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Thursday, May 28, 2015

French words of the day: entente cordiale - and some French and English grammar

Every day I note the French words which are used in English. Today's first phrase is entente cordiale. In English you might translate that as cordial understanding. Notice that the adjective comes before the noun in English but after the noun in French.

For the benefit of English language purists and those learning English as a foreign language, a reminder about English grammar (although I have a separate blog dealing with grammar to which I add posts sporadically).

Glossary (list of technical or foreign words used in a text or book with explanations of meanings, like a mini dictionary)

Noun - naming word, general term for objects, people, animals - for example table, chair, house, man, woman, dog, cat, boy, girl, town, city
Proper noun - individual name of things you can see and point to and visit such as John, Jean, Joan, Julius Caesar, Elizabeth, a real person such as John Smith, Angela Lansbury, London, New York
Adjective - additional word describing a noun such as small animal, tall man

If you find the terms adverb and adjective confusing, the easy way to remember which is which is to remember that an adverb is added to a verb and adjective is the other word, describing a noun
Verb - doing word such as to walk, walking, we walked
Adverb - addition to a verb describing it such as (walked) slowly, fast, quickly, rapidly - often ending in -ly

Angela Lansbury teaches English O level, A level, English as a second or foreign language and creative writing and conversation, and French conversation, O level and A level, website translation.


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