Tag: free

Who invented the Internet? And Why?

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VOCABULARY

Credit: praise or special attention that is given to someone for doing something or for making something happen.
Example: She got no credit for solving the problem.

To threaten: to tell someone that you will kill or hurt them or cause problems if they do not do what you want.
Example: They threatened the boy with a gun.

Geek: meaning.

Myriad: a very large number of things.

Mainframe: a large and very fast computer that can do many jobs at once.

*Interesting article on this topic: The First Mainframe .

Behemoth: something very big and powerful.

Packet switching:  a digital networking communications method that groups all transmitted data into suitably sized blocks called packets.

Congestion: too blocked or crowded and causing difficulties.
Example: Yesterday, there was a traffic congestion. 

Gateway: a hardware device that acts as a “gate” between two networks.

To spread: to open, arrange, or place (something) over a large area.
Example: The fire spread very rapidly because of the strong wind.

Steadily: not changing much.

Retail: the sale of goods in small quantities directly to customers.

Downloadable PDF: Who invented the Internet – Vocabulary

Verb tenses review

Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verbs in the brackets:

  1. So, have you ever _____________ (to wonder) who actually _____________ (to invent) the Internet?
  2. Or _________ (to be) it thanks to a myriad of smart scientists ________________ (to work) on something they __________ (to know) _____________ (to be)  useful but _______________________ (to realize – negative form) would be so big?
  3. One popular but wrong story ________ (to be) that the internet ________________________ (to develop) by the USA so they ___________ (to have) a communication network that would survive a nuclear war.
  4. With time-sharing, these behemoths could ______________ (to process) several tasks at a time, which _____________ (to mean) their power could be used by several scientists at once.
  5. And, obviously, once you _________________ (to start) ___________________ (to connect) computers together you ________________ (to start) to wonder about what you ________________ (to need)to do to make communications between them easier.
  6. The French also _______________ (to play) a role. They _________________________ (to work) on a scientific network called CYCLADES, but they ______________ (to have – negative form) a big budget, so they ________________(to decide) to work on direct connections between computers, as opposed to working with gateway computers.
  7. The TCP/IP protocols _______________ (to form) the basic communication language of the internet, which _______________ (to label) the packets of data and ________________(to make) sure that even though some pieces of the same data ____________________ (to take) a different route, they all _________________ (to arrive) at their destination and can be reassembled.
  8. Networks really ________________ (to begin) ________________________ (to communicate) with each other in 1975, so you could _______________ (to argue) that __________________ (to be) the beginning of the internet.
  9. Most internet traffic in 1976 _____________ (to be) email, because academics ____________________ (to think) electronic post-it notes ______________ (to be) dead-core.
  10. He _____________ (to do) so by __________________ (to invent) an interface _________________ (to use) HTTP, HTML, and URLs that _________________ (to make) internet browsers possible.

Downloadable PDF: Who invented the Internet – fill in the gaps activity

Correct answers: Correct answers – Fill in the gaps activity – Who invented the internet

 

 

Do you know the difference between WHO, WHOM, and WHOSE?

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who whom whose

WHO

WHOM

WHOSE

Interactive quiz “Who, whom or whose?

Downloadable PDF:
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHO, WHOM, AND WHOSE
QUIZ – WHO WHOSE WHOMQUIZ ANSWERS – WHO WHOSE WHOM
QUIZ ANSWERS – WHO WHOSE WHOM

 

Slideshare

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Slideshare is a community that allows people to upload and share slides and other resources. Its aim is to share knowledge online.

For example, this is a presentation on plural nouns in English:

This is a book on phrasal verbs in context:

This one could help you improve your vocabulary:

This is how it looks when you search for a topic:
Slideshare
First of all, you have to write the topic you are interested in (on the top), then you can click on the search icon. The image above shows you how it will appear on your screen. After you’ve clicked on the “search” button, you can change the language (look at the red arrow on the right). Thanks to this option, you will be able to find resources not only in English but also in other languages.

For example, choosing French, instead of English, this is what’ll appear on your screen:
slideshare_french

Lingro

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If you are English students and you want to improve your vocabulary/comprehension skills I suggest that you try this website. Lingro is an amazing resource if you want to read a blog, an online newspaper, etc. You just have to write the link of what you want to read (number one in the picture below). You can select a dictionary (as you can see, I marked “English dictionary” with a red rectangle, but it’s not the only one, there are also English-Spanish, Spanish-English, English-French, English-Italian, etc.).
This is the homepage:

lingro_home_pageLink: http://lingro.com/

For example, you want to read an article on the website http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ . Firstly, you have to find an article you like, for instance, I decided to read this one: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/150406-california-drought-snowpack-map-water-science/

national_geographic_articleThen, you have to copy the article’s link. Done that, from within the lingro’s website, you can enter the URL.
It’ll appear like this:

article_with_lingroYou can notice that I selected (I clicked the left mouse button) “warming” and “scarcity” .
Afterwards, you can study the words you didn’t know. There’s the possibility to create wordlists:

Word_list

You can also play with flashcards:

flashcards flash_cards flash_cards_2

“News in Levels”

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I just came across this website and I think it’s amazing. In “News in Levels” -as the title suggests- you can read leveled news articles. This website’s purpose is to help readers master the English language. Thesame news/story is presented in three levels 1 (the easiest), 2 and 3 and there are different sections: news, sport, nature, history, interesting, funny, information, exercises. An online dictionary assist you if you don’t know the meaning of a word.
You can use “News in Levels” if you want to improve your vocabulary skills, comprehension or fluency.

This is the link: http://www.newsinlevels.com/