Having a lot to do and no free time
The everyday adjective for a person with a lot to do or a place full of people, and the polite way to say you cannot come.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary is about which words to reach for, and which words go with which - the difference between being understood and sounding natural. It covers single words worth knowing, everyday verbs that learners constantly confuse with each other, and the fixed partnerships where one word simply expects another to follow it. Most useful if you can already build sentences but keep choosing a word that is almost right. Material runs from A1 to B2; start at your level, and two-part verbs have a subject of their own, Phrasal Verbs.
So weak that it is unlikely to survive examination
The formal adjective for a link or an argument too thin to carry the weight put on it, the measured way to dismiss a claim.
Asking a stranger the way to the nearest pharmacy
A visitor asks a passer-by for the closest place to buy medicine and gets a two-step route.
Buying a few things in a small shop: greeting, asking and paying
A customer greets the shopkeeper, asks for three everyday items and pays.
Treating a complicated question as if it had one easy answer
An adjective that always criticises: it accuses an answer of ignoring the real complexity.
When two near-synonyms describe the same behaviour and only one is a compliment
Pairs of near-synonyms that describe the same behaviour, where one praises and the other criticises.
Words for what you eat: which take a plural and which never do
Food words sorted into the ones that take a plural and the ones that never do, with the quantity words each accepts.
Naming the people you are related to, by blood and by marriage
Family words in three layers: the household, the wider family, and relatives by marriage.
Why a friendly opening sounds wrong in a formal setting
Every greeting also announces how close you think you are to the other person, which is why a warm one can misfire.
Openings and farewells, from the most formal to the most relaxed
Greetings and goodbyes arranged from the most formal to the most relaxed, with the situation each one suits.
Numbers in words: get the ending and the hyphen right
Write each figure out in letters, getting the ending and the hyphen right.
Writing the numbers from 1 to 100 in words, with the usual spelling traps
Every number from 1 to 100 written out, with the spelling traps in the teens, the tens and the hyphenated forms.
Which strong adverb goes with which adjective
Strong adverbs keep a small circle of regular adjective partners; this table lists the pairs worth learning.
To force something into a space or schedule too small for it
A mildly humorous verb for forcing something into a space or schedule that is too small for it.
Appearing to be the reason, though probably not the real one
An adverb that reports the official reason while signalling that the writer does not believe it.
To take something you will give back later
The verb for the person who takes something for a while; the giver's side uses a different verb.
The two all-purpose verbs: pick the right one
Pick the right all-purpose verb for each collocation and put it in the correct form.
Two everyday verbs learners constantly mix up
Two everyday verbs share the work that a single verb does in most other languages - here is how English splits it.
To have enough money to buy something
A verb that almost always follows an ability word, usually in a negative sentence or a question.
Costing little money
The everyday adjective for a low price, and the hint of poor quality it can carry.
The small words that follow common adjectives
Common adjectives with the fixed small word that follows each one.
Able to recover quickly from something difficult
A warm, approving adjective for people, economies and materials that spring back after a blow.