Seabra Idiomas - English for executives and adult students

image credit: freepik.com Zero, nought, nil ou "oh"? 😕 zero - (number 0): 👉  Zero, one, two, three, four, five... ➤ The number one million is written with a one and six zeros . ➤   Heavy rain has reduced visibility almost to zero (= its lowest point). ========= ========= Oh/O -  (number 0) (also oh); (also o) 👉 Used in speech to mean zero: ➤   My phone number is three, one, o , five, one, double oh (= 3105100). ➤   The year 17 0 5 is usually pronounced seventeen oh five. ========= ========= nought or naught -  (number 0): 👉  The number 0 ( zero) : ➤   He said it was only worth £10, but really you could add a couple of noughts to that (= it is really worth £1,000). ========= ========= nil  -  (number 0): 👉 N othing or zero: ➤   At best, the economic impact is nil. ➤   Investment in the industry has dropped to virtually nil. ➤   The challengers lost the game seven-nil (= zero). ⏩⏩  USAGE NOTE:  ➥  As a n...

  Image credit: freepik.com A. Discuss these question with your teacher ➤  What's a recession? ➤  What's a depression? ➤  What's the difference between recession and depression? ➤ Which one is more severe and lasts more?  =========== =========== B. Fill in the gaps with the past participle of the following verbs.                                        see ➤  Remember those "roaring 2020s" parties everyone threw right before the pandemic began? They might have ____ more prophetic than intended. ➤  The economy has ____ on a rollercoaster ride for the past few years, starting strong in 2020 but dropping off precipitously due to the COVID-19 crisis before bouncing back so drastically that it overheated. Now, with the war in Ukraine, record-high inflation and continued supply chain issues, the economy is struggling again — and folks are increasingly debating ...

Image credit: freepik.com Maybe or may be? We use maybe and may be to talk about possibility. They are often confused because we use them both when we think that something is possible but we are not certain. Maybe as an adverb or as a noun Maybe /ˈmeɪbi/ is an adverb and it means the same as perhaps. It can also be used as a noun. Example (Adverbs):   ➤  Maybe we should get a new refrigerator. ➤  That’s maybe the worst show I’ve ever seen. ➤  Maybe you were right after all. Example (Nouns): ➤  Ifs and buts and maybes will not do. ➤  There are too many questions, and too many maybes . ➤  “I’m a maybe .” ============= ============= May be  In the phrase may be /meɪ bi:/ may is a modal verb and be is a main or auxiliary verb. Here may and be are two separate words, whereas maybe is one word. The main  MODAL VERBS"  are:  can, could, may, might, must, should, shall, will  and  would . Most of them are pretty similar in meani...