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Most Uncommon (or weird) Singular Words in English

There

are many words in English that are often used only in the plural form. Speakers often make the mistake of using the plural grammatical form when they should actually use the singular. Here are 9 words that are quite common in the plural but unusual in the singular with examples of how to use them:

1. Data – The singular is datum.

Example: The data show that the drug effectively lowers cholesterol.

2. Criteria – The singular is criterion.

Example: The most important criteria for college admissions committees are GPA, SAT score and involvement in extracurricular activities.

3. Media -The singular is medium.

Example: The media are often accused of being biased.

4. Alumni – The singular is alumnus for a male and alumna for a female (female plural is alumnae).

Example: The alumni gathered at their university for their 10th reunion.

5. Dice - The singular is die.

Example: Yahtzee is played by rolling five dice to make different combinations.

6. Bacteria – The singular is bacterium.

Example: Bacteria is often found on light switches and remote controls in hotel.

7. Algae – The singular is alga.

Example: Some types of algae are edible.

8. Paparazzi – The singular is paparazzo. 

Example: The paparazzi compete with one another to get the best picture of a celebrity.

9. Parentheses – The singular is parenthesis.

Example: The teacher did not like that she used so many parentheses in her writing.

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Most Common Baseball Idioms

Keep the idioms coming! Last month, we had a post on boxing idioms that are often used in the real world. As we are halfway through the baseball season, it would only be fair to point out that many frequently used idioms also come from baseball. Let’s take a look at some of them. 1.  “Throw (someone) a curveball” – to do something unexpected, usually something unpleasant

Baseball scenario – When the pitcher throws a curveball, the ball will dive downward instead of flying in a straight line. Usually, this is done in order to trick the batter into thinking that he will be able to hit the ball, when actually he will probably fail to do so.

Real world scenario – During a presentation at school or work, you expect others to ask questions that relate to your presentation. However, when someone asks you about something you were completely unprepared to discuss, that person has just thrown you a curveball.

2.  “Step up to the plate” – to accept a challenge or responsibility for something; to rise to the occasion

Baseball scenario – The batter gets into position to hit the ball. He stands at the right or left of the plate depending on which feels more comfortable.

Real world scenario – Natural disasters, like hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes, can wreak havoc and cause significant damage. People who want to help rebuild destroyed neighborhoods should step up to the plate and begin working with each other to help these communities.

3.  “Strike out” – to fail at something

Baseball scenario – A batter is given three chances to hit the ball and run to first base. If he fails all three times, he has just struck out and has lost an opportunity to score a point for the team.

Real world scenario – If a man is attracted to a woman, he should seize the chance to ask her out on a dinner date. If he takes too long to do this and somebody else ends up asking her out first for dinner, then he has struck out and will not be having dinner with her.

4.  “Play hardball” – to play tough/act aggressively; to be unwilling to compromise

Baseball scenario – In baseball, a hard ball is used while in softball, a softer ball is used.

Real world scenario – If two major companies are trying to come to a certain agreement, but one refuses to cooperate in the deal, then that company is playing hardball. The company will not compromise until it gets what it wants.

Have you heard of any other idioms that might come from baseball? What about other sports?

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Fun Facts About Distance Education

Imagine if you received your Voxy lesson and activities by mail. You read your article, completed the activity, put it in an envelope and shipped it back to Voxy for grading. You then waited weeks in anticipation for grades and new lessons. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Learning by mail was the earliest form of distance education (DE), it was called: “correspondence instruction”. In 1873, a female educator, Anna Ticknor, started her society to encourage women to study from home using correspondence instruction, and then in 1983 New York State granted Chautauqua College of Liberal Arts the right to grant degrees through correspondence. Wow, the beginning of a revolution. Of course, like all educational reform, it was heavily debated; many academic professionals were worried about its efficacy. William Rainy Harper a professor of Hebrew at Yale University was authorized to award degrees for DE by mail. He himself often debated the ability of DE and believed that it could never measure up to oral instruction. It would be interesting to hear Dr. Harper’s thoughts about Voxy’s language learning model.

And then came radio. Between the World Wars the government granted universities and schools broadcasting rights. Some may argue radio and television do not fall into distance education because it is one-way communication. Nonetheless, these two technologies should be mentioned, they did revolutionize how people learn from a distance. You may have also learned a lot from PBS or your local TV channel, even though you’ve never been on Sesame Street or ridden a magic school bus.

Wikipedia dates the virtual classroom as far back as 1945. However New York Institute of Technology was the first to launch a virtual campus in 1984. Looks like NYC has been at the forefront of distance education (note Voxy is located in NYC). Today, online learning is so common that all major universities around the world offer online classes. Thanks to the Internet, people are able to take classes regardless of time and place.

A distance education timeline wouldn’t be complete without mentioning mobile learning, often characterized as “anytime anywhere” learning. Voxy has covered this topic on this blog and distance education via mobile. From waiting for learning material in the mail to reaching in my pocket to get it: my, how times have changed!

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The Endangered Languages Project

Did you know that only 50% of today’s languages will be spoken by the year 2100? Losing one language may not impact our daily lives right now, but it means the loss of a unique culture and way of communicating… forever! Thankfully, the Alliance for Linguistic Diversity and Google are making a collaborative effort to teach and preserve 3000+ endangered languages through the Endangered Languages Project.

The project is an online initiative to provide a space for people to find and share the most up-to-date and comprehensive information about endangered languages. Under the Knowledge Sharing tab on the site, you can listen to high-quality recordings and find ancient manuscripts of nearly-dead languages. There are also resources on how to properly record an interview and transcribe natural speech when conducting language research.

This is a great resource, not only for ESL teachers, but for ELA, Foreign Language, and Social Studies teachers as well. One lesson idea is that students can conduct a language documentation project of their own to submit, where they can interview classmates and relatives and transcribe and analyze their speech, the way a field researcher would do. Listening to other people speak is a great way for ELLs to improve fluency and this would be an authentic project for them to do.

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Top 10 Techie Words that Are Now Part of Everyday English

Did you know that Google is not a verb? Working at a tech start up, we’ve noticed that a lot of that jargon – company and product names – have become part of our daily speech. Here at Voxy we love to study language and bring interesting discoveries about every day use of English to our readers. Take a look at our top 10 techie words/names that are now part of everyday English:

1. Wi-Fi:

Usage: I access my Voxy lessons using the coffee shop’s Wi-Fi.

Definition: Wireless connection to the Internet. This may be the most widely used tech term in everyday English. Did you know that Wi-Fi is the name of an alliance? Yes, the Wi-Fi Alliance defines their name as any wireless local area network. However, Wi-Fi has been adopted as the name for any technology that keeps us connected to the Internet sans wires.

2. Text:

Usage: Text me when Voxy launches new material.

Definition: When the only means of written communication was a handwritten letter, text referred to a book or any written or printed content. Today, however, thanks to mobile phones, “text” is used as a verb. The correct term for using your mobile phone to send a message is short messaging service (SMS), but here in America, hardly anybody uses that acronym and always say “text”.

3. Google:

Usage: I googled Voxy to find more information about the company.

Definition: As the #1 search engine, this tech giant’s name is now synonymous with searching information on the web. I’m guilty of replacing the words “search online” with “Google” many a times.

 4. Facebook:

Usage: Facebook me the time and place of the Voxy event.

Definition: The name “Facebook” has many uses in everyday English. The name can be used to replace words we usually use to describe Facebook features. It can be used to replace “send an invitation”, “send a message”, “look up in the Facebook directory”, but most often it is used for “sharing information”.

 5. Friended:

Usage: I friended Voxy on Facebook.

Definition: To become someone’s Facebook friend. Facebook is a huge part of our social lives and therefore takes the number 4 and 5 spot. I realize this is not an actual tech term but it does stem from a tech company. Friend (amigo, compadre) is a real English noun and now, thanks to the act of becoming a Facebook friend, it is a verb.

6. Twitter:

Usage: This morning I read a tweet from Voxy asking for user testing participants.

Definition: Unlike the other two examples this is an actual word. Back in the day tweet/twitter referred to the sounds of birds, now it refers to sharing your messages online through social media site Twitter. Guess the birds will have to come up with another term then. If I were them, I would create a Twitter account ASAP.

7. App:

Usage: The Voxy app helps me learn new English vocabulary.

Definition: Abbreviation of the word “application”. Most people who use the term app are referring to a mobile application. Thanks to Apple iTunes and their app stores, the abbreviation is now synonymous with mobile games and software.

 8. Photoshop:

Usage: I photoshopped myself into a picture next to Voxy headquarters.

Definition: To “photoshop” an image means to digitally alter the original picture. Thanks to the photo editing software we can alter images as we please. Magazines have been under scrutiny for  “photoshopping” images to make models look thinner and younger.

9. TiVo:

Usage:  My mom TiVoed Voxy’s CEO appearance on Univision.

Definition: TiVo is a digital video recorder. It records TV shows and stores them to watch later. Thanks to technology, we no longer have to watch TV in real time. For the older folks of the blog I realize that this was possible with VCRs; however, no brand ever made it to everyday language like TiVo.

10. BBM:

Usage: I BBMed you the information for Voxy user testing.

Definition: BlackBerry Messaging. Sending a message using the messaging application on a Black Berry phone. Hopefully this term doesn’t become obsolete.

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“Flipping the Classroom” for Language Learners

As technology entered public schools more and more, the Flipped Classroom Model has been growing in popularity amongst educational pioneers.Technology and task-based learning are key components of the flipped classroom model. Here’s a cool and useful infographic about flipping.

In this learning environment, the traditional format of lectures in the class and homework after school is switched or “flipped” around. Instead, the student watches an instructional and lecture video at home and then works on associated tasks or activities in the classroom. The theory is that teachers can better identify each student’s needs during in-class tasks and give individualized instruction. By coming to class prepared to ask questions and solve problems with their peers after viewing the subject matter on their own, the students feel empowered to direct their own learning.

The theoretical framework of the flipped model seems to be especially ideal for language learners. The reasons are many, including:

1. While watching a video at home, the students can work at their own pace and repeat video as many times as necessary for them to take detailed notes or to go back to anything they may have missed. This process naturally and efficiently facilitates differentiated instruction that would usually take more time for the teachers to do in the classroom.

2. The visual content capabilities of a video enhances language learning better than static textbooks.

3. When language learners are given more opportunities to interact with their peers in class, the learners will have authentic language experiences that will improve their proficiency dramatically.

The strongest criticism of this model is the unequal accessibility of technology for learners. However, the idea of previewing lesson material prior to class and actual face-to-face class time being used to practice what they learned is the key idea behind flipping, not necessarily the tools in which this is done. Although technology is an important component of the flipped model, it is by no means absolutely indispensable.

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How Far Can Mobile Learning Reach?

What reaches 87% of the world’s population (≈ 6 billion people); is the most popular device to access the Internet in Africa and fits in your pocket? You guessed it: mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones!

Imagine the day when children ask: “what is a pay phone?” or worse yet “what is a land line?”. With mobile devices making large strides in adoption year after year, these questions are coming soon! My, how Alexander Graham Bell would be so proud to see his invention tweaked and transformed into a mean lean communication, gaming, Internet access, portable machine. There is no other technology that has global reach like mobile phones.

With that kind of reach I can’t help but think of the educational possibilities. Learning is no longer restricted to a classroom or a desk.  Need to learn the alphabet? Download the alphabet song ringtone. Trying to understand Einstein’s Relativity Theory? Play physics simulation mobile games. Assigned an art project? Create a collage from the pictures taken from your iPhone. Learning a new language? Download the Voxy app  .

When designing mobile lesson plans it is important to remember mobile learning isn’t about the device,  it’s about the mobility of the user (Sharple’s papers explains this well). In addition, remember to chunk information into short units that the learner can quit and revisit later. Mobility and learning is a match made in education technology heaven. Their romance allows context to flow into every lesson. With the boundless limitations of mobile (can you hear me now?) learning can become 100% student-centered. Additionally mobile phones are rapidly becoming an integral part of the Latino communityhere in the US, and the entire country uses smartphones like personal mini computers for music, web access and, social networking use.  Mobile phones are outselling laptops and tablets and they prove to be a perfect tool to teach people far and wide.

[govoxy]

Boxing Idioms in English Often Used in the Real World

The split-decision of the Pacquiao vs. Bradley fight sure caused a lot of drama in every single sports bar last weekend. Whether or not you agreed with the BS call, you’d be surprised to learn just how many boxing phrases we use in our everyday lexicon. Here are explanations of the most common boxing idioms used outside of the ring.

1. “On the ropes” – doing badly and likely to fail Boxing scenario – In boxing, this means that a fighter is literally on the ropes. Usually this happens because a fighter is hurt, or trapped in a bad spot by the opponent. Therefore, a fighter on the ropes is often in trouble.

Real world scenario – If there’s a damaging scandal about a celebrity, that would hurt and possibly end his or her acting career. That would mean that “his or her acting career is on the ropes.”

2. “Roll With The Punches” – to adjust to difficult events as they happen or deal well with criticism. Boxing scenario – This phrase applies to when a boxer rolls his shoulder forward as to avoid the full force of the opponent’s punch. The fighter is still getting hit, but adjusting to the attack.

Real world scenario – When the Wright brothers were working on the first airplane, people probably made fun of them and criticized them, thinking their idea was crazy. However, the brothers were able to “roll with the punches”, eventually inventing the first successful airplane.

3. “Down But Not Out/Down For the Count” – struggling but not completely finished / totally finished. Boxing scenario – “Down but not out” refers to a fighter being knocked down, but being able to get up and continue with the fight. Therefore, he wasn’t knocked out. “Down for the count” means a fighter is knocked down completely and can’t get up.

Real world scenario – If a local business is doing poorly with their sales and struggling to stay open, it is “down but not out”. However, after struggling, if it goes out of business and closes its doors, they are “down for the count.”

4. “Puncher’s Chance” – having a small chance at success; not impossible, but unlikely Boxing scenario – Even if the opponent has won 11 out of 12 rounds and it doesn’t look like he can win, if the fighter has just one punch that can knock the opponent out, they still have a chance to win the whole fight.

Real world scenario – If a presidential candidate has been doing poorly in the polls and throughout their whole campaign, on Election Day, the candidate still has a “puncher’s chance” of pulling out the win if citizens vote for him.

What are some other examples you can use boxing idioms in your everyday life? Let us know on Facebook!