Sawatdi Kha!
Hi There Cris and readers (Steve also says a big 'hello')
Sawatdi Kha, that's Thai for hello. It’s the weekend, yippee!!! And it’s a long holiday here in Thailand so I’ve got 4 days off work. Lots of time to relax and blog. Any plans for the weekend, Cris? Steve and I are going out tonight, maybe to our favourite tapas bar, and then tomorrow some friends are coming over for dinner. So I really need you to give me a recipe, as I can’t decide what to cook.
I really enjoyed looking at all of your pictures and reading about a day in your life. I hope its not raining for Esteban at the Rod Stewart concert. I haven’t looked at the video yet but I plan to do that over the weekend, when I have more time. I’ve also been struggling to upload photos to this site (I need Estaban – can you send him over to me?) but I think I have worked it out. Here is a shot of Josh at the end of the street, next to our favourite foot massage parlour. This is one of the great things about Thailand – you can get fantastic massages everywhere, and at a reasonable price. It’s very relaxing. You asked about ‘trainers’. You can use this word, or also running shoes (not runners), or ‘sneakers’. 
I also enjoyed reading more about your family. Does Juan Pablo find it difficult to juggle work and study? You are lucky to have a 4pm finish and you seem to have a very good work/life balance. I am glad that you don’t have to do housework every day :-) I work 9-6, which is OK, but if I could finish at 5pm that would revolutionise my life. I could get home in time to feed the kids, take Josh to the park before it gets dark, shop, do more blogging for this site (ho ho).
I notice that you make quite a few errors with prepositions. Often we have a choice with prepositions, to reflect the exact meaning of what we want to say. So for example, you wrote about Esteban ‘he’ll be IN the Rod Stewart concert’. Now normally, we’d say ‘he’ll be AT the Rod Stewart concert’, meaning he will be present for the event. If you say ‘IN the concert’ it gives the impression that he is right in the middle of the concert. Both preposition choices are plausible. Take a look at the following sentences. What should the correct prepositions be?
1. Round the corner ___ my house (not *of*)
2. Talk ___ the phone (not *by*)
3. I’m ___ the balcony (not *in*)
4. I take the bus ___ the corner of my house (you said ‘at’, which is OK, but there is another alternative)
5. He helped me ___ attach these pictures (not *with*)
Here are the answers to the puzzle I set you yesterday, i.e. the pairs of words from the paragraph I wrote.
Stakes – steaks
Plane – plain
Bred - bread
Source – sauce
Sum - some
The correct words are steaks, plain, bread, sauce and some, all of which you correctly identified. These pairs of words are all homophones – words which sound the same but which are spelt differently and have different meanings. These words often cause problems to students of English. I am sure you have a long list of these already (if anyone reading doesn’t, then here is some homework for you!)
OK Cris, I usually make life hard for you when I correct you. So, as it’s the weekend, I will relent. Here are some revisions for you about what you wrote in your blog “my godson and 2 more sisters”.
(A) You said that you met your godson last Easter. Did you actually mean ‘this Easter’? As Easter has just happened, ‘last Easter’ implies Easter 2007, while ‘this Easter’ implies ‘Easter 2008’. To be totally explicit, you could say ‘this Easter just gone’.
(B) You said **‘you can’t believe that I have a weak knee too’**. I would change the verb to say, ‘you won’t believe it but I have a weak knee too’, or use an expression using a positive verb, like ‘can you believe that I have a weak knee too?’.
(C) You don’t **’do cross-trainer’**. You either ‘do cross training’ or ‘use the cross trainer’.
(D) You said ‘and which was the most important’. I would rephrase this to say ‘And what was the most important (thing)?’.
(E) ‘Enclose’ is not the best verb to use in an email or blog. Normally we use ‘enclose with letters, when we put something in an envelope. So I would say here ‘please could you give me / tell me / attach the recipe…’
(F) ** ‘How fantastic might be living near the Med’ **. I would change the modal verb to say, ‘How fantastic it must be to live near the Med’.
(G) I liked your expressions ‘changing the subject’. This is correct and another way to say this is, ‘to change the subject’. And well done for trying to use ‘specially’. This is the correct approach – when you learn a new word or expression, you should try to use it.
Finally, I promised you all a quiz about UK history / culture. The quiz is about a historical event whose anniversary is tomorrow (12th April). Here it is.
· What famous British symbol came into existence on 12th April 1606?
· What 2 items initially make up this famous symbol?
· In 1801, what additional part was added?
· What is missing from this famous symbol?
It’s a little bit cryptic, but some of you are very tenacious and I am sure you will find out the answers. All will be revealed tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy your Friday night and speak to you soon.
Best Wishes,
Anne.
PS - Some of you thought Rachel is a boy. Although she may be large, she is a girl. Here is a shot of her looking like a little strawberry.
Over the weekend – during the weekend
To juggle (verb) – here, manage to do 2 or more things at once
Work/life balance (noun) – the difference between the amount of time you spend at work and the time you spend relaxing
revolutionise (verb) - dramatically change (here, for the better)
Plausible (adjective) – possible
To relent (verb) – to relax one’s views a little, to give in
Cryptic – confusing
Tenacious (adjective) – determined to not give up
Replies to readers
Ernesto – thanks for the explanation of ‘porteno’. I must also be a ‘porteno’, as the town I come from in the UK is by the sea (Whitley Bay)
Hi Tanya – your tip about writing as MANY sentence as you can in the past tense using irregular verbs is a good one. What other ideas do you have, readers, for practicing irregular verbs?
Hi Mahjabeen – tell me, what is the difference between ‘quite’ and ‘quiet’?
Hi Rocio – thanks for reminding me about your query. I love all her novels, but especially enjoy ‘Emma’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’.
Hi Ana Paula – if you enjoyed the film of Remains of the Day, I think you will enjoy the book. Aaah – now I see why you eat so healthily – you also exercise a lot. Keep on training!
Hi Leila – just glancing through is better than nothing. And you don’t have to respond with a response every time. Speak to you soon!
Hi Paco – well done, you spotted the correct words. All the words are pronounced the same, but have different meanings. ‘I served it’ (past simple) means when I gave it to Steve, I gave him rice and beans as well.; ‘serve it up’ (present simple) is a general reference to putting the finished dish on the plate once it is cooked.
Comments
Sawatdi Kha Anne :-) I'm happy you've got 4 days off work but I will be still happier if I could say that I’ve got 4 days off work too, but I haven't. I've only got, as most of the people in the world, two days off, which isn't so bad. When I was very young I had only one-days' weekends, if you at all could call them weekends. I don't understand how a woman with two little ones can find time to write the blogs nearly everyday. I have a problem to read them all, and sometimes I have to read them at night when I'm supposed to be fast asleep, not to mention commenting them. So far I'm being tenacious in reading your blogs, which I always find very interesting. Best wishes.
Hello, Anne! Thank you for response and correcting my mistake. Although I have an idea that I have done much more mistakes as it is seemed. I think my main problem is that I hardly aware how to built sentences correctly. Maybe I go to far trying to use construction which is difficult to me today but I don’t know another way of learning. If you want to write you must write. My goal is putting my level of English on one level higher because I would like to be a translator in the end. Now about quiz: it is not seems too difficult task if you have internet and can use Google. Thus, there is about the events of April 12, 1606. We are talking about Union Jack, the flag of United Kingdom. It was setting out at April 12, 1606 and it had the combination of red cross of Britain and wait cross of Scotland on the blue background. Union Jack, I am quoting the BBC site “was the result of the union of the English and Scottish monarchies in 1603, under James I (as he was in England) or James VI (as he was in Scotland)”. In 1801 Ireland had joined Great Britain and Union Jack acquired an add cross, the so-called St Patrick's cross. I am sorry, my explanation not seems very clear without pictures but I have a hope that you will be able to add this pictures tomorrow.
Hello Anne, I wrote this recipe for a BBC Web Cast and I copied it to you. It is easy to cook. This is a recipe for carbonara pasta: 1. In frying pan put olive oil and fry bacon. 2. In large bowl mix eggs, Parmesan cheese and pepper. 3. Cook pasta al dente (a little bit hard). Drain and pour egg mixture over pasta immediately, cooking egg etc. 4. Add bacon sauce and mix. Serves 4.
Hello Anne! As I like learning more about the British history, I decided to spend some time browsing through Wikipedia pages to answer your cryptic questions. And it was pleasure for me - thank you! Sure it was the Union Jack which came into existence on this date after the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were united. St George`s Cross (the flag of England) and St Andrew`s Cross (Scotland) made up the union flag. And in 1801 it was St. Patrick`s flag (Ireland) which was inserted to the old Union Jack to make it appropriate as a symbol for bigger state - the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Here is a good picture, which illustrate the forming of the current Union Jack - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Flags_of_the_Union_Jack.svg It seems to me that Welsh people shouldn`t really like this flag because it is “dragonless”. And I have found really interesting “concept-flag” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Union_Flag_%28including_Wales%29.svg) which might be ideal to balance interests of all four constituent countries. It is with as the Red Dragon (the flag of Wales) in the center. Thought it seems funny to add a dragon to a flag of 21-st century. ;) By the way, here in Russia we have other occasion to celebrate 12th of April. Could you guess which?
Hi Anne, Why massages are very popular in Thai. I don’t know much about this. I can see some of the massage centre in India, especially in the beaches and water falls. The people who do this splash the oil all over the body and massage it. That’s all I know. Very affluent people go there for massaging. The charges are very heavy. Is it really working out in our body? How long you feel fresh after finishing this. How frequently you have to do it.
Hello Anne! It's good to live in Thailand, eeh? I mean all those fantastic massages you've mentioned. Here in Ukraine there are legends about Thai massase. Could you just tell us a bit more about it in you next posts. Thank you. I won't answer to your question about British flag, becouse Tanya from Ireland have already done this. Goodbye.
Hello Anne! Hope you're fine. You're right i've to use 'quite' instead of 'quiet' because 'quite' means to a degree (not used with a negative)like 'quite soon', 'quite rich' and 'quiet' means 'become calm or still'. Here is the HW: 1. Round the corner in_ my house 2. Talk __on_ the phone 3. I’m _at__ the balcony 4. I take the bus __from_ the corner of my house 5. He helped me _to_ attach these pictures. Tc and have a nice weekend!.
Hi Anne, After a bit of « googleing » here are my answers : 1 Union Jack; 2 flags of England and Scotland; 3 St. Patrick’s cross; 4 maybe an embed button with a link to a mp3 file allowing to hear the national anthem ?? ;-) Antonio
Hi Anne! I´m going to looking for the book Remains Of the Day. Thanks for the tip :-). In fact, I have to eat healthily and exercise a lot Anne because I have a genetic problem which makes my body produces more cholesterol than it needs. The medicines give me terrible side effects, therefore I control my cholesterol eating healthily, doing exercises and trying to be less stressed out as possible. Oooh we have a quiz to solve today :-). I´m going to have a shot: What famous British symbol came into existence on 12th April 1606? The Union Flag. · What 2 items initially make up this famous symbol? A red cross with a white background and a white saltire with a blue backgroung. · In 1801, what additional part was added? It was added a new design for the red saltire cross of saint Patrick which represented Ireland. · What is missing from this famous symbol? The Red Dragon. Well Anne, I´m looking forward to seeing the right questions. I´m off to bed now :-). See you tomorrow, Ana Paula.
Hello Anne, it's really good to read your posts and get benefited with your grammar tips. As for your kids, they are very cute and your daughter looks like you, she really is a little strawberry:). Best wishes, Naheed
Anne, you are talking about Union Jack. Initially, I say that the Flag consisted the St George's Cross of England and St George's Cross of Scotland. In 1801 St George's Cross of Ireland was added due Union of Great Britain and Ireland. A very useful exercise!
Hi dear Ann , Hope every thing goes well in your dinner party , is n't a hard work to have some people for dinner with two Kids . I remember that after my son 's birth for a long time I was frightening to have some people in my place . Finally we could see your kids face . Both of them are cute and lovely( kiss both of them for me ) . I think it's the same for all british kids . could you please explain us a bit more about foot massage parlour . I don't know any thing about it , is it some where to take a short rest , in streets ? Here are answer of preposition homework: 1) on 2) to 3)at 4)on 5) to . And about 12 April 1606 as I love this kind of homework due to increasing my knowledge : In this date the union flag is adopted as the Flag of Great Britain . It 's a combination of the red & white cross of St George ( from England ) and the Blue & white cross of St Andrew ( Scotland ) and in 1801 the red& white cross of St Patrick was incorporated following the merger of the kingdom of grate Britain & Ireland in 1800 . Have a nice Holiday and hope to hear soon about you and your family . byeeeeee
Hi, I see that someone has answered before me to your question about 1606 and 1801. I also used Wikipedia (Spanish one I admit) to find it. It is about all the different flags of England, and United Kingdom. I am very fond of editing in wikipedia. Good for you that there is a long weekend. Here we have one of the first cold days, beginning autumn. Bye
Hello Anne. I never make a comment because my bad (very bad instead )english. But ..Did you said Tapas Bar in Thailand. Could you explain it to me?. What type of tapas has this tapas bar?. I´m sorry but I thought tapas were only in my country
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