You're having a party next weekend. You want to invite one of your friends, who's a very busy person. You don't want to make her feel pressured, so you say:
Don't feel obligated to come if you're too busy.
feel obligated to (do something)
"Feeling obligated" to do something means that you feel like you have to do it. People usually feel obligated to do things for social reasons, like because a friend or neighbor asked them to do it. For example:
I feel obligated to help because, you know, he helped us out a couple of months ago.
I don't really want to go, but I feel kind of obligated.
Don't feel obligated to (do something)
This is an expression that you can use when you're afraid that it will seem like you're pressuring someone too much to do something. In the example above, the speaker is worried that his invitation will make the friend feel that she has to come. He doesn't want to cause stress for her, so he says "Don't feel obligated..."
come (to an event)
When do you use "come" and when do you use "go" to talk about attending an event? Here are some guidelines:
- Use "come" to talk about an event that you're having at your house or office, or that you're organizing.
I'm having a party. Do you want to come?- Use "go" for an event that you're not going to attend.
I'm not going.- Use "go" for something that you're planning to go to, but use "come" to talk about the listener joining you:
I'm going to this Halloween party. Do you want to come?
Friday, October 28, 2011
“Don't feel obligated to come if you're too busy.” - Daily English Phrases
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Top 5 short videos for Business English warm-ups | Teacher Training Blog
Here’s a small collection of short videos I’ve used to set the mood of Business English lessons, to provoke some interesting discussions and to promote some language noticing.
Negotiation – Fifth Element (film)
Specially funny for those who haven’t watched the film; or who don’t remember the scene. It works well in discussions on negotiating styles and cross-cultural differences.
Talent = 10,000 hours + luck
One of my favorites! So much material for discussion, and the guy speaks quite fast which is good to challenge students’ comprehension (and attention!); also a bit of bad language and sarcasm, just enough to be funny and critical at the same time.
Did you know? (Technology)
Not so up-to-date but still incredible. I often ask students to choose one of two pieces of data here and comment on them, trying to relate what they see in the video to their own lives.
Monty Phyton’s – Job Interview
Actually, this is my favorite! No much to say, just watch it and enjoy! Chances are you already did, but not one of my students had when I showed them, so even if it’s old, it’s new.
Hiring the Right People – Mark Zuckerberg
Quite challenging concepts here for those used to traditional recruitment processes where specific qualifications and lots of experience are the order of the day. This video is part of a series made by Stanford University.
And you? Any videos you use in Business English lessons? Let us know!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Word of the Day | placebo
placebo •\plə-ˈsē-(ˌ)bō\• noun
: an innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug
The word placebo has appeared in 112 New York Times articles in the past year, including on Sept. 13 in “A Squirt of Insulin May Delay Alzheimer’s,” by Gina Kolata:
A small pilot study has found preliminary evidence that squirting insulin deep into the nose where it travels to the brain might hold early Alzheimer’s disease at bay, researchers said on Monday.
The study, published online in the Archives of Neurology, included 104 people, a group small enough that the promising results could have occurred by chance.
Researchers at the University of Washington divided the subjects into three groups. One got a placebo, one got 20 international units of aerosolized insulin a day, and the third got 40 international units a day.
… One hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease is reduced metabolism in the brain, which shows up on scans as less use of glucose, the fuel for brain cells. In this assessment, those getting insulin used more glucose in their brains; those taking placebos used less.
The Word of the Day and its definitions have been provided by the language-loving minds behind Vocabulary.com and the Visual Thesaurus.
Learn more about the word “placebo” and see usage examples across a range of subjects on the Vocabulary.com dictionary.
Click on the word below to map it and hear it pronounced:
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
Nice stories for kids in StoryBird
Since I was young, I have always loved reading stories. StoryBird has a big collection of stories for kids as well as the kids at heart. Read one story I saw today in StoryBird!
The Short but Sad Tale of a Girl Named Bella Luna by philomath on Storybird
Nice stories for kids in StoryBird
The Short but Sad Tale of a Girl Named Bella Luna by philomath on Storybird