Everyday English (Vocabulary Building)

Lesson Notes January 6, 2026 (Vocabulary Building)

Words & Phrases

• What did you do for New Year’s? (We don’t say ‘new year’s days’)

• These examples are more common

• I cooked a lot of food for the New Year’s holidays.

• Over the New Year’s break I watched a lot of TV.

• 敬老の日 is called Respect for the Aged Day, or more commonly as Senior’s Day.

• Most tour groups from Japan do not include insurance for riding a camel. If you want to do it, you do so at your own risk.

• The Japanese Government loaned money to Egypt to help build their new museum in Cairo.

• My husband bought a papyrus print, and you can see the plant fibres on it.

• Do you prefer whitefish or oily fish?

• I like to make fish and chips using a whitefish like cod.

• ‘Whitefish’; cod, haddock, pollock, hake, sole, flounder and halibut

• In summer my neighbour likes to grill freshly caught oily fish like salmon.

• ‘Oily fish’; salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines, anchovies and herring

• The cruise was very nice, it wasn’t windy so there were no waves. (NOT “the river wasn’t waving)

• This authentic Egyptian souvenir cost ten times more than similar items in cheaper shops.

Grammar

In English, for kings, queens, emperors, pharaohs, and popes, we always say

(NAME) + THE + (ORDINAL NUMBER)

• Ramesses II is Ramesses the Second.

• Henry VIII is said as Henry the Eighth.

• Elizabeth II is Elizabeth the Second.

• Charles III is Charles the Third.

• Louis XIV is Louis the Fourteenth.