GRAMMAR QUESTION, Feb. 24th, 2010

Correct the errors in the following sentence:

The commentator said its the most unique program was skated at the competition and they are skating unbelievable therefore it hasn't been surprised that the audience have given them the standing ovation.

Note: you can still see previous Grammar Questions; they are posted in the archive in the side bar and listed a year previous to their date of posting.

PUZZLE, Feb. 24 th, 2010

Previous Puzzle

1. It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a...BALLOON
2. Body modification.TATTOO
3. A Group of people.COMMITTEE
4. Acuteness or acumen. KEENNESS

New Puzzle

Find a shorter word with the meaning given within the following words:

Example: "rapscallion" contains the word "rascal": RApSCALlion

See if you can find the shorter words in the words below that fir the definitions given:
1. prosecute
2. scoundrel
3. falsities
4. stockings
5. pantaloons
6. brackets

WHAT'S HAPPENING?

There are lots of special events/holidays occurring within a very short time frame; learn more about some of these by following the links.
Valentine's Day

Celebrate Valentine's Day on February 14th.We are all familiar with the current representation of this day, but find out about the history behind Valentine’s Day. 

 Gung Hay Fat Choy
 February 14^th also marks the start of the Chinese New Year. This is the Year of the Tiger. There is a long history behind this festival. Besides eating special food (see the guest column below), one of the traditions is the Lion Dance. This one is a especially exciting and energetic!

Ash Wednesday 
The first day of Lent in the Christian calendar is Ash Wednesday. The day before, is known as Shrove Tuesday in much of the English speaking world or as Mardi Gras  in other places; there are many traditions associated with that day, too.

Winter Olympic Games

Today marks the opening of the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver; it’s a huge event both for Canada and for winter sports fans around the world. There is an Athabasca University interest in these games: Madeleine Williams who is competing in cross-country skiing, graduated from AU last summer. Also, her mother is an academic coordinator at AU. Here’s wishing Madeleine good luck!

Family Day

Monday, February 15th, Family Day, is a holiday for some of us; it's a day in which to spend time with family--hence its name.

GRAMMAR QUESTION, Jan. 18th, 2010

Correct the errors in the following sentence:

Less people in Canada are planning travelling over this year because of the worse weather that happened in to many parts of the country recently and because it is expensive.

Note: you can still see previous Grammar Questions; they are posted in the archive in the side bar and listed a year previous to their date of posting.

PUZZLE, Jan. 18th, 2010

Previous Puzzle
Possible answers:
1. a / at / art / tart / treat
2. a / as / sea / ales / false / flames
3. u / us / use / uses / users/ duress / undress

New Puzzle
Let’s try the same thing this week. Add one letter at a time to make a new word: example a to adios (a/as/sad/dais/adios)
1. u … super
2. e … hamper
3. o … erosion

ALL CHANGE, Jan. 18th, 2010

Change the words in the sentence below as indicated. You can only change the exact word in the sequence given; after someone else has posted the next change, then you can post another change. For instance, student 1 writes #1 Subject Noun, and changes the subject noun; Student 2 writes #2 Direct Object Noun, and changes that noun. Each student only makes one change at a time and keeps to the order indicated.If you complete all 7 changes, then start making more changes again from 1 to 7. Each student should build on the changes that the previous students make.

Canadians often play winter sports in the cold weather.

1. change the subject noun 2. change the direct object noun
3. change the indirect object noun 4. change the adjective
5. change the adverb 6. change the verb name
7. change the verb tense

VOCABULARY, Jan. 18, 2010

Vocabulary building is important for both reading comprehension and writing. Use the following two words (note the part of speech) in one sentence.

subserviently (adverb) + malicious (adjective)

To further improve your vocabulary, check Word of the Day every day! There are also word games and puzzles on this site.

GRAMMAR QUESTION, Jan. 8th, 2010

Correct the errors in the following sentence:

As the matter of fact, she was a person who hard being convinced for instant, she certainly would likes to thinks that his opinion are the corrected then any one else view.

Note: you can still see previous Grammar Questions; they are posted in the archive in the side bar and listed a year previous to their date of posting.

GRAMMAR QUESTION Dec. 21

Correct the errors in the following sentence:

Coming down the hill, we seen the truck driving to fast and couldn't of stopped before hitting a car on the intersection: there were debris laying all over the road.

Note: you can still see previous Grammar Questions; they are posted in the archive in the side bar and listed a year previous to their date of posting.

PUZZLE Dec. 21

Puzzle

Here is the answer to last week’s puzzle.
1. blankout + beep = bleep
2. pain + sting = pang
3. haggle + tussle = hassle
4. dumb + confound = dumbfound
5. ditsy + dotty = ditty

New Puzzle
Can you identify the language of the following greetings--each one means “Merry Christmas”. Each student identify just one of the languages before allowing another student a chance--there are plenty of opportunities!

1. Gesëende Kersfees
2. Boas Festas
3. Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rock
4. Glaedelig Jul
5. Felice Navidad
6. Hyvää Joulua
7. Joyeux Noel
8. Froehliche Weihnachten
9. Kala Christouyenna
10. Mele Kalikimaka
11. Merry Christmas, Bada Din Mubarak
12. Nollaig Shona Dhuit
13. Bono Natale
14. Shinnen omedeto
15. Kuwa na Krismasi njema
16. Sung Tan Chuk Ha
17. Linksmu Kaledu
18. Feliz Navidad
19. Natale hilare
20. Maligayang Pasko
21. Wesolych Swiat Bozego
22. Narodzenia
23. Feliz Natal, Gajan Kristnaskon
24. Srozhdestovm Kristovim
25. Suksun Wan Christmas
26. Chuc Mung Giang Sinh
27. Nadolig Llawen

COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT

NEW STUDENTS
Welcome to Kathleen, Kong, and Shu-Chao who are joining the course in December. We hope you will enjoy the course and that you will participate in the blog.

CONGRATULATIONS
Another student has successfully completed the course; congratulations to Jonathan: well done:-)

HAPPY HANUKKAH!
We would like to wish all of our Jewish students a Happy Hanukkah. F


LAST WEEK'S GRAMMAR QUESTION:

The team is real happy that they won the game so easy and now the players recover from the party they had thrown afterwards.

1. Subject-verb agreement: In this sentence, “team” is plural; notice the use of the plural pronoun “they” to refer to the team. Change the verb “is” to “are”.
2. Word form: use an adverb to modify an adjective--change “real” to “really”.
3. Word form: use an adverb to modify a verb; “easy” modifies “won”, so change it to “easily”.
4. Verb tense: for something that is occurring at the present time, use the present progressive tense: change “recover” to “are recovering”.
5. Verb tense: the past perfect tense refers to something that happened before another event in the past, but the party happened after the game. For this reason, use the simple past “threw”.
6. Punctuation: When two independent clauses are separated by a coordinating conjunction (and), use a comma before that conjunction.


Next blog: Monday, December 21st.

COURSE ANNOUNCEMENT

NEW STUDENTS
Welcome to Kathleen, Kong, and Shu-Chao who are joining the course in December. We hope you will enjoy the course and that you will participate in the blog.

CONGRATULATIONS
Another student has successfully completed the course; congratulations to Jonathan: well done:-)

HAPPY HANUKKAH!
We would like to wish all of our Jewish students a Happy Hanukkah. F


LAST WEEK'S GRAMMAR QUESTION:

The team is real happy that they won the game so easy and now the players recover from the party they had thrown afterwards.

1. Subject-verb agreement: In this sentence, “team” is plural; notice the use of the plural pronoun “they” to refer to the team. Change the verb “is” to “are”.
2. Word form: use an adverb to modify an adjective--change “real” to “really”.
3. Word form: use an adverb to modify a verb; “easy” modifies “won”, so change it to “easily”.
4. Verb tense: for something that is occurring at the present time, use the present progressive tense: change “recover” to “are recovering”.
5. Verb tense: the past perfect tense refers to something that happened before another event in the past, but the party happened after the game. For this reason, use the simple past “threw”.
6. Punctuation: When two independent clauses are separated by a coordinating conjunction (and), use a comma before that conjunction.


Next blog: Monday, December 21th.

GRAMMAR QUESTION Dec. 11

Correct the errors in the following sentence:

An economic prof at Simon Fraser university describes Canada that it is an over weight country who needs going on the low-carb diet--low in carbons emissions--and loose some weight.

Note: you can still see previous Grammar Questions; they are posted in the archive in the side bar and listed a year previous to their date of posting.

PUZZLE, Dec. 11

Here are the answers to last week's puzzle:

1. bold + rash = brash
2. chuckle + snort = chortle
3. internal + communication = intercom
4. blow + spurt = blurt
5. flutter + hurry = flurry

What are the blended words that have come from the following pairs of words:

1. blankout + beep
2. pain + sting
3. haggle + tussle
4. dumb + confound
5. ditsy + dotty