Tag: TOEIC

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A True Brit

Want to sound like a true Brit (British person)? By adding a few of these phrases to your vocabulary, you’ll be there in no time.

When you feel happy

  • Buzzing (adjective) – really excited e.g. I’m going to England next year, I’m buzzing!
  • Over the moon (adjective) – very happy e.g. Anna is over the moon about her new job.
  • Happy as Larry (adjective) – very happy e.g. I’m as happy as Larry today because I don’t have to work!
  • Chuffed (adjective) – pleased/proud e.g. I was so chuffed when my son passed his exams.
  • Mint (adjective) – something nice or cool e.g. Your car is mint!

When you feel annoyed

  • Bloody (adjective) – informal intensifier e.g. My neighbour plays music loudly every night. It’s so bloody annoying!
  • Codswallop (noun) – nonsense or something ridiculous e.g. My girlfriend says I don’t give her enough attention, what a load of codswallop!
  • Take the biscuit (idiom) – especially annoying, surprising, etc e.g. How are you always late? You really take the biscuit.

When you feel upset

  • Gutted (adjective) – upset or disappointed e.g. I was gutted when Liverpool lost the football match.
  • Down in the dumps (idiom) feeling depressed or unhappy e.g. Not being able to go out is really making me feel down in the dumps.

Extras

  • Gaff (noun) – House, flat or person’s home e.g. My new gaff has a lovely view of the park.
  • Chockablock (adjective) – busy, full of people or things e.g. The mall was chockablock on Black Friday, everyone was trying to grab a bargain.
  • Whinge (verb) – to moan, complain in an annoying way e.g. My little brother is always whinging to my mum if I don’t play with him.
  • Bog-standard (adjective) – something is basic or ordinary e.g. My new apartment is nothing special, it’s just a bog-standard 2 bedroom.

Now you’re equipped with a few new British phrases, try using them yourself.

Feel free to share your favourites with us too!

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Too / Too Much / Too Many / Enough

Quantifiers can be very strange. It may sometimes be confusing to determine whether to use ‘too many’ or ‘too much.’ With this simple post, we hope to tackle this together!

Too – Can be used with:

  • Adjectives: He is too kind.
  • Adverbs: She talks too quickly.
  • Verbs: He eats too much.

Too much – Can be used with:

  • Nouns: There is too much water.
  • Verbs: I can’t talk too much.

Enough – Can be used with:

  • Verbs: She doesn’t sleep enough.
  • Adjectives: He wasn’t tall enough.
  • Adverbs: They visit often enough.
  • Nouns: I didn’t drink enough water.

How to differentiate between ‘too much’ and ‘too many’?

‘Too much’ is used for uncountable nouns, and ‘too many’ is used for countable nouns.

Countable nouns – Things we can count e.g. girl, cat, egg (Can have singular and plural form – girl/girls)

Uncountable nouns – Things we cannot count e.g. salt, rice, happiness (Only has plural form)

UNCOUNTABLE NOUN

Too much – e.g. There is too much salt in the soup.

COUNTABLE NOUN

Too many – e.g. There are too many books on the desk.

Here are some examples in a dialogue:

Jin: Shall we eat some ramen for dinner?

Sara: No way, I haven’t eaten all day, and I’m too hungry!

Jin: So, how about fried chicken?

Sara: That sounds good! I want some cola too.

Jin: I am too full right now, I think I will eat ramen. I ate too much at home today.

Sara: Are you sure? There will be too many pieces of chicken for me to eat alone… You love chicken…

Jin: Fine. But, buy me a cola too!

Final notes

Too much/Too many + noun – more than what we needed e.g. I drink too much coffee.

Enough + noun – something is adequate/sufficient e.g. There is enough time for a chat.

We put quantifiers before nouns!

Practice makes perfect -We hope you found this useful!