In the midst of

In the midst of is pretty much the same as in the middle of, with one important difference.

We say in the midst of about activities, and it means that we're busy doing something at the moment.

Whereas in the middle of can also refer to location, as in "La Boqueria market is in the middle of Barcelona."



Here are a few examples of how they are similar, and how they're different:

You: Hi, do you feel like meeting up?
Your friend: I'd love to, but I'm in the midst of packing.
You: Really? Where are you going?
Your friend: Rio...


Your boss: Are you in the middle of something right now?
You: Not really. What's up?

You: Where's that bookstore you were telling me about last week?
Your colleague: It's right in the middle of town, on College Ave.

So, what are you in the midst of right now?

Summer English idea: Read some comics in English

Hi! I hope you're having a really good summer so far, enjoying whatever means summer to you.

If you're working on improving you English, what about reading some comics?

This will be especially helpful if you can find some of your favorites. Since you've read them in your native language, you'll already be familiar with characters and story lines. This makes learning on the language level much easier!

Here are a couple of links: Yahoo comics and GoComics

Enjoy!

-ism and -ist

-ism usually appears as a suffix, and relates to "a distinctive practice, system, or philosophy, typically a political ideology or an artistic movement."

You can see this in words like feminism (being pro-women's rights), racism (discriminating against people because of their race), etc.

-ist refers to a person who embraces one of these practices or beliefs. Feminist, racist, etc.

In this TED talk, Joi Ito argues against being a futurist (someone who focuses on the future as a means of innovation) and for being a "now-ist".

I found this talk inspiring, and I hope you will too.

A nice surprise

I've been away from Thinking in English for a couple of months, so it's been a very nice surprise to find that people are still visiting and finding something valuable.

It's also been great to read some comments on an earlier post in which I questioned whether or not to continue. Knowing that some of you would like to keep reading is very inspiring!

I'll work on coming up with some new material. Thanks for your great support.