How to Write a Clear Paragraph — The 3-Part Formula
💬 The essay mistake I made at 30: Writing four connected sentences is not a paragraph. A paragraph has a job. It makes one point, proves it, and tells you why it matters. This 3-part…
Tag: B2
How to Tell a Story in English — Keep People Listening
💬 True story: I once described arriving in Sydney — airport, 3 am, no money, no phone signal — to a group of A2 students. They listened for ten minutes straight. No grammar was corrected.…
Giving Your Opinion in English — Phrases Beyond ‘I Think’
💬 Cambridge speaking exams test this: Simply saying "I think..." every time makes your language sound flat. Examiners — and real people — want variety. Here are the phrases that move you from B1 to…
Relative Clauses — Adding Information Without Starting a New Sentence
💬 Grammar that sounds smart: Instead of writing two short sentences — "This is the student. She won the prize." — you can say: "This is the student who won the prize." One sentence. More…
Describing Graphs and Data: The Language of Numbers
When I rebuilt my professional history from years of email records, I had to describe trends: 'email volume increased sharply in 2014', 'it declined steadily after 2018', 'it remained stable throughout'. The language of data…
The Writing Process: Draft, Revise, Edit
When I started writing formally — appeals, job applications, eventually blog posts — I tried to write perfectly on the first attempt. I couldn't. No one can. The best writers I know treat the first…
The Language of Apology: Saying Sorry Professionally
In hospitality, apologies are currency. A well-timed, sincere apology saves a table. A badly phrased one makes it worse. I've said 'I'm sorry, sir, that shouldn't have happened' a hundred times. But I've also heard…
Prefixes and Suffixes: Build Your Vocabulary Fast
When I was working towards French C1, I noticed I could guess words I'd never seen by breaking them apart. The same works in English. If you know that un- means 'not' and -able means…
Collocations: The Words That Go Together
When I was working as a barista, I noticed that English speakers didn't say 'do a coffee' — they said 'make a coffee'. Not 'take a decision' but 'make a decision'. Not 'do progress' but…
Academic Discussion Language: Agreeing, Disagreeing, Hedging
At the immigration office in France, I once politely disagreed with an official — in French — and managed to change a decision. The key was not what I said but how I said it.…