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Showing posts from April, 2022

Fire, Sack, Dismiss, Make Redundant or Lay Off?

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Fire, Sack, Dismiss, Make Redundant or Lay Off? Hello and welcome to Fransy Fancy English! Are you ready to look into these words? FIRE (informal, AmE) You're fired when your work is unsatisfactory or when you did something you shouldn't have done. It's traditionally used in the US.  "He was fired for serious misconduct." "She got fired from her first job." "We had to fire him for dishonesty." DISMISS (formal) Dismiss has several meanings. Today, we'll be looking at two of them. You are probably familiar with: "Class dismissed!". Well, dismiss here means let go, you're allowed to leave! You're free.  "We were dismissed early in the afternoon from work because of the horrible blizzard." If you are dismissed from your job, you're fired and it's quite common in written English because it's considered formal. "He was late again and was dismissed from his job." GIVE SOMEONE

Medical English Online Course

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https://fransy-s-school1.teachable.com/p/medical-english-level-a1-a2-and-b1   Hospital Departments Hospital Equipment Hospital and Medical Staff Body Parts The Respiratory System The digestive System Vitamins The Circulatory System First Aid Abbreviations Glossary Test

Chuckle, Giggle, Snicker, Cackle, Grin or Smirk?

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Chuckle, Giggle, Snicker, Cackle, Grin or Smirk? Hello and welcome to Fransy Fancy English! Today we'll explore the different ways of laughter! Brace yourself, it's contagious! CHUCKLE When you chuckle, you laugh quietly and softly. It can be because you are thinking about something funny. CACKLE To cackle to laugh in a high voice and is usually unpleasant.  GIGGLE Children giggle when they know that something funny is going to happen. Therefore, a person who giggles, laughs in a silly way because they are embarrassed or nervous! SNICKER To snicker is to laugh disrespectfully and in a low voice and sometimes at someone’s problems or mistakes. There are a myriad different ways to smile. Let's look at some of them. Smile is silent and controllable. SMIRK A smirk is a smile that shows that you are pleased with yourself or satisfied because you have done something well. Some people smirk when they know something that other people don't know. GRIN A grin is a wide smile. It

Valuable, Invaluable, Priceless or Precious?

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Valuable, Invaluable, Priceless or Precious? Welcome to Fransy Fancy English! Chaos and confusion when it comes to these words, right? Precious might be easier to understand. Let's see! VALUABLE How do we start? Valuable. Okay... Something valuable is worth lots of money. You know that because you can put a price on it. I can give you an example. What do we call things that are worth a great deal of money, especially small personal things such as jewellery, cameras, items made of precious metals or precious stones, furs? We call them valuables because they're worth money. So, always keep your valuables safe and out of sight.  We can talk about valuable jewellery/paintings/antiques. "The thieves took three pieces of valuable jewellery." The adjective valuable can also describe something which is very useful or important. You can receive valuable advice from a friend or get valuable information about something. In this sense, we can talk about valuable advice/help/exper

In the street or on the street?

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 In the street or on the street? Welcome to Fransy Fancy English! What are the differences between "in the street" and "on the street"? Let's get down to it! In the street In the street refers to the central, traffic area of the street. If you stand in the street, you're in the middle of the street. But why would you want to get hit by a car? Get out of there! Don't tell me you forgot about the potholes! 'We called up to complain about the potholes in the street." If you walk down the street, you walk on the sidewalk and this means you're safe! On the street We drive a car on a street / on the freeway / on the highway. We can also say that a shop is on a specific street.  "Most of the shops on Oxford Street open at 9am and close at 9pm during the week from Monday to Saturday." If you want to refer to the surface of the street, use "on". You are probably familiar with the solid and dotted-white or yellow lines on h

Next to, Beside, Close to, Near, By

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Hello and welcome to Fransy Fancy English! Let's shed some light on next to, beside, close to, near and by! Next to / Beside / close to / near / by Near / Close to (short distance from a person or thing) Near and close to mean the same thing. They are similar to next to and beside but there is more of a distance between the two things. The big difference is that you cannot use the preposition “to” with near.  "The receptionist is near the front door." "We couldn't park the car close to the store." "Our house is close to a pharmacy." "This building is near a subway station." next to / beside Beside and next to have the same meaning. Beside is more formal than next to. Next to means there is nothing else between the two objects, they could be separated by some space. But they could be a few inches apart or more. Beside means there is no space between the two things, they stick together. If you sit beside someone, you are righ

Full Infinitive and Bare Infinitive

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Hello and welcome to Fransy Fancy English! Hope you find these useful!   

Present Continuous, Present Simple and Stative Verbs

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Hello and welcome to Fransy Fancy English! Today we'll be talking about Present Continuous and Stative Verbs. Make sure you watch my video on Present Simple first.

Prepositions of Place (across from, opposite, among, amongst, between, in the middle)

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Hello and welcome to Fransy Fancy English! Let's look into across from, opposite, between, among and in the middle. Across From / Opposite Across from and opposite mean the same thing. They usually refer to something being in front of something else BUT there is normally something between them like a street or table. It is similar to saying that someone or something is on the other side of something.  "I live across from a supermarket."  (it is on the other side of the road) "The chess players sat opposite each other before they began their game."  (They are in front of each other and there is a table between them.)  "She sat opposite him during the meal."  (on the other side of the table). AMONG (also AMONGST in BrE) /əˈmʌŋst/  /əˈmʌŋst/ We use among to say that someone or something is included in a particular group of people or things. These things aren't clearly separated because they are part of a crowd or a mass of objects. We can also use amo

Prepositions of Place (under, below, underneath, beneath)

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Hello and welcome to Fransy Fancy English! Today we will be examining under, below, underneath and beneath. Let's get cracking! Under/below/underneath/beneath  under - over  The opposite of over is under. Under is preferred when something is covered by what is over it. Under means lower that and expresses physical contact between people or things.  "She was wearing a money belt under her sweater." "He had hidden the money under the floorboards." "The cat is under the chair."  (There is no physical contact but the chair is covering the cat so under is used instead of below.) You can say 'under water' to mean below the surface of water: "He was the first person to claim there was oil under the North Sea." "How long can you stay under the water?" "The wreck of the Titanic still remains under the sea."   UNDER + TIME/WEIGHT/AGE/LAYERS  Use under, not below, to refer to age, weight and time.  "Children u

Prepositions of Place (inside, in, outside, above, on, over)

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Hello and welcome to Fransy fancy English! What are the differences between in and inside? Above, on and over? Let's put these prepositions under the microscope!  INSIDE (as a preposition followed by a noun) Something or someone that is inside a place, container, or object is in it or is surrounded by it. Inside would generally refer to the inner part/interior or inner surface/side of something.   "Inside the box there was a gold watch." "The jewels were locked away inside the safe." "He turned on the light after he went inside." "What’s inside the envelope?" INSIDE OF Inside of is sometimes used instead of inside, especially in American English. "I had a strange feeling inside of me." in vs inside  The word inside means that someone or something is physically enclosed, in a room, in a box, etc. The word in can almost always be used in place of inside, but not vice versa. For example, we would say: "He plays in a band." (

Truthful, Sincere, Honest, Frank, Straightforward, Blunt and Direct

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Hello everyone! Welcome to Fransy Fancy English. What does honesty and sincerity mean to you? Is you friend frank or blunt? Is your boss truthful or direct? Let's explore the differences so that you can use these words correctly and be accurate in your descriptions. Truthful Being honest means not telling lies. Being truthful means actively making known all the full truth of a matter. Lawyers must be honest, but they do not have to be truthful. A criminal defense lawyer, for example, in zealously defending a client, has no obligation to actively present the truth. Counsel may not deliberately mislead the court, but has no obligation to tell the defendant’s whole story. "I want a truthful answer." "She gave truthful testimony." Sincere Sincerity is doing an action or feeling a certain way and truly meaning it. Being genuine and truly caring.  A sincere person says or does something with good intentions.   Sincere Person:  "You hair look nice. This hair color