30/11/2011

Noun Phrases

Let's talk about Noun Phrases!

What are they? They include a noun (person, place, thing) and a distinguishing modifier.

Noun phrases are formed in three ways:
1.    1. NOUN + NOUN e.g. a fifteen-minute break, a silver bracelet
2.    2. NOUN +  ‘S + NOUN e.g. Simon’s brother, duck’s eggs, a kid’s pool
3.    3. NOUN + PREPOSITION + NOUN e.g. a piece of bread, a glass of wine

So, modifiers are either articles, pronouns, adjectives, possessive  nouns or participles.

For example, let's take the word 'table' as our noun. 
Now let's put together a couple of noun phrases.

a. a wooden table
b. Mr. Smith's table
c. a four-legged table




07/11/2011

Homophones

In Part Two of the Listening Section of the TOEIC test, the dialogue played tries to confuse the listener by using words that sound the same, but don’t have the same meaning. These words are called homophones.



For example, in Part Two of the listening test you hear:

-Would you like to spend the afternoon window shopping?

a.   - My windows need cleaning.
b.   - I haven’t got time to waste.
c.   - She has got a tiny waist.

Which response is the correct one? a, b, or c? There is no written text to refer to, so you must listen closely.

The correct response is b.

The first answer (a) simply repeats the word ‘window’ and is completely irrelevant to the question asked.

The third answer (c) uses a homophone to confuse and trick the listener.


I’ve compiled a list of homophones below that I hope will be helpful and if anyone has more to add, please do leaving a comment at the end.

pause – paws
hour – our
pore – pour
sea – see
right – write
whole – hole
nose – knows
know – no
piece – peace
there – their
where – wear
flower – flour
four – for
hair – hare
bear – bare
pair – pear
air – heir
sale – sail
sell – cell
waste – waist
tale – tail
flew – flu
blew – blue
plane – plain
sight – site
sweet – suite
time – thyme
wait – weight
whether – weather
be – bee
hi – high
by – buy
groan – grown
fairy – ferry
eye – I
break – brake
ate – eight
led – lead
made – maid
mail – male
meat – meet
none – nun
pail – pale
peak – peek
pole – poll
scene – seen
sole – soul
some – sum
rose – rows
weak – week
which – witch
red – read
deer – dear
mist – missed
past – passed
moose – mousse
in – inn
but – butt
pea – pee
ring – wring
steak – stake
stare – stair
steal – steel
vain – vein
walk – wok
wail – whale
way – weigh

If you don't know the difference in the meanings, then it's time to get your dictionaries out! :) :)