If you want to improve your pronunciation and speaking skills, then try the shadowing practice.
What is shadowing?
Shadowing is a language learning technique where you repeat an audio just after you hear it. You’re acting like an “echo” or a “shadow” (hence the name “shadowing). You listen to the words and then say them back out loud. READ MORE
Even after years of education or learning English, there are still some things in grammar that can be messed up. It’s easy for grammar mistakes to slip by.
Based on our extensive experience in teaching English, we have prepared one of the most comprehensive lists of common mistakes made when writing or speaking English. The Verbalists Language Network brings you the 200 grammatical errors we all need to stop making. Once you see which mistakes resonate with you most, make a mental note to avoid them in the future, or just bookmark this page to remind yourself of them again and again. READ MORE
An English audio book is the perfect solution when you are learning the English language. Not only will you be able to practice your comprehension, but you will also learn the correct pronunciation of many everyday words. When you listen to books you are able to follow along with the text and hear how an English speaker will pronounce different words you are unfamiliar with. This is the best way to learn new vocabulary and how to use specific grammar skills when speaking, reading and writing. Today, Verbalists Education brings you one of the best and most exciting audio books.
Did you know that Benedict Cumberbatch is not only a great actor but an amazing narrator as well! Benedict Cumberbatch reads these four new Sherlock Holmes stories by John Taylor: ‘An Inscrutable Masquerade’, ‘The Conundrum of Coach 13’, ‘The Trinity Vicarage Larceny’ and ‘The 10.59 Assassin’. READ MORE
There has been a long and heated debate among linguists and publishers about this popular comma. A song was even written about it. ! It has also earned many names – Oxford Comma, Harvard Comma, Serial Comma…however, in this brief intro, we will stick to “Oxford Comma.” It is interesting that the Oxford Comma originated from British English, but is more used in American English. There are many debates and views about the Oxford Comma, yet we Verbalists like the best the article made by Oxford Royal Academy. So, let’s meet this “serial offender” up close. READ MORE
Get cozy this winter with some tea or coffee and a good book to help you improve your English skills. While it may seem intimidating to read an entire book in English, it is great for mastering fluency. You can even keep a notebook full of words you may not understand to help you with your vocabulary! Here are the top picks from the readers of Goodreads, a site which allows book fans to choose their top picks from each genre.
Best Fiction
Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
A couple who share what seems to be a dream life with their two daughters have their lives turned upside down when they attend a neighbour’s barbecue. Two months later, they regret what happened that day and can’t stop wondering what would’ve happened if they had never gone. READ MORE
There are a couple of odd things about the title Mrs. First, the word it stands for, missus, looks strange written out that way in full. In fact, except in the jokey context of “the missus,” meaning the wife, you almost never see it written out. “Missus Claus” looks far more awkward than “Mister Rogers.” Second, the abbreviation has an ‘r’ in it, and the word doesn’t. Why is there an ‘r’ in Mrs.?
Originally, Mrs. was an abbreviation for mistress, the female counterpart of master. There were various spellings for both forms—it might be maistresse/maistre or maystres/mayster—and variation in pronunciation too. The word mistress had a more general meaning of a woman who is in charge of something. A governess in charge of children was a mistress, as was a woman head of a household. The abbreviated form was used most frequently as a title for a married woman.
Eventually, the title form took on a contracted, ‘r’-less pronunciation, and by the end of the 18th century “missis” was the most acceptable way to say it. (A 1791 pronouncing dictionary said that to pronounce it „mistress“ would “appear quaint and pedantic.”) The full word mistress had by then come to stand for a paramour, someone who was explicitly not a Mrs. READ MORE
Today, we are bringing you the funtastic poem “The Chaos” written nearly 100 years ago (1922) by Gerard Nolst Trenité, also known under the pseudonym Charivarius. This is a classic English poem containing about 800 of the worst irregularities in English spelling and pronunciation. Even native English speakers will find the poem interesting 🙂
You may notice that The Chaos is written from the viewpoint of the foreign learner of English: it is not so much the spelling as such that is lamented, as the fact that the poor learner can never tell how to pronounce words encountered in writing (the poem was, after all, appended to a book of pronunciation exercises). Click here for a PDF version (created by using the phonetic alphabet).
There is also a video of the poem being read out should you need some help on couple of the more unusual words 🙂 READ MORE
