It’s raining cats and dogs here, too
Hello, Naheed and everyone reading!
I hope you are all well. Naheed, I read on the BBC website that there have been severe thunderstorms in Karachi. I see you’ve already blogged today, so that means you must be safe and sound. I hope your family and friends are all OK, too.
It has been pouring down here as well. It’s summertime in Britain and nearly time for Wimbledon, which means it must be time for heavy rain. This weekend it’s also Glastonbury Festival, a music festival in the southwest of England. All the festival-goers camp for three days and see loads of live bands. Unfortunately, the festival takes place in a valley. There have been torrential downpours and the place has turned into a mud-bath. You can find out more about Glastonbury here: Link to BBC news report on Glastonbury
In summer in the UK, temperatures reach a maximum of 32 degrees Celsius. It’s not really that hot compared to a lot of other countries around the world, but as I said before, we’re a nation of whingers. People soon start moaning if temperatures stay at this level for more than a few days. As for me, when it rains, I like to read the newspaper and have a cuppa. I prefer the autumn, when the sky is blue and the days are crisp and bright.
Naheed, I’ve been a veggi since the age of 16. I think there are probably three reasons why I don’t eat meat. 1) As you know, I’m an animal lover. 2) I never really liked the taste of meat. 3) My grandparents volunteered on a farm, and I remember playing with some really cute pigs when I was young. Then, those pigs were made into sausages. Boo!
Your breakfast of halwa sounds delicious. I think I could get used to Pakistani food! I have tried lassi before and it’s very tasty. Thanks also for the pictures – those buildings are really beautiful. Do you have a favourite building or landmark in Pakistan?
By the way, here are the answers to those informal words we use to describe food in the UK:
1) bangers = sausages
2) a sarnie = a sandwich
3) brekkie = breakfast
4) a chip buttie = a sandwich filled with chips (not very healthy!)
5) grub = a slang word for food in general. You’ll often see signs outside pubs that serve food saying ‘pub grub’.
Now on to grammar. Ruth asked me about the following sentence in my blog about Stonehenge:
I remember there being a mystical atmosphere, and my small mind was quite impressed with the sight it saw.
Ruth wanted to know why I had used ‘being’ in this sentence. I’ll try to explain.
‘Being’ is the gerund form of the verb ‘to be’. Gerunds always end in –ing, and we use them like nouns. However, when you use the verbs ‘remember’ and ‘forget’, there are some special rules to think about:
forget/remember + -ing refers to the past – we use it to talk about things that we have already done:
I’ll never forget visiting Stonehenge at the age of eight.
I remember seeing lots of tall stones.
forget/remember + the infinitive refers to the future – we use it to talk about things that we are going to do, or still have to do at the point when we remember:
Don’t forget to visit Stonehenge when you visit the UK next year.
You must remember to watch the sunrise next June 21st.
I hope that makes sense!
Seeing as it’s Sunday, let’s have a little fun with a quiz. You know that us British love to talk about weather, and with the downpours in Pakistan and the UK, it seems like a good time to introduce you to some phrases that talk about weather. Can you guess what they mean?
1) It’s boiling!
2) Nice weather for ducks!
3) Brrr! It’s a bit parky today!
4) It’s bucketing down.
5) It’s close!
Stay dry!
Jo
Vocabulary
It’s raining cats and dogs – this means it’s raining very heavily.
safe and sound – safe, uninjured
Wimbledon – the international tennis tournament in south London. People often joke that if it’s time for Wimbledon, it must be time for rain.
torrential downpours – extremely heavy rain
mud-bath – a muddy scene or occasion.
If you describe the weather as crisp, it means it’s a bit cold, but the sky is blue and it’s dry.
veggi – short for ‘vegetarian’.
Boo! – you can use this interjection to express your disapproval of something.
Answers to your comments
Ruth – ‘in terms of’ means ‘on the subject of’. It’s a useful phrase if you want to start talking about a new topic. ‘I’ll be asking’ is the future continuous tense. To form the future continuous tense, you use shall/will + be + …ing. We use the future continuous tense when we want to talk about future events that are fixed or decided.
Rocio – you can say ‘I am greedy’ (where ‘greedy’ is an adjective) or you can say ‘I am a greedy guts’ (where ‘greedy guts’ is a noun). We don’t use ‘greedy’ as a noun.
Ahmed – In the UK, we are on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). However, during the summer, we switch to British Summer Time, which is GMT + 1 hour. It’s not the meridian that affects how late the sun sets – it’s how far away from the equator you are. So, if you live in Norway or Sweden (far from the equator), the sun will set very late in summer and very early in winter. However, if you live near the equator, you won’t notice much difference in the length of the days, no matter what time of year.
Comments
Hello Jo, thank you for your great blog. The homework: 1) It's boiling!: The temperature is hot. I'm boiling! 2) Nice weather for ducks!: I think the weather is good. The weather was good yesterday, it was nice weather for ducks! 3) Brrr! It's a bit parky today!: The weather is cold. Can I light the fire? It's a bit parky today! 4) It's bucketing down.: It's the same as It's pouring. Don't go out, it's bucketing down. 5) It's close!: The atmosphere is uncomfortably warm with not enough air. The atmosphere was close in São Paulo but now it's cold. Am I right, Jo? Best wishes, Julio.
Hi Jo!!! As I told to Naheed, here the sun is shining and the temperature is reaching 28°, and we are in the winter time! Can you believe that?! Let me try to do the homework: 1-it´s boiling: it´s very hot; 2-Nice weather for ducks: when it´s raining a lot; 3-Brrr! It´s a bit parky today: it´s very cold today; 4-It´s bucketing down: when it´s raining very heavily; 5-it´s close: this one I couldn´t figure out. Well, I´m looking forward to knowing the answers in your next entry. Ah Jo! Could I ask you one thing? What´s correct to say? 'I think this book interesting or I find this book interesting.' Sometimes I´m a bit confused about which of those verbs I have to use. Best wishes, Ana Paula.
Why did you use "will" to talk about things that we have already done: I’ll never forget visiting Stonehenge at the age of eight.
Hello,JO,my dear teacher.at the monments i don't know what accurate words can express my feeling,the only thing that i can do is to say "thank you,thank you for your wonderful explanation,it is very clear and you explain them in detail ,now i understand completely.thank you" you know i am very happy when i saw your answer and i sprang up the seat and sound to my husband"come here,my teacher gave me the feedback"i have to say you give me the courage ,thank you.i will work hard and keep on learning my English .
The answers to your question might be: 1.- It's boiling: It is very hot 2.- Nice weather for ducks!: It is very wet. 3.- Brrr! It's a bit parky today!: It is a bit cold. 4.- It's close!: It is cloudy. The weather here in the South-East of Spain is sunny and hot. A perfect day for the summer. Have a good day.
Hi Jo, We received heavy rains in Sothern and Western India. At least 60 people have died. Fortunately, the Bangalore climate has been good. Though, we received some rain, it did not affect normal life here. This is one of the reasons why Bangalore is a preferred location for many people. The temperature here is good compared to other cities in India. Today, right now, ie noon, the temperature is 26 C. I am a non-vegetarian and I am still trying to figure out why people(veggies) are abstaining from non-veg. You might find it difficult to eat non-veg initially but if you start taking it, I am certain you will enjoy it. That’s my theory, I eat everything, I am still to discover a dish I hate, and probably there won't be one :). If I don't like something, I force myself to eat it, yes it is difficult initially, but with a little effort you will slowly start enjoying it. This works, I have tried it. (Try this trick to deal with your second reason for hating non-veg). You are animal lover, me too. Don't you like flowers? Don't you like greenery? Are you a nature lover? If so, how can you eat it? How different is killing animal from cutting a plat? Both bleed. God has given us the power to eat and digest everything (edible), then why do we discriminate? This paragraph is my response to your first and third reasons for being a veggie. **Enjoy it when you can**. There isn’t time to discriminate, a lot left to be discovered. And I am a decaying microbe **paul
Hello, Jo! I just love your qizzes in which we should,on our own,guess the correct meaning of the idioms or phrases which are not in the dictionary. It so challenging that I must accept the challenge chivalrously. "Today temperature reaches a maximum of 40 degrees Celsius. It's boiling!" (meaning it's very hot). All the festival-goers say that Glastonbury has nice weather for ducks!(meaning that it rained so heavily that small pools were made on the ground for ducks to swim in them). When we leave the house unprepared for the cold weather outside, we can say: Brrr!It's a bit parky today! "It's bucketing down in Pakistan and England."(meaning that these two countries are experiencing torrential downpours.)
Hi Jo! a nice teacher you are, no doubt. I seek from you a comprehensive explanation of the usage of "apostrophe s". While exposing Naheed to a better style of writing, you dictate: "Â…the best thing is that my roomÂ’s window faces east ". I am not sure but all i know already is that 'apostrophe s' is usually used where possesser (in this case, the room) is a living thing. >You write: "...my room's window faces east." >What it should be in my thinking: "...the window of my room faces East." So, my question are: 1. What is the trade-off between the usage of 'of' and 'apostrophe s'? 2. Should 'e' be capitalized in 'east'? I do know, what you write, is in common practice now-a-days. Please clear my vagueness by answering it in details. A bundle of thanks in advance. with best regards, Muhammad Asim Munir
Hi Jo, It's close in China.Boo.... Anyway,It's boiling= it's baking It's close=it's stuffy. Nice weather for ducks= it's raining cats and dogs=it's bucketing down=there have been torrential downpours and the place have turned into a mud-bath. Brrr,it's a bit parky= it's chilly.I hope i am bang on the money.Good Luck.
Hi, Jo. When it is sun shower, Japanese say like this " Fox's marriage". I don't know why it is said like this. Do you say something about the weather condition like this? I'll answer the meanings. (1)It's too hot (2)A sunny day (3)It's cold (4)It's a heavy rain (5)??? Bye for now.
Hi Jo,I have a question. What is the difference between these two sentences? The biggest challenge is caused by divorce. The biggest challenge has been caused by divorce. The second one is taken from "Modern English Families" article in bbclearning english. Thanks in advance Paul
Hi Jo, It seems it is raining everywhere, irespective of having summer or monsoon.... God of rain, smiling all over the world, though being cruel to some part of the world...Here goes home work, (1) It’s boiling! = it is hot. 2) Nice weather for ducks! = lots of rain. 3) Brrr! It’s a bit parky today! = 'don't know' 4) It’s bucketing down. = raining heavily 5) It’s close! = 'don't know' wait to remove my 'don't know' from your next blog... Jo, I want to know, about use of two phrases, I understand them when someone uses, but just I can't be sure to use it, please advise. First one is use of 'touchwood', and another one is 'keeping finger crossed', could you please use them in your blog or explain it. Cheers Manas
Great! it was my first day with the blog . It's raining cats and dogs in Koraput too . wishing to continue blogging with you all . with regards chelapila santakar Koraput Orissa India
Hello there . From the time being it is such rainy day . Plenty of water are falling continuously from the sky .After the rain halt , I observe the rainbow across the horizon. You can imagine how wonderful it is . And the weather sound rather awesome .Anyway in the aspect of breakfast in Thailand , the food is the same as the other countries. I eat bread, milk,sausage,coco milk ect. And I shift my menus everyday if I am tedious with these breakfast. By my mum , when I was young , she prepared breakfast for me and my sister. I admit that is delicious !!! Best of luck .
It's the first time that I visit the BBC website and I think that is wonderful!!!! I'm learning a lot of thing here and, Jo, you're a fantastic teacher!! in Italy, the days are crisp. I love them toolike you, Jo! Bye!
hi i from south vietnam where has two season, summer and rainy weather. when i a child, i loked foward to seeing the end of the school times and the begining of summer time. my vacation lasted only three month. you know, it is very difficult to forecast the weather in my country if you was not update the news in tv. in the morning it is very good for ducks with the blue and shining sky, but in the afternoon it is raing cats and dogs here. it is easy to make you disease " soar throat, cough, fever etc ." but i liked, when it is rain heavily, we ran and played some folk games for our ages. it is very exciting
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