by Heather Chetwynd | Sep 27, 2021 | Language Training
Most cities have their landmarks. In Toronto, we have one that was sold after the death of its owner, Ed Mirvish. A poor immigrant to Toronto in the 1920s, he built a discount store in 1948 that catered to immigrants and the working class, delighting passersby with...
by Heather Chetwynd | Jul 19, 2021 | Language Training
Have you been working in a job for years with no significant promotion? What might be the reason? While discrimination is always a potential factor, have you considered your skill at communicating clearly and effectively? Expectations regarding appropriate...
by Heather Chetwynd | Jun 10, 2021 | Language Training
I love vocabulary and English has a lot – the Websters Third Dictionary lists over 470,000 words, although many are obsolete. Of course, most native speakers know roughly 20,000 words and commonly use around 8,000. According to Andrei Tapalaga, in his article,...
by Heather Chetwynd | Jun 2, 2021 | Language Training
Only 3000 words make up 86% of the language we commonly use in speaking and writing (Longman Communication 3000). Most intermediate English-speakers already have this vocabulary; they also have learned the common grammatical structures (of which there are dozens.)...
by Heather Chetwynd | Jun 1, 2021 | Language Training
Many of us have our pet peeves – minor annoyances that particularly irritate us, more so than would be normally expected. Well, one of my pet peeves is messing up an expression. Sometimes referred to as an “eggcorn,” the more technical word for this error is...
by Heather Chetwynd | Feb 11, 2021 | Language Training
Pluto the dog is a character that has become popular under Covid. I’ve always enjoyed the humour but this one – called “Losing your Marbles” – is wonderful for my line of work. He speaks in almost pure idioms throughout the 3-minute clip. Listen to...
