Halloween 2017

Watch out for children walking in the streets on Halloween night (Tuesday October 31st).

Special Halloween events:

  1. Hudson Downtown Trick or Treat – Thursday Oct 26th 4 to 6PM
  2. Natick Spooktacular  – Saturday Oct. 28th, Noon to 3:30
    Halloween Party and parade for kids 3 to 9
    Pumpkin Painting and Pumpkin Smash
    GPS: Natick Center Common (12 South Main Street)
  3. Free Candy Hunt and Hayride – Sunday Oct 29th 10AM to Noon – Sweet Meadow Farm in Sherborn
  4. Children’s Museum in Boston – Lots of Halloween activities for the kids.  Friday Oct 27th 5PM to Tuesday Oct 31st 5PM
  5. Dia de Los Muertos Celebration at Taza Chocolate Factory in Somerville (Tuesday Oct 31st,  Noon to 5:00)
  6. Hopedale Spooktacular 5K run/walk (with kids) – Sat. Oct 28th (10:00 if you want to watch; earlier if you’re running)
  7. Boston Common Costume Dash (Sat Oct 28 at 9AM, starting in Copley Square)
  8. Haunted Happenings in Salem (Salem, MA will be very busy with Halloween activities.)
  9. Zoo Boo Days at Southwick Zoo in Mendon

Don’t Say (or Write) “Differents”

Don’t say: 
– There are many differents flavors.
– I went to the market and bought some differents things.
– I like to meet people from differents countries.

Say this:
– There are many different flavors.
– I went to the market and bought some different things.
– I like to meet people from different countries.

Remember:

  • Different is an adjective, which describes a noun.  “Three”, “blue”, “happy”, and “strong” are all adjectives.
  • Adjectives are always singular, even when the noun they modify is plural.
  • You would not say: “I saw two blues cars.”  or “There are many strongs women.”
  • Say: I saw two blue cars.  There are many strong women.
    I have a different idea.  I have two different ideas.
  • There is an English word that sounds very similar to differents – It’s “difference“,  which is a noun that describes what is different between one person/thing and another.

Learn One Phrasal Verb Every Day

Phrasal Verb: A phrase – a main verb plus 1 or 2 other words – that is used as a verb.
For example: pick up; take off; get away with

Phrasal verbs are very common in English.  They can be confusing because their meaning is often quite different from the meaning of the main verb.
For example, When you look at something, you see it.  When you look up something, you try to find information about it.

On the English Club website, you can study a new phrasal verb every day.  They include some example sentences, plus a little quiz to see if you understand.  You can also look at a list of 200 common phrasal verbs.

English Words You Didn’t Realize That You Know

The English word leopard has the same language origin as the Spanish and Portuguese leopardo, and the French léopard.  There are many other words like this that are very similar in English and other languages.  They are called “cognates”. One good way to quickly increase your English vocabulary is to study a list of these similar words.

  • For Spanish, there are words like adorar (adore), mágico (magical), teatro (theater) and many more
  • For Portuguese, there are words like apropriado (appropriate), importância (importance), familiar (familiar), and many more
  • There are lists of cognates available for many other languages too – including Russian and Arabic
  • For more lists of cognates with English and many other languages, you can use Google.  For example, in Google: English French cognates
  • You can try entering the same search words in YouTube to watch video lessons about these

Questions with Do and Does (Present Tense)

Don’t say: 
Where you work?
What she likes to eat?
How much it costs?
Why they come late every day?
What this means?

Say this:
Where do you work?
What does she like to eat?
How much does it cost?
Why do they come late every day?
What does this mean?

Remember – for Present Tense Questions:

  • Include do or does as an auxiliary verb with most main verbs
    • Use do with I, you, we, they
    • Use does with he, she, it
  • The main exceptions include:
    • Verb to be (Is he happy? not: Does he happy? not: Does he is happy?)
    • Modals like can/could/should (Can you drive a truck?  not: Do you can drive a truck?)
  • When you use do/does as auxiliary verb in a question, the main verb is always in its base form
    • like“, not “likes”  (base verb is to like)
    • cost“, not “costs” (base verb is to cost)
  • Look here to review the correct order of words in a question

Help Finding a Career

This new 12-week free training program will help parents in MetroWest to find a good career.  It’s called Credential to Career (C2C), from One Family, Inc.

There will be two information sessions about this program next week in Framingham:

  • Tues, Oct 10th at 9AM at SMOC (7 Bishop St.)
  • Fri, Oct 13th at 10AM at the North Framingham Library – McAuliffe Branch (746 Water St. )