イギリス英会話ブログ

The difference between ‘-ing’ and ‘-ed’ adjectives is usually explained in simple terms in the following way :

1. ‘-ed’ adjectives express a person’s feeling; eg., He is bored = He feels bored.
2. ‘-ing’ adjectives express a quality or characteristic of something. Or, in other words, they express how something or someone makes other people feel. eg., He is boring.

characteristic - 持ち味・独特
(Continued)

「あなたは、スシが好きですか」と聞かれて、「はい」か「いいえ」だけと返事をすると会話がストップしてしまうので、このポストで、色んな「好き」や「嫌い」の意味を持っている言葉やフレーズを紹介します。 (Continued)

Comments people made on an earlier post in the 中級編 category about ‘Strong Adjectives‘ led me to the idea of writing a post about bad language in English. At first I thought I would put it in the 中級編 category, but on reflection, I think the kind of inside knowledge of bad language that I want to share with you is more suitable for advanced students. Of course, there is nothing to stop the ‘lower classes’ from reading this if they choose! (Continued)

English people are often quite awkward when meeting people for the first time. Overcoming this awkwardness is known as ‘breaking the ice‘. Here is an explanation in Japanese of the ‘ice breaker’ concept written by bamboo4, a member of the Language Global Link community forums.

awkward - ぎこちない // overcome - 乗り越える・克服する (Continued)

私はよく生徒に「一般動詞って、何ですか」と聞かれます。それで、私がいつも次のように説明します。 (Continued)

It all feels rather odd to an Englishman used to a fairly even fight between two rival parties (Conservative and Labour) with one outrider adding some sport to the whole contest (Liberal Democrats). Three candidates for leader of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party, the winner automatically becoming Prime Minister; the DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan) will no doubt put up a good fight, but let’s face it, the chances of them actually winning a majority on the Diet are slimmer than the average cat-walk model. (Continued)

Some English adjectives have very strong meanings and are used slightly differently to ‘normal’ adjectives. (Continued)

日本語にない名詞の単数形と複数形は、とても大事な文法です。名詞を使う時、そのものが一つだけあるか、一つ以上あるか、考えるようにならなければなりません。一つの物を話すときは単数形で、一つ以上の物を話すときは複数形を使います。 (Continued)

前回は、「BE」動詞の文法と簡単な使い方を紹介しました。今回は、ちょっとステップアップして、他の使い道を教えたいと思います。 (Continued)

Continuing on from my last post, here are some more exaggerations and understatements. (Continued)

The expression in the title of this post has long been an in-joke amongst the English. Above and beyond the usual, boring prudishness that plagues certain sections of society, the English find public displays of an erotic nature highly embarrassing. (The expression’s origins lie in a long-running West End play, and later a feature-length film with the same title.) (Continued)

English people’s tendency to understate things is well known, but English speakers often use exaggeration in everyday speech as well. In this post we’re going to look at standard ways of saying things and compare their exaggerated and understated forms.

tendency to understate - 控えめに言う傾向
exaggeration - 大げさ
standard - 普通・人並み // compare - 比べる・比較する (Continued)

今回は、「BE」動詞の文法と使い方です。日本語の「です」と同じ役割をする英動詞です。 (Continued)

Some idioms loosely related to the topic of studying, presented in a conversation between two students. (Continued)

These are two more words that can be quite confusing for learners of English. I’ll try to explain with a few examples. (Continued)