At a PR agency, words and accusations were flying around the room. The quick, mainly female participants were deep in a roleplay which involved a politician being interviewed about her shady past by a group of unforgiving journalists. Equally attentive participants were listening in and making notes on how to rescue the politician's career after this disastrous interview.
"Do you not believe in equal opportunities?" a tough journalist asked the poor home secretary - the politician responsible for politics in his or her own country.
The home secretary thought a while and smiled slightly.
"That's an interesting question", she said. "Do you have anything in particular in mind when you talk about equal opportunities?"
Excellent response.
"It is rumoured that you said that women couldn't survive prison", the journlist replied, glaring at the politician.
Pause
"Well", the politican replied. "It is a well-documented fact that men are stranger than women"
Deep in debate, the female participants nodded before continuing to give the politician a hard time.
But, stranger? Strange means weird, crazy, peculiar, odd, mad. It means funny in a negative sense.
If you wanted to describe a strange person with an idiom, you may say "he is not all there", or, one step up: "he is off his trolley".
She meant 'stronger' of course, the comparative of 'strong'. The vowel has this sound /ɒ/, just like 'on'. The vowel in strange has this sound /eɪ/, like in 'day'.
My student was probably confusing the sounds with the noun which comes from strong - strength. The vowel sound here is an /e/, just like in "bed" or "head". A strong person has great strength.
"Do you not believe in equal opportunities?" a tough journalist asked the poor home secretary - the politician responsible for politics in his or her own country.
The home secretary thought a while and smiled slightly.
"That's an interesting question", she said. "Do you have anything in particular in mind when you talk about equal opportunities?"
Excellent response.
"It is rumoured that you said that women couldn't survive prison", the journlist replied, glaring at the politician.
Pause
"Well", the politican replied. "It is a well-documented fact that men are stranger than women"
Deep in debate, the female participants nodded before continuing to give the politician a hard time.
But, stranger? Strange means weird, crazy, peculiar, odd, mad. It means funny in a negative sense.
If you wanted to describe a strange person with an idiom, you may say "he is not all there", or, one step up: "he is off his trolley".
She meant 'stronger' of course, the comparative of 'strong'. The vowel has this sound /ɒ/, just like 'on'. The vowel in strange has this sound /eɪ/, like in 'day'.
My student was probably confusing the sounds with the noun which comes from strong - strength. The vowel sound here is an /e/, just like in "bed" or "head". A strong person has great strength.
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