Jokes - 19

Fred is 32 years old and he is still single.
One day a friend asked, "Why aren't you married? Can't you find a woman who will be a good wife?"
Fred replied, "Actually, I've found many women that I have wanted to marry, but when I bring them home to meet my parents, my mother doesn't like them."
His friend thinks for a moment and says, "I've got the perfect solution, just find a girl who's just like your mother."
A few months later they meet again and his friend says, "Did you find the perfect girl? Did your mother like her?"
With a frown on his face, Fred answers, "Yes, I found the perfect girl. She was just like my mother. You were right, my mother liked her very much."
The friend said, "Then what's the problem?"
Fred replied, "My father doesn't like her."

In case you liked the joke above and want to listen to it in an MP3 audio file, go to the link:

http://www.manythings.org/jokes/9978.html

Topics on Grammar - Rob x Steal

ROB x STEAL
(to take something illegally)  

 Rob - Steal

  ◊ You rob a person or place.
 ◊ You steal something that does not belong to you.

A robber or a thief

  ◊  robs a place (for example, a bank), or a person, of something.
  ◊  steals something from a place or a person

                    

 Examples :

  ▪ A bank robbery took place this morning.
  ▪ A gang of armed robbers forced their way into the bank.

  ▪ The thieves robbed the bank.
  ▪ The bank was robbed of a large amount of money.
  ▪ The gang stole a large amount of money from the bank.
          
  ▪ The thieves also robbed the customers of their wallets.
  ▪ The robbers stole their wallets from the customers.
  ▪ The customers' wallets were stolen by the robbers/thieves.

Both the verbs steal and rob have similar meanings. However, there is an important difference between these verbs, we use them like this:

to steal something from somebody: eg. my watch was stolen, he stole my watch, they stole my laptop from me

to rob somebody/a bank/a shop/ a house etc: eg. a man robbed me (of my watch), the bank was robbed yesterday, my local gas station was robbed at the weekend.

The important thing to remember is that you can steal something from someone but you can’t steal someone!  A person can be robbed (ie: have their property taken from them) but not stolen (taken away by the thief).

Now try doing some exercises on these links:

http://www.tolearnenglish.com/exercises/exercise-english-2/exercise-english-20981.php

http://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/328.html

To end, watch this short movie that was made as an alert on how easy it is to steal a bike in New York City.

Songs of the Week - The Animals

House of the Rising Sun

by The Animals

Don't Let me Be Misunderstood

by The Animals

Video of the Week

Setve Jobs delivers his speech at Stanford University

Book of the Week - The Island of Doctor Moreau

The Island of Doctor Moreau

by H. G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 science fiction novel written by H. G. Wells, who called the novel "an exercise in youthful blasphemy." The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat who is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, who creates sentient beings from animals via vivisection. The novel deals with a number of philosophical themes, including pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity, and human interference with nature.

To download a PDF version of this book, go to:
http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/free_ebooks/The_Island_of_Doctor_Moreau_NT.pdf

To listen to this story through an audiobook, go to:
http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/book/the-island-of-dr-moreau-by-hg-wells

To watch this movie, in English, without subtitles:






For the remaining episodes, go to the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv1EaierSJw&feature=related

My Trips 7 - London

The capital of England was my last destination when I toured Europe in 1996/97. I had spent 64 days and still had 8 days left to enjoy the gray skies this city has to offer. Besides the hot spots as Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and Picadilly Circus, among many, I highly recommend a visit to the British Museum, which houses The Rosetta Stone (enabling modern civilization to understand the Egyptian hieroglyphs), as well as a day trip to the town of Bath, famous for its hot springs, stone houses and its proximity to Stonehenge.

Big Ben 

Tower Bridge 

Picadilly Circus 

Saint Paul's Cathedral 

(Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Di)

A taxi cab in London

Stonehenge

Rosetta Stone