Culture:
Since singer, composer, and musician Stevie Wonder's birthday is on May 13th, here is a short quiz about him. The answers are at the end of the post!
1/ Stevie Wonder was born in…
A/ Stevens Point, Wisconsin
B/ Detroit, Michigan
C/ Saginaw, Michigan
D/ Chicago, Illinois
2/ Stevie Wonder was raised in…
A/ Stevens Point, Wisconsin
B/ Detroit, Michigan
C/ Saginaw, Michigan
D/ Chicago, Illinois
3/ The title of Wonder’s first album is…
A/ The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie
B/ The Rhythm & Blues of Little Stevie
C/ Introducing Little Stevie
D/ A Time to Love
4/ Stevie Wonder has been married…
A/ once
B/ twice
C/ three times
D/ four times
5/ Which of the following two quotes are from Stevie Wonder?
A/ If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
B/ The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
C/ Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.
D/ You can’t base your life on other people’s expectations.
If you're a Stevie Wonder superfan, here's a story in American Songwriter about how he originally wrote Superstition for Jeff Beck!
Pronunciation:
The consonants F and V are pronounced with the same mouth position, but there is one important difference. F is unvoiced, meaning that you will feel no movement if you put your fingers on your throat when you make the sound. V, on the other hand, is voiced, so when you pronounce it, your voicebox will rumble.
In this short Rachel's English video, English Sounds - F [f] and V [v] Consonants, you can watch and listen to how these two consonant sounds are made. Then try practicing them by reading these sentences below:
1/ Save the five forks we have left in the cave.
2/ Her family laughs every time I say I live in a cafe.
3/ Victor's wife will drive us to Halifax.
4/ Do you prefer Florida or Vermont?
5/ Did you do him a favor? Did you forgive him?
Grammar:
Although you may have read or heard that it's better to avoid using the passive voice in English, sometimes it's necessary. It's often used when reporting facts or when talking about what people in general do, for example. Transform the following sentences from the active to the passive voice, keeping the same verb tense in each case and beginning the new sentence with the underlined words. Answers are at the end of this post, after the Stevie Wonder Quiz.
Changes at the University Campus
They built the new theater last year. > The new theater was built last year.
They have planned a new gallery to exhibit the students' artwork, too. >
They will take down the scaffolding from that building next week. >
They should have finished the basketball arena last month. >
They are holding the women's regatta on Lake Monona. >
They had already completed the Olympic-size swimming pool when they began building the theater. >
They were using those classrooms to store supplies. >
They must have told you all of this at the meeting! >
Enrich Your Vocabulary | TOEFL Words: morose (adjective)
The word of the week can be used to describe the mood of a person or place. Synonyms for it include sullen, glum, sulky, or gloomy. Merriam-Webster says that it comes from the Latin morosus, which is translated as capricious! Why would the word capricious come to mean morose?
Here are a few of the example sentences that Meriam-Webster gives. They recently appeared online:
When their campouts ended, they were either thrilled or morose, with no middle ground.
--Blair Braverman, Outside Online, 26 Oct. 2022
In the first couple of episodes of the new show, Pike is morose and obsessing about his future.
--Scott D. Pierce, The Salt Lake Tribune, 5 May 2022
Can you think of a situation where the mood was morose?
The Britannica Dictionary: 100 Essential Words for the TOEFL
Answers to the Stevie Wonder Quiz
1/ Stevie Wonder was born in…
C/ Saginaw, Michigan
Saginaw has a population of just under 45,000 and is in the middle of Michigan.
2/ Stevie Wonder was raised in…
B/ Detroit, Michigan
Although born in Saginaw, he was raised in Detroit, AKA Motor City, which is the home of Motown Records.
3/ The title of Wonder’s first album is…
A/ The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie
The title of his most recent album, which came out in 2005, is A Time to Love.
4/ Stevie Wonder has been married…
C/ three times
He married his current wife, Tomeeka Robyn Bracy, in 2017.
5/ Which of the following two quotes are from Stevie Wonder?
A/ If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
D/ You can’t base your life on other people’s expectations.
Singer-songwriter Willie Nelson said, “The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”
Boxer Muhammad Ali said, “Silence is golden when you can’t think of a good answer.”
Changes at the University Campus
They built the new theater last year. > The new theater was built last year.
They have planned a new gallery, too. > A new gallery has been planned, too.
They will take down the scaffolding from that building next week. > The scaffolding will be taken down from that building next week.
They should have finished the basketball arena last month. > The basketball arena should have been finished last month.
They are holding the women's regatta on Lake Monona. > The women's regatta is being held on Lake Monona.
They had already completed the Olympic-size swimming pool when they began building the theater. > The Olympic-size swimming pool had already been completed when they began building the theater.
They were using those classrooms to store supplies. > Those classrooms were being used to store supplies.
They must have told you all of this at the meeting! > You must have been told all of this at the meeting!