Tag: Speaking

history vs. story

History vs. Story: What’s the Difference?

by elsahedrick, posted in Collocations/Expressions, Speaking, Vocabulary

History: The study of past events or people

History is a subject that we study in school. We study the history of civilizations, important people, or topics, like the history of art. We only use the word history when referring to major events or people from the past.

HIS-tuh-ree

I studied art history in college.

Examples:

  • The history of Egypt is fascinating.
  • I have a history test tomorrow.
  • Many students think history is boring, but I love it.
  • The U.S. has a long history of violence.

Story: A re-telling of something that happened, usually to you or someone you know.

Story telling is a big part of language. We tell stories to each other about things that happened at work, like when you accidentally spilled coffee on your computer. Yikes!

telling stories is fun
He tells the funniest stories!

We tell stories about events in our lives, like about how our parents met and fell in love, or things that we remember from our childhood. Stories can be happy, sad, scary, or funny––the best stories are funny, don’t you agree?

We also tell stories to children. Some of my favorite stories are Cinderella and The Little Mermaid. What are your favorite childhood stories?

STOR-ee

Tell me a story about your childhood.

Do you have a favorite childhood story, or a story about learning English? Leave a comment to share your story!

Tricky Verbs: Fall, Feel, Fill

by elsahedrick, posted in Pronunciation, Speaking, Vocabulary

These three verbs are often confusing, especially when it comes to past tense forms and pronunciation. Let’s look at the differences and practice using them.

Fall

Fall has an “Aww” sound. Practice the following sentence:

Aww, did the baby fall?

Feel

Feel has a hard EEE sound. You need to smile when you say this word, making your mouth wide. Practice this sentence:

I feel so happy and free!

Fill

The sound of fill is between fall and feel. Your mouth is slightly open, and it has a short i sound. Practice this sentence to help:

Bill filled the glass with milk.

Now try them all together, making sure to say each word slowly and differently than the others.

Fall, feel, fill, the dog meets Bill. The dog eats meat, Bill drinks milk, Fall, Feel Fill.

Various Forms

Another challenge for students is to use these verbs in different tenses.

Fall—Fell—Fallen—Falling

Feel—Felt—Felt—Feeling

Fill—Filled—Filled—Filling

Try to answer the following questions:

Did the man fall out of the airplane?

Yes, the man…

Did you feel the elephant?

Yes, I…

Did you fill the glass?

Yes, I…