English with Stephen

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Idiom: Pie in the sky

Meaning: Something you hope will happen, but is very unlikely.

Example: I have to be honest, my football team winning the championship this year is just pie in the sky. They are more likely to get relegated.

Your turn: Can you give me an example of pie in the sky thinking that you were guilty of?

Let me know in the comments.

M is for Max

Max is our family dog. He is a beagle and is 8 years old.

He is completely, utterly stupid.

The only two things he cares about are going for walks and eating. He will eat almost anything. He gets very confused when there is food and somebody is offering to take him for a walk at the same time.

We all love Max.

Do you have a pet? Did you have a pet when you were younger? What pet would you love to get in the future? Tell me about your pets in the comments section.

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Idiom: Sour grapes

Meaning: Someone is angry because they haven’t achieved or got something they wanted.

Example: The ex-president is saying lots of negative things about his opponent. I think it’s just sour grapes.

Your turn: Who was the last person you know who said something that was sour grapes?

I promise to answer every message.

L is for linguistics

About 20 years ago, I took a year out of teaching to go back to university and study for an MA in Linguistics.

I had a fantastic year reading and thinking about language. There are so many amazing facets of language. How do we learn language? Is there anything that links all the human languages? How can language be used for good or bad? How do we learn a second language? What is language?

There are so many questions associated with linguistics. And the things is, linguistics affects every single one of us, whether we realise it or not. We are all studying linguistics.

If you had the chance, is there anything you would like to study at university?

If you listened to the English with Stephen podcast 24 hours a day, you would be perfect!

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Idiom: Take the biscuit

Meaning: Something is especially annoying or surprising, or it is the worst thing that could happen.

Example: My life is always boring, but today took the biscuit because absolutely nothing happened!

Your turn: Can you think of something in your life that has taken the biscuit? Let me know in the comments and I promise to answer every message.

K is for Klatch

Klatch is a country. Ok, so it isn’t a real country. It is a country created by the writer Terry Pratchett. I absolutely adore Terry Pratchett.

He wrote a series of satirical fantasy books about a place that is totally different to this planet that we live on because there are giants and witches and trolls and wizard universities and the earth is flat and is carried by 4 elephants who stand on the back of a giant turtle.

But, it is most definitely the same place where we live.

By creating a fantasy world, Terry Pratchett was able to look at the way we live in fine detail. And he does it with humour and love and charm.

Do you have a favourite book or writer? Tell me about them in the comments. I am always on the lookout for new books to read.

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