Dear All, I'm correcting your last compositions and feel very frustrated that certain patterns are still not clear to you, or at least you're not putting them into practice as I expected you would by now. In a text, the way you conjugate verbs says a lot about your level, so you'd better be careful with that aspect of grammar if you want to improve ;-)
Here's a little list of common patterns combining time expressions and verb tenses:
Since we looked at the pronunciation of -ed endings last week, here's a verb sheet where you can do further practice. (I "stole" it from a friend's blog, so thanks María! ;-)
Dear All, since this is something many of you seem to have problems with, here's a link to some "despite / in spite of" exercises to help you understand and form correct sentences using these prepositions. Then you can also check another link to the conjunctions "although / even though / even if"
Hi! Here's a Michael Jordan quote with interesting verb patterns: want + object + to infinitive wish + subject + would + infinitive make + object + bare infinitive
This weekend's song is .... one by Marlango where you can recognise the grammatical construction we studied last week: The more ... the more... ;-)
The more you see The more I hide The more I show The more I lie Or maybe The more I hide The more you see The more I lie The more I show But I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me Cause I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me
Te more I show The more you see The more I hide The more I lie Or even the more you see The more I show The more I lie The more I hide But I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me Cause twisted & sick so that's fine with me
I'd love to need you But I don't And I want to miss you But I don't And I need to want And I miss your wanting And I want your loving But I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me That's fine with me
(Bridge)
Cause I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me
Until I finish what i have to do I can't start doing what i should do I'll have to do this I'll have to say that I'll have to go beat Out all of the crap I'll have to sit still I'll have to fulfill Those stupid ideas They have about me But I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me I'm twisted & sick so that's fine with me That's fine with me
Hi! Here's an example of word-by-word translation from Spanish into English
Spanish allows for a freer word order than English. In English, if a verb has a direct object, the verb and the object are kept together. In the billboard, the "bike" is the direct object of the verb "rent", so the advertisers should have written "Rent your bike here" Of course there are exceptions, like in the following passage, which is the beginning of a story I've just read:
"On the
bench outside the station, I sat and waited. The station had been open when the
train arrived, but now it was locked. Another woman sat at the end of the
bench, holding between her knees a string bag full of parcels wrapped in oiled
paper."
In this case, the direct object ("a string bag full of parcels wrapped in oil paper") is very long,
so "between her legs" comes first and the direct object is left for the last part of the sentence.
Spanish advertising is full of incorrect English, so watch out!
I posted this a couple of years ago, but I'm posting it again because it's useful for both NI2 (revision) and NB2 (revision and learning the participles well, now that we're studying the present perfect form). So here's a list of irregular verbs with the pronunciation of the three forms. Voilá!
You have six links within that page to access a good number of irregular verbs.
Here's an interesting suggestion from your classmate Ana Mª, for you to compare countries. She also suggests practising second type conditional sentences while you make those comparisons. Thanks a lot, Ana!
Francisco (17:30 group) sent me this video and commented he was surprised by the informality of the speech. The speaker refers to the members of the European Parliament as "you guys".
The speaker is definitely outspoken, even looking for direct confrontation, but the register of his speech can still be considered, in general, a formal one. The use of "you guys" is informal but not to the point I think Francisco or you guys might think it is: when the speaker (or your teacher) says "you guys" they're not calling you "tíos/tías" ;-) "You guys" is only a plural form of "you".
Thank you very much, Francisco, for drawing our attention to this video and to this aspect of English grammar!
Here's a more comprehensive explanation from Wikipedia:
New plural forms
Because you is both singular and plural, various English dialects have attempted to revive the distinction between a singular and plural you to avoid confusion between the two uses. This is typically done by adding a new plural form; examples of new plurals sometimes seen and heard are y'all, or you-all (primarily in the southern United States and African American Vernacular English), you guys (in the U.S., particularly in Midwest, Northeast, and West Coast, in Canada, and in Australia; regardless of the genders of those referred to), you lot (in the UK), youse (in Scotland, the north east of England and New Zealand), yous (in Liverpool and some parts of Ireland), youse guys (in the U.S., particularly in New York City region, Philadelphia, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and rural Canada; also spelt without the E), and you-uns/yinz (Western Pennsylvania, The Appalachians). English spoken in Ireland, known as Hiberno-English, sometimes uses the word ye as the plural form, or yous (also used in Australia, however not the form ye). Although these plurals are useful in daily speech, they are generally not found in Standard English. Among them, you guys is considered most neutral in the U.S.It is the most common plural form of you in the U.S. except in the dialects with y'all, and has been used even in the White House.
Complete each sentence using a relative clause with a preposition. Choose from the list below:
we went to a party last night I work with some people you can rely on Gary I applied for a job I saw you with a man we were invited to a wedding you told me about a hotel
Example: Are these the books you were looking for?
2. Unfortunately, we couldn't go to the wedding ........ 3. I enjoy my job. I like the people ........ 4. What's the name of that hotel ......? 5. The party ........... wasn't very enjoyable. 6. I didn't get the job ......... 7. Gary is a good person to know. He's somebody .......... 8. Who was that man .......... in the restaurant? (Source: English Grammar in Use. Intermediate. OUP)
