Hay fever!
The dreaded hay fever season approaches. For some people
it's several months of misery, but in fact the same kind
of allergic reaction can affect people all year round.
If you have an allergy, in general conversation you
can use this kind of pattern:
I'm allergic to ( )
So if your problem is dogs, you say:
I'm allergic to dogs.
Be careful with the pronunciation. The accent is on
"ler": al LER gic. The noun "allergy" is pronounced
differently: AL ler gy.
Hay fever is a kind of allergy, but people usually just
call it "hay fever" instead of saying "I'm allergic to
Japanese cedar pollen" (or whatever your particular problem
is). Hay fever causes many kinds of symptoms, including
itchy eyes, runny nose, stuffy nose, cough, headache,
and sneezing.
Usually you describe your misery like this:
I've got hay fever.
Very simple! |