Harry Potter and the Linguistic Innovator

This is a great article I found on Oxford blog about the new language J. K. Rowling created on the writing of Harry Potter serie of books! "Mudblood",  "Animagus" are only some of them!
Check this link out and have fun!!

http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/07/harry-potter-linguistic-innovator/

All right or Alright?

Is it acceptable to write alright as one word, rather than two separate ones? For example:

She calls them whenever she is travelling to assure them she is alright.

Similar ‘merged’ words such as altogether and already have been accepted in standard English for a very long time, so there is no logical reason to object to the one-word form alright. Nevertheless, many people dislike it and regard it as incorrect, so it’s best to avoid using alright in formal writing. Write it as two separate words instead:

She calls them whenever she is travelling to assure them she is all right.

 Fonte: http://oxforddictionaries.com/

Irish Jokes part II

More Irish Jokes for you!!

Enjoy them!! :)

An Irish man walks into a pub. The bartender asks him, "what'll you have?" The man says, "Give me three pints of Guinness please."
So the bartender brings him three pints and the man proceeds to alternately sip one, then the other, then the third until they're gone. He then orders three more.
The bartender says, "Sir, I know you like them cold. You don't have to order three at a time. I can keep an eye on it and when you get low I'll bring you a fresh cold one."
The man says, "You don't understand. I have two brothers, one in Australia and one in the States. We made a vow to each other that every Saturday night we'd still drink together. So right now, my brothers have three Guinness Stouts too, and we're drinking together.
The bartender thought that was a wonderful tradition.
Every week the man came in and ordered three beers. Then one week he came in and ordered only two. He drank them and then ordered two more.
The bartender said to him, "I know what your tradition is, and I'd just like to say that I'm sorry that one of your brothers died."
The man said, "Oh, me brothers are fine - I just quit drinking."


The local District Judge had given the defendant a lecture on the evils of drink. But in view of the fact that this was the first time the man had been drunk and incapable, the case was dismissed on payment of ten shillings costs. "Now don't let me ever see your face again," said the Justice sternly as the defendant turned to go. "I'm afraid I can't promise that, sir," said the released man. "And why not?" Because I'm the barman at your regular pub!

Irish Jokes

Hello Guys!!

These are some Irish jokes for you! Have fun!!

Why did God invent whiskey? So the Irish would never rule the world.


Two farmers were driving their tractor down the middle of a country road. A car comes around the corner backs hard to avoid them , skids, tumbles twice and land in a field. Jimmy say to Eamonn it's just as well we got out of that field.


Seamus do you understand French, I do if its spoken in Irish

O'Connell was staggering home with a small Paddy in his back pocket when he slipped and fell heavily. Struggling to his feet, he felt something wet running down his leg.
"Please, God," he implored, "let it be blood!"

An Irishman, Englishman and a German are caught in Saudi Arabia drinking. "Under Saudi law you are sentenced to 30 lashes then deported. Before you begin you are entitled to something on you back, what would you like?" said the prison guard to the Englishman just before lashing him. The English man, being a bit of a cricket fan, asked for linseed oil. When they lashed him on a post and let him go to catch his flight back to London he groaned and crawled to the airport. Next came the German. "Under Saudi law you are sentenced to 30 lashes then deported. Before you begin you are entitled to something on you back, what would you like?" said the prison guard "Nothing" said the German and, after receiving his lashes spat on the ground, called the prison guards Schisers and started off towards the airport. The guards then came to the Irishman. "Under Saudi law you are sentenced to 30 lashes then deported. Before you begin you are entitled to something on you back, what would you like?" "Oh", replied the Irishman, "I'll take the German".

Gerund, Infinitive or both? Part III

Verbs followed by both infinitive and gerund:

 1.       begin                              7. prefer

2.       continue                         8. forget

       3.       like                                  9. remember

    4.       love                                 10. pretend

5.       try                                 11. hate

6.       start                                12. stop

                                                                     13.  go on                                    

Gerund, Infinitive or both? Part II

Verbs followed by infinitive:

1. hope to do sth                 19. offer to do sth

2. wish to do sth                  20.  plan to do  sth

3. agree to do sth               21. choose to do sth

4. disagree to do sth          22. advice sb. to do sth

5. want to do  sth                23. would like to do sth

6. decide to do sth              24. rush to do   sth

7. learn to do sth                 25. attempt to     

8. fail to do sth                   26. try to do sth

9.  expect to do sth             27. volunteer to do sth

10. choose to do sth           28. hurry to do  sth

11. teach sb. to do sth        29. be allowed to do sth

12. afford to do sth           30. hope to do sth

13. teach sb. to do sth       31. be sure to do

14. ask sb. to do sth          32.  help sb to do sth

15. get sb. to do sth            33.  offer to do sth

16. seem to do sth              34. invite sb to do sth

17. need to do sth               35.  allow sb to do sth

18. tell sb. to do sth            36.  have to do sth

                                               37. manage to do sth

Gerund, Infinitive or both?

Hey Folks!
Let´s start a serie of post with this commom doubt... What comes next? Gerund, Infinitive or both??
Take a look!

Verbs followed by gerund:

1. avoid doing sth

2. can't help doing sth        

3. can't stand doing sth  

4. delay   doing sth             

5. deny     doing sth             

6. dislike doing sth              

7. enjoy   doing sth             

8. escape doing sth              

9. fancy   doing sth             

10. finish doing sth             

11. regret doing sth    

12. imagine doing sth 

13. suggest doing sth

14. keep doing sth   

15. mention doing sth

16. mind doing sth  

17. miss doing sth

18. permit doing sth

19. postpone doing sth

20. risk doing sth

21. reject doing sth

22. resist doing sth

23. recall doing sth

24. have fun doing

25 . consider doing

26. admit doing

27. be busy doing

28. be worth doing

29. keep doing sth

Quando usar Letras Maiúsculas em Inglês? Capital Letters

You should always use a capital letter in the following situations:

 

In the names of people, places, or related words

 

Africa, African

Buddha, Buddhism

Shakespeare, Shakespearean

 

At the beginning of a sentence

 

The museum has huge potential. It will be a great boost to the area and we are really excited about it.

 

In the titles of books, films, organizations, etc.

 

Use a capital letter in the titles of books and other publications, films, organizations, special days, etc. In such cases, you need a capital letter for all the main words but not for the connecting words such as a, an, the, or, and, etc.:

 

Pride and Prejudice

Christmas Day

the Houses of Parliament.

 

In abbreviations

 

If you’re using the first letter of the abbreviated words, every letter should be a capital, e.g.:

 

BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation)

USA (United States of America)

MP (Member of Parliament)

 

With Days of the Week and  Months

                       January, March

                       Tuesday,Saturday

 

 

 Fonte: http://oxforddictionaries.com/

Comparative x Superlative Adjectives

Let´s remember the rules of the game? :)

Check them out:

Comparative and superlative adjectives

The comparative form of an adjective is used for comparing two people or things (e.g. he is taller than me), while the superlative is used for comparing one person or thing with every other member of their group (e.g. he was the tallest boy in the class).

 

Adjectives make their comparative and superlative forms in different ways, depending on the base adjective itself. Here’s a quick-reference guide to the spelling of comparative and superlative adjectives:

 

 

Adjectives with one syllable

 

In general, if the adjective has one syllable, then the letters -er or -est are added:

 

warm               warmer              warmest

quick               quicker              quickest

tall                    taller                   tallest

 

 

Adjectives with one syllable ending in e

 

If the adjective has one syllable and ends in e, just add -r or -st:

 

late                   later                  latest

nice                  nicer                 nicest

large                larger                largest

 

 

Adjectives with two syllables

 

Adjectives with two syllables vary. Some add -er/-est or -r/-st:

 

feeble                feebler               feeblest

 

Some use the words ‘more’ for the comparative and ‘most’ for the superlative:

 

famous           more famous            most famous

 

Many can do either, like clever:

 

clever                cleverer/more clever       cleverest/most clever

 

 

Adjectives with three syllables or more

 

If the adjective has three syllables or more, then the words ‘more’ and ‘most’ are used:

 

interesting         more interesting             most interesting

attractive           more attractive               most attractive

 

 

Adjectives that change their spelling

 

Some adjectives change their spelling when forming the comparative and superlative:

 

• Some one-syllable adjectives that end with a single consonant (e.g. big, wet, sad, fat) double this consonant before adding -er or -est:

 

big                   bigger               biggest

wet                  wetter              wettest

sad                   sadder             saddest

 

• If the adjective ends in y (e.g. happy, greedy, or tidy), change the y to an i and add -er or -est:

 

happy               happier             happiest

greedy              greedier           greediest

tidy                    tidier                 tidiest

 

• Some common adjectives have irregular comparative and superlative forms that you just have to learn:

 

bad                                        worse              worst

good                                      better               best

little (of a quantity)               less                    least  

much                                     more                most