Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Sea and Seaside Vocabulary

If you're planning a beach holiday this summer, here are some useful words to describe what you can see:

The coastline

cliffs = rocky hills / mountains that drop down to the beach or sea

dunes = sandy hills behind the beach. OFten a particular type of grass grows on the dunes.

beach : can be formed by sand or pebbles – small smooth stones

bay / cove / inlet = where the sea comes inland in small – often semi-circular – areas of water

Water

sea is UK English, while ocean in American English

waves / breakers (breakers are big waves)

rockpool = a small, maybe quite shallow – area of water surrounded by rocks

current / undertow = where the water's energy can pull you in one direction. This can be dangerous if you're not a strong swimmer

high tide / low tide = when the tide comes in (leaving less beach) or when the tide goes out (leaving more beach)

driftwood = the wood which is left on the beach at high tide

Sea creatures

crabs = small animals with four legs that have a shell and are edible

jellyfish = a white-coloured sac with strings coming down from it. These strings can sting you.

shoal of fish = a group of fish

Examples:

1. I went to Scotland last month.
Oh really? What was it like?
Beautiful.

2. Have you met David's brother, Paul?
He's just like him.
I think that physically they both take after their father – they look like him.

3. What's this made of? It feels like cotton, but it looks like linen.

4. I want to go to the beach today. It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day.

6. This soup is wonderful. It tastes like a combination of tomatoes and potatoes.
Exercise

Fill in the missing words in this holiday postcard.

Hi all

Having a great time in sunny Cornwall.

The ——– is really interesting – rugged cliffs but sandy ——– in places. We've been exploring some of the smugglers' ——– famous in this part of Cornwall. The smugglers would bring the ships in from the sea, then steal all the cargo.

At ——— we often go walking along the shore to see what the tide has brought in. Haven't found anything interesting yet.

The sea is generally quite rough, with huge ——–. We've been told it's quite dangerous to swim, and we felt a strong ——– yesterday even at knee-height.

Not been stung by any ——– yet, though just a matter of time probably!

Love to all

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Parts of Speech