Surrounding special needs, building collocations, mind maps

English as a Second Language What do you want to talk about?
21

Dear Naufragis,

You have raised a number of interesting points. Let’s start with your command of the English language. Of course, there will be people whose English is more fluent and lucid than yours. So what? Wouldn’t you agree that you are very capable of expressing your thoughts? A lot of our users would be very pleased if they could speak English like you.
With every sentence you think, speak, write, read or hear you practise and improve your language skills. Success is the progressive attaintment of something - when it comes to learning there can be no final result and that’s good. Otherwhise life would be boring. Who do you want to emilate? Who do you compare yourself with? You will have a great time in England, people there are much more relaxed than in Germany. They tend to smile more often and they have a very refreshing sense of humour. Am I biased? To use Eminem’s words: Just wanted to start a little controversy…[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: Large elephants[YSaerTTEW443543]

22

hi torsten,

you got it!
I’m quite capable of expressing in writingbut as for speaking I’m not. not yet.
it takes several minutes sometimes to reply - imagine you would like to ask me whatsorever face to face - it surely would make your head fallen down in order to boredom I produce by speaking so slowly. :wink:

…

23

Hi again Naufragis, speaking English is a bit like driving a car: at first it might feel strange and your are slow but then you get better and better and lose your inhibitions. Also, you probably remember how you started to paint your first pictures. It took traning to become fluent and confident, didn’t it?[YSaerTTEW443543]

TOEIC listening, photographs: Shaking hands[YSaerTTEW443543]

24

I don’t even have a car let alone a drivers licence…
LOL
:smiley:
are you still at work?
it’s saturday evening by the way …as fro me I’m suffering from remaining things, remember last night?
I’m not drunken if you might suggest, I got a cold and prefer to stay in bed with my grammar book

25

Hi Naufragis, I’ve noticed you have a special picture as avatar, did you that yourself?

26

yep.

hi frankU
and yours?

27

Naufragis, how did you make your picture? It looks good. Mine is taken from the forum collection.

28

thank you.

well, it’s made acrylic on canvas.
I’ve done it while I was on a practical in the states.
afterwards it was shown at an exhibition acompanied by other pictures I’ve painted.

29

Hi naufragis how long did you stay in the US?

30

hello frankU,

this practical was suppossed to be a few weeks lasting time to prepare an exhibition.
If you like to get to know to some further information, please read [url]http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic466.html[/url]
.
best wishes
naufragis

31

Hi Naufragis,

I am now going to answer your question about contrasts in using words and vocabulary.

In this world we live in what?s called a duality.
In Indian Sanskrit it?s called Maya or the Measurer.
Duality is a state of extremes.
For example :

Negative - Positive
Dark - Light
Wrong - Right
False - True
Minus - Plus
No - Yes

There are other words used to describe this :

Dichotomy, opposites, polarities, separation etc.

Now try and find the middle point between two extremes.
What?s the middle point between …Black & White.
I would call it … Grey.
What?s the middle point between … Negative & Positive?
I would say … Neutrality.
What?s the middle point between … No & Yes ?
I would say … Hesitation, Vacillation, Doubt, Maybe.

Or in this scale : No, Doubt, Yes, Faith.

In the colour spectrum we also have a form of extremes
but that is because our eye frequency cannot see beyond
… Infra red … or … Ultra Violet.

Question : Is there a middle point between … Infra red
and … Ultra Violet ? or do the colours complete a circle?

If we look at opposites and similar words
… i.e. Antonyms & Synonyms
then at some point between the two there is change where
the opposite word begins to take on the same meaning.

NB : I will go into this later on another posting.

Before I go further I would like to show you a scale of words
which show the contrasting colours of frequency as used
by Adverbs in the Present Simple Tense in the English Language.

Adverbs of Frequency

always, usually, often, sometimes, seldom, never.

Q. Where are the extremes or opposites ?
A. always / never - usually / seldom - often / sometimes.

Do you agree with the opposites ?
Is there a middle point ? Maybe not … or ?

Now lets look at your vocabulary. We are looking for words
to compliment and spice up your vocabulary and to help you describe something.
If we use a colour to give an example,
I think it will help us.
Lets choose the colour RED.

Synonyms of the colour RED :
PINK; CERISE; BRIGHT RED; FIRE-ENGINE RED;
BLOOD SHOT; CHERRY; APPLE RED; PASTEL RED; DARK RED;
SCARLET; CRIMSON; RUBY; MAROON; REDDISH; INFLAMED;
FLUSHED; BLUSHING; EMBARRASSED; GINGER; CARROTY;
AUBURN; CHESTNUT; TITIAN; VERMILION;

Antonyms of the colour RED :
???

Q. What?s the opposite of RED, GREEN ???

We can argue that these are NOT similar to RED but totally
different colours.
Now lets apply this to our Adverbs of Frequency.
Is it possible to give a colour to each of these Adverbs.
If so, which colours ?
Is it valid to give a colour from the rainbow spectrum ?

always = red
usually = orange
often = yellow
sometimes = green
seldom = blue
never = lila

What do you think, Naufragis ?
Is the opposite of … always, never …
and therefore the opposite of … red, lila …
Does that work, can it work or more important still;
is it a fact.
I will continue this subject after I receive your thoughts
on the matter.

Best Wishes, Bruce.

32

hello bruce,

puh! there’s so much to think about. just give me some time to do this.
I’ll write later - I’m in a hurry today.
but many thanks for answering

best wishes

33

hello again,

this for first:
the colours do not complete a circle, that’s just a model to our human imagination - the first colour circle was invented by J.W.Goethe - physically they occur in a range of rays, ordered by the length of each wave. the human eye is able to recognise just a few of them. and in order to a certain length of a colour ray we can point out differences, our visual faculty can be better imagined by looking at what happens in our eyes: there are different visual buds at the back of the eyes and each group is able to recognise another wave length . per each difference in length the so called colours - just another name for the physical strewed range of rays - we add suitable emotions to each of them, because our brain links a certain wave length to a certain experience.

34

hello bruce,

I’d like to give some further information about colours.

as you know, colours can describe various states of mind and temper, mood.
but how comes? maybe a closer view on how it works may help:

So, what are [color=darkred]c[color=red]o[color=orange]l[color=yellow]o[color=green]u[color=cyan]r[color=indigo]s?
Technically speaking, colours are the way our brain, by use of our eyes, interprets electromagnetic radiation of a wavelenght between 350 and 750 nanometers (that’s why humans can’t “see” ultra violet or infrared because these are out of it).
The different wavelengths are seen as different colours, as in the spectrum below. You have most likely seen a spectrum like this many times before, so I am not going to say anything more about it.

Colour Wheel
In colour theory, we often talk about the colour wheel (or colour circle as it is also known). A colour wheel is pretty much just the spectrum twisted around so that the violet and red ends are joined.
The colour wheel is particularly useful for showing how the colours relate to each other and how you can create new colours by mixing two or more colours.

Primary Colours
Among the colours in the colour wheel, there are three colours which are referred to as the primary colours. All other colours can be created by mixing these three colours. The primary colours are red, green and blue.

…
Red is the colour that provokes the most physiological responses. It has been shown that red causes the human heart beat and blood pressure to rise and to aid the interconnection of brain neurons. It has also been shown that people working in a red environment work faster, but they also make more mistakes. It increases restlessness and nervous tension. Also, red is commonly regarded to increase appetite.

That red invokes strong reactions in humans is not so surprising when considering what is red in nature; fire, blood, ripe fruits.
Red is the colour that is most easily recognized, and the most visible in daylight. It draws attention. This is the reason why many traffic signs and warning signs are red. Red for stop signs are used all over the world.
Red is regarded as a hot, warm colour and it symbolize aggression and high energy. It is also a sign of warning, danger and error. In the Western World it is also a symbol of love and passion.

so, bruce, would you like to add some of your thoughts about human reactions to colours. what about your relationship to a certain colour? what’s your favourite one?

35

that’s a good idea to collect words that are related to a special subject, and i prefer to make each one in a simple sentence, bye this you’ll never forget it.

36

dear torsten
please correct the topic below & tell me what is your opinion about general idea of this topic

sincerley
hanyraouf

Time management

Intense of people say we haven’t time if you ask them about time & if you look at randomly chosen group of
people at work for example that have a task should be done by dead line , most of the people from this group don’t finish their job ,when you ask why they haven’t finalize that job ,the common answer is we cannot find more time or the time is not enough or the relation between task & time is not proportionate ( task need more time ) .
a lot of people don’t understand the meaning of arrangement &time management in their own life & also how this reflects an effect firstly them selves & finally others .
Because if every body should know that when god gives us daily( every morning) , 24 hours to use it as pocket money, at the end of the day we should give him a balance of this pocket money explaining where were used their?
I think that there are as also a difference between spending time usefully on doing positive things- and wasting time undertaking positive actions time or time on negatively actions , say the definition of time management .
First I will describe the guide line on how to be proficient on time management
1- arrange your priorities from most to the least important.
2- make schedule or time table by writing starting & finishing date of every task.
3- Collect the same tasks in one task to finish in one time .
4- be honest to discuss the main reason of the problem start from the roots of reason not from the branches &every one can find that in his inner self .
5- Evaluate your tasks succees by percentage for example (75 to 100 %) meaning good time
management skills or (50to 75) meaning i need to improve my time management skills or (0to50%)mean I
I am very poor at timing & management .
6 – the person who knows the value of time in his own life is wise, inelegent &serious ,also he have
A balance between emotional & thinking.

Finally don’t postpone your tasks till tomorrow because your have today only & you cannot know &catch what tomorrow brings because today is for you & tomorrow is for god (HOLY BIBLE SAY ).