英語學習筆記

Serving Up Good Table Manners

In a fine-dining restaurant, then forks and knives line up on the table
like an army waiting for orders. There’s no need to break out in a

from: LiveABC No.105

--Brian Foden

from : ALL+ 雜誌

　A major city in the Evergreen State Seattle is situated between three national
parks. The city rests along Puget Sound, and its sprawl marks a gray line between

Yong Kang Street (永康街)

When you are tired from your busy life in the city, how do you catch your breath? You don't have to go through the hassle of planning a trip abroad. A hidden corner of Taipei, Yong Kang Street, will give you the feeling of traveling to a different country, but you won't need your passport!

    A very common idiom among language learners, but not something you hear very often from native speakers. A much more natural way of saying this is just by using the adjective 'easy':

It's raining cats and dogs.
    A great idiom and one that paints a very colorful picture. However... if there is one thing that show up a competent speaker of English as someone who hasn't really fully grasped the language, it's an over-reliance on idioms. In everyday life, we just don't tend to use them, and so coming from a non-native speaker they seem forced and unnatural. Far more appropriate is :
              'It's raining heavily.'

    There are two problems with this sentence. Firstly, we do not say 'UK', we say 'The UK' as it is a group of islands (like 'The Philippines' and 'The Canaries'). Remember that we also use 'the' for 'The USA' as it is a collection of States.
    The second problem is that for 'arrangements' -- i.e. future events you have planned and bought tickets for, invited people etc. we use the present continuous. Because this person is visiting the UK next week, he has probably already arranged everything. The correct sentences, then should be: