Mr Vig

Have you read Atomic Habits, yet?

Such a good book.

Recently, a student reminded me of a story from chapter 11.

It’s a very good lesson for English students.

Maybe it can help your English.

Here it is…

THE EXPERIMENT
One semester, a college professor decided to conduct a little experiment on his students.

With one class, he told them to take pictures every day.

They would be graded on how many photographs they took.

With the other class, he told them they must produce only one photo by the end of the semester; but it has to be a very good photo.

One group was graded on quantity.

The other group was graded on quality.

Which group do you think became better photographers?

The quantity group or the quality group?

Let me know in the comments and tomorrow we’ll talk about how you can use this lesson to improve your English.

Cheers,
Mr. Vig



P.S.

Can you really speak better English in just one month?

I believe you can.

Here’s how: https://confident-conversation-master.lovable.app/

That’s a common question American college kids get asked.

In the U.S. university system, students take a variety of courses.

Science… math… literature…. history…. language…. underwater basket weaving….

Then, in the second or third year, you declare a major.

Your major will be the subject you focus on for the rest of your four years and which you take the most classes in.

Care to guess what my major was? (Hint: It wasn’t teaching or English or writing or even business.)

IS COLLEGE STILL IMPORTANT?
Interestingly, once you get out of college, people seem to care less and less what your major was.

In fact, I don’t even know where my American friends went to college.

Or IF they went to college…

In the past, the only way to get an education was to go to school.

Universities had a monopoly on information.

So if you had a university degree, it was special; you were elite.

But these days, you can learn whatever you want at home, on your phone, for cheap or free.

So do we still need college?

THE OXFORD DEBATE
Did you see the video of Charlie Kirk debating students and professors at Oxford?

Oxford is one of the top schools in the world.

Only smart people go there.

Yet Charlie Kirk never went to college.

He was self-taught.

And who do you think won the debate?

As we say in English, Charlie wiped the floor with them.

Cheers,
Mr. Vig

P.S.
Ready for real progress in English?

Upgrade to Atomic Homework and in just 15 minutes a day, you’ll get better speaking, understanding and vocabulary:
https://english.mrvig.com/atomic-homework-premium

I was five or six years old.

My family was on vacation at a resort in the mountains of Virginia.

In the 1970s, it was still common for resorts to have formal dinners with music and dancing.

During dinner, my sister, ten years older than me, told me to walk up to a little girl sitting nearby with her family and ask her to dance.

I trusted my sister and obeyed.

I walked over to the little girl, asked her to dance, and…

THE ATOMIC WORD OF THE WEEK IS….
Major.

You’ve probably heard it before.

But do you know ALL the ways it can be used?

And do you know the most popular idioms with “major”?

Check your inbox this week for all that and more…

A MAJOR BLOW
The little girl looked right at me and in a very loud voice said “No!”

Well, that was a major blow to my fragile, young ego.

It would be quite some time before I would ask another girl to dance…

TOMORROW: More major!

Cheers,
Mr. Vig

P.S.
Ready for real progress in English?

Upgrade to Atomic Homework and in just 15 minutes a day, you’ll get better speaking, understanding and vocabulary:
https://english.mrvig.com/atomic-homework-premium

Sometimes you think you know a word.

But then a native speaker throws a preposition onto the end of the word and the meaning totally changes.

Isn’t English wonderful?!

Never a dull moment.

EXAMPLE
You know the word “chicken,” right?

What about “chicken out”?

No, it’s not when you get KFC to go; but that’s a good guess.

See if you can figure out the meaning from this story.

SCARED BRITS IN PRAGUE
I have a friend who owns a haunted house in Prague.

One day, I was walking by just as a British couple was walking out.

I thought I’d make some small talk and maybe get some business feedback for my friend.

I asked the couple how the haunted house was.

“Dunno, mate” said the British man. “Wez chickened aaht.”

After I found my English to American dictionary, I realized they had been too afraid to walk through the haunted house.

They had chickened out.

P.S.
Ready for real progress in English?

Upgrade to Atomic Homework and in just 15 minutes a day, you’ll get better speaking, understanding and vocabulary:
https://english.mrvig.com/atomic-homework-premium

The question this Monday was: “Will you teach us some phrasal verbs?”

My answer: Yes.

But first, I want to give you a safety lesson.

Because if you learn phrasal verbs the wrong way, you may develop a strange rash on your bum, your husband may leave you for a younger woman, your wife may leave you for a taller man, or worse, you may gain a few pounds!

HOW NOT TO LEARN PHRASAL VERBS
Go to YouTube and type “phrasal verbs” and here’s what you’ll find.

An army of English teachers who want to teach you the WRONG way.

They advertise, “Learn 20 phrasal verbs with ‘out’.”

Or, “Learn 50 phrasal verbs with ‘take’.”

Maybe they don’t have bad intentions.

But if you learn from them your English will definitely suffer.

Here’s why.

According to research, if you learn even two words which have similar meanings or sounds at the same time, you have a 25% chance of mixing them up FOREVER!

I have many smart, hard-working students who still confuse “borrow” and “lend”, “east” and “west”, “push” and “pull”.

Not because they’re bad at English.

But because a teacher or text book taught them these similar words at the same time.

So don’t be a fool!

Slow down and learn your phrasal verbs one at a time.

TOMORROW
Atomic Word #2440 – “Chicken” (not the kind you get at KFC)

P.S.
Ready for real progress in English?

Upgrade to Atomic Homework and in just 15 minutes a day, you’ll get better speaking, understanding and vocabulary:
https://english.mrvig.com/atomic-homework-premium

“No roughhousing!”

That’s what adults tell American boys when they play.

I never understood it.

First of all, that’s how boys are supposed to play: they run, jump, wrestle and fight.

What do you expect them to do?

Play Uno all day?

And second, why is the word “house” in there?

Why don’t adults say, “Stop playing rough!”

Or, “Play nice, like your sister, Nancy.”

But it’s an idiom, so don’t look for logic or think too hard about it.

ROUGH #2
This week, we’re exploring five ways to use Atomic Word #2,431: Rough.

Go here for Rough #1.

Meaning #2 is about behavior and violence.

Boys like to play rough.

The baby was too rough with the cat and it scratched him.

He got robbed in a rough area of town.

What else…?

You took a cruise to the Bahamas to relax but the seas were rough and you spent the entire trip barfing in the bathroom.

Last one…

The minister’s wife was into rough s*x.

Who said English had to be boring?

TOMORROW: More rough!

P.S.
Ready for real progress in English?

Upgrade to Atomic Homework and in just 15 minutes a day, you’ll get better speaking, understanding and vocabulary:
https://english.mrvig.com/atomic-homework-premium

Rough.

A simple word.

But native speakers use it five different ways!

Let’s get started….

ROUGH #1
In Prague, there are two types of roads.

The modern, paved roads and the old cobblestone roads.

American tourists love the cobblestones.

It’s unusual to see cobblestones in the U.S.

“Charming.” “Lovely.” “Picturesque,” they say.

But when you live here, and you drive a car or ride a bike every day, you might have a different opinion.

“The cobblestone roads are rough,” you might say.

A headline from the local news reads:

“How to ride more comfortably on a bike over the rough cobblestones in Vodičkova Street.”

But I don’t mind.

I have neither a bike nor a car – I don’t need them!

Another reason I love living in Europe.

Every walk or tram ride I take is nice and smooth.

Cheers,
Mr. Vig

P.S.

- What does “rough” mean?
- How do you pronounce it?
- What are some more examples?
- How can you remember it and use it correctly?

P.P.S.
Ready for real progress in English?

Upgrade to Atomic Homework and in just 15 minutes a day, you’ll get better speaking, understanding and vocabulary:
https://english.mrvig.com/atomic-homework-premium

Who’s the best teacher in the world?

The best teacher in the world is the question “Why?”

Ask this question every day, and you will learn a lot.

Try it now…

Either vs Neither
Saturday night, I went to an expat bar.

That’s where you can go to meet other English speakers.

I got to talking with a Sicilian guy.

“Where in the U.S. are you from?” he asked.

“Virginia,” I answered.

“Oh, I spent a few days in jail in Virginia.”

Here’s the story.

One summer, he went to visit his uncle who lives in a small town.

One afternoon, he was walking down the street when the cops stopped him.

They didn’t believe he was from Italy.

“You’re either from Mexico or El Salvador,” they told him.

“I’m from neither of those places,” he replied.

They didn’t even believe his passport and visa were real.

So they threw him in jail.

I apologized and blamed it on Obama. (This happened in 2016.)

Why?
Why did I use “either”?

Why did I use “neither”?

Why?

P.S.
Ready for real progress in English?

Upgrade to Atomic Homework and in just 15 minutes a day, you’ll get better speaking, understanding and vocabulary:
https://english.mrvig.com/atomic-homework-premium

That’s good advice.

It means, you can’t, and shouldn’t, fight everyone.

Nor should you focus on, or give energy to, everyone and everything that asks for your attention.

You’ve only got so much energy.

Spend it where it matters.

A LAZY LANDLORD
Yesterday, I told you about my landlord.

Part of my rent should pay for the cleaning of the building’s common areas: the entrance hall, the elevator, etc.

But the building is filthy.

And when I complain, they say, “We don’t know what you’re talking about; the building is clean. And if you don’t like it, you can move out.”

How’s that for customer service!

Is this a battle I want to fight?

Aren’t there more important things I can focus on?

P.S.
Ready for real progress in English?

Upgrade to Atomic Homework and in just 15 minutes a day, you’ll get better speaking, understanding and vocabulary:
https://english.mrvig.com/atomic-homework-vsl

“Your room looks like a pig sty!”

Sooner or later, every teenage American boy hears his mother say that about his room.

A pig sty is where pigs live.

I’ve never visited a pig sty.

But I imagine they’re a mess.

Now here’s why I’m thinking about pig sties today…

TOUGH NEGOTIATORS
I’m about to renew my rental contract for my apartment.

And like last year, they’re raising the rent again.

So I thought it would be a good time to ask them to clean the entrance area of the building.

It’s really filthy.

Trash in the elevator. Dirt on the walls. Cobwebs on the ceiling. A cigarette butt on the stairs….

They said they do clean it.

And if I don’t like it, I can move out.

But I don’t want to move out!

What would you do?

P.S.
Ready for real progress in English?

Upgrade to Atomic Homework and in just 15 minutes a day, you’ll get better speaking, understanding and vocabulary:
https://english.mrvig.com/atomic-homework-vsl

I used to be afraid of swimming.

Come to think of it, maybe I was afraid of water: I also hated bath time.

Anyway, I no longer fear the water – I’ve already taken two showers this year:)

And I love swimming!

So here’s how I overcame my fear…

THE SUMMER OF 1970 SOMETHING
A young Mr. Vig was wading into the family backyard swimming pool with his usual water wings strapped to his arms.

Then some friends came over.

They didn’t need water wings.

Instead, they took turns jumping off the diving board into the deep end.

They were having fun without me!

I didn’t like that.

So I took off my water wings and joined them.

And that is how I conquered my fear.

I jumped into the deep end.

But not right away.

And I definitely needed some motivation in the form of peer pressure.

ONE SIZE FITS ALL?
Yesterday, I asked you if you agree or disagree that jumping into the deep end is a good way to learn to speak.

Polyglot Benny Lewis, who wrote the book Fluent In Three Months, says “Speak from day one.”

But I’m not convinced it’s a good idea for everyone.

Tell me what you think in the comments.

P.S.
Ready for real progress in English?

Upgrade to Atomic Homework and in just 15 minutes a day, you’ll get better speaking, understanding and vocabulary:
https://english.mrvig.com/atomic-homework-vsl