Here's an answer to "not/no less than". http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=340875
Other examples:
I will pay no more than $30 for a new pair of shoes.
I will accept no less than $20 for the bike I'm trying to sell on Craig's List.
I'm thinking that people probably say "not" instead of "no" in casual speech though I have no proof.
Hope this helps!
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Week 4-- Day 15
As promised in yesterday's post, we began class with a new turkey idiom-- to talk turkey (to talk seriously about a topic). Our class seemed to have become a music class today with all of our different songs. The Gobble Song is really silly, but fun. If you listen to it again, you might catch the word, gobbler (a turkey). Note that I have put all the noun clauses in purple again.
I received so many emails on swine flu yesterday and Monday that I decided to use the topic to review reported speech. Thanks to Marguerite for giving me the idea to introduce the lesson with the pronunciation of swine vs. swan. You seemed to easily recognize and identify the direct/reported speech in the article. It seemed a piece of cake for you to change the speech to direct or reported speech. I'm optimistic that you will do well on tomorrow's quiz! I ended the lesson with the NPR story because 1) I wanted to talk about prevention instead of focusing on the current news stories [it's difficult to know how true the news stories are (how many people are sick, have died, etc.)]. 2) I wanted to give you listening practice 3) I thought the article was fun-- it's imporant to have fun when you study English, you know! Anyways, you all caught the main ideas and were able to write your reported speech examples. That was another indication that the class is ready to move on to adjective clauses next week.
By the way, I did find a song for tomorrow. It's perfect for a quiz day! (You can take a sneak peak by going to my web site before tomorrow's class.)
A class video might be fun. Let me investigate the possiblity of reserving some sinks somewhere. I'll let you know tomorrow.
After listening to Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond during the break, I had you write in your journals. The time pressure forces you to write quickly. I know that if I had given you an hour to answer those questions, you would have written a lot with few grammar errors. You need this skill in college-level classes.
Then, we finished up the GED reading and did one more vocabulary preparation exercise for tomorrow. Remember, all of the links to The Story of Stuff is on my web site. Pass on the information. It is information that all of us need to know. I've sent it out to all ESL faculty. Who will you send it to?
I googled and found that there are tons of articles on trash and where it is sent. Here is one on trash sent specifically to China. It is interesting and a little scary, too.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4986
Tomorrow is our quiz day. I will look up some good examples of no less vs. not less.
Before I forget, it's still possible to apply for the GED scholarship this quarter. Think about it! It's $600 to use on tuition!
Have a good night. Be sure to study hard, but take time to veg out, too!
I received so many emails on swine flu yesterday and Monday that I decided to use the topic to review reported speech. Thanks to Marguerite for giving me the idea to introduce the lesson with the pronunciation of swine vs. swan. You seemed to easily recognize and identify the direct/reported speech in the article. It seemed a piece of cake for you to change the speech to direct or reported speech. I'm optimistic that you will do well on tomorrow's quiz! I ended the lesson with the NPR story because 1) I wanted to talk about prevention instead of focusing on the current news stories [it's difficult to know how true the news stories are (how many people are sick, have died, etc.)]. 2) I wanted to give you listening practice 3) I thought the article was fun-- it's imporant to have fun when you study English, you know! Anyways, you all caught the main ideas and were able to write your reported speech examples. That was another indication that the class is ready to move on to adjective clauses next week.
By the way, I did find a song for tomorrow. It's perfect for a quiz day! (You can take a sneak peak by going to my web site before tomorrow's class.)
A class video might be fun. Let me investigate the possiblity of reserving some sinks somewhere. I'll let you know tomorrow.
After listening to Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond during the break, I had you write in your journals. The time pressure forces you to write quickly. I know that if I had given you an hour to answer those questions, you would have written a lot with few grammar errors. You need this skill in college-level classes.
Then, we finished up the GED reading and did one more vocabulary preparation exercise for tomorrow. Remember, all of the links to The Story of Stuff is on my web site. Pass on the information. It is information that all of us need to know. I've sent it out to all ESL faculty. Who will you send it to?
I googled and found that there are tons of articles on trash and where it is sent. Here is one on trash sent specifically to China. It is interesting and a little scary, too.
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4986
Tomorrow is our quiz day. I will look up some good examples of no less vs. not less.
Before I forget, it's still possible to apply for the GED scholarship this quarter. Think about it! It's $600 to use on tuition!
Have a good night. Be sure to study hard, but take time to veg out, too!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Week 4-- Day 14
Good afternoon!
I have gobbled up my lunch and am ready to recap today's class! For starters, we had lots of good idioms related to turkeys: to gobble up (to eat it all/quickly), cold turkey (to stop a bad habit all at once), and turkey (a silly person-- not necessarily negative; it can be used in fun). We also shared how turkeys "talk" around the world. If you check my website, you'll see that I'm following up all this talk about turkeys tomorrow!
We reviewed yesterday's grammar. I wanted to go back over it, so I could show you how we express this subjunctive meaning in other ways too. I want you to know that Crystal was actually tested on this grammar when she took the GMAT (standardized test to enter graduate programs in business). In the second exercise, we went over noun clauses from various e-mails I had written. (Just like yesterday, all the noun clauses in the post are purple.) I wanted to show you how common it is to use noun clauses. Also, by having you change the noun clauses to questions (opposite of what we have been doing), I can see how well you really understand the rules.
There was also a question about pronouns with phrasal verbs. The pronoun must be placed between the verb and preposition. Look at these examples:
Throw the trash away. Throw away the trash. Throw it away. Throw away it-- NO!
Turn the TV off. Turn off the TV. Turn it off. Turn off it-- NO!
After that, we moved on to recycling. The 4-minute write gave you a chance to brainstorm ideas on your own. Thank you for taking the recycled pads of paper. I have gotten at least 1,000 pads made for the program, so if you need more, please let me know! I showed you the information on the new recycling procedure in parts of Clark County (outside of Vancouver) to follow up Kim's question from yesterday. Then, we did our last GED reading. I timed you to, hopefully, force you to answer the questions faster. We'll finish going over the answers tomorrow.
We all learned something new today-- Washington has 39 counties, but remember that Washington County is in Oregon :)!
Let's keep our fingers crossed that the sun returns tomorrow!
I have gobbled up my lunch and am ready to recap today's class! For starters, we had lots of good idioms related to turkeys: to gobble up (to eat it all/quickly), cold turkey (to stop a bad habit all at once), and turkey (a silly person-- not necessarily negative; it can be used in fun). We also shared how turkeys "talk" around the world. If you check my website, you'll see that I'm following up all this talk about turkeys tomorrow!
We reviewed yesterday's grammar. I wanted to go back over it, so I could show you how we express this subjunctive meaning in other ways too. I want you to know that Crystal was actually tested on this grammar when she took the GMAT (standardized test to enter graduate programs in business). In the second exercise, we went over noun clauses from various e-mails I had written. (Just like yesterday, all the noun clauses in the post are purple.) I wanted to show you how common it is to use noun clauses. Also, by having you change the noun clauses to questions (opposite of what we have been doing), I can see how well you really understand the rules.
There was also a question about pronouns with phrasal verbs. The pronoun must be placed between the verb and preposition. Look at these examples:
Throw the trash away. Throw away the trash. Throw it away. Throw away it-- NO!
Turn the TV off. Turn off the TV. Turn it off. Turn off it-- NO!
After that, we moved on to recycling. The 4-minute write gave you a chance to brainstorm ideas on your own. Thank you for taking the recycled pads of paper. I have gotten at least 1,000 pads made for the program, so if you need more, please let me know! I showed you the information on the new recycling procedure in parts of Clark County (outside of Vancouver) to follow up Kim's question from yesterday. Then, we did our last GED reading. I timed you to, hopefully, force you to answer the questions faster. We'll finish going over the answers tomorrow.
We all learned something new today-- Washington has 39 counties, but remember that Washington County is in Oregon :)!
Let's keep our fingers crossed that the sun returns tomorrow!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Week 4-- Day 13
Good evening! I have to tell you that I used our idiom/slang of the day to veg out several times today! Remember: I'll only teach you ones that we really use in real life! Other slang we talked about included couch potato and to be glued to the TV. I hope you had a good day and get a chance to relax and veg out tonight, so you're all ready for tomorow's class!
We talked about our last grammar section that you will be quizzed on Thursday. Basically, the rule is that you use the simple form of the verb in the noun clause that follow certain verbs/phrases such as: it is important/essential/imperative, advise, ask, suggest, recommend, etc. We'll practice it again tomorrow. Your observations were correct-- there are other ways to say this same grammar. For example: She asked me to call her soon. She asked that I call her soon.
We will review today's rules tomorrow with a short exercise. Then, we will analyze noun clauses taken from authentic writing-- e-mails. One of the reasons for this particular practice is to show you how often we really do use noun clauses. If you read these posts carefully on our class blog, I'm sure you can find many. (I've put them in purple in this post.)
After that, we finished up the connectors exercise. It can be confusing to remember the different meanings (opposite, chronological order, effect/result, etc.).
We moved back into recycling with a ged reading exercise. We will continue tomorrow by looking at some other resources and another ged exercise. I found the information on recycling that Kim mentioned. I linked it to my web page for you to see. Clark County has changed recycling instructions, but the City of Vancouver hasn't decided whether or not to change.
Hope you're enjoying a relaxing, rainy evening! See you soon.
We talked about our last grammar section that you will be quizzed on Thursday. Basically, the rule is that you use the simple form of the verb in the noun clause that follow certain verbs/phrases such as: it is important/essential/imperative, advise, ask, suggest, recommend, etc. We'll practice it again tomorrow. Your observations were correct-- there are other ways to say this same grammar. For example: She asked me to call her soon. She asked that I call her soon.
We will review today's rules tomorrow with a short exercise. Then, we will analyze noun clauses taken from authentic writing-- e-mails. One of the reasons for this particular practice is to show you how often we really do use noun clauses. If you read these posts carefully on our class blog, I'm sure you can find many. (I've put them in purple in this post.)
After that, we finished up the connectors exercise. It can be confusing to remember the different meanings (opposite, chronological order, effect/result, etc.).
We moved back into recycling with a ged reading exercise. We will continue tomorrow by looking at some other resources and another ged exercise. I found the information on recycling that Kim mentioned. I linked it to my web page for you to see. Clark County has changed recycling instructions, but the City of Vancouver hasn't decided whether or not to change.
Hope you're enjoying a relaxing, rainy evening! See you soon.
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