Cultural Differences - Brazilian Idioms X American Idioms

What's up? What it do? Colé? Como tá? Howdy? E ai?

As y'all already know, I am a person who really enjoy traveling and getting to know different people and cultures. I have been wondering how interesting it would be to talk about some expressions I hear in Brazil. They CANNOT be literally translated into English because they won't make any sense. Check some out!

BRAZILIAN IDIOMS

AMERICAN IDIOMS

Mão-de-vaca Mala-sem-alça Va em frente! Gororoba Rango ta na mesa! Isso foi a gota d’àgua! Encher o saco Enrolação Encher linguiça Vapt-vupt Fazer vaquinha Cada macaco no seu galho Fuxico/fofoca Fofoqueiro Fulano Falar pelo cotovelo Chá de cadeira Caixa dois Panelinha (grupinho) Papo furado Bater um papo Ficar de papo pro ar Pai coruja To cheio desse nhenheném!

Tight-fisted or tightwad A pain in the neck/ass Go ahead/ go ahead and do it Grub Grub’s up! That was the last straw! To bore/irritate/annoy/piss off To faff about To waffle Wham-bam/zap To chip in/to whip-round(UK) Each one to his trade! Gossip Loudmouth So-and-so To talk to much A long wait A slush fund Clique Bullshit To have a chat/talk To chill out or to relax Doting father I’m sick of this whining!

Hope y'all have a good time reading those above. Try to memorize as many as you can and put them all into practice. I am sure you'll brush up on your English and will sound much more like a native speaker.

Gotta peel out of here! (Tenho que vazar!),

PS.: Thanks Professor Mr. Jack Scholes for the backup. Every student of English Language should read his book "Break the branch? Quebrar o galho"

Rodrigo Pelegrini Honorato
ESL Teacher
rphingles@yahoo.com.br

Present Perfect: Its Struture and Chunks.

Good Morning Flabbergasting English followers,

I have thought about a lot lately and decided to come up with this overwhelming topic on Present Perfect. It really caught my attention when I was teaching a private class and this student, suddenly, jumped off his chair and screamed: "Oh man, I got it!" and I asked him what he had gotten, so he said "Now I know how to use both Simple Past and Present Perfect, it used to be difficult for me because we, Brazlians, use different tenses in Portuguese such as: Simple Present and Past and Present Continuous whilst English speakers use Present Perfect."

Present Perfect is a tense used by all English speakers all over the world. They are used in these situations below:

1. Events that happened in the past, the experience is important, not the time. (no time specification).
2. Events that happened in the past and have relevance in the present.
3. Very recent past. (Just)

Present Perfect Structure - Do not forget it! Both have/haven't and has/hasn't are auxiliary verbs and they are chosen according to the person. The main verb of the sentence is in Past Participle(Third column of the verb table).

Have - I, You, We, They

Has - He, She, It

Positive = Subject(person) + have/has + Main verb(Past Participle) + object(complement)

Negative = Subject(person) + haven't/hasn't + Main verb(P. Participle) + object(complement)

Interrogative = have/has + Subject(person) + Main verb(P. Participle) + object(complement)

Eg.:

• I have driven my parents's car so many times.(Situation 1)
• My sister has been to Rio de Janeiro and she loved it.(Situation 1)
• Homer Simpson hasn't been a good father.(Situation 2)
• I've been to Australia, that's how I brushed up on my English skills.(Situation 2)
• The plane has just landed.(Situation 3)
• I've just finished my homework. (Situation 3)

There are some very imortant chunks (sets of sentences used in particular situations) used in Present Perfect that would surely make your life easier. Here you go;

I've never... She's never... (Eu nunca...)

Have you ever...? Has he ever...? (Você já...?)

I've just... She's just...(Eu acabei de...)

I've been to... He's been to...(Eu estive em...)

I hope y'all have learnt a lot throughout this topic.

Rodrigo Pelegrini Honorato

ESL Teacher

rphingles@yahoo.com.br

Verbs + (-ING), Gerund, Actions, and Set-up Verbs

Hey Flabbergasting English People,

Welcome back to one more posting. I have been aloof lately due to the fact that college has been tough. However, I am back with full power now and guess what? What, what, what, what! That's a brand-new topic.

Using (-ing) is not as simple as we might think it is. People usually think that (-ing)'s function is only to make verbs into their GERUND FORMS. It also can be used in order TO MAKE VERBS INTO NOUNS, AFTER PREPOSITIONS and SET-UP VERBS. Some verbs can be followed by both infinitive form or gerund form, but the meaning would be different.

Verbs followed ONLY by -ing.
admit to - He admitted to killing someone.
be good/ bad at - I am really good at basketball.
consider - He considered me going with them.
enjoy - I enjoy teaching my students.
mind - I don't mind working late.
suggest- I suggested taking the plane instead of the car.
appreciate - She appreciates shopping.
be interested in - I am so interested in Vânia.
feel like - I don't feel like sleeping very late.
miss - I miss riding in my own car.
talking about - I was talking about moving up north.
avoid - I can't avoid thinking about you all the time.
can't help - I can't help going along with you.
deny - I denied being violent.
finish - I have finished writing my book.
look forward to - I've been looking forward to listening to your sweet voice.
practice - I don't practicing speaking Spanish.
think of - I thought of going back to New York.
be capable of - I'm so capable of doing any kind of work.
can't stand - I can't stand listening to opera.
dislike - I dislike playing golf.
give up - My best friend gave up smoking.
mention - He mentioned farting in the elevator.
succeed in - He succeed in fixing cars.


Verbs that can be followed by both the -ing and the full infinitive with a difference in meaning.

remember + (-ing) - I remember going to the mall with Bill. (previous facts that happened)
remember + infinitive - I remembered to go to the mall with Bill. (didn't happen yet)

stop + (-ing) - I stopped smoking. (give up, quit)
stop + infinitive - I stopped to smoke (stop what you are doing in order to smoke)

Continuous Tenses

Present Continuous - I am working on my monograph with my group.

Past Continuous - My mother was talking to my sister about flunking at Mathmatics.

Present Perfect Continuous - They have been studying English for a year now.

Past Perfect Continuous - We all had been trying those materials out.

I have been so happy for what this blog has become. It's been steadly growing to be more complete so as to inform students, teachers, and researchers about English's curiosities and grammatical features. Let's keep it going on! See y'all on the next topic.

Rodrigo Pelegrini Honorato
ESL Teacher
rphingles@yahoo.com.br

Countable X Uncountable Nouns/ There is/There are/ How many/ How much...

Hey everybody,

It's Guilherme and Victor back again with our teacher Rodrigo Pelegrini so as to present a very interesting topic: how many(there are/aren't, are there?), how much(there is/isn't, is there?). Those are some of the differences you might see whilst studying Countable Nouns and Uncountable Nouns.

Countable Nouns refer to things that CAN be counted, for example: apples, desks, computers, people, papers, bananas, cars etc. We use the expressions "how many(questions/ amount = quantity)", "there is(singular)", "there are(plural)".

1. How many papers are there on the wall? There are 4 papers on the wall.
2. How many tiles are there on the floor? There are many tiles on the floor.
3. Are there many people in this room? No, there aren't. There are only 3 people.
4. How many light bulbs are there in this house? There are many.
5. How many computers are there in this room? There is only one computer.

Uncountable Nouns refer to things that CANNOT be counted, for example: liquids, bread, air, noise, energy etc. We use the expressions "how much(questions)", "there is". Remember that "how much" is also the espression to ask about price.

1. How much fresh air is there in the world? There is much.
2. How much air is there in the moon? There is a little.
3. How much does this T-shit cost? It's about twenty dollars.
4. Is there much noise in the room? Yes, there is.
5. Is there much traffic in your neighborhood? No, there isn't.

Thank you very MUCH. And, how many "how muchs" are there in the questions?

Rodrigo Pelegrini Honorato

ESL Teacher

rphingles@yahoo.com.br

Superlative - The best topic ever!

What's good wit'chu? (This is a typical greeting used in Brooklyn,NYC)

By the way, this photo was taken by my homie (friend) in 2007 on our way to Brooklyn. We were crossing the Brooklyn Bridge on the south of Manhattan. Amongst those building on the back, there used to be the World trade Center, but you know.... New York City is THE MOST IMPRESSIVE place I've ever been to. "Nothing is compared to it."

As we are about to discuss how to form superlatives, I could not choose anything other than my favorite city in the world. Houston is beautiful and accommodating. Its nightlife is fantastic, but New York City is THE MOST OVERWHELMING AND BREATHTAKING place.

What's the best place you've ever been to?
Who's the most important person in your life?
Who's the thinnest man you know?
Who's the fattest actor in Hollywood?

Those, above, are examples of superlative questions. They all follow the same rule, which is very easy. Follow my lead and start using it:

Superlatives are made from adjectives. Remember! There are long and short ones. There must be the article THE before the adjective.

Short Adjectives

nice - the nicest - Belo Horizonte is the nicest place in Brazil.
cool - the coolest - Young Joc came out with the coolest songs ever.
ugly - the ugliest - Michael Jackson was the ugliest man who ever lived.
friendly - the friendliest - Brazilians are the friendliest people in the word.

Long Adjectives

intelligent - The most intelligent - You are the most intelligent student of mine.
fantastic - The most fantastic - Flabbergasting English is the most fantastic website on the net.
boring - The most boring - The most boring city are those in which people don't stay up late.
beautiful - The most beautiful - Vânia is the most beautiful and intelligent girl I have ever seen. In addition, she is the best English teacher.

Yeah, that's it for today. Hope you have the dopest (best) week. See y'all later on!

Rodrigo Pelegrini Honorato
ESL Teacher
rphingles@yahoo.com.br