*Idioms*

🔘to make a rod for your own back.

Definition ☑️to do something that causes problems for yourself

Examples
💥If she marries that loser she's just making a rod for her own back.

💥If you invite people to comment on your proposals you will just be making a rod for your own back.


🔘to take a back seat.

Definition ☑️to allow others to take control or make decisions

Examples 💥 I'm quite happy to take a back seat and let her make all the decisions.

💥 The doctor recommended that I take a back seat until I have fully recovered from my illness

🔴Explanation If you sit in the back seat of a car, you allow someone else to drive it.


⭕️mend your ways⭕️

☑️Meaning: If you mend your ways, you improve your behaviour and stop doing things that cause trouble.

For example:

✳️Terry had better mend his ways or Rosie will leave him forever.

✳️It took him a long time to mend his ways, but these days Jack is a good father and husband.


🎯miss the point🎯

☑️Meaning: If you miss the point of something you hear or read, you don't understand what it really means.

For example:

💥I think you missed the point, so let me explain what I meant.

💥If she thinks it's losing the money that bothers me then she's missing the point. It's being treated like a fool that bothers me.


📒decide against

📖Meaning
to decide not to do something you were thinking of doing, or not to choose something or someone you were thinking of choosing

🤓For example ⤵️

💬decide against sth/sb We were thinking of opening an office in London, but we've decided against it because of the high cost of renting office space there.

💬decide against doing sth I'm glad to hear that you've decided against quitting your job.


💠knackered 🇬🇧🇦🇺

✍🏾Meaning
severely damaged

❕For example

🔺My car is knackered. I was driving home last night when it coughed and spluttered and started smoking, and then it groaned and died.

🔺My printer was fine yesterday, but when I turned it on this morning, nothing happened. I think it's knackered.

▫️Variety
This is typically used in British and Australian English but may be used in other varieties of English too.


📔Don't cross your bridges before you come to them

🤔Possible meaning
Don't worry about problems before they arrive.


💠funky

✍🏾Meaning
having strong dance rhythms

❕For example

🔺Madonna's new single has some really funky beats.

🔺We went to a club last night and the DJ played some of the funkiest tracks we've heard in a while.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━

*Informal Abbreviations in Social Media*

*coz* = because

*Gr8* =great

*f9* = fine

*LOL* = laughing out loud/ lots of luck

*U R* =;you are

*U'R* = your

*C U* = see you

*l8r* = later

*l8* = late

*W8* = wait

*W8r* = waiter

*X u* = kiss u

*GM* = good morning

*GE* = good evenig

*2 u 2* = to u too

*WC* = welcome

*IMO* = in my opinion

*IDK* = I don't know

*ILU* = I love you

*IOU* = I owe you

*HBU* = How about u

*ASAP* = as soon as possible

*2day* = today

*2Moro* = tomorrow

*2Nite* = tonight

*ATB* = all the best

*WYATB* = wish you all the best

*B4* = before

*B4N* = before now

*BBL* = Be back later

*F2F* = face to face

*FYI* = for your information

*KIT* =:keep in touch

*HAND* = have a nice day

*MSG* = massage

*No1* = no one

*SOM1* = someone

*PLS* = please

*PCM* = please call me

*SPK* = speak

*WAN2* = want to

*XLNT* = excellent

*Zero Conditional*

We can make a zero conditional sentence with two present simple verbs (one in the 'if clause' and one in the 'main clause'):

*If + present simple, .... present simple.*

This conditional is used when the result will always happen. The 'if' in this conditional can usually be replaced by 'when' without changing the meaning.

*For example:*

*If water reaches 100 degrees, it boils.*
(It is always true, there can't be a different result sometimes).

*If I eat peanuts, I am sick.*
(This is true only for me, maybe, not for everyone, but it's still true that I'm sick every time I eat peanuts).

*Examples:*

*If people eat too much, they get fat.*

*If you touch a fire, you get burned.*

*People die if they don't eat.*

*You get water if you mix hydrogen and oxygen.*

*Snakes bite if they are scared.*

*If babies are hungry, they cry*

When we talk about things that are generally or always true, we can use:

If/When/Unless plus a present form PLUS present simple or imperative

*If he gets there before me, ask him to wait.*

*When you fly budget airline, you have to pay for your drinks and snacks.*

*Unless you need more space, a small car is big enough for one person*

Note that we are not talking about a specific event but something which is generally true.

In the condition clause, we can use a variety of present forms. In the result clause, there can only be the present simple or imperative.

*Examples*
*If you visit London, go on the London Eye.*

*If unemployment is rising, people tend to stay in their present jobs.*

*If you've done that, go and have a coffee.*

*When you go on holiday, take plenty of sun cream. It'll be very hot.*

*When I'm concentrating, please don't make so much noise.*

*When I've finished an article, I always ask Kate to read it through.*

Notice that 'unless' means the same as 'if not'.

*Examples*
*Unless he asks you politely, refuse to do any more work on the project*

*Unless prices are rising, it's not a good investment*

*Unless you've been there yourself, you don't really understand how fantastic it is.*

General Thoughts|English Quotes:
⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

Enhance (verb | in-HANSS)

Definition:
: heighten, increase; especially : to increase or improve in value, quality, desirability, or attractiveness

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉
#word_of_the_day

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

A nanometer is about the width of a strand of DNA; if you design, build, or use functional systems smaller than 100 of these, you’re a nanotechnologist.

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉
#knowledge

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

"Be strong when you are weak, brave when you are scared, and humble when you are victorious."

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉
#tips

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

Monkeys just pretend to be less intelligent than humans so they can avoid paying taxes and going on a job search.

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉
#thoughts

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉


"The beginning is the most important part of any work."✨ (Plato)


⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉
#quotes

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

The fruit isn't always vegan. Many stores spray their fruit with shellac wax to preserve it, & shellac is derived from insects, making it non-vegan.

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉
#knowledge

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉

During WWII, German prisoners of war in Canada were treated so well; many of them didn't want to leave the country after being released.

Thousands of them stayed or came back to Canada with one stating their prison was "the best thing that happened to me."

⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉༄༄༄⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉⑉
#history

_*Daily English vocabulary*_ Words differences

1. Accept v/s Except
Accept means to receive
Except means not including

2. A Lot v/c Alot
A lot means to a large extent
Alot is not an English word

3. All ready v/s Already
All ready means prepared
Already means by this time

4. Apart/ A part
Apart is to be separated
A part if to be joined with

5. Its v/s It's
Its the possessive form of it
It's is a contraction for It is.

6. Lie v/s Lay
Lie means to not say a truth
Lay is to put something in place

7. Your v/s You're
Your is a possessive adjective. it shows possession
You're stands for You are.

8.Precede v/c Proceed
Precede means to come before
Proceed is to move forward

9. Quote v/s Quotation
Quote means to cite
Quotation is the act of citing

10. Than v/s Then
Than is used with comparisions
Then means at that time, or next

11. Advise v/s Advice
Advise is a verb and means to recommend something
Advice is a noun and means recommendations about what to do

12. Allusion v/s Illusion
Allusion is an indirect reference
Illusion is a false perception of reality

13. Altogether/ Alltogether
Altogether means entirely
All together is applied to people or things treated as a group or gathered with everything in one place

14. Assent v/s Ascent
Assent means to express approval or agreement
Ascent refers to an upward movement

15. Capital v/s Capitol
Capital is the city or town that is the seat of government
Capitol is the building in which the legislative assembly meets.

16. Counsel v/s Council
Council is the meeting for discussion or advice
Counsel means to give advice

17. Lead v/s Led
Lead means to guide someone towards something
Led is the past tense of lead.

*“Stop saying Yes”*

🎒 *Situation 1.*
▪️ *Saying Yes to a request*
1. No problem
2. Sure
3. No worries
4. Consider it done
5. I'm on it
6. I'd be delighted
7. I'd love to
8. Gladly
9. Absolutely
10. Of course
11. Certainly /Definitely

🎒 *Situation 2.*
▪️ *Agreeing with an opinion*
1. So true
2. Indeed
3. My thoughts exactly
4. He/she/it really is
5. Totally
6. Absolutely
7. Yep / yeah
8. Uhuh

🎒 *Situation 3.*
▪️ *Saying “Yes” to an offer*
1. For sure
2. Absolutely
3. Yep /yeah / ok
4. I'd love to / I'd love some
5. Why not?

🎒 *Situation 4.*
▪️ *confirming a fact*
1. That's right
2. Correct
3. Yep /yeah

🎒 *Situation 5.*
▪️ *Giving permission*
1. By all means
2. Go ahead
3. Be my guest
4. Yes /yeah /ok /fine

🎒 *Situation 6.*
▪️ *Accepting a suggestion*
1. Definitely
2. Absolutely
3. I'd love to
4. Why not?
5. Totally
6. For sure
7. Alright
7. Mhmm...
8. Uh-huh...
9. [Nodding ]
10. [Thumbs up ]
11. [Okay sign ]
12. Yeah, yeah, yeah......
13. Fine
14. Affirmative
15. Very well
16. Obviously

🥀📚 *GRAMMAR RULES ➖ PART 1* 📚


📝 _1. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a period/full stop, a question mark or an exclamation mark, see Punctuation_

🔹 *The fat cat sat on the mat.*

🔹 *Where do you live?*

🔹 *My dog is very clever!*

📝 _2. The order of a basic positive sentence is Subject-Verb-Object. (Negative and question sentences may have a different order.)_

🔹 *John loves Mary.*

🔹 *They were driving their car to Bangkok.*

📝 _3. Every sentence must have a subject and a verb. An object is optional. Note that an imperative sentence may have a verb only, but the subject is understood._

🔹 *John teaches.*

🔹 *John teaches English.*

🔹 *Stop! (ie You stop!)*

📝 _4. The subject and verb must agree in number, that is a singular subject needs a singular verb and a plural subject needs a plural verb._

🔹 *John works in London.*

🔹 *That monk eats once a day.*

🔹 *John and Mary work in London.*

🔹 *Most people eat three meals a day.*

📝 _5. When two singular subjects are connected by or, use a singular verb. The same is true for either/or andneither/nor._

🔹 *John or Mary is coming tonight.*

🔹 *Either coffee or tea is fine.*

🔹 *Neither John nor Mary was late.*

🌸📚🌸📚🌸📚🌸📚🌸📚

📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚
*Synonyms*

*Identical*
Alike ,Duplicate

*Idle*
inactive , lazy

*ignorant*
uninformed, unaware

*immaculate*
spotless, pure

*immature*
childish, inexperienced

*immune*
resistant, exempt

*impartial*
neutral, unbiased,fair

*impatient*
eager, anxious, intolerant

*imperative*
compulsory, crucial, mandatory

*imperfect*
marred, defective, faulty

*impetuous*
impulsive, rash, reckless

*important*
significant, meaningful

independent
self-reliant, autonomous

*inferior*
lesser, substandard

*infuriate*
enrage, agitate, provoke

*ingenious*
clever, creative, original

*innocent*
guiltless, blameless

*insane*
crazy, deranged, mad

*insufficient*
inadequate, deficient

*intelligent*
bright, sensible, rational

*interesting*
provocative, engrossing

intermittent
sporadic, periodic

*internal*
inner, inside

*intolerant*
bigoted, prejudiced

*intriguing*
fascinating, enthralling

*irrelevant*
inappropriate, unrelated

*irritate*
Annoy , agitate , Provoke


*My Eng Corner*
📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚📚

💡Idiom:
To hand in:

🧐Means:
To submit or deliver something that is due (S)

✅Examples:
- Every student has to hand in an original composition each week of the
semester.
- All the salepeople hand their weekly reports in on Friday.

🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸

*Grammar*

➖Verbs often confused➖

• Shall and May.


Distinguish between:

(a) May I shut the door? and (b) Shall I shut the door?

May I shut the door? Means that I wish the door closed and I ask your permission to shut it.
Shall I open the door? Means that I want to know whether you wish the door closed.

🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻

🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸

⚡Common mistakes

• suffer from
• recover from
• distinct from
• focus on
• abstain from
• get rid of
• search for
• accustomed to
• wait for
• peer at
• lead to
• convert to
• approve of
• cope with
______________________________________

🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻

🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸

*Grammar*


➖Verbs often confused➖

Sit and Seat.

(a) Sit
✖️Don't say: We seat at a desk to write a letter.
✔️Say: We sit at a desk to write a letter.

(b) Seat
✖️Don't say: He sat the passengers one by one.
✔️Say: He seated the passengers one by one.

Use "sit" as an intransitive verb. "Seat" is a transitive verb and requires an object. Very often the object of "seat" is a reflexive pronoun: He seated himself near the fire. The principal parts of the two verbs are: sit, sat, sat, and seat, seated, seated.

Note: Don't confuse "sit" with "set", which usually means: to place. Common idioms with "set": to set the table, to set on fire, to set off (or out), to set a trap, to set a clock, to set a price, to set your heart on, to set free, to set an example, to set a broken bone, to set to work (= to start work).


🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻

🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸

🏛 SUPERB GRAMMAR


[ ’ ] APOSTROPHE - Use to show possession, to construct contractions and to make odd plurals

[ & ] AMPERSAND - Use to represent the word "and".

[ , ] COMMA - Use mainly to indicate a brief pause.

[ : ] COLON - Use after a complete statement to introduce a series of items.

[ ... ] ELLIPSIS - Use to indicate a pause or a trailing off of thought.

[ . ] PERIOD - Use at the end of a complete dedarative sentence.

[ - ] DASH - Use to emphasize words or phrases and to summarize ideas.

[ ! ] EXCLAMATION MARK - Use after an interjection or to indicate strong feelings.

[ " " ] QUOTATION MARKS - Use to set off speech a quotation, a phrase
or a word.

[ ( ) ] PARENTHESIS - Use to set off
additional information.

[ ? ] QUESTION MARK - Use to indicate a direct query

[ ; ] SEMICOLON - Use to link two independent clauses that are closely related.
_____________________________________

🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻

🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸

🏛 SUPERB GRAMMAR


📌Descriptive words

❗LARGE
• big
• colossal
• enormous
• gigantic
• huge
• massive
• substantial
• significant
• tremendous

❗SMALL
• diminutive
• little
• miniature
• minute
• petite
• teeny
• tiny
• wee
• slight
_________________________________

🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻

🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻

☘Other ways to say "BAD"

•awful
•naughty
•nasty
•unpleasant
•disagreeable
•terrible
•rotten
•mean
•dreadful
•wicked
•lousy
•wretched


🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸

🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻

*Using the wrong prepositions and corrections for them:*

〰〰〰〰〰🇺🇸1️⃣🇬🇧〰〰〰〰〰

❌DON'T SAY: Maria is leaving to Italy soon.
✅SAY: Maria is leaving for Italy soon.

#Tip: Always use 'leave for a place', not 'to a place'.

〰〰〰〰〰🇺🇸2️⃣🇬🇧〰〰〰〰〰

❌DON'T SAY: I am good in English.
✅SAY: I am good at English.

#Tip: Always use 'good at', not 'good in'

▪️Also use 'at' after bad, clever, quick, slow.
⚠️But 'in' is used after 'weak'
❗️Example : My friend is weak in grammar.

〰〰〰〰〰🇺🇸3️⃣🇬🇧〰〰〰〰〰

❌ DON’T SAY: She is not interested for her work.
✅ SAY: She is not interested in her work.

#Tip: Always use ‘Interested in’, not ‘for’.
▪️Also “take an interest in”:
❗️Example: She takes a great interest in music.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️🇺🇸🇬🇧〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️
Common_mistakes
Prepositions_often_confused

🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸

*Learning new vocabulary is essential to improving your English skills. Today, we want to share 38 other ways to say "I don’t know" with you.*

So, What can I say instead of “I don’t know”? 🤔⤵️

⚪️I can’t remember off the top of my head.
🔴I’ll get back to you on that.
🔵I don’t have that information here right now.
⚪️I don’t know anything about…
🔴I have no clue/idea.
🔵I am not the best person to answer that.
⚪️I haven’t got the faintest idea.
🔴I haven’t had time to think that through yet.
🔵I haven’t looked at that yet.
🔴I want to be sure and give you the correct information. Let me check.
🔵Who knows?
⚪️I’ll find out and let you know.
🔴I’ll get back to you on that one.
🔵I’m going to investigate that further.
⚪️I’m not 100% sure on that.
🔴I’m not sure
🔵I’m unsure.
⚪️I’m probably not the best person to ask for that information.
🔴I’ve been wondering the same thing!
🔵I’m afraid. I have no idea
⚪️It could be one of many possibilities, I’ll look into it.
🔴It’s a mystery to me.
🔵It’s beyond me.
⚪️Let me check on that.
🔴Let me find out for you.
🔵Let me look that up for you.
⚪️Search me.
🔴That requires a bit more research first.
🔵That’s a really good question, I’ll check/ find out.
⚪️That’s not my area of expertise, I’ll ask …..
🔴That’s something I want you to find out for yourself!
🔵That’s exactly what I’m seeking to answer.
⚪️That’s good question, but I don’t know.
🔴That’s good question, I’ll check this.
🔵There are several possible answers, I’ll need more information first.
⚪️What do you suggest?
🔴What do you think?
🔵I’ll double check and let you know.


Key vocabulary:
1.▪️Off the top of my head (#idiom): If you give someone information off the top of your head, you do so from memory, without checking beforehand.
Examples

2.▪️Further: additional to what already exists or has been done.
Difference between “Further and Farther” and more confusing words

🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻🌸🌻

*HOW TO BECOME A MEMORY MASTER*

What if I told you
that in a month from now,
you will be able to memorize
a pack of cards
by just looking at it once?
And that you will be able
to do that in under 5 minutes,
with a little bit of training.
What if I told you that
that is all the knowledge you need
to fundamentally understand
how your memory and your brain works?
That knowledge will then
help you in your everyday life,
when it comes to remembering
people's names,
commit important information to memory
and then do it as a presentation at work,
or if you're a school child and you
want to score perfectly on your exam.
What if I told you that this knowledge,
if implemented in schools,
would change the way
we see the school system,
not only in Sweden but in the whole world?
My name is Idriz Zogaj.
I'm a memory athlete.
I am not some kind of a superstar;
this is my alter ego.
Before the age of 25, I didn't know
anything of what I know today.
The interesting thing
about the age of 25 is
that at the age of 25
the brain becomes fully mature.
That is, you are a grown-up.
Before that I knew nothing.
I also finished
-- well, I knew a lot of things, but --
I also finished my university studies,
and I was thinking, what happens now?
What am I going to do with my life?
I've always been
very interested in traveling
and getting to know
other people, culture, etc.,
and that requires communication.
So, I was thinking,
okay, I like the challenge,
and I like to communicate with people,
so, I'm going to learn a language.
A new language.
Something completely different
from what I know now.
I know the Latin alphabet,
but I want to learn something
that I don't understand when I look at it,
like Arabic, Chinese or Japanese.
Even Hindi crossed my mind.
So, while I was looking at courses
that I could take at home,
because I was tired
of the university life,
I accidentally came across
a book on memory.
I was thinking that I wanted
to learn this new language
the way children do it, by practicing.
Going somewhere and talking to people,
and in that sense learning the language.
I sort of don't like grammar,
so this was my way of cheating away
the grammar studies.
I thought, if I am
going to do it that way,
I will become prepared.
So, I want to put a lot of words
and phrases into memory,
and then go to that country,
or that part of the world.
This book of memory was excellent.
Why not start to read it,
and then see what happens.
So, I ordered the book and started to read
and then realized it is apparently
all about techniques,
thinking in the right way.
It wasn't that difficult.
I was very picky with the language
I wanted to learn.
I was like, reading the book,
doing some exercises.
Several years went by
and I didn't find any language to select.
But in the meantime,
I was doing these exercises
and gradually getting better.
Another interesting thing about this book
was that at the last chapter,
this person talked about
that you can compete in memory.
I was thinking,
what, they have competitions in memory?!
This guy, Dominic O'Brien, had won
the World Memory Championship six times,
so he knew what he was talking about.
I was still, like, competing in memory!
I was looking at the levels
he suggested that you complete.
Then I realized, hold on!
During this training, I've actually
reached many of these levels.
So, I thought, OK,
I will focus a little bit more,
and that's when I started
to train the pack of cards,
and one of the levels was
to do it under five minutes.
In 2004, I felt ready.
At the age of 27, I went to
the World Memory Championships
in Manchester.
Why not think big, just go
to the World Memory Championships.
I came 22nd in the world.
I also became Sweden's best memory,
a title I would hold
for five consecutive years.
So, when I came back, my friends
were looking at me differently.
They were like, "When did you
become such a brain man?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, come on, you just went to the

World Memory Championships and
competed".
"Yes."
"So..."
"Yes, but I just read
these techniques and adapted them."
"You did?"
"And I don't feel different,
I mean, I'm the same."
"Really, but what do you do
at the World Memory Championships?"
"Well, we compete in memory."
"Such as.."
Well, every competition is 10 disciplines.
It can be numbers.
It can be binary digits:
one zero one one zero zero one one.
Very funny.
It can also be words.
It can be names and faces, people's names.
It can be historic dates.
Do you know that the world record
for memorizing historic dates
is about the same or even more
than all the dates you learned
throughout the school system,
including high school?
This guy does it in five minutes.
Imagine that, 12 years
compressed into five minutes.
I think it's easy if I show you.
They would take
a pack of cards, shuffle it.
Not the one that we had before;
it's shuffled.
They would give it to me,
and then while we're chatting
I would start,
and then after a while they ask me,
"Idriz, when are you going to start?"
Well, actually I'm already done.
"What do you mean?"
Take the cards, the pack,
and split it anyway you want.
This is Diamonds of 9.
What comes after Diamonds of 9?
What do you mean?
What is the card that comes
after Diamonds of 9?
Clubs of 2, right?
And what comes
after Clubs of 2? Hearts of 10.
And what comes after Hearts of 10?
Two Fives.
That's good.
One is Diamonds and one is Hearts.
I would say that one is Hearts.
"So, how do you do this?"
Well, it's just about adapting techniques,
and actually I think it's easy
if I show you with an exercise.
Look at these two images.
Do you see a connection between them?
I'll give you a hint,
there is no connection.
It's just two randomly picked pictures.
But here's what I want you to do.
I want you to make a fun,
vivid and animated story.
Use all your senses,
see how it looks like, feels like,
to connect these two images together.
And do it in 3D,
even though you don't have 3D-goggles.
Your brain is amazing,
it can do it anyway.
It's projected in 3D.
I'll give you a few seconds to do this.
Here's how I would see it.
Let's see at the order
of where you're sitting.
You look next to you and see a big snail.
It has a door on it. You open the door
because it says welcome.
I mean, you've never been
inside a snail cell.
You go in and say:
"Oh it's slimy in here, why they do that?"
Look at these two images.
OK, give you the same, make a story.
Let's take the stairs where I came up.
You see a flamingo
building a big brick wall.
We have to climb over it.
It's no point but --
And these three, what do you think?
We all know why elephants
-- because it is a big elephant --
you all know why they are strong:
they carry a lot of weight.
You see a big giraffe up on the screen
and the skier is like,
I'm going to go skiing
down the giraffe neck.
Look up on the roof.
The last one is a bit obvious, right?
Because you see a reptile,
and they like to be in the sun.
It's quite common, so you might think
that this is an obvious one.
This one I will remember.
That's a dangerous thing,
because obvious things we tend to forget.
I bet I could find people in this room
that don't remember
what they had for breakfast.
Maybe today was different
because you were going to TED,
so you had breakfast later or whatever.
But it's a common thing you do,
so it's easy to forget, not registered.
So, see the snake with big glasses,
a nice drink and enjoying
the sun on the roof.
And the drink is not spilling.
So, what did we just do?
Well, we let our brain have fun,
and when we did that
we focused on the task.
When we focus on the task,
we tell our brain that this is important:
remember this.
So, first we enforce
the power of remembering.
What is the brain?
The brain is a biological lump of neurons.
It contains about 3% of our body weight,
but consumes 20%
of our energy intake every day.
It doesn't matter
if you're sitting in the audience,
standing here talking
or

whatever you are doing.
It's about the same level
of energy consumption all the time.
So, it has a lot of neurons.
They like to connect to each other.
They can make tens
of thousands of connections.
This is also why we are all unique.
I mean, it's impossible to copy
or to make two identical brains.
So, we are all unique.
The stronger we make the connections,
the longer we will remember
the information.
So, we can make weak connections
and we forget them,
because that's a natural thing.
We always forget, that's a natural thing.
If you have a normal functioning brain,
it sorts out information
that is not important.
But you can tell it
what is important and what is not.
The stronger the connections you make,
the longer you will remember it.
With this knowledge, I would say
that today students study too much.
The reason why they do,
I could say that it's
because many students today,
don't know how to put
the information into their brain.
They study and study and study
and it becomes late.
They go to bed late and wake up tired.
Instead of putting
the information in their brain
in the way the brain likes to have it.
Then they can rest,
commit time to the hobbies,
spend time with their family,
and then do a repetition
of the information they learnt.
But if you don't know
that the information is there,
you don't trust your brain.
If you don't trust your brain,
you study all the time.
I will prove this to you
that your brain actually is better
than you might think yourself.
The exercise we did before,
I do with five-year-olds.
But then we use 30 pairs.
So, don't feel any pressure.
Look at this image!
There's something missing, right?
I bet your brain fills in the gaps.
So, if I say weight, you say?
(Audience) Elephant.
Thank you. And if I say bricks, you say?
(Audience) Flamingo.
And if I say the obvious one?
(Audience) Sun.
Thank you.
If I say door, you say?
(Audience) Snail.
And if I say ski?
(Audience) Giraffe.
And if I told you to give them to me
in the right order, as they came up,
what will you do?
You will close your eyes,
go to the first place,
go to the second place,
go to the third place,
the fourth place and the roof is last one.
Give them to me backwards.
You just go backwards.
This is what we do
at memory competitions.
Now you memorized 10 words.
That's one of the events,
to memorize words.
You can go to the competition and perform.
The only thing we do
is that we do it faster and longer.
It's very interesting to note
that the world record
for memorizing a pack of cards
by just looking at them once
as fast as possible,
is about the same time it takes
Usain Bolt to run 200 meters.
Think of that the next time
you watch the Olympics.
When he starts, you start,
and see how many cards you remember.
Now, I don't know Usain Bolt,
but I know the world record holder
for the cards, Simon Reinhard.
I know how much he trains.
I know he doesn't do anything different
from what we just did before.
He just structures the knowledge
that he puts them into his brain.
He looks at the information once,
and he knows it's fixed there.
It's all about having fun and letting
the brain make strong connections.
Then there's no limits.
I have a friend who comes and helps me
to organize the Swedish
Memory Championships every year.
If we would have a scale
here over the mat.
Here is a person
who has difficulty with memory.
Here is the normal memory,
here's where most people would be.
And here is where the geniuses are,
the super memories.
So, when she came first in 2009,
I contacted the [inaudible]
and told them, why don't we run
some tests, some memory tests on this,
because I like to work with a scientist
to show them what we could do.
Because there's not so much research
going on in this area.
The guy who did the research on her,
which is actually that guy,
Jacob Stohlman,
he said like, "Idrez, we have to redo
the scale because she's over there.
She's outside of our scale."
What she did is like way outside.
How can