Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / April 2004

Please help me judge the acceptability of following English sentences.
(either acceptable, unacceptable, or marginal)
1. Down which hill there rolled a small child?
2. Down which hill rolled a small child?

Accent on language
The teaching of foreign languages at the elementary school level is
alive and well — and even thriving — in the Greater
Washington area.

Reading the interview of a player I found this....
"So many of the top players have dropped out like flies so...."
Why is he using "drop out"  if this phrasal verb means something
totally different from the phrase "drop like flies"?

Hi, there.
I'm reading this book "How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere"
written by Larry King and I can't figure out some expressions.
First of all, "hasten to add".

Hallo :-)
I can't figure out the meaning of this phasal verb...
Could you help me please?
My idea is...

I am absolutely troubled by translation of a number of words from
phonetic script into ordinary english.
Even worse, I do not even know how to transcribe them here! I do not
know how to write with the phonetics on my computer.

Once I want to ask someone from which university she graduated, so I use:
"From which university you graduated?"
But then I realized this sounds a little awkward, so should I use:
"Which university you graduated from?"

between "privation" and "deprivation"?
Thanks.
Nee Sung

Sometimes I read this, not in books, but in newsgroups, mails and other
rather informal sources, and from native speakers (or so I believe). I
think I know it should read "I could have made it", but what is it
actually? Is it slang, hip language or just a typo?

Talking about a snooker frame...
"I wonder if Ronnie could have done/made it better".
I think the best  is to use "played" or "performed" but if I want to
use make or do which is correct?

I'm searching for information on English-speaking countries' manners
and customs, such as what are their table manners? What flowers should
people present for a baby's birth (or weeding, visiting hospital,
going to funeral)? How to accept or refuse invitation? What's the

1. what's the word that describes something makes you feel funny, sad,
and nauseous at the same time?
2. what's the word for having to take a dump but is overcome with
spiritual feelings just at that moment?

Laughing out loud means laughing loudly or laughing in a way people
can hear it, not necessarily loudly or quietly?
As I understand, thinking out loud means saying what you're thinking
so it's definitely not thinking in a loud way.

One of my friend asked me the meaing of 'loaded word'.
She heard that from movie "50 first dates", like "Love is a loaded
word."
I found similar usages through Internet, for example "Marriage is a

Discussing the sentence below today, a class, studying how to use and
apply the passive voice, was confused by the following sentence:
    Your answer depends on how you yourself were raised by your
family and