Read this carefully

Did you read the headline carefully? That right there is an adverb.

Adverbs, like nouns, adjectives and verbs are part of our everyday speech. We use them in almost every sentence we speak and yet we may not realize it.

If you have just started learning English, you might be a little overwhelmed by everything that is coming your way. So let’s take it slow. Read the next few sentences to get a better understanding of what adverbs are.

Looking at a few examples will make you see in which cases adverbs can be used.

“She drove the car slowly to the end of the road.”

“She sang merrily.”

“It was raining heavily.”

“She smiled at her students happily.”

Now before we ask you to try and identify adverbs in the above sentences, let us explain to you what adverbs are.

Adverbs are words that describe adjectives or verbs with a simple of addition of ‘ly’ at the end of the word. For example: In the above mentioned sentences, we said, “She drove the car slowly to the end of the road.” The adverb in the sentence is ‘slowly’. It is used in answer to the question ‘how’. How did she drive the car? She drove the car slowly to the end of the road. Most adverbs are used as an answer to the question ‘How?’

Please keep in mind, though, that not all words ending with ‘ly’ become adverbs. For example, ‘lovely’, is not an adverb. In a sentence like ‘He ran fast’, the word ‘fast’ is an adverb. It does not have ‘ly’ ending.

We have provided you with a small exercise to help you better grasp the meaning of adverbs.

·         He entered the room ___ since the baby was sleeping. (quiet, quietly)

·         I have ___ any money. (hard, hardly)

·         He lived very ___ with his wife for many years. (happy, happily)

·         Try to speak as ___ as you can. (clear, clearly)

We hope this helped you understand adverbs. To learn adverbs better, enroll for the English language course at ELTIS! 

Exploring the Red Colours of the Chinese Wedding!

If you are in China and witness an event full of red colour all around, you are probably witnessing a Chinese Wedding. The theme of a Chinese wedding is red from the beginning to end. The red colour signifies love, joy and prosperity. The bride wears red, gift boxes are red, wedding decorations are red and even cash gift envelopes are red in colour.

Before the wedding, the bride is alone with a few of her close friends. This period of being alone traditionally meant for the bride to mourn the fact that she will be away from her family and friends after the wedding. During this phase, the groom’s family brings over red gift boxes for the bride. One box contains "uang susu" or 'milk money', and the others contain personal things for the bride to take her to her new home. Three days prior to the wedding, the women from the bride’s family take gifts and return gifts in red packages to the groom’s family.

The wedding date is chosen keeping in mind astrological signs. It is interesting that Chinese weddings commence at half hours, so that the couple starts a new journey at the up-swing of time and not when the clock is moving downwards.

The groom’s attire is decided by his parents. He arrives at the bride’s house and has to give money to the bride’s friends to ‘let her go’ with him. This gesture is symbolic of the groom asking for permission to take his bride. The bride and groom then leave for the wedding site together. The wedding ceremony is a close-knit affair, usually attended only by the couple’s immediate families. Just after the ceremony, the bride who honors the tradition serves tea to her in-laws in a formal ceremony. 

At the reception, the wedding cake with several layers is a symbol of the success ladder that the bride and groom climb as a couple. The reception is full of musical entertainment with meals as elaborate as up to ten courses.

A truly festive wedding!

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Célébrations de Mariage Français- French Wedding Celebrations!

French weddings are found to be a lot more traditional in the small villages of France. In the earlier days, the bride’s best dress was made into a wedding gown by adding lace and beads to it. However, the customary white dress soon took over, as it symbolized the innocence and purity of the bride. Earlier on, blue was a symbol of purity.

It is French tradition that the ‘wedding armoire’, also known as the ‘hope chest’, carries the bride’s ‘trousseau’, which literally means bundle. The trousseau is a bundle of her linens, silks etc. This hope chest is hand-carved by the future bride’s father and is given to her while she is still an adolescent. She then collects the favourite clothes from her wardrobe in this chest, to take to a new home, as a souvenir of her prosperous and happy childhood.

The wedding itself is carried out traditionally only in villages today. The groom calls upon his future wife on the wedding day. They walk to the venue of the wedding together, and on their way, the kids in the crowd hold out white ribbons to block the bride’s way, and it is custom that she cuts each of them.

The wedding is carried out as per normal customs. A square silk cloth, called a ‘carre’, which means square, is held over the bride and groom as they receive the final blessings of the priest. The same ‘carre’ is later used for the baptism of their child.

As the newlyweds walk out of the chapel, the people shower them with rice, as rice is a symbol of prosperity and fertility. At the wedding reception, the couple toast to each other in an engraved, two-handled cup ‘la coupe de mariage’ meaning the wedding cup.

A toast and a party finish off the ceremony with greeting and blessing from family and friends!

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Prepping up for Prepositions!

So how do you like the English language so far? We sincerely hope that with all the help we provide you, it’s gotten easier.

Learning a new language is never easy but it’s a lot of fun! And while learning a new language, you must know the finer details about the language.

We’ve been talking about nouns, adjectives, articles, verbs etc for quite a while now. So today we’re going to look at prepositions.

What are prepositions?

Prepositions are words which are placed before nouns. They usually express a relation between 2 words. For example: “The book is on the desk.” Here, the 2 nouns are ‘book’ and ‘desk’. The relationship between the 2 is ‘on’.

To make it easier on you, let’s just say that prepositions specify:

•     Direction: left, right, across, around etc
•      Placement: behind, in front of, under, over, on, in, inside, beneath etc
•      Time: during, in (as in, in time for the meeting), for, during, while etc

However, there are other important prepositions which you can understand only if you understand the context in which they are used. Let’s take a look at what we’re saying in detail.

•  At: used in the context of age. For example: She learnt to ride a horse at 45!
• About: used in context of topic. For example: We were just talking about you.
• By/on: used in context of medium or method. For example: He got to the restaurant by train. OR He got to the temple by foot.

Now here is an exercise where you can test how well you understand prepositions:

1.     _______ the picture, I can see a woman. 
2.     The woman is sitting _______ a table.
3.     She is sitting _______ a chair.
4.      _______ the table are a laptop, paper, a calculator, two pens and a muffin.
5.     The woman is looking _______ her laptop.

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The Spanish Tomatina!

If you were in Spain, on the third Wednesday in August, you would witness the craziest, most bizarre tradition one could possibly see in Spain. Oh but wait, you might also be covered with tomatoes which are most likely to be flung on you from every which direction.

The Spanish tomato festival, known as the Tomatina, is a traditional festival, held in the Valencian town of Buñol, in which participants throw tomatoes at each other. It is held during the week of festivities at Buñol.

The first part of this sort was allowed to take place in 1950, by the council. People faced a few lows in making this event official, but finally, the Tomatina was sanctioned officially. 

Once this happened, people became very innovative with how they ‘launched’ their tomatoes. They began using water cannons and catapults. It also became common to fill the opponent’s fountains with tomatoes. In 1959, when the Tomatina was approved by the town due to local pressure, there was a rule which stated that the festivities can commence and should end, at the sound of a horn.

The festivities start at around 10am. The first event of this day is the "palo jabón", meaning greasy pole. The goal is to climb a greased pole with a ham on top. The second someone is able to drop the ham off the pole, the signal to begin the tomato fights is given. This usually happens at around 11 in the morning, and the chaos commences!

Tomatoes come in truck loads. Participants are encouraged to wear goggles and gloves. It is also essential that the tomatoes be crushed before throwing, so as to reduce the risk of injuries. The event end after exactly one hour, as the horn goes off again. The city is then hosed down by the fire trucks. Locals are provided with hoses, to get themselves cleaned as well.

This Spanish tradition has not only made it to international popularity, but it has also influenced other countries to inculcate similar traditions.

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Essay 101

Now as you begin to explore the mysterious and (let’s admit), confusing world of the English language, you might be asked to write an essay.

An essay is a short piece of writing usually relating an experience or a point of view to the reader. The nature of the essay might change, for instance, you could be arguing a point or you could be describing an event, place or incident or you could be narrating an experience.

The point is that no matter what the nature of the essay might be, what is important to remember is that there are a few standard rules you must keep in mind while writing them.

Today we’re going to discuss the guidelines you should follow to write an interesting, easy to understand essay.

Right after you decide what the topic of your essay is going to be, you should create an outline of ideas that you want to put into the essay. Meaning, create a rough sheet of ideas that you will be putting into your essay.

Once you have that in order, you must follow the typical structure of essays. That is:

• Introduction
• Body
• Conclusion

Your introduction should be gripping. You should be able to hold the attention of the reader from the very first sentence. The introduction itself should be directly connected to the topic so that the reader isn’t confused about what he’s reading.

In the paragraphs that follow, refer to the rough notes you’d made earlier. Keep each paragraph precise and interesting. Don’t make them long and boring. No one wants to read long and boring essays! ;)

With that, we’d like to remind you that ELTIS SIFIL conducts English learning courses that will help you learn better. So, what are you waiting for?!

Make an Enquiry

Now while we’re on the topic of ‘All things English’, and if you’re in a new country, you might be aware that making conversation is not just about exchanging niceties and small talk.

It is about expressing an opinion or a desire, arguing a point of view, debating on a topic you might have strong opinions about, making enquiries etc.

And we are here to help you with just that.

Today, we are going to talk about making enquiries.

The first thing you must keep in mind while making an enquiry is the fact that the person who you are speaking to isn’t necessarily someone you might know. Hence, remember to be polite and soft spoken. You are not making a demand, but asking for information about something that is of interest to you.

As is always true while speaking to someone, you introduce yourself. We aren’t going to help you with that as you already know how! ;)

What follows is talking about the subject of your enquiry. You could say, ‘I read your article in the newspaper.’ Or, ‘Your advertisement has come to my attention. I understand that you offer courses in/hold classes in/ have a scheme on.’ You could say anything along these lines as long as you make it clear what you are talking about.

What follows is your intention behind calling. ‘I intend to buy/ would like to know more/ would be grateful if you could provide me the information etc’.

You then proceed to saying, ‘could you please send me the information via e-mail/ could you mail me the catalogue/ information about your projects and the price list?’

You then thank the person you are making the enquiry from. Again, this is part of the standard rules you should follow while making a conversation with someone.

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Hello, how do you do?

If you are new to India, you might want to interact with people here and make new friends. You might worry about how to start and carry on a conversation with someone. Well, don’t worry. We’re going to provide a few guidelines on how to begin a conversation with someone you meet for the first time. You cannot go wrong with this!

When you meet someone for the first time, you usually shake hands with a person. It is an informal situation, for example speaking with friends or family members it is alright to say ‘Hi’. However, when meeting someone for the first time or at a work place, it is preferable to say ‘Hello’.

After greeting someone, you introduce yourself to the person. “Hello, I’m Rajesh.” Remember to smile and maintain eye contact with the person you are speaking to. You should follow this as a general rule while speaking to someone. People like it when they have your absolute attention and you can give them that by never breaking eye contact. Smile and pay attention to what they say to you.

Once the initial introductions take place, you can to say, “Nice to meet you.” or, “It’s a pleasure meeting you.” These are niceties you make while speaking to someone. Often is the case that once you are introduced to someone, you will be asked about yourself. The most general questions asked are, “Where are you from? Where do you study/work? How do you like India? Have you eaten at so-and-so yet? You must visit so-and-so!”

Similarly, the above mentioned questions are questions you can also ask people when you first meet them. It is advisable not to ask personal questions.

You must keep a few things in mind while speaking to people at all times, though. Always be polite. Smile and maintain eye contact. Ask questions and respond to questions asked to you. And most importantly laugh at the jokes they tell you.

Now, don’t you think making friends in a new place is easy?

Come learn the fascinating world of the English language at ELTIS. 

Meet and Greet!

We greet people whenever we meet them. It is our way of acknowledging someone’s presence. It would be rude if we just looked at someone and said nothing! We should know what to say to someone in the right kind of situations.

Now as you all know, there are a few standard every day greetings. Those are:‘Good morning/afternoon/evening/night.’

But those are not the only greetings. As we all know there are greetings for special occasions as well.

What would you tell someone if you met them on Diwali? You’d wish them a, ‘Happy Diwali!’. Similarly, if you met someone on Christmas, you’d say, ‘Merry Christmas!’ These are known as special greetings.

In the category of special greetings comes: wishing someone luck before a task or wishing them a speedy recovery from an illness or congratulating them on a job well desk.

Complete this conversation between 2 people to get a better idea:

Mr. Baker:	Good morning, Mrs. Brendan.
Mrs. Brendan:	­­­Good morning, Mr. Baker. _______?
Mr. Baker:	I'm fine thanks, ______?
Mrs. Brendan:	Not too bad. Mr. Baker, this is my husband Michael, Michael this is Mr. Baker my English teacher.
Mr. Baker:	Pleased to meet you.
Mr. Brendan:	__________. Are you from Germany, Mr. Brendan?
Mr. Baker:	Yes, East Germany, from Dresden. And you? Are you from London?
Mr. Brendan:	No, I'm from Derby, but I live in London now.
Mrs. Baker:	Well, goodbye Mr. Baker, it was _______.
Mr. Brendan:	You too, goodbye.

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