Your English Test guide

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT – 🤓 Why do these answers work?🤔 The answer isn't really about waffles, dogs, babies, or referees. It's about English grammar. Unlike many languages, English often allows us to put one noun in front of another noun without changing the form of either word. However, simply changing the order of the words can completely change the meaning. In many English noun combinations, the last word tells you what the thing actually IS. For example: 🏠 A dog house is a type of house. 🐕 A house dog is a dog that lives in a house. 👶A baby dummy is a type of dummy (pacifier in American English) 🧸 A dummy baby is a a doll or model baby. 🧇 A waffle iron is a type of iron used to make waffles. 🦷 An iron waffle is a waffle made of iron (and probably something you could break your teeth on!). 📺 An Amazon Fire Stick is a type of stick/device used for watching TV and streaming video. 🔥 A stick fire is a fire made from sticks. ⚽️ A match referee is the person in charge of the game. 🏆 A referee match is a match involving referees playing against each other. 📮 A post office is a place where you send and receive mail. 📬 Office post is post (mail) that is sent, received, or sorted in an office. Of course, English being English, there are exceptions too... but that's a story for another day! 😉

⚠️ SPOILER ALERT – Why do these answers work? The answer isn't really about waffles, dogs, babies, or referees. It's about English grammar. Unlike many languages, English often allows us to put one noun in front of another noun without changing the form of either word. Simply changing the order of the words can completely change the meaning. In many English noun combinations, the last word tells you what the thing actually IS. For example: 🏠 A dog house is a type of house. 🐕 A house dog is a dog that lives in a house. 👶 A baby dummy is a type of dummy. 🧸 A dummy baby is a a doll or model baby. 🧇 A waffle iron is a type of iron used to make waffles. 🦷 An iron waffle is a waffle made of iron (and probably something you could break your teeth on!). 📺 An Amazon Fire Stick is a type of stick/device used for watching TV and streaming video. 🔥 A stick fire is a fire made from sticks. ⚽️ A match referee is the referee in charge of the game. 🏆 A referee match is a match involving referees. 📮 A post office is a place where you send and receive mail. 📬 Office post is post (mail) that is sent, received, or sorted in an office. Of course, English being English, there are exceptions too... but that's a story for another day! 😉🤓

🧇🇺🇸 Today is National Waffle Iron Day in the USA! Whether you make your own waffles, order them in a café, or simply buy them ready-made and heat them up at home, today's celebration got us thinking about something rather strange in English. What's the difference between a waffle iron and an iron waffle? The answer isn't really about waffles. It's about English. Unlike many languages, English often allows us to put one noun in front of another noun without changing the form of either word. Simply changing the order of the words can completely change the meaning. For example: 🧇 A waffle iron is something used to make waffles. 🦷 An iron waffle is something you could probably break your teeth on! Now try our quiz below.👇 Each question shows two pictures. Which picture matches the expression? 👇 Vote in the poll below. ⚠️ Spoiler alert: we'll explain the grammar behind all of this in the comment below the poll. #EnglishGrammar#LearnEnglish#EnglishIsWeird

🤯 And the answer to our earlier question? What percentage of words in an English dictionary originally came from other languages?🤔 Spoiler 👇 Believe it or not, according to various linguistic authorities, dictionaries and academic studies, between around 65% and 80% of all the words in an English dictionary originated in other languages. Yes — according to some estimates, nearly four out of every five words in English have been borrowed from another language. However, there is one fascinating exception: The most common words we use every day — such as the, and, is, you, have and water — are mostly native English words. So perhaps loanword isn't really the right term after all. Other languages may lend English their words. English simply has a habit of keeping them. 😄