PhraseMix Articles

What's the difference between a 'phrase', an 'idiom', a 'phrasal verb', a 'saying', an 'aphorism', etc.?

What is difference between a "phrase" and an "idiom", and what are "proverbs" and "phrasal verbs"?

I don't think it's very important to know the differences between these. The important thing is to learn as much as you can, whether it be idioms, phrasal verbs, or whatever.

- "Phrase" can really...

The key to understanding natural spoken English

Today a friend told me a story. She was doing translation work at a booth in a restaurant trade show. She was translating for the CEO of a company that made high-quality kitchen knives.

This CEO had studied English, but hadn't gotten many chances to use English in real situations. So he was able...

What's your favorite English-language TV show?

Watching TV is a great way to learn a foreign language. TV shows are great because:

• They're not too short and not too long.
• You learn in context. That means that you can see what language to use in a specific situation.
• They're fun to watch, so you keep coming back to them.

I'd like to...

When and where do you learn English?

I want to know about your English learning environment. When and where do you most often learn English?

Do you study in the morning when you wake up? At night in bed? On your lunch break?

Do you like to listen to lessons on your phone while you're jogging? Do you take an English class at...

We won the EnglishClub.com "Site of the Year 2011" award!

EnglishClub.com has announced their 2011 "Site of the Year", and thanks to you, PhraseMix won!

Thanks so much to everyone who voted in this competition. Because of your help, PhraseMix won by a landslide.

Voting helps a lot. When we win an award like this, new people find out about...

Ideas on learning from "Everything You Thought You Knew About Learning Is Wrong"

If you're a good reader in English, try to challenge yourself with this article from Wired magazine:

Everything You Thought You Knew About Learning Is Wrong

The article gives three main suggestions for improving your ability to learn:

1. Interleave your studying. Rather than just focusing on...

What's your favorite phrase?

Out of all the PhraseMix example sentences you've read, what's your favorite one? Why is it your favorite? Because it was new to you? Because it's funny? Because it perfectly fit a situation that you've encountered?

If you need to refresh your memory, here's the index of all the past PhraseMix...

Who would you like to speak like?

If you could sound like one particular English speaker, who would you want to sound like?

For me, I think it would be cool to have this guy's voice:

I've already explained in a past blog entry why you should try to do an impression of someone. So is there anyone special that you would like to...

The 5 levels of incorrect English

What does it mean to say that something is "wrong" in English? Sometimes PhraseMix readers ask me things like "Is this sentence correct?" and I have trouble answering directly. That's because there are actually several different meanings of the words "correct"...

Good English learning habit: carry around a piece of paper

I find that I forget a lot of what I learn. Do you have that problem?

For example, if I watch a movie in a foreign language, I usually hear a few interesting new phrases. If I'm paying attention, I might even think, "Hey, I should remember this for later!". But a few minutes later, it's gone. If...