Weekly Finds: December 21, 2013

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every week, we’ll be sharing a list of posts, stories, news, or opinions that we've run across the Internet during the past week or two. We won't be discussing them in detail here, but we do encourage you to check them out as they could contain valuable ideas and insights for your IELTS exam.

If you're ready, here we go...

LISTENING

22 Maps That Show How Americans Speak English Totally Differently From Each Other

Check out how small lobsters are named in different parts of the US.

READING

Study: Reading novels makes us better thinkers

New research says reading literary fiction helps people embrace ambiguous ideas and avoid snap judgments.

WRITING

Essay Writing Tips: Essays Are Like Sandwiches!

If you want to write a good essay, it helps to think like a sandwich-designer. Like good essays, good sanwiches have organization by parts, strong introductions, and tight detail.

SPEAKING

12 Old Words that Survived by Getting Fossilized in Idioms

English has changed a lot in the last several hundred years, and there are many words once used that we would no longer recognize today.

GRAMMAR

Confusion of Subjective and Objective Pronouns

How do you decide which form of a pronoun to use, as in the choices of the wording in “John is as fast as him” and “John is as fast as he”? Knowing the varieties of pronouns will help you choose the correct form.

VOCABULARY

Throne Soup: Our Favorite Words from ‘Game of Thrones’

Check out the author's favorite words from the show's past season.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

How to Learn from Mistakes

Check out the author's how-to guide with an accompanying mind map that will explain step-by-step how to learn from mistakes you make.

Weekly Finds: December 14, 2013

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every week, we’ll be sharing a list of posts, stories, news, or opinions that we've run across the Internet during the past week or two. We won't be discussing them in detail here, but we do encourage you to check them out as they could contain valuable ideas and insights for your IELTS exam.

If you're ready, here we go...

LISTENING

16 business jargon words we never, ever want to hear again

Check out the author's list of the worst offenders.

READING

Benjamin Franklin’s Phonetic Alphabet

Franklin’s vision for American didn’t stop with independence and iconography. He also proposed a redesigned alphabet – a new language for a new nation.

WRITING

The Impact of Writing on Our Brain

Check out this interesting set of trivia on writing.

SPEAKING

I now pronounce you … Wait, how do I pronounce you?

Pronunciation is a source of constant controversy – and is it controversy or controversy?

GRAMMAR

Prepositions: The super-handy and horribly confusing widgets of language

To, from, of, by: The little linguistic bits that we use to fit in gaps and hold things together or keep them apart. The author argues that it's all arbitrary.

VOCABULARY

'Hobbitses' and Frankenstein: how pop culture's words become official

Though fantasy and sci-fi have invented hundreds of new words, only a few pass muster to make it into the dictionary.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

Stop Listening To The Positive Thinking Police

Ignoring your stress isn't "positive thinking." Learn how to acknowledge it and build constructive thoughts.

Weekly Finds: December 7, 2013

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Every week, we’ll be sharing a list of posts, stories, news, or opinions that we've run across the Internet during the past week or two. We won't be discussing them in detail here, but we do encourage you to check them out as they could contain valuable ideas and insights for your IELTS exam.

If you're ready, here we go...

LISTENING

A linguistic dissection of 7 annoying teenage sounds

Voiced alveolar stop and breathy-voiced low back unrounded vowel — better known as duhhh.

READING

If your brain were a computer, how much storage space would it have?

The comparison between the human brain and a computer is not a perfect one, but it does lend itself to some interesting lines of inquiry. For instance: what is the storage capacity of your brain?

WRITING

The History of Typography - Animated Short

Check out this paper-letter animation about the history of fonts and typography.

SPEAKING

How Warren Buffett And Joel Osteen Conquered Their Terrifying Fear Of Public Speaking

Don’t let your nerves get in the way of achieving your full potential. Take bold steps today to bring them under control so they enhance—and not harm—your career.

GRAMMAR

11 Compound Word Errors that Might Make You Look like a Numbskull

Check out this helpful list.

VOCABULARY

For the Word on the Street, Courts Call Up an Online Witness

Courts are looking to Urban Dictionary, a crowdsourced Web site, as one way to define words on which a case may turn.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

What does it take to Succeed?

Consistency, Practice & Routine. Read the details on this post.