February onwards, gradually the days get a little bit longer and now dusk falls at around 6:00pm. If you have never been to England before, you may be very surprised to know that in midsummer, it stays light until after 10:00pm! I love the summer evenings, I like to sit outside in my garden and just listen to the gentle noises of a midsummer night. I live in the countryside, in a house located high in the valley of a large river. From the top of my house, you can see right across to the other side of the valley, which is about six miles away! From February onwards, I check the time that night falls every day and keep a mental note of it, and look forward to the coming summer months!
Well, to move onto language matters, I must thank you again for the comments you sent about the work related vocabulary. I hope you believe me when I say that it is always a pleasure to read your comments. You are such motivated learners, by far my best students! First of all, a little note to Ana Paula, who asks whether it can be useful to read a dictionary of idioms. Well, I would be very surprised if you found some of the words I listed in a dictionary of idioms, but they will all be listed in an up-to-date English-English dictionary. The big publishing companies bring out new dictionaries every couple of years (Oxford, Collins, Macmillan, Longman) and it is worth buying a recent one. It is useful to read other kinds of reference books, such as a dictionary of idioms or phrasal verbs, if you combine it with other sources of English, which Ana Paula also mentions: films, books and the internet.
Now, I would like to look at the words I gave you to think about. The explanations given in your comments were so good that I decided to use them here. Please read the original comments if you haven’t done so already.
Glass ceiling: negative.
As many of you commented, the glass ceiling is the invisible barrier that prevents someone from being promoted at work, despite their talent. As Adriana notes, it is a “societal obstacle”, a kind of unacknowledged discrimination. Those affected may be women, or people from particular social backgrounds, or those of a different ethnic or racial background.
Be offered an increment: positive.
This means that you are offered a pay increase, so it must be positive. But as Hoda and Tiasha point out, it depends on how much the increment is worth!
Have perks with your job: positive.
This is definitely positive, who could seriously refuse perks! Farida lists the perks of working in a private company as being extra allowances and free medical facilities. In the UK, perks may also include a corporate travel plan where employees get cheap travel passes, company cars, gym membership etc. As Jill reminds us, we would all like more perks!
Receive commission: positive (but see note *).
If you receive commission, this means that you receive bonus payments, or payment by result. In some areas of employment these payments can be fairly substantial. As Maurico mentions, commission is a reward for something you did in your job. This may be a percentage of your salary, as Wiesiek notes. * If you have no fixed salary, however, and only receive commission, it is likely that your salary will fluctuate and be unpredictable.
Challenging work environment: positive or negative, depending on your personality!
“Challenging” is usually used as a euphemism to mean demanding, busy, hard. Some people like these kinds of jobs, as they are rewarding and satisfying. Other people desire less stressful work, and so avoid challenging work places! As Olga points out, challenging work environments are stimulating.
Sick Building Syndrome: negative.
As Farida explains so clearly, this is a syndrome where employees become sick but no specific illness or cause can be identified.
Thanks also to Monica, who relates the vocabulary to the film she saw! This is a great technique for leaning new vocabulary, by the way! Relate what you want to learn to a real situation, and invent a story or narration.
It’s nearly time for me to end this. The verbs I marked in bold are all reporting verbs, that is, verbs used to include or repeat what somebody said or wrote. You are such brilliant students, I’m not sure that I need to give you any homework for the weekend, but if you would like to spend a little bit of your spare time studying, here is a task:
1. What are the sensory verbs?
2. Can you write five different examples using sensory verbs?
Have a great weekend, catch up with you next Monday,
Best wishes,
Samantha.
USEFUL WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
issue (noun)
here, used to mean topics, or political matters
endeavour (noun)
effort, attempt.
herald (noun)
introduce, start
overcast (verb)
over shadowed by.
dusk (noun)
time in the evening when daylight ends.
midsummer (noun)
June, July, August.
keep a mental note of something (phrase)
remember something.
societal obstacle(adjective)
this word means a problem or barrier stemming from society.
unacknowledged discrimination (noun)
prejudice that is not officially recognised or corrected.
ethnic (adjective)
of a particular culture.
demanding (adjective)
requiring a great deal of attention.
stimulating (adjective)
interesting, thought provoking.
Comments
Hello Samantha! Hello everybody! First of all I would like to tkank you Samantha to answer my question. You are indeed a very kind teacher. You have a beautiful view from your garden, it looks like a bucolic scene painting. Reading your blog today, I feel myself(if I can say that) transported to your garden watching in the high valley the river flows. What beautiful scene! Your children must enjoy live in a place like that.
After reading this blogger,i am so surprised about how short is the daytime in winterdays and how long is the daytime in summerdays.It is very different from my country.For me,it is amazing!!By the way,i really learned much from your beautiful blogger,and it is very important to communicate with other learners and teachers from my point of view.i wish i will have the honor to write blog and hear from your sincere suggestion.
After reading this blogger,i am so surprised about how short is the daytime in winterdays and how long is the daytime in summerdays.It is very different from my country.For me,it is amazing!!By the way,i really learned much from your beautiful blogger,and it is very important to communicate with other learners and teachers from my point of view.i wish i will have the honor to write blog and hear from your sincere suggestion.
Hi, all! Yesterday I waited the blog from Juliette and Samantha very late and checked the blog from time to time. I was so eagerly to know what you will blog on the last time. As well as my imagination, it seems happy but I feel sad. Anyway, send my best wishes to Juliette! Tomorrow is another day, wishes you all the best! Regards to the weather in British, it is so interesting that the weather circle is nearly the same as in Helsinki, the day time is very short(from 11:00 to 15:00 in winter) and winter is very long, almost six months. Is there someone from South Europe? What is the weather in your country? All my love! From Helen
Hello, Samantha. Thanks for your detailed explanations of last blog’s task. They are all very useful words and expressions for me. Well, to move on to today’s blog task, I think ‘sensory verbs’ are the verbs that relate to the feelings, for example: feel, see, hear, smell, taste, touch… do I give the right answer? Or am I too stupid to know that I’m wrong? Don’t answer the second question. Here are some sentences that I make using sensory verbs. (1.) I can feel the changes that global warming has made to us, so it’s very important to protect our environments. (2.) Can you see that I have made some improvements in learning English since I’ve been here? (3.) She heard a bad news from a colleague that her previous company had already been bankrupt. (4.) It smells strange, have you turned off the gas? (5.) The food that my mother cooks is the most delicious food in the world. It always tastes great! (6.) I don’t want to touch the baby now because my hands are dirty. I’ll wash them and then play games with her. That’s all. Wish you a happy weekend! See you on Monday! Jill.
Hi,Samantha I am also longing for spring like you.I can't bear this long,dull,drenched and wringing wet weather.I don't know a proper word of being a phobia about miserable winter but I suffer from the climate every year. If I were in Korea at winter I could go to a sky resort, have a relaxed sauna, go to a singing room, lie down on the warm floor(many houses have a heating system underneath the floor in Korea) and read a book or I could go to a restaurant to indulge in some spicy and hot Korean chilly food for boosting my energy with my family or friends.I adore English sommer because the night is long. the wind is gentle and after cutting grass in our garden the fresh Smell makes our family barbecue party perfect.to move on to your answers,the sensory words are like smell,hear,touch,sight,taste. 1.I am lucky that I can't smell your stinky socks due to have a bed cold.2.He heard the door conatantly banging in the middle of the night.3.Don't touch the cake!That's for your daddy.4.I had never seen or tasted a cooked turkey before I came to England. thank you and a warm weekend!
Doesn't time fly? This is already the start of the third month of the year. That can be ssssscary now that I'm forty-something! Well, to move onto weather matters,(it's safer leave this age subject behind) here in Brazil we are at the end of summertime. The days are becoming shorter, although the sunlight is still bright and powerful and the temperature extremely high.I also like March, but contratry to you,I like it because it heralds the start of autumn, which is a beautiful time here, mainly due to the mild temperature and cloudless skies, it hardly ever rains.I would say that our autumn and winter time here resemble your summertime, just with not so much daylight.In fact, not even our summer days are so long as yours. I remember my excitement when, still a teen,I was spending my summertime in Torremolinos(Spain) with my parents! I couldn't believe my eyes to see the night falling after 10:00 and the days starting really early in the morning.As I'm a day person I simply loved it, it gave me plenty of time to do many "daily" things. Samantha, how beautiful it must be the valley you live in! I'm fond of England's landscape. Like you, I love taking my time to appreciate nature and its magic sounds, that's probably because I was brought up on a farm in São Paulo. So I have a strong connetion and awareness of nature. My parents, my siblings and I,at that time on the farm,countless times, used to sit in the dark, like you do,to talk about life and observe the starry sky.Some days the moon was so bright and full that we could easily stroll along the meadows without the need of torches. Good sweet memories!That's why I could easily picture yourself in your garden savouring the pleasures of a midsummer night. It really rang the bell(if I can say that).Well, as for the task you gave us here comes my answer.I believe these sensory verbs are the ones which are related to the use of your senses of sight(see),hearing(hear),smell(smell),taste(taste) and touch(touch).They are usually under the category of stative verbs in grammar books, verbs that are not usually used in the progressive tenses.They are quite useful in stories cause they add spice to it.It's nice to read stories when your senses are activated, they are usually memorable.For example," While I'm here in front of the computer , I can hear the sudden gust of wind blowing outside together with the roar of approaching thunder. As the window is open, I can also feel a drop in the temperature which signals that the rain is close to give us some relief from this unbearable heat.Pretty soon the air will smell pleasantly of wet ground touched by the heavy drops of rain.Sorry for the big book, I always get carried away...
Dear Samantha, good bye and good luck to Juliette! I have read Juliette's entries and your comments to them so gladly. I like summertime as well, especialy because its the time of holiday. In my country we have severe winters but not to long, and summers are usually hot - but it is not stady year by year. Then we can test many different conditions. It is difficult to say which seson I like the most. The most objective is judgement after events: - when autumn is going to the end I am waiting for the first real snow (huge), - in February/March I am looking for first green blade of grass and stronger sunlight, - when spring edning I really enjoy because the summertime and vacationtime are so closed, - when summer is finishing I am rather sad, I feel little bit depressed (in my country poets sings about autumn melancholy). As I has just mensioned I love summer the most because I am often regreted that it is gone. Summer evenings have special delight, particularly after hot days. It is nice to thing about autumn melancholy when outside there is remains of snow. I wish all of us quick coming of spring - of course only them to whom it can come!
Hello,Samantha, I think the sensory verbs are verbs to express our feelings through our sensory organs like ears, eyes, skin,nose and mouth. Therefore the verbs are --- see, smell,feel,hear, taste and all that. Here are the examples: 1) I smell something burning in the kitchen! 2) I feel great today! 3) I can't hear anything except the gun shot. 4) I see him cry after her girlfriend said goodbye to him. 5) It tastes awlful! Could you please correct my examples ? Thank you.
Hi Samantha, It is very nice to read your blogs everyday, my poor English stops me to enter some comments on your blog everytime. But I can't stop this time because I am interested in your topic about the season, I can't imagine the day still stay light before 10Pm and the night coming on 4pm. what a surprise to me. Could you please recommend on what season will be the best time for travelling in England, that can enjoy sightseeing much eaier. Samantha, you as a teacher, do you have any suggestions to me how can improve my English, as I have been learning English over 5 years.
Hi Samantha. It's been fantastic having read your entry, it is exactly what I've been looking for in order to improve my writing. I'll do my best to be one of your good students, the problem that I'm so busy most of the times but I'm sure it'll be worth to try as I really need to improve my English as need it for my career. And regarding the homework ; I think sensory verbs are verbs that display senses like look, see, hear, taste, smell...etc. eg (I looked at the patient as he entered the examination room, he was dyspnic and distressed, and I could easily smell acetone in his breath. He felt dizzy and couldn't taste anything as he complained.)
i'd like to understand sensory verbs from the syntactic angle. 1 I felt depressed after a pass-over. 2 Your name sounds like running a bell. 3 chinese medicine tastes bitter but sometimes does work. 4 It looks that we might lose the game. 5 It smells like what we called the flavour of the festival. I've seen some of the blogs about sensory verds on the wrong side.Hope it can make some helps.
Hello Samantha, I am confused. The meaning of the word herald is start or introduce but in the sentence you wrote that "I like March because it heralds the start of spring for me." Here why have you used "start" word again if the meaning of herald is also start.
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