FREE DAILY ENGLISH LESSONS!
In time, these lessons and "stubs" will be migrated to the Buzzwords site.
Until then, consider them historical.


Mini-Lessons from Friday, Dec. 30, 2011

These Mini-Lessons are posted on Twitter, and in China on Weibo, throughout the day. You can follow them there!

To get the most from them, you should try to use them in sentences, or discuss them with friends. Writing something on Twitter or Weibo is a great way to practice!
  • Sci [Science]: intensity (n): strength of energy like light or heat that can be measured in units. "Light's intensity becomes less as you move away."
  • Eng [Language Study]: conjunction: a word used to join two or more words, like "and," "or," and "but." "I like tea and cake." "He likes tea but not cake."
  • Biz [Business]: liability: responsibility. Also, a problem. "That department isn't making money; it has become a liability."
  • Lit [Literature]: War and Peace: 1869 Russian novel by Leo Tolstoy about Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Famous for its length: in paperback 1,475 pages.
  • New [New Words]: digerati: people who are good at using digital technology, especially the Internet and computers.
  • Slang: What planet are you from?: said when someone says or does a strange thing. "You like Justin Bieber? What planet are you from?
  • Hist [History]: The Bastille: Paris prison where political prisoners were held. Its destruction was a symbol of freedom during the French Revolution.

NOTES:
  1. Except for the Slang words, all the words in these Mini-Lessons came from lists either on the Oxford University Press site or in the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. I wrote the definitions and examples myself.
  2. The Slang words are from my own list, and I wrote the definitions and examples myself.

This lesson is ©2011 by James Baquet. You may share this work freely. Teachers may use it in the classroom, as long as students are told the source (URL). You may not publish this material or sell it. Please write to me if you have any questions about "fair use"

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