English in Madrid

Source: Jordan Whitfield on Unsplash What's the difference between job and work ? Work is a both a verb and a noun (uncountable)  whereas job is used as a noun (countable) : I don't have much work this week.  He has a lot of work at the moment. He has a lot of works at the moment. She has two jobs . She is a travel agent and she also works as a waitress at weekends. He's a lawyer. He has a well-paid job in a multi-national. He has a well-paid work. We say go to work , start work and finish work : I go to work by underground. I go to my job by underground. She starts work at eight on Fridays. She starts her job at eight on Fridays. Job is more specific than work . Job refers to your particular employment position such as a teacher, lawyer, shop assistant and so on. I like my job ; I'm a journalist.       My job is a journalist. I'm looking for a new job (= a new position).     ...

Mathematical formula finds the number one song to listen to 'if you wanna have a good time' A mathematical formula has been created to discover the number one song that will really make you happy - and it's not by Pharrell Williams. Queen's hit, Don't Stop Me Now, topped the charts after expert in cognitive neuroscience and emotion, Dr Jacob Jolij, sifted through 126 songs from the last 50 years. He then combined the songs with feedback from Brits to analyse why certain tunes make people happy and even developed a mind bending equation to go along with it. The formula is as follows - FGI= ?L postivie / (BPM-150) +(K-[1/3+?,1/3,1/3-?])+1. Boffins from tech brand Alba teamed up with Dr Jolij and found that more than three quarters (78 per cent) of Brits used music to lift their mood and close to six in ten (54 per cent) using it to motivate them. The research found that people in Norwich (76 per cent) and Newcastle (74 per cent) are least likely to be influen...

Source: PACMA (Wikipedia) Bull is speared to death at Spanish festival – but judges cancel medal  Activists and festival’s supporters clash in Tordesillas before bull is set loose, but the way it is killed is in breach of the rules Men on horseback in a Spanish town chased down a bull and speared it to death on Tuesday during the annual Toro de la Vega festival – a tradition reviled by animal rights activists, who turned out in their hundreds to protest.  Scuffles broke out between activists and the festival’s more numerous supporters before the bull, weighing more than half a ton, was set loose in the north-central town of Tordesillas.  The activists staged a sit-down protest but scattered, along with festival supporters, when the bull was released and headed towards them before being driven to a field.  The bull-spearing event has been held for centuries. The person credited with killing the bull usually gets a medal, and on Tuesday a young man was initially hai...

Source: Call Me Fred en Unsplash I got back to Madrid last week. For the umpteenth  time, I missed a connecting flight through no fault of my own . Here is the e-mail that I wrote to the airline: Dear Sirs, My first flight (0700 **th Aug EZY*** INV-LGW) was delayed for around 6 hours, which meant I missed my connecting flight. That rearranged flight (1710 **th Aug EZY*** LGW-MAD) was delayed by a further 2 hours. All this resulted in a very long and stressful day. I have been informed about my rights to compensation and I would like the matter to be resolved promptly . Over the years, I have missed many connections flying with Easyjet and I have never received any compensation for any of the ordeals . Another upsetting thing occurred when checking in my case at Gatwick. My suitcase was 22kg while I carried lighter, more fragile objects in my hand luggage. At the Bag Drop in Inverness, they attached a "heavy" label to the case. At the Bag Drop in LGW...

Family wins 16-year fight against noisy bar In a case of the wheels of justice barely turning at all, a family in Spain's Valencia region have finally won their battle to have an unlicensed social club in their building shut down. The frustrated family from Meliana waited the best part of two decades to see the dispute with their noisy neighbours resolved, El País reports. Their problems first started in 1998 when they moved into a building into the small town. That very year, one of the clubs involved in the organization of Valencia’s world-famous Las Fallas festival moved into the building. At first the family of four assumed the noise the club produced would only coincide with the week-long festival. When they realised, however, that the festivities would continue three or four nights a week throughout the year — featuring everything from dance classes to loud music and bingo games —they lodged a formal complaint with police in 1999. Eight years of toing and froing later,...

We use also , too and  as well  to add extra information . Also : It is used more in writing than in speaking . Like other adverbs, it is usually found before the main verb but after the verb to be . He took up padel last year. He also plays tennis and rugby. I'm off work the last week of August. I am also on holiday the first fortnight  in September. My sister's been to Brazil. She 's also been to Chile. Be sure to visit the Louvre. You should also go on a boat ride down the Seine. We sometimes use it at the start of a sentence to emphasize what follows or to add a new point or topic .   You need to write the date at the top. Also, put your signature at the bottom of each page. We can talk about your ideas next week. Also, we should agree on a price. Graham, the party who set the red lines was the UK Government (such as no FoM and no ECJ control). Also, the Irish backstop was explicitly asked by...

Barcelona struggles with rising tide of tourists Tourists are vital to Barcelona's economy, but the 27 million people who visit each year have become a headache for the new mayor as she battles to save the iconic Spanish Mediterranean port from becoming a bland theme park. "Tourists go home" is frequently found painted on the walls of buildings in the centre of Spain's second-largest city, which is struggling to cope with a surge in tourism that started when it hosted the Olympics in 1992. Source: France 24 Vocabulary : to struggle - to rise - a tide - a mayor - a theme park - to cope (with stg) - a surge - to host (v,n) - according to - to highlight - a (snaking) queue - to jam - narrow (adj) - room (unc n) - to lay down - to be at a crossroad - such as - tree-lined - to heave with (people) - to throng (a place) - to found (a business) - huge (adj) - a banner - a vendor - to complain - gaw...

Source: Wikipedia (Ich)   I like the word "cheers". It's what we say when we are having a drink with friends and raise our glasses before we take the first sip . Nowadays however, many people have replaced "thanks" with "cheers". I find it quite annoying. A: Here's the newspaper. I've finished reading it.     B: Cheers! A: You can sit here if you like.    B: Cheers *mate! *Mate is an informal word for friend. What is even more annoying is when people call someone they hardly know, or even complete strangers,  mate. Having said that, flatmates, classmates and workmates (colleagues) may not be your mates either.

Source: Wikipedia (Luis Garcia)   Greenpeace kicks off protests before ‘gag law’ is passed tomorrow GREENPEACE activists have kicked off the anti-gag law protest by draping a yellow banner which proclaims ‘protesting is a right’ off a crane near Spain’s parliament. The Public Security Law ‘ley mordaza’ comes into effect tomorrow, July 1, and human rights groups and campaigners are set to protest up until midnight in Madrid. It has generated widespread controversy, international criticism and raised issues over the freedom of expression. "This law lacks justification, as there are no great problems of citizen security in Spain" said Miguel Ángel Soto, Greenpeace spokesman. "The law is there to silence the voices that criticise the government's leadership." The law will make many types of public gatherings and demonstrations illegal and protestors will not be allowed to assemble outside Congress. It will also permit the expulsion of migrants caught entering S...

Young Spanish royal Don Froilan accused of racial abuse at theme park after trying to jump queue The nephew of King Felipe is alleged to have said: 'I'm fourth in line to the Spanish throne' A young member of the Spanish royal family has been accused of racially abusing a staff member at a theme park in Madrid, after being told that he was not allowed to jump the queue for a ride. A nephew of King Felipe, 16-year-old Don Froilán, apparently lost his temper at the Parque de Atracciones last week, when he attempted to jump a long queue. After being challenged by a schoolteacher, Froilán is alleged to have said: “I’m fourth in line to the Spanish throne.” According to El Economista newspaper, an attendant at the park then told the teenager that he would have wait his turn for the ride, at which point, Froilán shouted: “You shut up, you f***ing chino.” “Chino” is used in Spain to describe a person of Chinese origin. It is not the first time Froilán – or Felipe Juan...