Slang is the informal language that native speakers use when speaking in an informal setting.

The words and phrases are deeply related to parts of British culture that someone learning English who has not lived in the UK, will know nothing about. 

For example, a phrase that lots of people use may even come from a successful comedy series that adults remember from their youth and has just become a fixed part of speech.

So, slang is an important thing to learn to be able to say that you are truly fluent in English.

You can learn all the grammar tenses, thousands of words and phrases including phrasal verbs and idioms, but to be an advanced English speaker, you also need to know about British Slang.

Slang is, of course, 'street language', more often spoken than written, as slang is very very informal language.

It can often be funny or derogatory language, but there is no doubt that slang is super common and ever-present in normal conversation.

How many of the 8 questions from today's UK Slang quiz can you get correct?

In all of our learning English articles, we always show our students real English that is used every day in England: vocabulary, phrases, and grammar that you can use immediately on your trip to London, so that you sound like you live here.

Today's 8 questions are all authentic sentences that were printed in yesterday's broadsheet newspaper, The Daily Telegraph.

This is 'quality journalism' with a high standard of English, rather than the intermediate level of English that you might find in the tabloids (sometimes called 'the gutter press' or the 'red tops').

Newspapers are filled with thousands of words when they are reporting the latest events.

Reading the newspapers is an excellent way to pick up lots of new intermediate to advanced vocabulary for free.

However, even when you are reading quality journalism, reporting only on the news, you will find that the articles are peppered with (meaning: 'containing lots of') lots of idiomatic phrases that you may not know.

Today's quiz takes actual sentences from today's Daily Telegraph newspaper and asks you to work out what the target phrase really means.

When you take an advanced English exam, you need to show the examiner that you are able to use complex grammar tenses.

Additionally, being able to correctly use words that are not so frequently used, above the standard of a strong intermediate learner, proves to the examiner (and to yourself) that you are definitely an advanced speaker of English that deserves to pass the exam.

Increase your vocabulary knowledge with the test below.

How many of the following advanced English words do you know?

In yesterday's 20 Day English Challenge, we tested you on advanced (but commonly used) vocabulary.

Today we look at some more advanced level words that you should put in your vocabulary book of knowledge.

Increasing your vocabulary knowledge and being able to use your new words in the correct context is the sign of a fantastic language learner.

It's easy when you have reached Upper Intermediate level to believe that you are now at a stage where you do not need to concentrate on further learning because your 'English is good enough now'.

However, an educated native English speaker can even impress other English mother tongue speakers with a wide vocabulary that uses not so common words.

If you have been doing all of our tests in the 20 day challenge so far then you will have given a nice little boost to your grammar, spelling, comprehension and all aspects of your English knowledge.

Today, we have got some upper intermediate vocabulary for you to get your teeth stuck into.

There is only one correct word that will fit into the gap in each sentence.

If you do not know the correct answer straight away, then look at the choices - some of those answer options are silly and nonsense.

So, you can learn the correct word by a process of elimination.

Another test to boost your English level with the 20 Day English Challenge.

Today, we are looking at Business English vocabulary.

This test is suitable for strong intermediate or upper intermediate learners.

This will extend your Business vocabulary and test your comprehension of reasonably difficult sentences.

Best of luck luck with today's challenge of modal verbs.

Idioms are those phrases in English like "It's not my cup of tea". A group of words that when put together have a meaning that is completely different than the individual words would suggest.

There are really common idioms that students learn even at beginner level, like the one above with that famous cup of tea, meaning (I don't like that thing) or "it's a piece of cake" (meaning - it's very easy) 

It's the third day of the SGI 20 Day English challenge - a quick and perfect way to improve your English every day.

How did you do with the Spelling quiz and Email sentences test??

British food has a bad reputation around the world, but the idea of our food being rubbish is a bit outdated.

For decades now, celebrity chefs have had extremely popular television cookery programmes (think of Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay and Nigella Lawson) and the standard of cuisine across Britain has been raised immeasurably.

Everywhere you go through the UK, you can find gastro pubs serving incredible mouthwatering meals that will make your taste buds tingle and mean that you never say 'fish and chips' again to describe English food.

On this day in 1980, John Lennon was killed in New York. What words can express what a loss this was?

When something so tragic happens, what can you say?

It's hard enough to know the right words to say in a horrible situation and if you are learning English then the difficulty, awkwardness and uncomfortable feeling can be even worse!

So, if the worst thing happens, here is what you can say to people to express your sympathy about someone passing away.

At the end of very year, the big book publishing houses tell us what they consider to be the 'Word of the year'.

This is a list of new words that will be entered into the English dictionary. The list contains new vocabulary that has become popular, widespread and fashionable in the previous year.

The words have appeared on television, in movies, newspapers, social media and anywhere else that you can read or hear the English language.

There are lots of words in English that are commonly mixed up or confused (by learners and even native speakers of English), mainly because of very similar pronunciation.

 However, the spelling of two similar sounding words can be very different. For example, think of 'accept vs except'

On the other hand, some words are frequently used incorrectly as there is a confusion over the true meaning... for example, there is the issue over 'borrow vs lend'