What does 'a drop in the bucket' mean?

“If you count all the rich people in the world they are just a drop in the bucket in comparison to the world’s population.”

“These contributions are just a drop in the bucket; the new church wing will cost thousands more.”

“I'm glad Tony started repaying the money he borrowed from me, but the five dollars he gave me yesterday is just a drop in the bucket compared to what he still owes.”

“I know $200 is a drop in the bucket but please use it to make an extra payment on your student loans anyway.”

“I shouldn't be surprised I failed the class. The studying I did was a drop in the bucket of the requirements and I never went to class either.”

I’m sure you know the meaning of the expression a drop in the bucket. This expression is used to show:

1.   A very small quantity, especially one that is too small.;

2.   A tiny amount, especially when compared to a much larger one;

3.   A small, inadequate quantity;

4.   A very small proportion of the whole.

What's the origin of the phrase A drop in the bucket?

It comes from the Bible, more specifically, Isaiah 40:15 (King James Version):

"Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing."

Is there any difference between 'a drop in the bucket' and 'a drop in the ocean'?

The answer is straightforward: NO. 'A drop in the bucket' is the predecessor of 'a drop in the ocean'; they mean exactly the same thing. However, ‘a drop in the ocean’ seems to have been used for the first time in 1802 in a piece from the Edinburgh Weekly Journal:

"The votes for the appointment of Bonaparte to be Chief Consul for life are like a drop in the ocean compared with the aggregate of the population of France."  

Considering that it seems to be much easier to remember new vocabulary and new expressions when you write your own phrases, I would like to challenge you to write your own sample sentences in the comments section below. Can you do it?

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Drop in the Bucket is also a Los Angeles based, charity with field offices in Uganda and South Sudan. You can check it here if you want.

You can also find them on

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dropinthebucket/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DropInTheBucket

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/dropinthebucket1

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In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

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Omega-6:3 Ratio More Than Absolute Lipid Level in Diet Affects Associative Learning in Honey Bees

Floral pollen is a major source of honey bee nutrition that provides them with micro- and macro-nutrients, including proteins, fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. Different pollens vary in composition, including in the essential fatty acids, alpha-linolenic acid (omega-3) and linoleic acid (omega-6). Monocultures, prevalent in modern agriculture, may expose honey bee colonies to unbalanced omega-6:3 diets. The importance of omega-3 in the diet for adequate learning and cognitive function, with a focus on suitable omega-6:3 ratio, is well documented in mammals. We have recently shown, for the first time in invertebrates, the importance of omega-3 in diets for associative learning ability in honey bees. In the current work, we examine the effect of the absolute amount of omega-3 in diet compared to the omega-6:3 ratio on honey bee associative learning. We fed newly emerged bees for 1 week on different artificial diets, which had lipid concentration of 1, 2, 4, or 8%, with omega-6:3 ratios of 0.3, 1, or 5, respectively. We then tested the bees in a proboscis-extension response olfactory conditioning assay. We found that both omega-6:3 ratio and total lipid concentration affected learning. The most detrimental diet for learning was that with a high omega-6:3 ratio of 5, regardless of the absolute amount of omega-3 in the diet. Bees fed an omega-6:3 ratio of 1, with 4% total lipid concentration achieved the best performance. Our results with honey bees are consistent with those found in mammals. Best cognitive performance is achieved by a diet that is sufficiently rich in essential fatty acids, but as long as the omega-6:3 ratio is not high.

Read it here:

file:///C:/Users/Bruno%20Corilano/Downloads/Omega-63_Ratio_More_Than_Absolute_Lipid_Level_in_D.pdf

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In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

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Conversation - Employees & Employers Negotiate (B2/C1)

One of the skills that I have most focused on in my classes is the oral one. Most part of the time, students want to SPEAK the language rather than just study its grammar (by answering some grammar exercises) in class.

Considering that speaking is developed by practice (that’s just my opinion), I developed some short activities that can be used by teachers in their EFL/ESL classes.

This one is meant to be used with B2 or C1 students.

PROCEDURE: Write the situation on the board

TIME: 30 to 40 minutes

TOPIC: business

SKILL: speaking

TEACHER’S ROLE: facilitator

Read the situation below and brainstorm with a partner a list of pints that both partners might want to include in a negotiation

Situation about the employees and employers:

IMAGINE A COMPANY. NOW, IMAGINE THAT THE COMPANY FINDS ITSELF IN ECONOMIC DIFFICULTY AND THEN EMPLOYEES HAVE ALREADY LOST THEIR JOBS. THE EMPLOYEES ARE UNHAPPY WITH EMPLOYMENT AND SALARY ISSUES.

Now, ask your students to reflect upon the following questions:  

WHY SHOULD EACH PARTY NEGOTIATE?

WHAT DOES EACH SIDE WANT TO ACHIEVE?

After the students have reflected upon the situation as well as discussed with their partners, ask them to share their thoughts on the topic. Then, divide the group into ‘employees’ and ‘employers’ and simulate the situation above.

Ask them to write short dialogues as well as practice them in pairs (or groups). Finally, when you feel that students should talk about negotiation, tell them to start a conversation in which they should use (some of) the structures/questions below:

I am willing to accept________ if ________.

I think we will have to agree with_________.

It would be an alternative to______________.

We can trade this against ________________.

Our intention is________________________.

I would like to_______________________.

We might like to____________________.

We must________________________.

Our main concern is __________________.

It is vital that __________________________.

We refuse to accept __________________________.

It is extremely important for us to include ____________.

How about ______________?

Do you feel that you can accept _______________?

How can we reach a compromise?

Could you tell us why you feel like that?

Shall we put this into a written proposal?

Can you offer us any other possibility?

And you can give them some production moment (I am considering the steps of the PPP approach) in which they are supposed to develop a role-play activity about negotiation (of any kind).

If you have enough time, you can ask your students to think about the last time they were involved in situation in which they were supposed to negotiate something.

HOW MUCH TIME DID THEY SPEND ON PREPARATION?

Ask them if they would prepare differently if they had to negotiate again.

  

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

Your feedback is welcome. Please direct comments and questions to me at bruno_coriolano@hotmail.com

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"This is Houston. Say again, please." "Uh, Houston, This 17-year-old could be the first human on Mars in 2033"

Alyssa Carson is a name people will most certainly remember. She’s currently training to be ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE TO GO TO MARS, specifically to build a colony there in a planned 2033 mission.

Are humans ever going to make it all the way to Mars? I have no idea, but this 17-year-old could be the first human on Mars. Is she going to make it?

When she was three years old, she watched a cartoon of people going to Mars in the series, The Backyardigans. “Daddy, I want to be an astronaut, and be one of the people that go to Mars”, she told her father.

Now, she laid out clearly what her ambitions are:

"I did the same thing as other kids, like switching my mind about careers, wanting to be a teacher or the president one day.  But the way I always thought about it was I would become an astronaut, go to Mars, come back, and then be a teacher or the president."

Currently, she is working hard on her training in a citizen science program that IS THE FIRST AND ONLY CREWED SUBORBITAL RESEARCH PROGRAM called PROJECT POSSUM.

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

Your feedback is welcome. Please direct comments and questions to me at bruno_coriolano@hotmail.com

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We Need to Talk about… Well, in Language Lessons We Only Have to Talk about Something

I was reading an article about life in other planets and I thought of warm-up (or pocket) activity on religion and the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligence.

It goes like this…

During a conversation course for C1 or C2 students, the teacher can start the lesson by asking students the question:

WOULD THE EXISTENCE OF EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE HAVE A PROFOUND IMPACT ON RELIGION, SHATTERING COMPLETELY THE TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE OF GOD'S SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH A MAN?

Right after asking them the question, the teacher could ask them to work pair (or in small groups) and try to say what they think about the topic after they had reflected upon. Ask them to say as much as possible about the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligence and how it would affect people’s lives here on Earth.  

I believe this is one way of providing students with some activities with the purpose of improving their oral abilities. Of course, the teacher must talk to the students about the topic and let make them aware of the purpose of the activity – after all, we don’t want our students to be offended by the questions I make. In some countries, however, this question should never be asked. So, make sure you know when you could use it and in doing so, you would avoid problems with you pupils.

Transcript: So one of my recent columns in Scientific American was called Sky Gods for Skeptics, or as they used to call it, Aliens for Atheists.

Basically the idea is that aliens and extraterrestrials in our imagination—and we haven’t found any yet so they’re all in our imagination—are often portrayed as these almost god-like deities, you know, they’re super advanced technologically, scientifically, morally. They’ve somehow overcome war and poverty and these sorts of things. And so I got to thinking about this. It’s very similar to the religious impulse, which is that: we’re not alone. There is something out there more powerful than us who knows about us and cares about us; who loves us. That’s the kind of deep religious impulse: “We’re not alone.” And that’s the same impulse people get when they think about extraterrestrials.

The crux of my article in Scientific American is that there was there was a new paper published that showed that people who have this longing—so there’s variation in this: some people have more of that longing than others—those who have that longing but are not religious are more likely to believe extraterrestrials are out there.

In other words, if you have the religious beliefs, God, Jesus, Mohammed, whatever your religion is, you don’t really need the aliens, so you’re satisfied with that. But if you don’t have that then you’re more likely to go for the extraterrestrial hypothesis as a viable one in the sense that “it makes me feel good”.

Because let’s face it, religions have no more evidence for god than scientists have for extraterrestrials. It’s all imagination and speculation based on reason and logic and arguments, but we still don’t have any empirical evidence. So short of that I find it interesting that it becomes sort of an emotional appeal or a deep desire for us to feel like there’s somebody else out there, and "I’m not alone". And let’s face it, that does feel good, and there’s nothing wrong with that—but we should always suspend judgment until we actually have evidence for this. We may be the only ones in the cosmos that are sentient beings, and if so, all the more reason we should care for our world and each other, because that would mean this is it.

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

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“Like... I mean... like er…” The verb 'to like' isn't that complicated, but many of the other uses of the little word are misunderstood and unfairly maligned, says University of Victoria sociolinguist

I asked one question on my profile on Quora and booooom… many answers were proposed to that simple question. After checking some of them out, I came across this article written by Alexandra D’Arcy, who studies the history of like at University of Victoria.

And “using centuries-old texts, personal letters, court documents and even CBC Radio archives from B.C. settlers, she shows that "like" may be increasing in use, but it's not random or a new phenomenon”.

If you think you should read (and listen to) it, I would strongly recommend you to take some minutes in order to read it here (Like, don't blame 'like' on kids these days, says sociolinguist)  

PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-partly internet websites referred to in this post, and does not guarantee that any context on such websites are, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

In some instances, I have been unable to trace the owners of the pictures used here; therefore, I would appreciate any information that would enable me to do so. Thank you very much.

Is something important missing? Report an error or suggest an improvement. Please, I strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact me!

Your feedback is welcome. Please direct comments and questions to me at bruno_coriolano@hotmail.com

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