Amazing new resource: Coursera

Have you taken a look at this yet? It's Coursera, an online portal for free university courses. Here's a description from their site:

We are a social entrepreneurship company that partners with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. We envision a future where the top universities are educating not only thousands of students, but millions. Our technology enables the best professors to teach tens or hundreds of thousands of students.
Through this, we hope to give everyone access to the world-class education that has so far been available only to a select few. We want to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in. 

To learn more, visit them here.

Its: possessive

Things don't have a gender in English. So to make a possessive that relates to a thing, we use its. Here are some examples:

The company has moved its headquarters to Bangkok.

Even though she didn't buy the car, she was impressed by its features.

He chose the hotel for its excellent design.

If your native language has gendered nouns, this will probably sound strange to you. Nonethless it's important to pay attention to possessives, to use his, hers, and its correctly. One special note: with animals, we often us its unless the animal is known to us as a pet, etc.

The lion raised its head at looked at me.

Our dog can't find her favorite toy.

In the first sentence, you could use her head or his head, but its is commonly used when the animal is a stranger.

Heck, darn and gosh

Heck, darn and gosh are all words created to substitute for other words, with the idea of being more polite.

Heck is a substitute for hell. So you can change common expressions using hell, such as "What the hell is going on here?" to "What the heck is going on here?" and the meaning will be the same, just more polite and with a little less force.

Darn is a substitute for damn. So you might hear "I don't give a darn" or "I can't find the darned keys."

Gosh is a substitute for god. Sometimes people say "Oh my gosh" instead of  "Oh my god."

It turns out that this happens in Spanish too, this practice of substituting more polite words that have a similar sound, and the efffect is very similar.

I admit that in some cases, using darn or gosh sounds kind of old fashioned, and I'm not suggesting that you should do it. But if you see an old film, or spend time with people who don't like using any kind of "bad" language, you should be able to recognize these words.

Phrasal verb: Step up

To step up is to do what needs to be done, especially in a difficult moment.
It can mean to make an extra effort, to take responsibility, or to show courage, depending on the context.
As with most phrasal verbs, step up is an informal way to express this concept, so you would be likely to hear it in conversation, or see it in a blog post or email that has an informal style. Here are a few examples:

You: I was impressed by the way that John stepped up in the meeting, weren't you?
Your colleague: Yeah, especially when he defended Patty. That was great!

******
Your boss: This is an important project, and we need everyone to step up. I'm counting on you to meet the deadline with excellent results.

******
Dear Bob,

I'm writing to thank you and your team for stepping up and delivering a great campaign. Everyone did a wonderful job and the results so far are very good. Please let the others know how much we appreciate the extra effort and great teamwork.

All best,

Joshua

******
The verb here, step, is regular. Step up, stepped up, stepping up, etc.

Expression: To weasel out of

A weasel is a "small slender active carnivorous mammal that is able to prey on animals (as rabbits) larger than itself. They are mostly brown with white markings, and in northern forms turn white in winter."

We also use the word weasel to mean "a sneaky, untrustworthy, or insincere person."

So, to weasel out of something is to escape it or evade it. The idea here is that you said you would do something, and now you don't want to, so you look for a way to weasel out of it. Here are a few examples:

I promised to help Arthur move, but I'm so tired I'm going to try to weasel out of it.

Eames was always very good at weaseling out of things, and nobody every got angry with him.

If you commit to this, don't try to weasel out of it later, OK?


Note: the quoted definitions above are adapted from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

What about pronunciation?

English pronunciation is a difficult subject. It's difficult because when you're learning to speak, you'll be influenced by your teacher, by the listening materials you have, and by the radio, films, etc. You may have noticed that pronunciation is very different in England, India, Australia, and the United States, and even within all of those countries!

Wherever you learn to speak, and from whom, you may have difficulties making yourself understood by people with different accents. Accents affect vowel sounds especially, but they also affect intonation. The same sentence said by people from around the world will sound different every time.

So what should you do? I think the best way to work on your pronunciation is to practice the sounds a lot, and to work on words or sounds that are difficult for you, and try to make them as clearly as you can. Then, if you usually listen to British English, try listening to American English and practice pronouncing words and sentences that way. If you become familiar with both, or with the acccents of the people you'll be speaking to, it will be easier to recognize words, and to make yourself understood.

The most important thing, if someone doesn't understand you, is not to let it bring your confidence down. When I've traveled in the UK, sometimes people haven't understood me, and I've had to repeat my sentence or question. As English is my native language, I didn't let these little problems affect me very much! Just remember that communication is the most important thing, be patient, smile, and repeat your words.

The BBC has a nice online resource for pronunciation which you can access here.

Expression: Nothing to write home about

People used to write letters to their families when they were away, and this was commonly called "writing home".

The expression nothing to write home about means "nothing special" and we use it to describe things that are not unusual. I think we use this expression especially for experiences that weren't as good as we expected them to be. Here are a few examples:

Although they enjoyed the evening, the restaurant was nothing to write home about.

E.J. Clark's latest novel is, unfortunately, nothing to write home about, which will surely disappoint the thousands of readers who made her first book such a success.

You: How was the concert last night?
Your colleague: Nothing to write home about.

One-upmanship

One-upmanship is behavior in which someone tries to get an advantage by doing, saying, or having better things than someone else (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

This a essentially a competitive behavior, and it also has a verb: one-up. An example of one-upmanship would be a conversation in which you tell a funny story, and the other person then tries to tell a funnier story. This person is trying to one-up you.

One-upmanship is not generally considered to be positive. It can be annoying to experience, especially in certain contexts. This behavior is often associated with people who always want to be the star. On the other hand, it can be fun if you're in the right mood, and if the other person is someone you enjoy competing with.

Probably one-upmanship is most unfortunate when it's related to competing in terms of wealth or possessions. If I feel I have to impress you with my watch, my car, or taking you to the most expensive restaurant in town, what does it say about me?