Unit 1

World of English

World of English

The most common suffix for nationalities in

English is -AN.
For example: Italian, Chilean, Russian, Indian.

The nine most common letters in

English are:
E (12.51%)
N (7.09%)
T (9.25%)
S (6.54%)
A (8.04%)
R (6.12%)
O (7.6%)
H (5.49%)
I (7.26%)
common are:
The three least
J (0.16%)
Z (0.09%)
Q (0.11%)

Stress the syllable before -AN or -IAN.

Unit 2
World of English
A silent E at the end of words is a common aspect of English.
Of the 100 most common words, these 12 end with a silent E.
are
before come here little
give
make more
some there where take

Unit 3
World of English
Some letters have special roles.
Use S for:
1 plurals: keys.
2 possession: Johns keys.
3 verb be (is): Johns American.
4 the third person: He lives in Miami.
Y is a common ending for adjectives:
happy, crazy, sleepy.
With weather nouns, add -y to form the
adjectives: rain rainy. Words ending
consonant-vowel-consonant double the
final consonant: sunny.

World of English
Learning key phrases is a great way to sound fluent! Common phone phrases
include:
Are you busy?
Call you later.
Dont worry.
Sorry, wrong number.
No problem.
I cant hear you.
The lines busy.
My batterys dying.

World of English
The usual question for occupation is What do you do?
What does s/he do?
You can also use: Whats your
job?

his
occupation?

her
profession?
But use subject + be + article to answer all of them.
Im a singer / an actor.
What do you do?

World of English
Informal language is full of
contractions, incomplete
sentences and omission of
auxiliaries.
Grammatical English
Are you tired?
Do you want to go home?
Yes, (please).
Would you like a cookie?
Informal English
You tired?
Wanna go home?
Yep / Yeah!
(Like a) cookie?

World of English
In British and Australian
English, people say
autumn instead of fall.

Unit 4
World of English

World of English

American and British English are

similar, but not always the same. In the
USA, people call this sport
soccer,
but the British call it football.
And the Americans call this sport
football, but the British call it
American football.

-tion and -sion are two of the most common noun suffixes. The
stress is always on the syllable before them:
occasion / expression / profession / information / pronunciation

World of English

World of English

A lot of English words have more than

one meaning. Can, for example, means:
be able to I can speak English.
be possible to Can you help me?
be allowed to Can I go to the toilet?
an object Thats a can of Coke.

Some words sound the same, but have different meanings.

For example: there theyre their.
Theyre their keys over there, on the table.

World of English
The suffix -ist is NOT stressed.
Our dentist is an artist.
The suffix -ique is stressed.
She uses a unique technique.

Other common examples include:

buy by bye
our hour
to two too
wear where

World of English
Clothing sizes in English
are becoming universal:
S for small
M for medium
L is large
XL means extra large

Unit 5
World of English

World of English

Many English words are similar in your

language. This means you can recognize
them and only need to focus on spelling
or pronunciation differences.

Many grammar items are similar in your language too.

For example, the superlative = the most + adjective.

World of English

World of English

Like can be both a preposition and a verb.

Im like my mother. = similar to (preposition)
We both like relaxing. = enjoy (verb)

English adapts very fast to changes in our

world and new words are invented every
day. Many are a combination of two words.
to couch + surf = couchsurf
a stay + vacation = staycation
an emotion + icon = emoticon

World of English
Language is not just words! You can
express a lot that you dont know how
to say using mime and gesture.

Unit 6
World of English

World of English

Say years as two numbers. 19-99

(nineteen ninety-nine).
From 2000-2009, say them as
complete numbers: two thousand, two
thousand (and) nine.
You can also say 2K9 (K = 1000).
After that you can choose! 2010 is two
thousand (and) ten or twenty ten.

The three most common prepositions are to, of and in.

Prepositions of place can have one, two or three words. For
example, next to, in front of.

Unit 7
World of English
Silent vowels are an important aspect of spelling and pronunciation.
musically, guitar, goodbye, more, etc.
With -ed endings, dont pronounce the e as an extra syllable: lived, died, tired, etc.
Exceptions: verbs ending in /d/ or /t/ started, recorded, transmitted (box 3 in 1B).

World of English
The 12 most frequent verbs are irregular in the past tense:
5. go went
9. think thought //
1. be was / were
6. get got //
10. take took
2. have had /ae/
7. make made /e/
11. see saw //
3. do did
8. know knew
12. come came /e/
4. say said //

World of English
There are two ways to say dates:
My birthday is on the first of March / March (the) first.
In the USA, they write dates mm/dd/yy.
Be careful with prepositions:
He was born in May, but on May (the) twenty-fourth.
She was born in 1943.

Unit 8
World of English

World of English

Did you know that // is the most common sound in

English? It even has a name the schwa!
For example, there are eight //s in this list:
A computer, a pizza and a banana.
Over 10% of all sounds in spoken English are //s.

Two of the most obvious differences

between American and British
pronunciation are the letters T and R.
Compare these words in American
and British English.
butter
party
potato
artist
refrigerator

World of English
A little +
means a small quantity:
I have a little money (so I can lend you some).
A few +
noun means a small number:
There are a few students in class (not just me!).

Pronounce them as you prefer, but

you need to understand both forms.

World of English
World of English
People sometimes say and before the last
two digits: four hundred and fifty-six.

World of English
The most common ways to order at a restaurant are:
Id like the soup, please.
Can I have a glass of red wine?
Ill have a steak, please.

Its best to learn words together, not alone,

one-by-one. Alliteration (the repetition of a
sound at the beginning of words) can help
you to remember phrases.
do the dishes
make a mistake

Unit 9
World of English
The verb get has many uses and meanings:
get an e-mail (= receive), get tired (= become),
get home (= arrive), etc.
To ask about transportation we often use get in
the question, but not in the answer.
How do you get to work?
By car.
How did you get here?
I took the bus.

World of English
The USA uses pounds (lb) and miles.
1 lb = about half a kilo (0.454 grams to be exact)
1 mile = just under two kilometers (1.62 km)

World of English
Use the Present Continuous for
future arrangements that you
can control. Sometimes, there is
only a tiny difference between a
plan (Present Continuous) and an
intention (going to), so you can
choose. E.g., Im getting a taxi home
or Im going to get a taxi home.
If you are not sure, use going to.

World of English
Professions often end with:
-er / -or = designer; actor
-ian = musician; optician
-ist = journalist; dentist
But we dont stress the suffix.

World of English
Going to is usually pronounced
gonna. E.g., in fast speech,
What are you going to do?
becomes Whatcha gonna do?
Can you remember any song
lines or song titles with gonna?

World of English
The two most common comparative forms
are better and worse.
Adjective

Comparative

Example

good

better

My grades are
better than
your grades.

bad

worse

My job is worse
than your job.

Unit 10
World of English
So is one of the 20 most common words in
English. Look:
Im tired, so Im going to bed. (= a conclusion)
Youre so intelligent! (= an intensifier)

World of English
We normally stress words
that carry the message. Other
words are often unstressed,
reduced and said faster. If
you dont hear them, you can
still understand the meaning.