ABA Journal The digital English academy

Do you remember when you reached the top of that majestic mountain, when you got to the end of the book that changed your life, when you graduated from school, the day you met your ...

Lets look at 12 idioms about time. Some of them are very well known, others not so much. You will learn what they mean and how to use them in a sentence.

The question above is a bit hard to answer. There are two ways we can think of the TOEFL, and depending on how you think, the answer might be “yes” or “no.”

If you compare the TOEFL to other English tests, you could definitely say that it is well made. That’s because it directly tests your actual English ability—how well you can understand and communicate.

As you know, ABA stands for American and British Academy. This is because our course incorporates vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation from both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, we have even more accents in our course since our teachers come from all over the world!

However, our students often ask us questions regarding the differences in vocabulary between American and British English. 

Here is a great infographic with some of the words you might come across:

Explore the french culture by learning the meaning behind some its idioms.

Some adjectives need a preposition before their object. 

For example:

Spain is famous for its Mediterranean cuisine.

My dad is very proud of me.

They are so excited about their vacation to Brazil!

Unfortunately, however, there is no rule to know which prepositions go with which adjectives. This means there is only one solution: using the power of memory. 

Our tip is to try and remember a 3 combinations every day (or every week if you're very busy!). Make sentences with each combination, practice writing them down and saying them out loud. Slowly, you will remember them all.

Here are some of the common combinations of adjectives and prepositions: 

What is WOTY you might ask. WOTY stands for "Word of the Year" and it is time for the Oxford Dictionary to look back on the year and decide which new words or phrases have become so popular that they deserve an award. 

From "selfie" to "chav", these words reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of that particular year and have lasting potential as a word of cultural significance.

The following lesson is for intermediate students. If you are not sure of your English level, take our test!

You can find all this information, plus speaking, writing, vocabulary exercises and more on the ABA English Course Unit 82 -Boys.

One-Syllable Adjectives - Superlative form

Remember how comparative adjectives worked?

For example: 

long - longer

Well, with the superlatives, the endings are different.

The superlative form of one-syllable adjectives normally ends in "-est".

For example: 

long - longest

And before superlatives, we use the definite article "the".

Translate dannish idioms to english and practice your english comprehension.

Learn how to interrupt a meeting in formal and informal English for work.

Welcome to #MusicFriday!

Are you married? Single? In a relationship? Do you want to get married? We ask because the song we will learn today is all about a man asking his future father-in-law for permission to marry his daughter. It's so romantic!

But... he says no! The father-in-law says he will not give permission, so the singer (Nasri) tells him "I will marry her anyway!".

This song is the debut single of Canadian reggae fusion band Magic! Do you like it?

1. Read the lyrics
2. Understand the vocabulary
3. SING!

Learn how to use the question tags with the auxiliary verb "Do", for both positive and negative questions.

The japanese language is full of poetic idioms. Translate them into english and discover their meaning.

...ZZZZZzzzzz....

What? Oh sorry, we were just having a cat nap.

Have you ever heard someone use this expression? It means to have a short nap during the day.

It is not hard to understand where the expression comes from: in the early 1800s, people began using this term to describe short periods of sleep during the day that were similar to those cats have. Cats are notorious for sleeping up to 12 to 16 hours a day! Sometimes they sleep for several hours, but often they just doze in the sunlight for minutes at a time.

However, do you know the origin of napping? It all started in Ancient Egypt. The cat was a sacred animal at that time so the Pharaohs began to  emulate this animal's behaviour.

Beyoncé, the Queen of Pop and R&B.

She has been singing since she was a child and now, after recently having her own child, released her fifth album Beyoncé which immediately went to #1.

Today, we will be using her song XO to learn some new English vocabulary. Ready? This is what you have to do:

1. Read the lyrics
2. Understand the vocabulary
3. SING!

Translating idioms to english can be a great way to learn english and enrich your vocacbulary. Today we have a look at idioms from Finland.