Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and exercises for English for Other courses

Fern Hill by Dylan Thomas

Dylan Thomas evokes childhood as an idyllic period of freedom by recalling being "young and easy" among apple trees and farm animals. The color green suggests youth and growth, while gold evokes sunlight, happiness, and ripeness. Alliteration, assonance, and rich rhythms give the poem a song-like quality. However, time is personified as a powerful force controlling his life, generating tension between joyful memory and loss, where the adult speaker understands that childhood felt endless even though it was passing.

The Horses by Edwin Muir

In "The Horses," Edwin Muir imagines a post-apocalyptic world after a "seven days war," where the failure of radios shows the collapse of modern communication. The return of horses...

When I go to my wife’s town, I meet my friend Pepita. She’s 31 years old and she is from Robledillo de la Vera, a beautiful little town in North Cáceres. She lives in Don Benito because she works in a fruit factory there.

Pepita is quite tall and thin, with long dark hair, black eyes, and a big nose. She usually wears jeans and boots, and she hardly ever wears a skirt or a dress. She is quite pretty but she can’t find a boyfriend. She loves going out with her friends and talking to people. She likes going shopping and trying on clothes, but she can never find things she likes. I always argue with her because she spends a lot of time, and I hate it!

Pepita hates watching football on TV because she always gets angry with the players. I know...

Essential Vocabulary: Synonyms and Antonyms

• Acquisitive — SYN: greedy, avaricious, retentive, grasping | ANT: altruistic, unretentive
• Arrogate — SYN: to claim without right, commandeer, usurp | ANT: renounce, abdicate, abandon, relinquish
• Banal — SYN: stale | ANT: original, new, inspired
• Belabor — SYN: overwork, harp on the same point again and again
• Carping — SYN: nit-picking, caviling | ANT: approving, uncritical
• Coherent — SYN: connected, unified, consistent, cohesive | ANT: muddled, chaotic, disjointed
• Congeal — SYN: harden, solidify, coagulate | ANT: liquefy, soften
• Emulate — SYN: copy, mimic
• Encomium — SYN: praise, commendation | ANT: criticism
• Eschew — SYN: to avoid, steer clear of, forgo | ANT: embrace, adopt
• Germane — SYN:

Benefits of Following News in English

Nowadays, many things can be said about this topic. In fact, there are many different opinions, and it is a very common discussion. People don’t agree easily, but you cannot deny that it is an interesting topic.

Reading the newspaper and watching news programs in English are excellent ways to build vocabulary and be aware of public opinion in other countries. Reading articles about your own country in English newspapers can leave you very surprised because the perspective is often very different. On the Internet, you can easily access news sources in English.

Staying abreast of current affairs is also a great source of conversation topics, both in meetings with friends and chats over the Internet with friends...

Marital Crisis and Unexpected Attraction

John is a businessman who appears to have everything many people want: he is attractive, has a beautiful wife, and enough money to live comfortably. He works for a company that manufactures industrial machinery and closes large business deals both in Spain and abroad.

Arrival in Seville

But this seems not to be enough to bring him happiness. His marriage is in trouble and he seemingly can do nothing to save it. His wife suggested a trip to Seville to relax and perhaps reconnect. The only complaint he has about the plan is that they will be staying with her cousin, Adela.

The problem is not Adela herself, whom he cares for, but that he has not seen her in ten years. His wife, Patricia, believes that to save...

Brat Farrar: A Tale of Deception

The Ashby Family and Latchetts

The story centers on the Ashbys, an English country-squire family residing at their centuries-old estate, Latchetts, in the fictional village of Clare near the south coast of England. The narrative is set in the 1940s, in the aftermath of World War II.

Family Dynamics and Financial Struggles

The Ashby family consists of Beatrice Ashby ("Aunt Bee"), a spinster in her fifties, and the four children of her late brother, Bill: Simon (20), Eleanor (18–19), and twins Jane and Ruth (9). Following the deaths of Bill and his wife, Nora, eight years prior, the family has faced financial hardship. Bee has maintained the estate by transforming the family stable into a profitable business, focusing...

Unleash the Master Within

Passion leads to mastery. You cannot inspire others unless you are inspired yourself. You stand a much greater chance of persuading and inspiring your listeners if you express an enthusiastic, passionate, and meaningful connection to your topic.

Tell Stories

Brain scans reveal that stories stimulate and engage the human brain, helping the speaker connect with the audience and making it much more likely that the audience will agree with the speaker's point of view.

Practice Relentlessly

Practice relentlessly and internalize your content so that you can deliver the presentation as comfortably as having a conversation with a close friend.

Teach Something New

An unfamiliar, unusual, or unexpected element in a presentation jolts...

English Vocabulary List

• Can’t live without: No puc viure sense
• Cheap: Barat
• Conclusion: Conclusió
• Development: Desenvolupament
• Digital: Digital
• Communications: Comunicacions
• Efficiently: Eficientment
• Entrepreneur: Emprenedor/a
• Expensive: Car
• Extremely: Extremadament
• Faulty: Defectuós
• Feature: Característica
• Good value: Bona relació qualitat-preu
• Helpful: Útil / Servicial
• High-quality: D’alta qualitat
• High-tech: D’alta tecnologia
• Interview: Entrevistar
• Invent: Inventar
• Invention: Invenció
• Investment: Inversió
• Launch: Llançar (un producte)
• Majority: Majoria
• Manual: Manual
• Navigation: Navegació
• Original: Original
• Personal: Personal
• Popular: Popular
• Pretty: Bastant
• Priority: Prioritat
• Product launch: Llançament de producte
• Promise: Prometre
• Purpose: Propòsit

Tourism Trends and Insights

Bird-watching Tourism

Experts estimate that avi-tourism (bird-watching) is a fast-growing sector of nature tourism.

Luxury Travel

If you can afford to pay a starting price of £125,000, this is the experience for you.

Spiritual Retreats

Spiritual retreats may be religious or not but usually include meditation techniques.

Tourism Leakage

When money proceeding from tourism leaves a country, it's called leakage.

Cultural Tourism in Europe

Experts predict that cultural tourism will increase in Europe over the next fifteen years since the number of travelers over 55 will grow steadily.

The Malaga Film Festival

The Malaga Film Festival has been going for more than ten years, but it has not yet reached the same international reputation....

Article Writing Essentials

Crafting Engaging Openings

• Ask a question to capture the reader's attention:
  • Have you ever...?
  • Do you ever wonder...?
  • Do you think that...?

Introducing Your Ideas

(Speak directly to your reader)

• Firstly,
• First of All,
• Apart from that,

Providing Examples

(To support what you say)

• ...such as...
• ...for example...

Effective Endings

(Give your opinion)

• It seems to me...
• What I think is...

Crafting a Letter of Application

Openings

• Dear Sir/Madam,

Stating Your Reason for Writing

• I am writing in response to...
• I am writing in connection with...

Highlighting Your Skills

• I am an experienced [profession/skill].
• I have worked for many years with...
• I have passed [qualification].

Describing Your Qualities

• I am hard-working and sensible.
• I like working with