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Resumen de la prueba escrita

Writing (80 / 100) (30%)
Description of a place Friendly letter Personal narrative.

DESCRIPCIN DEL EXAMEN El examen de ingreso constar de las siguientes partes y tipos de ejercicios: Examen escrito:

Listening comprehension (20%)

Tipo de actividades posibles para resolver: True or False Multiple choice Fill in the blanks with specific information.

Reading comprehension (20%)

Tipo de actividades posibles para resolver: True or False Multiple choice Fill in the blanks with specific information.

Grammar & Language Use (30%)

Tipo de actividades posibles para resolver: Write the coorrect tense correct the mistakes

cloze exercise (passage with blanks to fill in).

CONTENIDOS:
LANGUAGE USE / GRAMMAR: l Nouns

Singular and plural (regular & irregular forms).

Regular Plural Forms

Irregular Plurals Lists:
o o

Nouns that end in -f or -fe Nouns that change vowel sounds, and Old English forms Nouns that end in -o Nouns that do not change Foreign plural forms

o o o

Regular Plural Forms

The majority of English count nouns are regular and predictable in the spelling of the plural form. Add -s to the end of the singular form or -es to those singulars that end in a sibilant sound (/s/, /z/, /ts/, /dz/).
-s boy bed book pencil day -es boys horse beds edge books patch pencils prize days box

horses edges patches prizes boxes

However, if the singular ends with -y and the -y is not preceded by a vowel (or is not a proper name) the -y changes to -i and the plural is then -es.
-y becomes -ies -y becomes -ys spy spies osprey ospreys poppy poppies bay bays

3 penny pennies Germany Germanys

Outside of this pattern, however, are several nouns which are irregular in their spelling. Below is a semi-comprehensive list compiled from various sources. Back to Table of Contents

Irregular Plural Nouns - List One

Some nouns that end in -f or -fe are changed to -ves in the plural:
-f or -fe becomes -ves calf calves elf elves half halves hoof hooves knife knives leaf leaves life lives loaf loaves scarf scarfs/scarves self selves sheaf sheaves shelf shelves thief thieves wife wives wolf wolves

Back to Table of Contents

Irregular Plural Nouns - List Two

Some nouns change the vowel sound in becoming plural:
singular fireman foot goose louse man mouse tooth woman plural firemen feet geese lice men mice teeth women

Some Old English plurals are still in use:

singular plural child children

ox

oxen

Back to Table of Contents

Irregular Plural Nouns - List Three

Some nouns ending in -o take -s as the plural, while others take -es.
-o becomes -os auto autos kangaroo kangaroos kilo kilos memo memos photo photos piano pianos pimento pimentos pro pros solo solos soprano sopranos studio studios tattoo tattoos video videos zoo zoos -o becomes -oes echo echoes embargo embargoes hero heroes potato potatoes tomato tomatoes torpedo torpedoes veto vetoes

Some nouns ending in -o take either -s or -es:

singular buffalo cargo halo mosquito motto no tornado volcano zero plural buffalos/buffaloes cargos/cargoes halos/haloes mosquitos/mosquitoes mottos/mottoes nos/noes tornados/tornadoes volcanos/volcanoes zeros/zeroes

Back to Table of Contents

Irregular Plural Nouns - List Four

Some nouns do not change at all:
singular cod* deer fish* plural cod* deer fish*

5 offspring perch* sheep trout* offspring perch* sheep trout*

*Notice that these are names of fish. Many (but not all!) fish have irregular plural forms. Salmon, pike, halibut and tuna are further examples, but one shark becomes twosharks. These include nouns that are traditionally plural, but are also used for singular forms:
singular barracks crossroads dice/die gallows headquarters means series species plural barracks crossroads dice gallows headquarters means series species

Back to Table of Contents

Irregular Plural Nouns - List Five

Other nouns retain foreign plurals. Note that some of these have adapted a regular English plural form as well.
singular alga amoeba antenna formula larva nebula vertebra foreign plural algae amoebae antennae formulae larvae nebulae vertebrae English plural in use amoebas antennas formulas nebulas

Nouns ending in -us with plural -a (only in technical use):

singular plural corpus corpora genus genera

Nouns ending in -us with plural -i:

singular foreign plural English plural in use alumnus alumni

bacillus cactus focus fungus nucleus octopus radius stimulus syllabus terminus

bacilli cacti foci fungi nuclei octopi radii stimuli syllabi termini

cactuses funguses octopuses

syllabuses

Nouns ending in -um with plural -a:

singular addendum bacterium curriculum datum erratum medium memorandum ovum stratum symposium Foreign plural addenda bacteria curricula data errata media memoranda ova strata symposia English plural in use

curriculums

memorandums

symposiums

Nouns ending in -ex, -ix becoming plural -ices:

singular apex appendix cervix index matrix vortex Foreign plural apices appendices cervices indices matrices vortices English plural in use apexes appendixes cervixes indexes matrixes

Nouns ending in -is becoming -es in plural:

singular analysis axis basis crisis diagnosis emphasis hypothesis plural analyses axes bases crises diagnoses emphases hypotheses

7 neurosis oasis parenthesis synopsis thesis neuroses oases parentheses synopses theses

Nouns ending in -on becoming -a:

singular criterion phenomenon automaton plural criteria phenomena automata

Other irregular plurals, retained from different languages:

singular Italian libretto tempo virtuoso Hebrew cherub seraph Greek schema plural libretti tempi virtuosi cherubim seraphim schemata

Singular and Plural Irregular English Verb Chart

Are you looking for a singular and plural irregular English verb chart? Usually when you see a chart with irregular verbs, it contains the different forms of the irregular verbs. Lets look at what makes verb irregular and how to change them from singular to plural.

Singular and Plural Irregular English Verb Chart

When it comes to making a verb agree with its subject, irregular verbs are pretty much like regular verbs. For singular nouns and pronouns, you add an S to the verb. For example: Singular Regular Verb: Mary makes cookies. Singular Irregular Verb: Mary steals cookies. Plural Regular Verb: They yell at the kids. Plural Irregular Verb: They speak to the kids.

Sometimes you add an ES, like with catch and catches, go and goes, do and does, and teach and teaches. Other times you have to change a Y to an I and then add

an ES, like with fly and flies. The problem with irregular verbs is that they change form for the past tense and the past participle. For most verbs, you simply add a D or an ED and you are done. Not so with irregular verbs. Here is a small singular and plural irregular English verb chart with the singular form, the plural form, the past tense, and the past participle form. Singular Plural Past - Past Participle becomes become became - become catches catch caught - caught drinks drink drank - drunk drives drive drove - driven flies fly flew - flown forgives forgive forgave - forgiven gets get got - gotten goes go went - gone hides hide hid - hidden

knows know knew - known leads lead led - led pays pay paid - paid rides ride rode - ridden seeks seek sought - sought sings sing sang - sung speaks speak spoke - spoken springs spring sprang - sprung steals steal stole - stolen tears tear tore - torn wears wear wore - worn writes write wrote - written

There is a list of 370 irregular verbs along with their past tense and past participle forms atEnglish Page. Although it is not a singular and plural irregular English verb chart, it does cover all the irregular verbs in common usage. Using English has a list of 221 common English irregular verbs. It lists the past and past participle forms as well as the 3rd person singular and the present participle or

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gerund forms.

Questions about Verbs

What is a verb? A verb is a word that denotes action or a state of being. It is a necessary component of an independent clause or sentence. Here are two examples: Beth smiled at the boy. - Action verb = smiled I was at home all day. - Being verb = was

How do you make a verb past tense? For regular verbs, it requires adding a D, ED, or IED. Examples are: fire = fired, talk = talked, and hurry = hurried. What is a Past Participle? There are two participle forms of verbs in English: the present participle and the past participle. Present participles are also called the active, progressive, and imperfect participle. It is the same form as a gerund. Past participles refer to actions that have happened. For example: The cookies were eaten. I was given a present. This form can also be used as an adjective, as in: the glowing review or the written report.

What Makes a Verb Irregular?

Changing its form for the past tense makes a verb irregular. When a regular verb is conjugated, it only add letters to make its past tense and past participle, like walk to walked, or bake to baked. Irregular verbs change instead of adding a letter or letters, like in sleep to slept, or choose to chose.

Countable and uncountable nouns with some or any.

Countable vs Uncountable Nouns

Some, Any, A few, A little, Many, Much Remember It

How much ....? = uncountable nouns For example: How much coffee do you drink? How many ....? = countable nouns

For example: How many cups of coffee do you drink?

How much? How many?

Countable Nouns In We use how many with "How many newspapers do you read every day?" "How many Euros have you got?" Revise It - How much and How many Lesson 36 "How much money have you got?" questions: plural countablenouns:Uncountable Nouns We use how much with uncountablenouns:"How much paper is in the printer?"

Learn It
Some, Any
Countable people. cups. books. There are some newspapers. chairs. shoes. Euros. There is some Uncountable money. traffic. paper. time. coffee. food.

Countable
We can use some in positive Statements: sentences with plural countable nouns:-

Uncountable
We can use some in positive sentences withuncountable nouns:I would like some coffee.

Positive:

I read some books.

Countable There aren't any people. cups. books. newspapers.

Uncountable There isn't any money. traffic. paper. time.

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chairs. shoes. Euros.

coffee. food.

We can use any in negative Statement: sentences with plural countable nouns:-

We can use any in negative sentences withuncountable nouns:I don't want any coffee.

Negative: I don't read any books.

Countable people? cups? books? Are(n't) there any

Uncountable money? traffic? paper? time? coffee? food?

newspapers? Is(n't) there any chairs? shoes? Euros?

Questions: Positive Q: Negative Q:

We can use any in questions with pluralcountable nouns:Are there any books?

We can use any in questions with pluraluncountable nouns:Do you need any coffee?

Aren't there any books?

Don't you need any coffee?

!Note! When you expect the answer to be "Yes." to an offer or polite request,
you can ask a question using some.

Countable Question:

Uncountable

Can I have some books, please? Would you like some coffee?

A few, A little
There are a few people cups There is a little money traffic

books newspapers chairs shoes Euros

paper time coffee food

Countable
Statements: Positive:

Uncountable

"There is a little paper in the "I meet a few people every day." printer." "I only have a few Euros." "I only have a little money."

Many, Much
people cups There aren't many books newspapers chairs shoes There isn't much money traffic paper time coffee food

Countable
Statements:

Uncountable
I don't drink much coffee.

Negative: Questions:

I don't read many books.

Positive Q: Are there many books? Negative Q:

Aren't there many books?

Do you need much coffee?

Don't you need much coffee?

COUNTABLE AND UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS Algunos nombres son incontables tanto en espaol como en ingls: bread, butter, Fire, flour, food, milk, rice, Salt, sand, smoke, sugar, water. El hecho de que estos nombres sean

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incontables puede inducir a error, porque en ocasiones van precedidos de un nmero y de un nombre contable: a slice of bread, one bottle of milk, two kilos of butter, three cups of sugar; se pueden contar las rebanadas, las botellas, los kilogramos y las tazas. News (las noticias) es un nombre que aparece en plural, pero de hecho es un nombre incontable en ingls, por ello lleva verbo en singular: The news is good today. Hay varios nombres incontables en ingls que pueden ser plurales en espaol, lo que suele inducir a error: coffee, furniture, information, juice, soup, thunder. INDEFINITE ARTICLES En ingls existen dos tipos de artculos que llamaremos indeterminados y determinados. Los artculos indeterminados a/an, some y any se usan para designar a personas u objetos cualesquiera. El artculo determinado the se utiliza para referirnos a personas o cosas especficas. Los artculos indeterminados a/an acompaan a nombres contables en singular (poe ejemplo: a boy, an apple). Los nombres que empiezan por sonido consonntico utilizan a: a door, a car, a uniform (hay algunas palabras que empiezan por vocal, pero su primer sonido es consonntico como uniform, European, universal, ewe). Si comienzan con sonido voclico, llevan an: an apple, an umbrella, an hour. Some indica cantidad indeterminada. Se utiliza en oraciones afirmativas con nombres contables en plural (He has some books from the library) y con nombres incontables (There is some sugar in the bowl). El artculo indefinido any se utiliza en oraciones negativas e interrogativas tanto con nombres contables en plural (There arent any pens here) como con nombres incontables (Is there any sugar in the bowl?) EXPRESSIONS OF QUANTITY

How much y How many se usan para preguntar por la cantidad. How many se utiliza con nombres contables en plural para preguntar sobre el nmero: How many pupils are there in the room? How much se usa con nombres incontables para preguntar por la cantidad: How much sugar is there in the coffee? QUANTIFIERS FOR LARGE AMOUNTS A lot of se usa en frases afirmativas tanto con nombres contables en plural como con incontables en el sentido de muchos/una gran cantidad de: There are a lot of large cars on the roads. There is a lot of crime in that town. Lots of en lugar de a lot of es muy frecuente cuando se habla de manera informal. Much se utiliza ante nombres incontables en frases negativas e interrogativas en el sentido de mucho: Do you have much work to do? There isnt much money in my bank account. Many se utiliza ante nombres contables en plural en frases negativas e interrogativas en el sentido de muchos: There arent many trees in the park. Are there many accidents on this road? INTENSIFIERS Too much seguido de nombres incontables y too many seguido de nombres contables se utilizan para expresar que algo es ms de lo necesario, ms que suficiente: Ive put too much sugar in my tea Ive got too much work. There are too many students in this class. Ive got too many books. I need some new shelves! Enough seguido de nombres contables e incontables se utiliza para expresar que algo es lo necesario, lo suficiente: Are there enough chairs? No. There are twenty people and fifteen chairs.

15 Abstract nouns.

T he Abstract Noun
Recognize an abstract noun when you see one.
Nouns name people, places, and things. One class of nouns is abstract. Your five senses cannot detect this group of nouns. You cannot see them, hear them, smell them, tastethem, or feel them.

Cannot see

Cannot hear

Cannot smell

Cannot taste

Can

Check out the following example:

When Joseph dived into the violent waves to rescue a drowning puppy, his bravery amazed the crowd of fishermen standing on the dock.

Bravery, one of the nouns in this sentence, is an example of an abstract noun. You cansee Joseph, the water, and the crowd. But you cannot see bravery itself. Bravery has no color, size, shape, sound, odor, flavor, or texture; it has no quality that you can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. Any noun that escapes your five senses is an abstract noun.

Don't confuse an abstract noun with a concrete noun.

Many nouns are concrete, not abstract. Concrete nouns register on your five senses. Here is an example:
Joseph cuddled the wet puppy under his warm jacket.

Puppy is an example of a concrete noun. You can see a puppy, stroke its fur, smell its breath, and listen to it whine. You can even taste the puppy if you don't mind pulling dog hair off your tongue! Because a puppy will register on all five senses, puppy is a concrete noun. Look over this chart contrasting abstract and concrete nouns: Abstract Nouns Concrete Nouns

deceit dedication curiosity trust relaxation

Here is an a-z list of some common abstract nouns:adoration belief calm dexterity ego failure happiness idea joy law maturity liberty memory love loyalty faith hate feelings honesty friendship hope artistry bravery charity childhood comfort

the President teacher cat airplane bubble bath

compassion

impression infatuation

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omen peace pride principle power

redemption romance sadness talent wit sensitivity thrill skill truth sleep success sympathy

Compound nouns.
A compound noun is a noun that is made up of two or more words. Most compound nouns in English are formed by nouns modified by other nouns or adjectives. For example: The words tooth and paste are each nouns in their own right, but if you join them together they form a new word - toothpaste. The word black is an adjective and board is a noun, but if you join them together they form a new word -blackboard. In both these example the first word modifies or describes the second word, telling us what kind of object or person it is, or what its purpose is. And the second part identifies the object or person in question. Compound nouns can also be formed using the following combinations of words:Noun Adjective Verb Prepositio n Noun Noun Adjective Prepositio n + Noun + Noun + Noun + Noun + Verb + Prepositio n toothpaste monthly ticket swimming pool underground haircut hanger on dry-cleaning output

+ Verb + Verb

The two parts may be written in a number of ways:1. Sometimes the two words are joined together. Example: tooth + paste = toothpaste | bed + room = bedroom 2. Sometimes they are joined using a hyphen. Example: check-in 3. Sometimes they appear as two separate words. Example: full moon There's a list of lots of compound words here.

A good dictionary will tell you how you should write each compound noun. Complex noun phrases.

Structure of English Noun phrases

Noun phrases play an important role in the construction of a sentence. Without knowledge of noun phrases in English, learners could not produce comprehensible sentences. This article, therefore, aims to discuss the structure of noun phrases, both basic and complex. Basic noun phrases can be pronouns, numerals or head nouns with different determiners while complex ones include pre-modification, head noun and post-modification.

1 Introduction
Among the five different types of phrases in English namely noun phrases, verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases and prepositional phrases, noun phrases are the most common playing various syntactic functions in the sentence and clause structure: subject, object and complement (of various kinds), apposition and attribute. They are used to refer to things that people want to talk about: people, objects, concepts, processes and all kind of entities. However, the problem arises here: How can we construct noun phrases, both basic and complex ones? This article is to deal with the structure of basic and complex noun phrases.

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2. Basic Noun Phrases

Structurally speaking, in the first place, basic noun phrases consist of pronouns, numerals or nouns with articles (indefinite, definite or zero) or nouns with other closed-system items that occur before the noun head including pre-determiners (predet), determiners (det.) and post-determiners (post-det.). The underlined parts of the following sentences are good examples of basic noun phrases:
I pronou n staye d at home zero article + noun 13 numer al durin g all prede the last few days

+ + + det postnoun det

Some peo dislik ple e det. + noun

Top

2.1 Pronouns and Numerals

Actually, pronouns are a special class of noun. As their names imply, they replace nouns or rather whole noun phrases, since they cannot generally occur with determiners. For example, personal pronouns have two sets of case forms: subjective and objective: I/ me, we/ us, he/ him, she/ her, they/ them; you and it are exceptional in showing no distinction. Subjective personal pronouns function as subject and sometimes as subject complement while objective personal pronouns as object, prepositional complement and sometimes as subject complement. These can be illustrated by: He is happy. I saw him at the station. Like personal pronouns, other types of pronouns including reflexive, possessive, relative, demonstrative, interrogative, universal, assertive, non-assertive and negative pronouns are all basic noun phrases. Reflexive pronouns include myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves.

He hurt himself yesterday. Possessive pronouns are mine, ours, yours, etc. This book is mine Relative pronouns: who, whom, that, which, etc. The book, which is on the table, is mine. Demonstrative pronouns fall in two groups. One is near reference with this and these; and the other distant reference with that and those. This is my friend. Interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, etc. Who did you go with? Universal pronouns: each, all, and every series: everyone, everything, etc. Everyone has his own ambitions. Partitive pronouns, parallel to the universal ones, consist of assertive pronouns including the some group (some, someone, something, etc.); non-assertive with the any series (any, anyone, anything, etc.); and negative with the no series (none, no-one, nothing, etc.) Nobody has come yet. Apart from pronouns, numerals including cardinal numbers (one, two, etc.) and ordinal numbers (first, second, etc.) can form basic noun phrases, as in: Two is better than one.

2.2 Basic Noun Phrases with Determiners

Not only can basic noun phrases consist of pronouns or numerals, but they can also comprise a head noun with determiners or determiners modified by pre-determiners and/or post-determiners. The head noun of a noun phrase is the central element and decisive factor in performing the syntactic functions of the whole noun phrase. It can be singular count noun such as book, plural noun books or mass noun like ink.

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Determiners can be indefinite article a and an; definite article the; or zero article as in the noun phrase books. The use of articles is not the only possibility for determining nouns, but we can use such words as no, what, this, some, every, each and either before the head noun like book. These words, also called determiners, forming a set of closedsystem, are mutually exclusive with each other, i.e. there cannot be more than one occurring before the head. Both a the book and a some book are ungrammatical. Determiners are in a choice relation, that is they occur one instead of another. In this respect, they are unlike all, many, nice, which are in a chain relation, occurring one after another as in: All the many nice pictures are collected. The articles are central to the class of determiners in that they have no function independent of the noun they precede. Other determiners like some are also independent pronouns: A: I want the money. B: Here is the. (ungrammatical) B: Here is some. (grammatical) With regard to the co-occurrence of determiners with the noun classes singular count (book), plural count (books), and mass noun (ink), there are six classes of determiners: (1)
The Possessive (my, your, 'his, etc.) Genitive (my fathers, Annes, etc.) No Whose Which (ever) What (ever) Some (stressed) Any (stressed)

book + books ink

(2)
Zero article Some (unstressed) Any (unstressed) enough + books ink

(3)
This that + book ink

(4)
These Those + books

(5)
A (n) every each either neither

book

(6)
much + ink

In addition to the determiners mentioned before, there are a large number of other closed-system items that occur before the head of noun phrases. These items, referred to as closedsystem pre-modified, form three classes (pre-determiners, ordinals and quantifiers) which have been set up on the basis of the positions that they can have in relation to determiners and to each other. The first class of the closed-system pre-modifiers, predeterminers, is unique in occurring before the determiners. They are: (1) all, both and half; (2) the multipliers double, twice, three times, etc. and fractions one-third, two-fifths, etc. and (3) such and what (exclamative). Like determiners, pre-determiners are mutually exclusive. Therefore, all, both and half have restriction on their co-occurrence with determiners and head nouns. The illustrations are as follows: All
All All All + + + The, my, etc. The, my, etc. These, those Zero article The, my, etc. + + + singular count noun plural noun mass noun

23 This, that Zero article

All my life All the books All this paper Both

Both + The, my, etc. These, those Zero article + plural noun

Both these books Half

Half Half Half + + + The, my, etc. A, this, that The, my, etc. These, those The, my, etc. This, that + + + singular count noun plural noun mass noun

Half an hour These pre-determiners can occur only before articles or demonstratives, but none of them can occur with such quantitative determiners as every, either, each, some, any, no and enough. However, all, both and half have of-construction which are optional with nouns and obligatory with personal pronouns: All (of) the students = All of them All (of) my time = All of it With a quantifier following, the of-construction is preferred All of the ten students All of the many girls All, both and half can be basic noun phrases:

All/Both/ Half were allowed to go out. Apart from all, both and half, the multipliers such as double, twice, three times, etc. can occur before determiners to denote a number, an amount, etc.: Double their papers Twice his strength Three times this amount Once, twice, etc. can occur with determiners a, every, each, and per (less commonly) to form distributive expressions with a temporal noun as head:
Once Twice Three times a every each per day

Preceding the determiners can also be the fractions one-third, two-fourths, etc. which can have the alternative ofconstruction, e.g.: One-third the time One-third of the time Such and exclamation what can occur only with indefinite articles and zero one, e.g.: What/Such a nuisance. What/Such fine singing. The second class of closed-system pre-modifiers is ordinals which include the ordinal numbers (first, second, etc.) as well as (an) other, next, and last. These words are postdeterminers, that is they must follow determiners in the noun phrase structure, but they precede quantifiers and adjectives as modifier.
The first (cold) month s noun

determin post-determiner modifi er (ordinal) er

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Cardinal numbers and quantifiers belong to the third class of closed-system pre-modifiers. They are mutually exclusive, following determiners but preceding adjectives as modifier. Cardinal numbers are one (with singular count nouns) and two, three, etc. (with plural nouns), e.g.: One good reason All (of) the three brothers Closed-system quantifiers are many (with the comparatives more and most), few (fewer, fewest), little (less, least) and several as in: Several interesting books All her many good ideas A basic noun phrase may contain various determiners, more concretely, pre-determiners, determiners and post-determiners which are in a fixed order:
pre-determiners determiners post-determiner ordinal Half All All my the her first many cardinal/quantifi er salary books questions Head noun

As mentioned above, basic noun phrases consist of only one component such as pronouns, numerals or of two components including determiners and the head nouns.

3 Complex Noun Phrases

Complex noun phrases contain three components: premodification, head noun and post-modification. We are to deal with these components in turn.

3.1 Head Noun

Like in the basic noun phrase, the head noun, first of all, is the central element and core component of the complex noun phrase. It may be count or mass noun which dictates concord and (for the most part) other kinds of congruence with the rest

of the sentence outside the noun phrase. This is exemplified in: The only girl in this class is hardworking. All of the beautiful girls in my class are kind. Also, when the genitive is as pre-modification, the head nouns can be omitted: We met at the dentists last week. Top

3.2 Pre-modification
The second component of a complex noun phrase is premodification, also called pre-modifiers, including modifiers that stand before the head noun. Pre-modifiers can be closedsystem and/or open-class items. Closed-system pre-modifiers are discussed in the structure of the basic noun phrases above. These items are optional in the complex noun phrases. Meanwhile, open-class pre-modifiers come after the closedsystem ones and precede the head noun as in:
All these young beautiful girls head

determin adjective as preer modifier

Pre-modifying adjectives can be those denoting general description (beautiful, intelligent, good, etc.); age (young, old, etc.); size (big, small, etc.); shape (square, round, etc.); colour (red, blue, etc.); material (silk, metal, etc.); resemblance to a material (silken in silken hair, cat-like, etc.); and provenance or style (British, Parisian, etc.). These adjectives can be both attribute and complement. In addition, pre-modifying adjectives can be intensifying ones which have a heightening effect on the noun they modify or the reverse, a lowering effect, e.g.: real (a real hero), definite (a definite loss), complete (a complete fool) and close (a close friend). These adjectives are generally attributive only. Restrictive adjectives, another class of pre-modifying adjectives, restrict the reference of the noun exclusively, particularly or chiefly, e.g.: certain (a certain person), exact (the exact answer), only (the only occasion) and very (the very man). Like intensifying adjectives, the restrictive ones are

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attributive only. However, there are a number of adjectives which cannot premodify the head, but can be predicative such as: faint, ill, well, able, afraid, etc. Not only are the head nouns premodified but pre-modifying adjectives can also be, especially when they are the first items after the determiner. In this case, it can be pre-modified in the same way as it can be in the predicative position. This is illustrated by:
His really quite unbelievably happy family Head

With indefinite determiners, some intensifiers such as so are differently used. So is replaced by such, which precedes the determiner or else so plus adjective would be placed before the determiner, e.g.: Such a beautiful girl So beautiful a girl Apart from pre-modifying adjectives, the head nouns of the complex noun phrases can be pre-modified by particles, either present or past, e.g.: an approaching man (present participle), the badly injured dog (past participle), etc. The head noun can also be pre-modified by genitives, e.g. these qualified doctors salaries,these doctors high salaries, etc.; group genitives as in the teacher of Englishs salary, an hour and a halfsdiscussion, etc.; or other nouns as in the city council, a love story, etc. Another class of pre-modifiers is the type of denomical adjective often meaning consisting of, involving, or relating to. These items must come next before the head and can be preceded by a wide range of pre-modifying items, e.g.: the pleasant social life, a city political problem, etc. Finally there are various classes of pre-modification, both closed-system and open-class. Therefore, when the complex noun phrases consist of different classes of pre-modifiers, they may be placed in a relevant order. The acceptable order of premodifiers in a complex noun phrase is as follows:
1 2 3 3' 3" 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

all the the all thei r so me the

Las te you ta good t n ng ll Lond on nice new old tw o bla ck Spani leat sh her interloc Chine king se interloc king bestsold

mat hs

stude nts soci life al shoes desig ns rings novel s

ha Oth te famo the lf er n us

legend: 1. pre-determiner, 2. determiner, 3. post-determiner, 3'. Ordinal, 3". Cardinal/quantifier 4. general, 5. age, 6. size/shape, 7. colour, 8. participle, 9. provenance, 10. material 11. purpose, 12. denominal, 13. head noun Top

3.3 Post-modification
The third important component of a complex noun phrase is post-modification, called post-modifiers, comprising all the items placed after the head. These post-modifiers are mainly realized by prepositional phrases, finite clauses (or relative clauses), nonfinite clauses, adjective phrases, noun phrases or adverbial phrases:
determin er (1) (2) (3) (4) a the the a head book man girl shelf post-modifiers with yellow covers (prepositional phrase) who told you the secret (finite clause) speaking English fluently (nonfinite clause) full of books (adjective phrase)

29 (5) (6) the the opera road "Carmen" (noun phrase) back (adverbial phrase)

In the example (1) with yellow covers is a prepositional phrase post-modifying the head book. Apart from with, there is a wide range of prepositions that can be used, e.g.: the road to London, the house beyond the church, a child of five, etc., including the complex prepositions, e.g. a house on the top of the hill, action in case of emergency, etc. and those having participle forms as in problems concerning the environment. The commonest preposition in the noun phrase post-modification of has a close correspondence to have sentences: The ship has a funnel. ----- the funnel of the ship The table has four legs. ----- the four legs of the table However, some are relatable to be sentences: London is a city. ----- the city of London The news was the teams victory ------ the news of the teams victory Also, the of phrase can be used to express the subject or object relation: The bus arrived ----- the arrival of the bus Someone imprisoned the murderer ----- the imprisonment of the murderer In the example (2), the post-modifier is a relative or finite clause which can be restrictive or non-restrictive. There are a number of relative clauses beginning with relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, that (personal); which, that, what (non-personal); when, a preposition plus which (time); where, a preposition plus which (place); and why, for which (reason). While restrictive relative clauses help to define the head noun, the non-restrictive ones give additional information to it, as exemplified in:
The woman who is standing outside restrictive That is my who is standing is my neighbour.

neighbour,

outside. Non-restrictive

The example (3) illustrates the post-modifier as a non-finite clause, present participle clause. The non-finite can be past participle clauses.
The only car serviced in the garage past participle clause is mine.

In addition, post-modifiers can be to-infinitive clauses:

The next flight The place to arrive was from London. should be pleasant.

to stay for summer holidays

As is seen in the example (4), adjective phrases can be postmodifiers of the head noun in the complex noun phrases. The adjective phrases can usually be regarded as a reduced relative clause. Complex indefinite pronouns ending in body, -one, -thing, and where can be modified only post-positively, e.g.: Anyone (who is) intelligent can do it. The men (who were) present were his supporters. In the example (5), the phrase explicitly encodes the information that Carmen is an opera. For this reason, Carmen is traditionally said to be in apposition to the opera. Another minor type of post-modification illustrated in the example (6) is adverbial modification. Similarly, in the following examples, the adverbial phrases post-modify the head noun: the way ahead, the direction back, the hall downstairs, etc. Unlike pre-modifiers, their no grammatical limit to the number of post-modifiers occurring in a noun phrase, considerations of style and comprehensibility will normally keep them to one or two. Where we have more than one, the relative order tends to depend on the related properties of length and class, with shorter modifiers preceding longer ones, prepositional phrases preceding clauses:
A man from Britain prepositional who I was talking about last night relative clause

31 phrase

Top

4 Conclusion
In conclusion, noun phrases, either basic or complex are potentially very complicated. Most simply, basic noun phrases consist of just one overt element, pronouns of different types or numerals. Basic noun phrases, more complicatedly, comprise pre-determiners, determiners, post-determiners and the head nouns, the order of which is fixed. Complex noun phrases, as their names imply, are the most difficult of all. They consist of pre-modification, head noun and post-modification. Premodification includes closed-system and open-class items which are in the given order. Post-modification can be finite or non-finite clauses and adjective, noun, prepositional and adverbial phrases. Though noun phrases are complicatedly constructed, hopefully, by now enough has been presented to help learners of English find it easy in learning noun phrases in English, both basic and complex.

Genitive: s & s

Pronouns

Personal (subject, object, possessive). Reflexive and emphatic: myself, etc. Impersonal: it, there. Demonstrative: this, that , these, those. Quantitative: one, something, everybody, etc. Indefinite: some, any, something, one, etc. Relative: who, which, that, whom, whose.

l The Tense System. Simple, Continuous, Perfect. Active and Passive. Auxiliary verbs. The Present. Uses of Present Simple and Present Continuous to talk about present time. The Past. Uses of Past Simple and Past Continuous. Uses of Past Perfect. The Present Perfect Simple and Continuous tenses. Uses of the Present Perfect Simple and Continuous. Contrast with The Past Simple The Future. Uses of will/going to/Present Continuous. Uses of Future Continuous and Future Perfect.

33

Modals

Uses of modal verbs of ability and permission in present and past. Uses of modal verbs of obligation and possibility in present. Uses of modal verbs for speculation and deduction about the past. Uses of modal verbs of obligation and necessity in the past. Giving advice.

Negatives, questions and answers

Negative statements. Yes/No questions. Wh- questions. Questions words. Negative questions.

l Colour: Size: Shape: quality:

Adjectives and adverbs

nationality: Predicative and attributive: Cardinal and ordinal numbers: Possessive: my, your, his, her, etc. Demonstrative: this, that, these, those.

35 Quantitative: some, any, many, much, a few, a lot of. All, other, every, etc. Uses of adjectives and adverbs. Position and order of adjectives. Adjectives ending in ing. Forming adverbs from adjectives. Position of adverbs. Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs. Use of (not) as as.

Conditional Sentences

Uses of zero, first and second conditional forms.

Conditional Sentences / If-Clauses Type I, II und III

Conditional Sentences are also known as Conditional Clauses or If Clauses. They are used

to express that the action in the main clause (without if) can only take place if a certain condition (in the clause with if) is fulfilled. There are three types of Conditional Sentences.

IF Clause Type 1
Language Guide German + Dictionary for iPhone and iPod-Touch (made by ego4u)

Form
if + Simple Present, will-Future

Example: If I find her address, I will send her an invitation.

The main clause can also be at the beginning of the sentence. In this case, don't use a comma.

Example: I will send her an invitation if I find her address.

Note: Main clause and / or if clause might be negative. See Simple Present und will-Future on how to form negative sentences.

Example: If I dont see him this afternoon, I will phone him in the evening.

Use
Conditional Sentences Type I refer to the future. An action in the future will only happen if a certain condition is fulfilled by that time. We don't know for sure whether the condition actually will be fulfilled or not, but the conditions seems rather realistic so we think it is likely to happen.

Example: If I find her address, Ill send her an invitation.

I want to send an invitation to a friend. I just have to find her address. I am quite sure, however, that I will find it.

Example: If John has the money, he will buy a Ferrari.

I know John very well and I know that he earns a lot of money and that he loves Ferraris. So I think it is very likely that sooner or later he will have the money to buy a Ferrari.

Conditional sentences A. Zero conditional IF + DOES, DOES If + present simple tense, present simple tense

37

1. If is used to state general rules. If we heat water enough, it begins to boil. In statements like this, if means the same as when or every time. B. The 1st conditional IF + DOES, WILL DO If + present simple tense, will + bare infinitive 2. In 1st conditional if is used to speculate about the future consequences of a specific event. In this case, the verb in the second part of the sentence is preceded by will. If they offer a good price, we will buy the whole consignment. COMMON MISTAKE. We do not use will in the if part of the sentence. 3. When we talk about an event that will take place in the future, we can use if or when. I am flying to the States tonight. I'll give you a ring if I can find a phone. (The speaker is not sure if he will be able to find a phone or not.) I am flying to the States tonight. I'll give you a ring when I get there. (The speaker has no doubt that the plane will arrive safely.) 4. In a sentence with an if-clause we can use the imperative, or other modal verbs, instead of will + infinitive If you hear from Susan today, tell her to ring me. If the traffic is bad, I may get home late. Note. We say the traffic but a traffic jam 5. 1st conditional is usually used in such cases:

Contingency plans, considering events that may/may not occur If I feel too excited to sleep, I'll try reading one of our reports.

Planning your manpower We'll need more staff if / when / in case we start the new project.

Company forecast Degress of certainty Project planning

C. Conditionals: if, unless, in case, provided that, as long as, so that 6. If and unless Unless means the same as if ... not. It always refer to the conditional part of the sentence and not the result part of the sentence:

If he doesn't get here soon, we will have to start the meeting without him. Unless he gets here soon, we will have to start the meeting without him. We often use not + unless, which means only ... if, when we want to emphasize a condition: They will only sign the contract if we give them an additional discount. They won't sign the contract unless we give them an additional discount. 7. If and in case We use in case to talk about precautions we will take before a problem happens. We use if to talk about what we will do after a problem happens: We are going to insure the shipment in case the goods get damaged in transit. (We will take our insurance first; the problem may or may not happen afterward.) If the goods get damaged in transit, we'll make a claim. (The damage may happen, and we will make a claim afterward.) Note that that in sentence with in case, we often use going to rather than will because we are often talking about something that we have already decided to do. 8. Provided that vs as long as, etc. We can use provided that/providing, as long as, and so long as when we want to emphasize condition. Provided that and as long as mean if and only if (providing and so long as are a little less formal): I will agree to these conditions provided that they increase my salary. (I will only agree if they give me more money.) The strike will be successful as long as we all stay together. (It will only succeed if we all stay together.) 9. So that We use so that to say what the result or purpose of an action will be: I'll take a credit card so that we don't run out of money. (The credit card will stop us from running out of money) D. 2nd conditional IF + DID, WOULD DO If + past tense, would + infinitive 10. 2nd conditional can be used to refer to less probable or impossible situations. The verb in the second part is preceded by would / should / could / might. The if-clause can come in the first part of the sentence, or the second. If I knew her number, I would send her a fax. I would send her a fax if I knew her number.

39

COMMON MISTAKE. We do not use would in the if part of the sentence. 11. This form refers to present or future time. If these machines were not so expensive, we would buy them. If we hired a lawyer, we would recover our debts more easily. If I lost my job tomorrow, I would move to London to find the same kind of job. The first two sentences refer to present situation, and imagining a situation that is different from the reality. In the third we are talking about a possible event in the future, but using second conditional we make it clear that we do not really think it will happen. 12. 2nd conditional is usually used in such cases

Stating preferences

Supposing If I were 10 years younger, I'd take the job. As long as / Providing it was well paid, I'd accept this proposal.

Unusual circumstances

I would / might join the army, if there was a war. I wouldn't go on strike, unless there was no alternative. 13. First or second conditional If we think that future event is reasonably likely, we use first conditional If the market grows at 7% a month, it will involve new investment rapidly. If we are talking about an event that is unlikely or impossible, we use the second conditional If I had as much money as Bill Gates of Microsoft, I would retire. 14. Variation It is also possible to use might and could instead of would If we received credit, we could expand much more rapidly. In the if-clause , we can use were instead of was. This is very common when we give advice using the expression If I were you ... If I were you, I would have another look through those figures. E. 3rd conditional IF + HAD DONE, WOULD + HAVE DONE If + past perfect tense, would + present perfect

15. 3rd conditional is used when talking about things that didn't happened in the past (and the consequence if they had happened). The verb in the second part is used with would / should / could / might (+ have + past participle). If I'd known it was formal party, I wouldn't have gone wearing jeans and jumper. I would have worn suit. 16. Positive and negative When we use the 3rd conditional we are imagining the opposite situation. If what actually happened was negative, we use a positive form. If what actually happened was positive, we use a negative form: If my client had given me her fax number, I wouldn't have had to post a letter to her. If I'd known it was a formal party, I wouldn't have gone wearing jeans and a jumper. If I had not been in Amsterdam at the last RIPE meeting, I would not have met Esther Dyson and I wouldn't have known she speaks Russian. 17. Mixed conditionals If we talk about a past action and its result in the present we use if + past perfect and would not + infinitive: If he hadn't done well on the training courses, he wouldn't be a Project leader now.

41

The Passive

Formation rules and contexts of use. Uses of passive.

THE PASSIVE VOICE

Select from the follow ing

Passive and Active Voices

Verbs are also said to be either active (The executive committee approved the new policy) or passive (The new policy was approved by the executive committee) in voice. In the active voice, the subject and verb relationship is straightforward: the subject is a be-er or a do-er and the verb moves the sentence along. In the passive voice, the subject of the sentence is neither a do-er or a be-er, but is acted upon by some other agent or by something unnamed (The new policy was approved). Computerized grammar checkers can pick out a passive voice construction from miles away and ask you to revise it to a more active construction. There is nothing inherently wrong with the passive voice, but if you can say the same thing in the active mode, do so (see exceptions below). Your text will have more pizzazz as a result, since passive verb constructions tend to lie about in their pajamas and avoid actual work. We find an overabundance of the passive voice in sentences created by self-protective business interests, magniloquent educators, and bombastic military writers (who must get weary of this accusation), who use the passive voice to avoid responsibility for actions taken. Thus "Cigarette ads were designed to appeal especially to children" places the burden on the ads as opposed to "We designed the cigarette ads to appeal especially to children," in which "we" accepts responsibility. At a White House press briefing we might hear that "The President was advised that certain members of Congress were being audited" rather than "The Head of the Internal Revenue service advised the President that her agency was auditing certain members of Congress" because

the passive construction avoids responsibility for advising and for auditing. One further caution about the passive voice: we should not mix active and passive constructions in the same sentence: "The executive committee approved the new policy, and the calendar for next year's meetings was revised" should be recast as "The executive committee approved the new policy and revised the calendar for next year's meeting." Take the quiz (below) as an exercise in recognizing and changing passive verbs. The passive voice does exist for a reason, however, and its presence is not always to be despised. The passive is particularly useful (even recommended) in two situations:

When it is more important to draw our attention to the person or thing acted upon: The unidentified victim was apparently struck during the early morning hours. When the actor in the situation is not important: The aurora borealis can be observed in the early morning hours.

The passive voice is especially helpful (and even regarded as mandatory) in scientific or technical writing or lab reports, where the actor is not really important but the process or principle being described is of ultimate importance. Instead of writing "I poured 20 cc of acid into the beaker," we would write "Twenty cc of acid is/was poured into the beaker." The passive voice is also useful when describing, say, a mechanical process in which the details of process are much more important than anyone's taking responsibility for the action: "The first coat of primer paint is applied immediately after the acid rinse." We use the passive voice to good effect in a paragraph in which we wish to shift emphasis from what was the object in a first sentence to what becomes the subject in subsequent sentences.
The executive committee approved an entirely new policy for dealing with academic suspension and withdrawal. The policy had been written by a subcommittee on student behavior. If students withdraw from course work before suspension can take effect, the policy states, a mark of "IW" . . . .

The paragraph is clearly about this new policy so it is appropriate that policy move from being the object in the first sentence to being the subject of the second sentence. The passive voice allows for this transition.

Passive Verb Formation

The passive forms of a verb are created by combining a form of the "to be verb" with the past participle of the main verb. Other helping verbs are also sometimes present: "The measurecould have been killed in committee." The passive can be used, also, in various tenses.

43 Let's take a look at the passive forms of "design."

Tense

Subject

Auxiliary Singular Plural

are have been were had been will be will have been are being were being

Past Participl e

Present Present perfect Past Past perfect Future Future perfect Present progressive Past progressive

The car/cars The car/cars The car/cars The car/cars The car/cars The car/cars The car/cars The car/cars

is has been was had been will be will have been is being was being

designed. designed. designed. designed. designed. designed. designed. designed.

A sentence cast in the passive voice will not always include an agent of the action. For instance if a gorilla crushes a tin can, we could say "The tin can was crushed by the gorilla." But a perfectly good sentence would leave out the gorilla: "The tin can was crushed." Also, when an active sentence with an indirect object is recast in the passive, the indirect object can take on the role of subject in the passive sentence: Active Professor Villa gave Jorge an A.

Passiv An A was given to Jorge by Professor e Villa. Passiv Jorge was given an A. e Only transitive verbs (those that take objects) can be transformed into passive constructions. Furthermore, active sentences containing certain verbs cannot be transformed into passive structures. To have is the most important of these verbs. We can say "He has a new car," but

we cannot say "A new car is had by him." We can say "Josefina lacked finesse," but we cannot say "Finesse was lacked." Here is a brief list of such verbs*: resembl look e like mean lack suit equa agree l with comprise become fit

contain hold

Verbals in Passive Structures

Verbals or verb forms can also take on features of the passive voice. An infinitive phrase in the passive voice, for instance, can perform various functions within a sentence (just like the active forms of the infinitive).

Subject: To be elected by my peers is a great honor. Object: That child really likes to be read to by her mother. Modifier: Grasso was the first woman to be elected governor in her own right.

The same is true of passive gerunds.

Subject: Being elected by my peers was a great thrill. Object: I really don't like being lectured to by my boss. Object of preposition: I am so tired of being lectured to by my boss.

With passive participles, part of the passive construction is often omitted, the result being a simple modifying participial phrase.

[Having been] designed for off-road performance, the Pathseeker does not always behave well on paved highways

Reported Speech

Direct and reported speech. Say and Tell. Reported statements and questions.

Reported Speech

45

Para cambiar una oracin de Direct Speech a Reported Speech, tendremos que tener en cuenta 1. Verbos para reportar 2. Tiempos Verbales 3. Verbos Modales 4. Pronombres Personales 5. Referencias al Tiempo y al Lugar

Algunos Verbos Para Reportar

tell (tl) decir, contar say (si) decir ask (sk) preguntar, pedir admit (admt) admitir
"OK, OK. Yeah. I broke that window" He admitted that he had broken the window agree (agri) estar de acuerdo "Yeah, of course. I will give you the money" He agreed to loan me some money answer (nser) responder "Oh, not now. I am too busy at this moment" She answered that she was too busy at that moment invite (invit) invitar "Hey guys!. Don't you want to go to the beach with me?" He invited us to go to beach with him complain (complin) quejarse "Oh, no. I have this terrible toothache again!" He complained of a toothache offer (fer) ofrecer "I could help you with that math problem if you want" She offered to help me with the math problem suggest (soyst) sugerir "It's a nice day. We could go to the country and have a picnic" Bill suggested that we have a picnic demand (dimnd) exigir "I want to see the manager of this company inmediately!" The man demanded to see the manager of the company request (rikust) solicitar "Excuse me, Madam. Could I use your telephone for a minute?" He requested permission to use the woman's telephone remind (rimind) hacer acordar

"Hey Bill. Don't forget to mail this letter today!" Jack reminded Bill that he had to mail a letter that day describe (discrib) describir "The house is white. It has three bedrooms and a beautiful garden" He described his house confess (confs) confesar "I must tell you something Jane... I love you with all my heart" He confessed that he loved her blame (blim) culpar "It was your fault that I couldn't arrive on time" The girl blamed the boy for her arriving late propose (propus) proponer "Sir, I think we should have a meeting this afternoon" He proposed to have a meeting for that afternoon refuse (rifis) rehusarse "I won't do this job any longer" He refused to continue working congratulate (congrtchiulit) felicitar "Congratulations Jack. Your performance was excellent!" He congratulated Jack on giving a good performance at the theater greet (grit) saludar "Hi everybody" Bill greeted everybody as he entered the room introduce (introdis) presentar "This is my mother. Her name is Nancy" He introduced me to his mother warn (urn) advertir "Don't drink so much or you'll get drunk" Bill warned Jack not to drink too much insist (insst) insistir "You must take me there!. Come on. I really want to go there!" She insisted that she wanted to go insult (inslt) insultar "You... damned fat cow!. You ate all my cookies!" She insulted her friend calling her a 'fat cow' apologize (aployis) pedir disculpas "I am very sorry for having insulted you in that way" She apologized to her friend for having insulted her thank (zenk) agradecer "Thank you so much for your help, Mary" Jack thanked Mary for her help protest (protst) protestar "Come on. It was not my fault. You are accusing the wrong person!" The girl protested against the unfair accusation

47

threaten (zrten) amenazar "If you don't give me the money, I will kill you" The robber threatened to kill the man advise (advis) aconsejar "If you don't want to have problems with your health, you should stop smoking" His doctor advised him to stop smoking inquire (inkuir) preguntar "Could you tell me where the main library is?" She inquired the way to get to the library praise (pris) elogiar "I really think that the work you are doing is excellent" Bill's boss praised him for the work he was doing deny (dini) negar "I don't know what you think, but I didn't break that window" Billy denied that he had broken the window assure (ashur) asegurar "Don't worry. I will finish my work on time" He assured me that he would finish his work on time persuade (persuid) persuadir "Come on. You'll have a great time a the party. Let's go!" Jack persuaded Bill to go to the party convince (convns) convencer "Instead of going to France we should go to Brazil on vacation. It's cheaper, nearer and warmer" She convinced her husband to go to Brazil instead of France beg (beg) rogar, suplicar "Oh please, Mom, please, let me go. I promise I'll be back before midnight!" She begged her mother to let her go the party dissuade (disuid) disuadir "I don't think it is a good idea to fly now. The conditions are dangerous" The man dissuaded him from flying under those weather conditions confide (confid) confiar "I am terribly afraid of storms" He confided his fear about storms to his companion recommend (rkomnd) recomendar "I think you should take these shoes. They are very nice and have a good quality" The salesgirl recommended that I buy those shoes scold (skuld) regaar "Look what you have done!. You broke the vase!. You must be more careful with things in the house" Jack's mother scolded him for breaking the vase order (rder) ordenar "Fire!!" The sergeant ordered the soldiers to fire at the enemy

accuse (akis) acusar "I saw you when you stole my money!" The man accused his colleague of stealing his money explain (explin) explicar "I couldn't call you because there was no phone nearby" He explained why he couldn't call me mention (mnshon) mencionar "By the way, I am a bit tired after this trip" Bill mentioned that he was tired after the trip compliment (cmplemnt) felicitar, piropear, hacer un cumplido "Jane.What elegant you are tonight !" The man complimented Jane on being so elegant that night encourage (enkridch) alentar "Come on. Don't quit now!. You are about to win the game" Bill's father encouraged him to continue with the game discourage (diskridch) desalentar "It is cold and it is raining. I think you shouldn't go out tonight" Mary's mother discouraged her from going out that night console (consul) consolar "Don't feel so bad. It is not so terrible to fail an exam. You'll pass it next time!" Bill's companion tried to console him for having failed at the exam

Tiempos Verbales

Direct Speech
Simple Present "I work in Argentina" "I am a teacher" Simple Past "We saw a good film on TV" "I was tired" Simple Perfect "We have gone to that place before" "I have been here many times" Simple Future "I will visit my mother" "She will be happy to see me" Simple Future perfect "I will have arrived there by 5 pm" "I will have sent all the products by tomorrow" Present Continuous "I am doing my job"

Reported Speech
Simple Past He said that he worked in Argentina He said that he was a teacher Simple Past Perfect They said that they had seen a good film on TV He said that he had been tired Simple Past Perfect They said that they had gone to that place before She said that she had been there many times Simple Conditional He said that he would visit his mother He said that she would be happy to see him Simple Conditional Perfect He said he would have arrived here by 5 pm He said that he would have sent all the products by tomorrow Past Continuous He said that he was doing his job

49 "We are living in New York" Past Continuous "I was dancing with Mary" "We were talking" Perfect Continuous "I have been doing this for two years" "We have been trying to phone him" Future Continuous "I will be flying to Chicago" "I will be staying at a good hotel" Future Perfect Continuous "I will have been selling books for two years" "I will have been having a good life" They said that they were living in New York Past Perfect Continuous He said that he had been dancing with Mary They said that they had been talking Past Perfect Continuous He said that he had been doing that for two years They said that they had been trying to phone him Conditional Continuous He said that he would be flying to Chicago He said that he would be staying at a good hotel" Conditional Perfect Continuous He said that he would have been selling books for two years He said that he would have been having a good life

Verbos Modales

Direct Speech
can "I can stay here until Sunday" "I can do this alone" may "I may go fishing next weekend" "We may travel to Europe" will "I will stay here" "I will not go away" must "I must work everyday" "I must not arrive late"

Reported Speech
could He said he could stay there until Sunday He said that he could do that alone might He said he might go fishing next weekend They said that they might travel to Europe would He said that he would stay there He said that he wouldn't go away had to He said he had to work everyday He said he didn't have to arrive late

Tiempo y Lugar

Direct Speech
now today tonight last night this morning tomorrow yesterday this week next week

Reported Speech
then, at that moment that day that night the previous night, the night before that morning the next day, the following day the previous day, the day before that week the following week, the week after

last year next year here

the previous year, the year before the following year, the year after there

Relative Clauses

Defining and non-defining relative clauses. Use of whose, whom, where, when, etc.
We use relative clauses to give additional information about something without starting another sentence. By combining sentences with a relative clause, your text becomes more fluent and you can avoid repeating certain words.

How to Form Relative Clauses

Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom. You want to know who she is and ask a friend whether he knows her. You could say:

A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?

That sounds rather complicated, doesn't it? It would be easier with a relative clause: you put both pieces of information into one sentence. Start with the most important thing you want to know who the girl is.

Do you know the girl

As your friend cannot know which girl you are talking about, you need to put in the additional information the girl is talking to Tom. Use the girl only in the first part of the sentence, in the second part replace it with the relative pronoun (for people, use the relative pronoun who). So the final sentence is:

Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?

Relative Pronouns
relative pronoun
who

use

example

subject or object pronoun for people

I told you about the woman who lives next door.

51
Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof? He couldnt read which surprised me. Do you know the boy whose mother is a nurse? I was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference.

which

subject or object pronoun for animals and things

which

referring to a whole sentence

whose

possession for people animals and things

whom

object pronoun for people, especially in nondefining relative clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially prefer who)

that

I dont like the table that stands subject or object pronoun for people, animals and in the kitchen. things in defining relative clauses (who or which are also possible)

Subject Pronoun or Object Pronoun?

Subject and object pronouns cannot be distinguished by their forms - who, which, that are used for subject and object pronouns. You can, however, distinguish them as follows: If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb, the relative pronoun is a subject pronoun. Subject pronouns must always be used.

the apple which is lying on the table

If the relative pronoun is not followed by a verb (but by a noun or pronoun), the relative pronoun is an object pronoun. Object pronouns can be dropped in defining relative clauses, which are then called Contact Clauses.

the apple (which) George lay on the table

Relative Adverbs
A relative adverb can be used instead of a relative pronoun plus preposition. This often makes the sentence easier to understand.

This is the shop in which I bought my bike. This is the shop where I bought my bike.
relative adverb

meaning

use

example

when

in/on which

refers to a time expression

the day when we met him the place where we met him

where

in/at which

refers to a place the reason why we met him

why

for which

refers to a reason

Defining Relative Clauses

Defining relative clauses (also called identifying relative clauses or restrictive relative clauses) give detailed information defining a general term or expression. Defining relative clauses are not put in commas. Imagine, Tom is in a room with five girls. One girl is talking to Tom and you ask somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause defines which of the five girls you mean.

Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?

Defining relative clauses are often used in definitions.

A seaman is someone who works on a ship.

Object pronouns in defining relative clauses can be dropped. (Sentences with a relative clause without the relative pronoun are calledContact Clauses.)

The boy (who/whom) we met yesterday is very nice.

Non-Defining Relative Clauses

Non-defining relative clauses (also called non-identifying relative clauses or non-restrictive relative clauses) give additional information on something, but do not define it. Non-defining relative clauses are put in commas. Imagine, Tom is in a room with only one girl. The two are talking to each other and you ask somebody whether he knows this girl. Here the relative clause is non-defining because in this situation it is obvious which girl you mean.

Do you know the girl, who is talking to Tom?

Note: In non-defining relative clauses, who/which may not be replaced with that. Object pronouns in non-defining relative clauses must be used.

53 Jim, who/whom we met yesterday, is very nice.

How to Shorten Relative Clauses?

Relative clauses with who, which, that as subject pronoun can be replaced with a participle. This makes the sentence shorter and easier to understand.

I told you about the woman who lives next door. I told you about the woman living next door. Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof? Do you see the cat lying on the roof?

Prepositions

Location: to, on, inside, next to, at (home), etc. Time: at, on, in, during, etc. Direction: to, into, out of, from, etc. Instrument: by, which miscellaneous: like, as, due to, owing to, etc. Prepositional phrases: at the beginning of, by means, of, etc. Prepositions preceding nouns and adjectives: by car, for sale, at last, etc. Prepositions following: (i) nouns and adjectives: advice on, afraid of, etc. & (ii) verbs: laugh at, ask for, etc.

Prepositions: Locators in Time and Place

A preposition describes a relationship between other words in a sentence. In itself, a word like "in" or "after" is rather meaningless and hard to define in mere words. For instance, when you do try to define a

preposition like "in" or "between" or "on," you invariably use your hands to show how something is situated in relationship to something else. Prepositions are nearly always combined with other words in structures called prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases can be made up of a million different words, but they tend to be built the same: a preposition followed by a determiner and an adjective or two, followed by a pronoun or noun (called the object of the preposition). This whole phrase, in turn, takes on a modifying role, acting as anadjective or an adverb, locating something in time and space, modifying a noun, or telling when or where or under what conditions something happened. Consider the professor's desk and all the prepositional phrases we can use while talking about it.
You can sit before the desk (or in front of the desk). The professor can sit on the desk (when he's being informal) or behind the desk, and then his feet areunder the desk or beneath the desk. He can stand beside the desk (meaning next to the desk), before the desk, between the desk and you, or even on the desk (if he's really strange). If he's clumsy, he can bump into the desk or try to walk through the desk (and stuff would fall off the desk). Passing his hands overthe desk or resting his elbows upon the desk, he often looks across the desk and speaks of the desk or concerning the desk as if there were nothing else likethe desk. Because he thinks of nothing except the desk, sometimes you wonder about the desk, what's in the desk, what he paid for the desk, and if he could livewithout the desk. You can walk toward the desk, to the desk, around the desk, by the desk, and even past the desk while he sits at the desk or leans againstthe desk. All of this happens, of course, in time: during the class, before the class, until the class, throughout the class, after the class, etc. And the professor can sit there in a bad mood [another adverbial construction].

Those words in bold blue font are all prepositions. Some prepositions do other things besides locate in space or time "My brother is like my father." "Everyone in the class except me got the answer." but nearly all of them modify in one way or another. It is possible for a preposition phrase to act as a noun "During a church service is not a good time to discuss picnic plans" or "In the South Pacific is where I long to be" but this is seldom appropriate in formal or academic writing. Click HERE for a list of common prepositions that will be easy to print out. You may have learned that ending a sentence with a preposition is a serious breach of grammatical etiquette. It doesn't take a grammarian to spot a sentence-ending

55

preposition, so this is an easy rule to get caught up on (!). Although it is often easy to remedy the offending preposition, sometimes it isn't, and repair efforts sometimes result in a clumsy sentence. "Indicate the book you are quoting from" is not greatly improved with "Indicate from which book you are quoting." Based on shaky historical precedent, the rule itself is a latecomer to the rules of writing. Those who dislike the rule are fond of recalling Churchill's rejoinder: "That is nonsense up with which I shall not put." We should also remember the child's complaint: "What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?" Is it any wonder that prepositions create such troubles for students for whom English is a second language? We say we are at the hospital to visit a friend who is in the hospital. We lie inbed but on the couch. We watch a film at the theater but on television. For native speakers, these little words present little difficulty, but try to learn another language, any other language, and you will quickly discover that prepositions are troublesome wherever you live and learn. This page contains some interesting (sometimes troublesome) prepositions with brief usage notes. To address all the potential difficulties with prepositions in idiomatic usage would require volumes, and the only way English language learners can begin to master the intricacies of preposition usage is through practice and paying close attention to speech and the written word. Keeping a good dictionary close at hand (to hand?) is an important first step.

Prepositions of Time: at, on, and in

We use at to designate specific times. The train is due at 12:15 p.m. We use on to designate days and dates. My brother is coming on Monday. We're having a party on the Fourth of July.

She likes to jog in the morning. It's too cold in winter to run outside. He started the job in 1971. He's going to quit in August.

Prepositions of Place: at, on, and in

We use at for specific addresses. Grammar English lives at 55 Boretz Road in Durham. We use on to designate names of streets, avenues, etc. Her house is on Boretz Road. And we use in for the names of land-areas (towns, counties, states, countries, and continents). She lives in Durham. Durham is in Windham County. Windham County is in Connecticut.

Prepositions of Location: in, at, and on and No Preposition

IN (the) bed* the bedroom the car (the) class* the library* school* AT class* home the library* the office school* work ON the bed* the ceiling the floor the horse the plane the train NO PREPOSITIO N downstairs downtown inside outside upstairs uptown

* You may sometimes use different prepositions for these locations.

Prepositions of Movement: to and No Preposition

We use to in order to express movement toward a place. They were driving to work together. She's going to the dentist's office this morning. Toward and towards are also helpful prepositions to express movement. These are simply variant spellings of the same word; use whichever sounds better to you. We're moving toward the light. This is a big step towards the project's completion. With the words home, downtown, uptown, inside, outside, downstairs, upstairs, we use no preposition. Grandma went upstairs Grandpa went home. They both went outside.

Prepositions of Time: for and since

57 We use for when we measure time (seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years). He held his breath for seven minutes. She's lived there for seven years. The British and Irish have been quarreling for seven centuries. We use since with a specific date or time. He's worked here since 1970. She's been sitting in the waiting room since two-thirty.

Prepositions with Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs.

Prepositions are sometimes so firmly wedded to other words that they have practically become one word. (In fact, in other languages, such as German, they would have become one word.) This occurs in three categories: nouns, adjectives, and verbs.

NOUNS and PREPOSITIONS

approval of awareness of belief in concern for confusion about desire for fondness for grasp of hatred of hope for interest in love of need for participation in reason for respect for success in understanding of

ADJECTIVES and PREPOSITIONS

afraid of angry at aware of capable of careless about familiar with fond of happy about interested in jealous of made of married to proud of similar to sorry for sure of tired of worried about

VERBS and PREPOSITIONS

apologize for ask about ask for belong to bring up care for find out give up grow up look for look forward to look up make up pay for prepare for study for talk about think about trust in work for worry about

A combination of verb and preposition is called a phrasal verb. The word that is joined to the verb is then called a particle. Please refer to the brief section we have prepared on phrasal verbs for an explanation.

Idiomatic Expressions with Prepositions

agree to a proposal, with a person, on a price, in principle argue about a matter, with a person, for or against a proposition compare to to show likenesses, with to show differences (sometimes similarities) correspond to a thing, with a person differ from an unlike thing, with a person live at an address, in a house or city, on a street, with other people

Unnecessary Prepositions
In everyday speech, we fall into some bad habits, using prepositions where they are not necessary. It would be a good idea to eliminate these words altogether, but we must be especially careful not to use them in formal, academic prose.

She met up with the new coach in the hallway. The book fell off of the desk. He threw the book out of the window. She wouldn't let the cat inside of the house. [or use "in"] Where did they go to? Put the lamp in back of the couch. [use "behind" instead] Where is your college at?

Prepositions in Parallel Form

(Click HERE for a definition and discussion of parallelism.) When two words or phrases are used in parallel and require the same preposition to be idiomatically correct, the preposition does not have to be used twice. You can wear that outfit in summer and in winter. The female was both attracted by and distracted by the male's dance.

59 However, when the idiomatic use of phrases calls for different prepositions, we must be careful not to omit one of them. The children were interested in and disgusted by the movie. It was clear that this player could both contribute to and learn from every game he played. He was fascinated by and enamored of this beguiling woman. l Connectives

And, but, or, eitheror, when, while, until, before, after, as soon as, where, because, since, as, for, so that, (in order) to, so, sothat, suchthat, if, unless, although, while

Coherence: Connectives and Logic

Introduction: coherence, connectives and logic
This unit is about one of the main aspects of coherence, the quality of a text that 'hangs together' in terms of its meaning. In a coherent text it is clear how each part of the text is intended to relate to other parts. Other aspects of coherence which are discussed elsewhere are:

the reference links which are indicated by anaphoric devices such as pronouns; the consistent choice of tense and person.

Connectives are words such as but, if and therefore which indicate logical relations between two clauses or sentences. They belong to three different word classes:

coordinating conjunctions: but, and, or subordinating conjunctions: if, because, until, etc. adverbs: therefore, nevertheless, then, meanwhile, etc.

When to use a connective

We use connectives to show how ideas are connected logically, but in many cases these logical relations are so obvious that we can leave them implicit. For example, the following KS3 commentary on H G Wells's description of a Martian contains no

connectives, but it is obvious that the second sentence exemplifies the first, and that its three clauses are simply added together. The connectives for example and and could have been used, but are unnecessary so it was right to leave them out. The narrator uses words that give no personality to the Martian. He uses words like "it", he describes "something" emerging from the craft, he describes grey glistening inhuman flesh. In other cases, however, it is important to make the logical relations explicit. Notice the crucial effect of the connective even in the following KS3 commentary on a story about two elderly brothers: The writer suggests that Lewis and Benjamin have lived the same way all their lives. They have never tried anything different. Even in the house they have kept things the same for over sixty years, like the photographs of the uncles and cousins. This connective helps the reader to navigate through the logic of the passage. It signals explicitly that what follows is an example - in fact, an extreme and unexpected example - of what went before. It is easy to find KS3 examples where the logical relations are neither obvious nor explicitly signalled in short, where the writing is muddled. Take this attempt at a travel brochure about Wales: Wales is a very beautiful place. There is lots to do here. If you like walking there are plenty of nice walks for you. There is one place in Wales that I have been to many times. It is called Shell Island. It is full of mystery and excitement. The first sentence makes a very general claim (about the beauty of the countryside) which we might expect the second sentence to support in some way, but instead it moves on to a completely different claim (plenty to do). The third sentence does support this claim briefly by giving an example (walks), but the fourth sentence once again moves the logic on to focus on a particular place, whose virtues (mystery and excitement) have nothing to do with either of the previous points. Muddled logic looks like implicit logic (as in the H G

61 Wells example), but they are easy to distinguish by a connectives test. If the logical relations are clear but implicit, they can generally be made explicit through connectives (e.g. for example and and in the earlier example). The muddle of the last passage becomes clear if we add the only possible connective, and, between the first two sentences: Wales is a very beautiful place, and there is lots to do here. Here it is clear that the claim about beauty is unsupported, and correspondingly feeble. Weaker writers at KS3 may be able to minimise logical muddles such as this by using more connectives and perhaps even by avoiding implicit logic altogether.

How to choose a connective

The primary consideration in choosing a connective is obviously meaning - what is the logical relation that needs to be made explicit? For example,because, so and therefore express different logical relations from although, but and nevertheless: He was angry because the food was cold. The food was cold, so he was angry. The food was cold. Therefore he was angry. He was angry although the food was cold. The food was cold, but he was angry. The food was cold. Nevertheless, he was angry. However as these examples also show, we also have to pay attention to syntax - what is the grammatical relation between the ideas that have this logical relation? The connectives because, so and therefore express the same logic, but they are very different grammatically:

because is a subordinating conjunction introducing the subordinate clause because the food was cold; so is a co-ordinating conjunction which simply links the clauses on either side of it on equal footing;

therefore is an adverb which refers back to an idea expressed earlier, so it means 'because of that'.

We choose among these options according to how we want to present the two ideas (the cause and the effect).

If we want to treat the cause and effect as a single idea, we need a subordinate clause and use because; this allows us to focus attention on either cause or effect, according to the order in which we present them: Why was he angry? He was angry because the food was cold. (Focus: the food was cold) What was the effect of the cold food? Because the food was cold, he was angry. (Focus: he was angry)

If we want to treat the cause and effect as separate and equally important, we use so to co-ordinate the two clauses; in this case the cause clause must stand before the effect clause: The food was cold so he was angry.

If we want to describe the cause and effect separately - perhaps even in separate sentences - we can still show the logical relation by usingtherefore somewhere in the effect clause. The food was cold. Therefore he was angry. The food was cold. He was therefore angry.

These syntactic options are a boon to writers because of the flexibility they allow, but part of the writer's skill lies in exploiting this flexibility. This skill develops over time through practice, reading and explicit attention to the options.

A list of connectives
The table below presents some of the main connectives classified roughly according to their meaning and their grammar. You may find it helpful as a resource for planning the teaching of

63 connectives.

broad meaning addition

connective adverbs and phrases also, too, similarly, in addition, even, indeed, let alone however, nevertheless, on the other hand, in contrast, though, alternatively, anyway, yet, in fact, even so besides, anyway, after all for example, for instance, in other words, that is to say, i.e., e.g. first(ly) ... second(ly), first of all, finally, lastly, for one thing ... for another, in the first place, to begin with, next, in sum, to conclude, in a nutshell therefore, consequently, as a result, so, then

conjunctions

and, as, like

opposition

but, or, (al)though, whereas, while

reinforcing

explaining

in that

listing

and

indicating result

because, since, as, for, if, unless, now (that), so (that), in case, provided (that), whether ... or ... when, before, after, since, until, till, while, as, once, whenever

indicating time

then, meanwhile, later, afterwards, before (that), since (then), meanwhile

Familiar and unfamiliar connectives

Some of the connectives in the table are already very familiar to any KS3 pupil. By far the most common connectives in conversation are:

subordinating conjunctions: when, because, if;

co-ordinating conjunctions: and, but, or; adverbs: so, then, anyway, though (as in It's not my fault, though).

Here is an example of a relatively weak KS3 writer discussing the ending of a newspaper report on Loch Ness, with the connectives (and a related preposition, because of) highlighted. The end paragraph links well because the writer talks about scepticism because I think most people that went there would be very sceptical about the whole idea, but she says that she has abandoned most of her skepticism because of the evidence that backs this up. This paragraph is different to the rest because the writer talks about her own feelings towards the Loch Ness Monster. As can be seen, this writer uses only two connectives, because and but. The main challenge for writers at KS3 is to expand their repertoire of connectives to include less familiar ones as in the following more ambitious attempt at the same task: The last paragraph, I think, is very suitable to close the article. Firstly the writer asks again the question in the title, reminding readers what it is about. Then she aims to give a summary of her findings and see if she has sorted the mystery. She relates the last paragraph well to the rest of the article 'a prehistoric sea creature dwelling in one of their lochs' and also mentions the Urquhart Castle and reminds the reader about how famous the loch is. She relates it particularly well to the opening paragraph as she talks of returning as a visitor to the Highlands, and in the first paragraph she talks of other visitors. The last paragraph is written from her own point of

65 view in a chatty way as she concludes her experiences and her opinions of them. 'Do I believe in Nessie? Well to be honest ...' This differs to the rest of the passage as she is not really writing about her feeling there. This is an effective way to end, therefore, as it is a personal conclusion to her visit and the reader will want an opinion of the area as he decides whether to visit or not. Perhaps the most interesting features of this passage are:

the repeated use of as, which corresponds in some cases to because and in others to when; this signals a move away from ordinary speech, but the price paid is slight uncertainty about meaning;

the inclusion of the rather rare connectives firstly and therefore.

This writer seems to be developing a collection of connectives specifically for use in writing, and may even be consciously aware of doing so

Articles and determiners

Use of articles and determiners with countable and uncountable nouns.

Articles and determiners

Part 1
English sometimes uses "articles" - the (the definite article) and a/an (the indefinite articles) - before nouns. Many languages (Asian and Eastern European, for example) do not use equivalent words, thus causing many problems for learners of English. If you use articles incorrectly, or don't use them at all, your tutors will probably understand your writing, but many will find the misuse extremely irritating, which in some cases could affect your mark. It is important, therefore, that you make an effort to use articles correctly. The biggest problem is probably when students don't write an article when they need to. Here's a simplified guide which should cover most of these cases. Step 1 First, it is important that you recognise the difference between countable and uncountable nouns. (See guide 3.10 for further details.) A countable noun is one which can be made plural, almost always by the addition of '-s' or '-es'. For example,

table - tables ; report - reports ; match - matches An uncountable noun cannot be made plural. For example: traffic; pollution; information Some nouns can be countable or uncountable. For example, glass is uncountable when it refers to the material (this glass is extremely fragile) or countable when referring to wine glasses, for instance. If you're not sure, check in a good dictionary. Step 2 Remember this golden rule: If the noun is COUNTABLE and SINGULAR it must almost always be preceded by an article (or some other 'determiner', such as this, his etc). If you apply this rule while you are writing or proofreading your work, you should make far fewer mistakes. Remember that the noun may be preceded by an adjective or may be a 'compound noun' made up of two or more words. Look at this sentence: UK mobile phone market has been flourishing since the 1990s. The first noun, here the subject of the sentence, is UK mobile phone market. Is it countable? Yes, you can say markets. Is it singular here? Yes again, so there must be an article or determiner: The UK mobile phone market has been flourishing since the 1990s. If you're not sure when to use the and when to use a/an, go to Step 3. Step 3 The is the definite article, which means that it is used when the writer expects that the reader knows which particular thing or person the writer is referring to. A is the indefinite article and is used when things or people are referred to which are not already known to the reader. Compare: Birmingham has a large fish market. (The first time the market has been mentioned, so 'a') The market is closed on Mondays. (We now know which market, so 'the') Also note: Some and any are often used as the plural of a/an. An is used before words which begin with a vowel sound, not simply a vowel. (eg, an hour, an SSDD office, an MA; but, a university).

Part 2
Unfortunately, it's not quite as simple as the above. Here is some further guidance. If you speak a Western European language, then article usage is probably very similar

67
in English. You might find the following rules useful, however: 1 When we are talking about things or people in general, the is not normally used if the noun is plural or uncountable. For example: People are strange. (NOT the people) Traffic is a problem in most countries. (NOT the traffic) If you want to refer to particular traffic, however, you would then use the article: The traffic was terrible this morning. 2 We use a/an when we are classifying people or objects into groups or types, a good example being jobs: My father's an architect. I use my computer as a fax machine. 3 Some nouns are uncountable in English - and therefore cannot be used with a/an but may be countable in other languages. For example: advice, information, weather, progress, knowledge, equipment, news, research, work You cannot say: Let me give you an advice (better: some advice) 1 THE As you have seen, the is used when the reader (or listener) already knows, or can guess, what the writer (or speaker) is talking about. Compare: I saw a really good film at the weekend (the listener doesn't know yet what film) The film was set in Elizabethan times. (now the listener does know which film). Similarly, the is used if we're talking about something unique, if there's only one of them, either in the world as a whole, or in our environment: The Earth revolves around the sun. The centre of Birmingham was closed due to a bomb scare. The is almost always used with superlatives, and with words such as first, last and only: That was the most expensive wine I've ever drunk. Thatcher is the only woman Prime Minister this country has ever had. The is not used with possessives: The results of our experiments were very encouraging. (NOT the our) With a few exceptions, the is not used with proper names: Could I speak to Vicky? (NOT the Vicky) Society is changing rapidly in parts of China. (NOT the China) 2 A/AN A/an are usually used with singular, countable nouns. The word one is not interchangeable: we usually use one when there is some connection with number, i.e. one, not two, three or four.

We carried out a survey amongst UCE students. (NOT one survey, unless you did several) You cannot use a/an with an adjective alone. You can't say Do you like my watch? It's an expensive. You say It's expensive or It's an expensive one. Remember that the use of an depends on pronunciation, not spelling. So: An SOS message was received by the coastguards. It's an honour to represent my country. UCE is a university situated on several sites. Sometimes countable nouns are considered to be uncountable and used without an article. This happens quite often with places/institutions, for example: school, university, church, prison, hospital I went to school in Birmingham She's in hospital having a minor operation on her leg. He was sent to prison for 10 years. Note that in these examples I went to school as a pupil; She's in hospital as a patient; he went to prison as a prisoner. If you use similar expressions with an article, then the meaning changes; instead, you are in the place as a visitor, or you work there: We're going to the school to see my daughter's teacher. I went to the hospital to visit my uncle. Other phrases which do not use an article include: on foot, by car/bus/train etc, to/in/from town, to/at/from home by day, at night Do not use an article when you are referring to tables, figures, pages, appendices, chapters or sections in your written work. Table 3 shows the percentage of ... As can be seen in Fig.8, ... The results of the survey can be found in Appendix 1. Do not use an article with a noun after an '-s' posssessive. The Constitution used in America = America's constitution (NOT the America's constitution) Articles are not used with days and months, unless you are talking about a particular day or month. So: The agreement was signed in November. The examination will take place on Thursday. Courses start on Monday. The Monday I intended to start, however, was a public holiday. Note the following when talking about television, radio, cinema and the theatre. Do not use an article with television when you are referring to the medium. Television has become a very powerful way of influencing people. The President made his statement on television. Do use an article, however, if you are referring to a television set: We have a vase of flowers on the television. Articles are usually used with radio, cinema and theatre, although we do also say Radio is becoming less important as a medium.

69
The is not used with titles which include the name of the person: The professor introduced himself to the audience. Professor Philpot will be retiring at the end of the year. Queen Elizabeth has says she will never abdicate. We usually uses possessives rather than the when we talk about parts of the body: He hit his head getting into the car. They all crossed their fingers before starting.

VOCABULARY
l Adjectives: physical appearance, character and personality.

PERSONALITY COMPONENTS
Personality Components are those emotional and psychological attributes characters may possess. Feel free to print the following list and copy it for each character. Either circle the components that apply to this character or use the list to select components to be added at the end of the character chart. Each character should possess several attributes in order to be well-rounded.
Flexible Absent-minded Flippant Abrasive Flirtatious Abusive Flustered Accident-prone Focused Accommodating Forgiving Accomplished Fragile Adaptable Frank Adventurous Friendly Affectionate Frigid Agnostic Frugal Agreeable Frustrated Aggressive Fun-loving Alone Gaudy Aloof Gentle Ambitious Glamorous Amusing Gloomy Angry Good-natured Annoying Graceful Antisocial Gracious Anxious Grandiose Apathetic Gregarious Apologetic Greedy Appreciative Grotesque Apprehensive Grumpy Approachable Haggard Argumentative Hateful Aristocratic Heartbroken Persistent Persuasive Pert Perverted Pessimistic Petty Philanthropic Pious Plain Polite Pompous Practical Presumptuous Pretentious Prim Private Profane Promiscuous Prosaic Proud Psychopathic Psychotic Pushy Quiet Quirky Rational Rebellious Reclusive

Arrogant Articulate Artistic Assertive Audacious Authoritative Belligerent Bewildered Bewitching Boisterous Bored Bossy Brave Brazen Calculating Callous Carefree Careful Charismatic Charming Chaste Cheerful Classy Clumsy Cocky Compassionate Compliant Composed Compulsive Conceited Condescending Confused Congenial Confident Conscientious Conservative Considerate Consistent Conventional Content Contrite Controlling Cooperative Cowardly Crafty Cranky Creative Critical Crude Cruel

Hesitant Holy Honest Honorable Hopeful Hospitable Humble Hypocritical Hysterical Idiosyncratic Ignorant Imaginative Immature Immodest Impatient Impeccable Impudent Impulsive Incoherent Incompetent Inconsiderate Indecisive Indifferent Indiscreet Inept Infantile Informed Inhibited Inhumane Innocent Insecure Insensitive Insouciant Insulting Intelligent Intimidating Intolerant Introspective Introverted Inquisitive Insightful Intellectual Intelligent Intuitive Inventive Irresponsible Irreverent Irritable Jealous Judgmental

Reliable Religious Remorseful Remote Resentful Reserved Resilient Respectful Righteous Romantic Rowdy Rude Ruthless Sadistic Saintly Sarcastic Sassy Savvy Self-absorbed Self-conscious Self-effacing Self-righteous Selfish Selfless Senile Sensitive Sensual Sentimental Serene Serious Shallow Sheepish Shy Silent Silly Simple Sincere Sleazy Sloppy Sluggish Smart Sneaky Snobby Soft-spoken Spiritual Spiteful Squeamish Stern Stingy Stoical

71 Cultured Cunning Curious Cynical Daffy Dainty Debonair Deceitful Decent Delicate Defiant Despicable Detached Determined Dignified Direct Disciplined Disgusting Dishonest Disorganized Distant Distraught Dogmatic Domineering Dowdy Downtrodden Dramatic Dull Dumb Easy-going Educated Eccentric Egocentric Egotistic Elusive Embittered Emotional Empathetic Energetic Enigmatic Enthusiastic Excessive Excitable Exotic Extravagant Exuberant Faithful Fanatical Fatalistic Fearless Kind Knowledgeable Lascivious Lazy Lethargic Lewd Liberal Logical Lonely Loving Macho Maniacal Manipulative Masochistic Materialistic Mature Mean Melodramatic Merciful Messy Meticulous Miserly Modest Moody Nave Nasty Neurotic Noble Noisy Nonchalant Non-committing Nostalgic Obedient Obnoxious Obscene Observant Obsessive Open-minded Opinionated Opportunistic Optimistic Organized Ornery Outgoing Outspoken Overbearing Paranoid Passionate Passive Patient Straight-laced Strict Stubborn Submissive Subtle Supportive Surly Suspicious Sweet Sympathetic Tactful Talkative Telepathic Temperamental Tense Tentative Thoughtful Thrifty Timid Tireless Tolerant Tough Traitorous Trivial Trusting Tyrannical Unapproachable Unassuming Unclean Uncommunicative Unconventional Uneasy Uninhibited Unmotivated Unreasonable Unscrupulous Vain Vengeful Verbose Vindictive Virtuous Vivacious Vulgar Vulnerable Well-groomed Wholesome Wicked Withdrawn Worldly Zany

Feisty Finicky Flamboyant

Perceptive

Zealous

Dates and numbers.

144, 600: ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY FOUR THOUSAND and SIX HUNDRED 158,000: ONE HUNDRED and FIFTY EIGHT THOUSAND.

En ingls se utilizan los nmeros ordinales (first, second, third, etc.) para expresar las fechas, a diferencia del espaol en que se emplean los nmeros cardinales (uno, dos, tres, etc.). Today is the 2nd of June / hoy es el 2 de junio Para expresar los das utilizamos la preposicin 'on'. En cambio, para expresar meses o aos se utiliza la preposicin 'in'. You came on the 12th of May / viniste el 12 de mayo You came in May / viniste en mayo You came in 1995 / viniste en 1995

En ingls, a diferencia del espaol, los meses y los das se escriben con mayscula. March / marzo Monday / lunes

Los das de la semana son: Sunday / domingo Monday / lunes Tuesday / martes Wednesday / mircoles Thursday / jueves Friday / viernes Saturday / sbado Los meses del ao son: January / enero February / febrero March / marzo April / abril May / mayo June / junio July / julio August / agosto September / septiembre October / octubre November / noviembre December / diciembre Las estaciones del ao son:

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spring / primavera summer / verano autumn (U.K.) fall (USA) / otoo winter / invierno Normalmente, las fechas se escriben en el siguiente orden: mes / da / ao June, 20th 1997 / 20 de junio de 1997 2001 March, 3rd 2001 / 3 de marzo de

Podemos omitir las letras de orden (-st, -nd, -rd, -th) September 2, 1999 / 2 de septiembre de 1999 Podemos abreviar los nombres de los meses: Jan / enero Feb / febrero....

Al igual que en espaol, las fechas pueden escribirse nicamente con nmeros refiriendo mes, da y ao. En este caso, hay que tener presente que el formato de fecha USA es mes/da/ao mientras que el formato de fecha U.K. (Gran Bretaa) es, como en espaol, da/mes/ao 20 de junio de 1999 USA= 6/20/1999 UK= 20/6/1999 Algunos otros trminos relacionados: date = fecha calendar = calendario weekday = da de la semana working-day = da laborable holiday = festivo (holidays = vacaciones) day = da month = mes year = ao yesterday = ayer tomorrow = ma ana Cardinal Numbers
1 one 2 two 3 three 4 four 5 five 6 six 7 seven 8 eight 9 nine 10 ten 11 eleven 12 twelve

Ordinal Numbers
1st first 2nd second 3rd third 4th fourth 5th fifth 6th sixth 7th seventh 8th eighth 9th ninth 10th tenth 11th eleventh 12th twelfth

13 thirteen 14 fourteen 15 fifteen 16 sixteen 17 seventeen 18 eighteen 19 nineteen 20 twenty 21 twenty-one 22 twenty-two 30 thirty 40 forty 50 fifty 60 sixty 70 seventy 80 eighty 90 ninety 100 a/one hundred 101 a/one hundred and one 200 two hundred 1.000 a/one thousand 10.000 ten thousand 100.000 a/one hundred thousand 1.000.000 a/one million

13th thirteenth 14th fourteenth 15th fifteenth 16th sixteenth 17th seventeenth 18th eighteenth 19th nineteenth 20th twentieth 21st twenty-first 22nd twenty-second 30th thirtieth 40th fortieth 50th fiftieth 60th sixtieth 70th seventieth 80th eightieth 90th ninetieth 100th hundredth 101st hundred and first 200th two hundredth 1.000th thousandth 10.000th ten thousandth 100.000th one hundred thousandth 1.000.000th one millionth

Interests, free time and hobbies.

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Family relationships and friends

aunt boyfriend brother brother-in-law cousin dad daddy daughter daughter-in-law father father-in-law girlfriend godfather godmother grandad grandchildren ta novio hermano cuado primo/a p papi hija nuera padre suegro novia padrino madrina abuelito, "abue" nietos

granddaughter grandfather grandma grandmother grandpa grandparents grandson great-grandfather great-grandmother husband mother mother-in-law mom mum mummy nephew niece parents sibling sister sister-in-law son son-in-law stepdaughter stepmother stepfather stepson uncle wife firstborn oldest youngest the baby of the family twins adopted orphan relative acquaintance generation ancestors descendants

nieta abuelo abuelita, "abue" abuela abuelito, "abue" abuelos nieto bisabuelo bisabuela esposo, marido madre suegra m m mami sobrino sobrina padres hermano/a hermana cuada hijo yerno hijastra madrastra padrastro hijastro to esposa, mujer primognito el/la mayor el/la menor el benjamn de la familia gemelos adoptado hurfano/a pariente conocido generacin antepasados descendientes

Home
HOUSE

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room balcony bathroom bedroom dining room living room sitting room garage kitchen basement cellar attic study toilet door doorbell doormat letter box window roof chimney staircase/stairs flat (GB) apartment (US) habitacin balcn bao dormitorio comedor saln sala de estar garaje cocina stano bodega tico estudio toilette puerta timbre felpudo buzn ventana techo chimenea escalera departamento departamento

DINING ROOM dining room living room table chair armchair sofa / settee (GB) floor ceiling rug carpet fireplace radiator lamp light curtain wall wallpaper television comedor saln mesa silla silln sof piso techo alfombra alfombra fija chimenea radiador lmpara luz cortina pared papel de pared televisor

KITCHEN kitchen fridge oven microwave oven dishwasher washing machine ironing board toaster liquidizer (GB) blender (US) mixer broom sink tap waste bin worktop tea towel cocina heladera horno horno de microondas lavavajillas lavarropas tabla de planchar tostadora licuadora licuadora batidora escoba pileta canilla tacho de basura mesada repasador

frying pan saucepan pressure cooker kettle bowl tin opener corkscrew fork knife spoon teaspoon cutlery drawer cup glass saucer jug coffeepot coffee maker teapot tablecloth napkin

sartn cacerola olla a presin pava bol abrelatas sacacorchos tenedor cuchillo cuchara cucharita cajn de los cubiertos taza vaso plato jarra jarra para caf cafetera tetera mantel servilleta

BATHROOM bathroom bath shower toilet bidet washbasin tap mirror soap soap dish towel towel rail bath mat toilet paper sponge comb hairbrush hair drier shampoo conditioner safety razor electric razor shaving foam toothbrush toothpaste nailbrush bao baera ducha inodoro bidet lavabo, lavatorio canilla espejo jabn jabonera toalla toallero alfombra de bao papel higinico esponja peine cepillo secador de pelo champ crema de enjuague afeitadora afeitadora elctrica crema de afeitar cepillo de dientes dentfrico cepillo de uas

BEDROOM bedroom bed bedside table bedside lamp wardrobe chest of drawers drawers mattress pillow blanket sheet duvet dormitorio cama mesita de luz lmpara guardarropas cajonera cajones colchn almohada manta sbana edredn

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bedspread alarm clock colcha reloj despertador

Travel and holidays

WRITING
Descriptive writing: descriptions of places

Letters: Informal / Friendly letters

Friendly or Personal Letters Personal letters, also known as friendly letters, and social notes normally have five parts. 1. The Heading. This includes the address, line by line, with the last line being the date. Skip a line after the heading. The heading is indented to the middle of the page. If using preaddressed stationery, add just the date. 2. The Greeting. The greeting always ends with a comma. The greeting may be formal, beginning with the word "dear" and using the person's given name or relationship, or it may be informal if appropriate. Formal: Dear Uncle Jim, Dear Mr. Wilkins, Informal: Hi Joe, Greetings, (Occasionally very personal greetings may end with an exclamation point for emphasis.) 3. The body. Also known as the main text. This includes the message you want to write. Normally in a friendly letter, the beginning of paragraphs is indented. If not indented, be sure to skip a space between paragraphs. Skip a line after the greeting and before the close. 4. The complimentary close. This short expression is always a few words on a single line. It ends in a comma. It should be indented to the same column as the heading. Skip one to three spaces (two is usual) for the signature line. 5. The signature line. Type or print your name. The handwritten signature goes above this line and below the close. The signature line and the handwritten signature are indented to the same column as the close. The signature should be written in blue or black ink. If the letter is quite informal, you may omit the signature line as long as you sign the letter. Postscript. If your letter contains a postscript, begin it with P.S. and end it with your initials. Skip a line after the signature line to begin the postscript.

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The following picture shows what a one-page friendly or personal letter should look like

Informal letter

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Personal narratives

Description of "Personal Narrative"

Personal narratives are often one of the first types of writing that you do. You write about yourself and experiences that you have encountered, read, or heard about. You can become much more engaged when your write about yourself in personal narratives because you are the expert on the topic of your life. When you write stories from your own experience, you already have a plot. Your job will be to make the story interesting - as interesting for your reader as it was for you when it happened. Lots of description, lots of action, and lots of dialogue will help your reader feel what you felt.

Tips for Writing a Personal Narrative

Purpose and Audience Personal narratives allow you to share your life with others and vicariously experience the things that happen around you. Your job as a writer is to put the reader in the midst of the action letting him or her live through an experience. Although a great deal of writing has a thesis, stories are different. A good story creates a dramatic effect, makes us laugh, gives us pleasurable fright, and/or gets us on the edge of our seats. A story has done its job if we can say, "Yes, that captures what living with my father feels like," or "Yes, thats what being cut from the football team felt like."

Structure There are a variety of ways to structure your narrative story. The three most common structures are: chronological approach, flashback sequence, and reflective mode. Select one that best fits the story you are telling.

Methods

Show, Dont Tell Dont tell the reader what he or she is supposed to think or feel. Let the reader see, hear, smell, feel, and taste the experience directly, and let the sensory experiences lead him or her to your intended thought or feeling. Showing is harder than telling. Its easier to say, "It was incredibly funny," than to write something that is incredibly funny. The rule of "show, dont tell" means that your job as a storyteller is not to interpret; its to select revealing details. Youre a sifter, not an explainer. An easy way to accomplish showing and not telling is to avoid the use of "to be" verbs.

Let People Talk Its amazing how much we learn about people from what they say. One way to achieve this is through carefully constructed dialogue. Work to create dialogue that allows the characters personalities and voices to emerge through unique word selection and the use of active rather than passive voice.

Choose a Point of View Point of view is the perspective from which your story is told. It encompasses where you are in time, how much you view the experience emotionally (your tone), and how much you allow yourself into the minds of the characters. Most personal narratives are told from the first-person limited point of view. If you venture to experiment with other points of view, you may want to discuss them with Miss Burke as you plan your piece.

Tense Tense is determined by the structure you select for your narrative. Consider how present vs. past tense might influence your message and the overall tone of your piece.

Tone The tone of your narrative should set up an overall feeling. Look over the subject that you are presenting and think of what you are trying to get across. How do you want your audience to feel when they finish your piece? Careful word choice can help achieve the appropriate effect.

Adjectives: physical appearance, character and personality.

Words to describe Apariencia (Physical Appearance)

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Introduction This is a compilation of almost all the words we could think of used to describe physical appearance: After studying it you should be able to make good descriptions of people. Making descriptions in Spanish is very similar to English: EG He has + (adjective) + (noun) He is + adjective. EG: He has blue eyes = tiene los ojos azules He is bald = Es calvo Note: The vocabulary on this web page was compiled when I lived with three Spanish girls in Burgos Spain. It survived on some scraps of paper for 8 years before we published it on internet. The girls were studying "filologa inglesa" and I was still a beginner in Spanish. This page is dedicated to Maite, Maria Carmen and Isabel.

face = la cara/el rostro facial features she has a thin face an oval face a round face clean-shaven a bloated face a cherubic face a chubby face chubby-cheeked a chubby/podgy face he had a weather-beaten face a face lift she has freckles spots/pimples blackheads moles warts wrinkles rosy cheeks acne a birthmark rasgos tiene la/una cara delgada una cara ovalada una cara redonda bien afeitado una cara hinchada/abotagada/abotargada una cara angelical una cara regordete mofletudo una cara rechoncha, regordete, gordinflona tena un rostro curtido un lifting, un estiramiento facial tiene pecas, es pecosa granos espinillas lunares verrugas arugas mejillas sonrosadas acne un antojo/una mancha de nacimiento

a double chin hollow cheeks a dimple smooth-cheeked/smooth-faced a deadpan face a doleful face a sad face a serious face a smiling face a happy face smooth-cheeked/smooth-faced to go red in the face (with anger/heat) to go red/to blush (with embarassment) he looks worried frightened surprised a smile a smirk a frown

una papada las mejillas hundidas un hoyuelo lampio una cara de pquer/de palo una cara compungida una cara triste una cara seria una cara sonriente una cara alegre lampio ponerse colorado/rojo sonrojarse/ruborizarse parece preocupado asustado sorprendido una sonrisa una sonrisita el ceo fruncido nose = la nariz

a bulbous nose a hooked nose a big nose a turned-up/snub nose a pointed nose a flat nose/a pug nose a lopsided nose a hooter/conk (colloquial Br. Eng.) a schnozzle (colloquial Am. Eng.) to flare your nostrils/to snort

una nariz protuberante una nariz aguilea una nariz grande una nariz respingona una nariz puntiaguda una nariz chata una nariz ladeada/torcida una napia resoplar/bufar

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eyes = los ojos she has brown eyes hazel he has beady eyes a black eye red eyes bloodshot eyes to wink to blink she is cross-eyed a squint she's blind he's blind in one eye to go blind crow's feet sunken eyes piggy eyes bulging eyes slit/slanting eyes a stye shifty eyes tiene los ojos marrones color avellana tiene los ojos redondos y brillantes como cuentas un ojo morado ojos rojizos ojos sanguinolentos/injectados de sangre guiar el ojo pestaear/parpadear es bizca una bizquera, un estrabismo es ciega es tuerto quedarse ciego patas de gallo ojos hundidos ojitos redondos y brillantes ojos saltones ojos achinados un orzuelo ojos furtivos eyebrows = las cejas arched eyebrows bushy eyebrows thick eyebrows to raise your eyebrows cejas arqueadas cejas tupidas cejas pobladas arquear las cejas eyelashes = las pestaas false eyelashes pestaas postizas mouth harelip labio leporino

chapped lips buckteeth false teeth front teeth wisdom teeth to chatter (teeth) my teeth are chattering

labios agrietados dientes de conejo/dientes salidos dentadura postiza paletas/dientes de adelante muelas del juicio castaetear me castaetean los dientes

hair = el pelo/cabello she has blond hair auburn she has grey hair mousy hair she's red-haired/red-headed a brunette streaks highlights dyed hair long hair short hair shoulder-length hair curly hair wavy hair frizzy hair spiky hair she has permed hair crimped hair straight hair a fringe a parting a pigtail tiene el pelo rubio castao rojizo es canosa, tiene el pelo canoso, tiene canas el pelo castao desvado es pelirrojo una morena mechones mechitas/reflejos/claritos el pelo teido el pelo largo el pelo corto el pelo hasta los hombros el pelo rizado el pelo ondulado el pelo crespo el pelo de punta se ha hecho un permanente pelo rizado con tenacillas el pelo liso un flequillo una raya una trenza

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a ponytail bunches a bun lank hair dull greasy hair fine she has thick hair dry shiny hair split ends dandruff a pageboy a bob a hairdo a crew cut sideburns a wig a toupe bald a bald patch he's balding una cola coletas un moo el pelo lacio sin brillo el pelo graso/grasoso fino tiene mucho pelo/tiene el pelo grueso seco el pelo brillante las puntas abiertas la caspa un peinado/corte a lo paje una melena un peinado un pelo cortado al rape patillas una peluca un peluqun, un tup calvo una calva/una pelada se est quedando calvo build = complexin thin shes got a very good figure plump (a nicer way of saying fat) slim fat a beer belly chubby delgado tiene una figura estupenda gordito esbelto gordo una panza regordete/gordinfln/rellenito

strong weak short tall a hunchback he walks with a limp medium height medium build he's a large man

fuerte flojo bajo alto un jorobado cojea de estatura media de talla media es un hombre corpulento General Terms

handsome, good-looking, attractive pretty, good-looking, attractive, lovely hes quite a hunk ugly beautiful

guapo guapa, bonita, linda, est buensimo fea/feo preciosa, guapsima, lindsima, hermosa, bella Other notes

He looks a bit ______ In Spanish "tiene pinta de ____" is very common for giving a general idea about the appearance. See examples on the right: He looks sad Note that when we say how something "seems" or "looks" (probably because we are not certain) we use parecer. a strong- looking man clean-shaven

tiene pinta de delincuente: he looks like a criminal tiene pinta de extranjero he looks a bit foreign parece triste

un hombre de apariencia fuerte bien afeitado

- Never mind - I don't care - It doesn't matter

Pregunta: Cul es la diferencia entre "never mind", "I don't care" y "It doesn't matter".?

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**** Respuesta: Es importante aprenderse las diferencias entre estas tres expresiones porque pueden dar lugar a confusin. A veces he escuchado a alumnos decir: "I don't care" "Me da igual" cuando en realidad quieren decir: "Never mind" "No te preocupes". Gran fallo. A continuacin doy las explicaciones correspondientes. Presta atencin y lee varias veces el texto (mira las fotos tambin) para que se te quede. "Never mind" significa: "no te preocupes", "no te importe"o "no tiene importancia" y

siempre va dirigido a una tercera persona. Por ejemplo, le echas accidentalmente el caf a alguien encima y le manchas la camisa.T te afanas en limpirsela y l te dice: "Never mind": No te preocupes. No tiene importancia. Mira este ejemplo en el "New York Times". "Never mind what's in them. Bags are the fashion." "No te preocupes sobre lo que hay dentro de ellas. Las bolsas estn de moda." Recuerda que "to mind" significa = "importar". Nota: "Mind" sin "to", es decir, como sustantivo/cosa, significa "mente". Por ejemplo: "Do you mind if I smoke?" Te importa si fumo? Para que te sea ms fcil recordar el significado de "never mind"piensa que es "no tiene importancia" y va dirigido siempre a alguien. ++++

"I don't care" significa "no me importa" o "me da igual".

Por ejemplo: Alguien te dice: "Si no vienes enseguida a la mesa se te va a enfriar la comida". T le puedes contestar: "I don't care"--> No me importa. Ms ejemplos: - I really don't care if the movie is good or bad. Realmente no me importa si la pelcula es buena o mala. Para recordar el significado de "I don't care" piensa que es "me da igual". Recuerda: "me da igual." Fjate que la accin te afecta a ti directamente. Con "never mind" es a la otra persona la que le afecta la accin. ++++

It doesn't matter"significa "no importa" en general. Por ejemplo: It doesn't really matter whether you are good or bad.Realmente no importa si eres bueno o malo. It doesn't matter what you do, she is always unhappy. No importa lo que hagas, siempre est descontenta. Una cita/citation con "it doesn't matter". ".....it doesn't matter how many times you fail. It doesn't matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures, and either should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you because...All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are." --Mark Cuban" No importa cuantas veces fracases. No importa cuantas veces casi tengas xito. A

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nadie le va a importar tus fracasos y tampoco t deberas preocuparte. Todo lo que tienes que hacer es aprender de tus fracasos y de la gente que te rodea. En los negocios lo que importa es que tengas xito una vez. Entonces, todo el mundo te podr decir que tienes mucha suerte. Mark Cuban". Si comparamos "never mind" con"it doesn't matter" vemos que "never mind" va siempre dirigido a otra persona; como en el ejemplo que he puesto antes de si le manchas la camisa a alguien, significa "no te importe". "It doesn't matter", en cambio, no va dirigido especficamente a nadie. Por ejemplo: -Are you joining us later? Vienes con nosotros ms tarde? No. I hope you don't mind. No. Espero que no te importe.

Resumiendo: Never mind: No tiene importancia. I don't care: Me da igual. It doesn't matter: No importa (en general).

Usos de "Do and Does"

(Versin para imprimir) Do [du] (para I, You, They, We) Does [das] (para He, She, It) Pueden utilizarse bsicamente de dos maneras: 1) Como verbo principal En este caso, do/does significan "hacer" generalmente algo abstracto ("make" es ms para "hacer/ fabricar" algo con las manos. Aprender a utilizar "do y make"). Por ejemplo: Ejemplo 1:"I do lots of things" Yo hago muchas cosas Ejemplo 2: "She does everything" Ella hace todo

Nota: Como utilizo "she" pongo "does" y suena [das]; NUNCA debes decir o escribir: "she do.Repito: Nunca con "she/he/it do"
2) Como "verbo auxiliar" para preguntar y negar en el tiempo presente. Para el Pasado utilizamos "did" para todas las personas. En estos casos no lo podemos traducir en espaol ya que es una construccin propia del ingls.

Recuerda: "do/does" se utilizan para preguntar y negar en el "Present Tense" de prcticamente todos los verbos, excepto "to be" y verbos auxiliares (can, could, must, will, would, etc.)

Recuerda: Cuando utilizas do/does como verbo auxiliar para preguntar o negar, el verbo principal siempre va en infinitivo, sin "s"

Veamos ejemplos: Ejemplo 1:Do you know her?[du iu nouher? La conoces? Es una pregunta en el Presente. "Know" no es el verbo "to be" as que debo utilizar el "do" para preguntar. Ejemplo 2: Does he work here? [das shi guork hir]Trabaja l aqu?. Es una pregunta en Presente. El verbo principal es "work", por tanto, debo utilizar "Do" "Does". Finalmente, decido por "does" ya que se trata de la tercera persona: "He". Utilizar "Do" sera, por tanto, incorrecto, en esta pregunta. Ejemplo 3: They don't do it. [dei don't duIt]Ellos no lo hacen . En este ejemplo vemos que "do" se utiliza de dos maneras: a) como verbo auxiliar porque estoy negando y b) como verbo principal con el significado de "hacer".

Recuerda: Con el verbo "to be" no se puede utilizar el verbo auxiliar "do" para negar. Para negar con el verbo "to be" debo utilizar "not". Por ejemplo, digo: "She isn't a teacher" o "She is not a teacher."

- Otros usos de do/does/did

3) Para contestar a una pregunta Cuando haces una pregunta utilizando "do/does/did" como verbo auxiliar; se contesta de forma corta diciendo: "Yes I do" [ies ai du] "No, I don't" [nou ai don't]. Nunca se contesta en la respuesta corta repitiendo el verbo principal. Por ejemplo, "Do you work?" [du iu guork?] Trabajas? No se contesta nunca (como hacemos en espaol) con el verbo principal: Yes, I work(por "S, trabajo). Se contesta con "do", as------> "Yes, I do" [ies ai du].

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4) Para dar nfasis Cuando se quiere recalcar una accin afirmativa, se colocado/does/did delante del verbo principal (el que realiza la accin). Veamos ejemplos: Ejemplo 1: Do you really work here? De verdad que trabajas aqu? Yes, I do work here. S, s trabajo aqu. Ejemplo 2:She does work hard. Ella s trabaja duro. Ejemplo 3: They did do it. Ellos s lo hicieron. Ejemplo 4: I do want to see her. Realmente quiero verla. Si quieres saber las diferencias entre "doesn't" e "isn't" mira aqu. Mira aqu cmo se pregunta con "do", "does" y "did". Ahora a practicar: Ejercicio 1 Ejercicio 2 Ejercicio 3 Ejercicio con do, does, y did Te atreves? Ms ejercicios con do, does, did. Venga! Hasta que quedes exhausto.

- Trucos para aprender ingls

Tengo que confesar que no me considero experta en gramtica, ni en sintaxis y que ni siquiera escribo perfectamente (en ningn idioma). Ahora bien, s tengo algo que quiero contagiar a todo el mundo; es la pasin por ensear y la pasin por aprender.

Sin pasin es muy difcil llegar a dominar cualquier materia de estudio

Llevo unos das preguntando a mis alumnos presenciales y virtuales sobre el origen de la motivacin. De dnde surge la motivacin? Es solo es algo que debe tener el profesor o tambin el alumno debe estar motivado? Uno de ellos me dijo: el profesor puede ser bueno o malo, pero si t ests motivado te buscars la

manera de aprender. Adems, encontrar a un profesor realmente bueno es algo excepcional, as que el aprender depende ms del alumno.

Factores que influyen en la motivacin

A mi juicio, en la motivacin influyen la situacin personal del alumno ante la materia (si existe una recompensa real a corto plazo - por ejemplo, promocin en la empresa, aumento de sueldo- estar ms motivado que si tiene que pasar un examen que forma parte del plan de estudios; tambin influyen sus intereses y carcter) y, por supuesto, la actitud del profesor. Si el profesor transmite sus conocimientos igual que da un parte meteorolgico, daa la materia objeto de estudio (que parece no tener ningn valor) a si mismo (queda como un espantapjaros parlante), y a quien quiere aprender (que se aburre y est deseando marcharse de la clase). Resultado? El objeto de estudio se convierte para todos en un pesado lastre.

Cmo automotivarse

Para evitar que el estudio del ingls resulte una carga es importante ser creativo y utilizar la imaginacin para estudiar. Pongo ejemplos:

Humor: Para mejorar tu pronunciacin en ingls, ponte a imitar a un "angloparlante" que intenta hablar espaol. Fjate cmo pronuncia las consonantes y las vocales en espaol. Un ejemplo: iou sooi perdo (Yo soy Pedro) Las consonantes las marcan mucho (son explosivas) y las vocales las redondea, sobre todo, la o, que suena ou. Estos son exactamente los sonidos que debes intentar imitar en ingls sin vergenza. Situaciones extremas: Recuerda bien aquellas situaciones en que te has encontrado ante un nativo y no logras entenderle nada, o no logras hacerte entender. Seguro que aprendes rpidamente aquellas palabras que no has sabido pronunciar o que ni siquiera conoces; todo por la necesidad de tener que utilizarlas. Un ejemplo: Tomas tierra en el aeropuerto de Londres y quieres comprar un billete de tren y no sabes dnde tienes que ir. Preguntas a una persona que pasa: Excuseme. Where is the train station? [eskiusmi ger Is detrein steichn] y te contesta: Go all the way straight, then turn to the left and there you''ll find the train station. Y t no entiendes nada. Sabes las palabras claves para indicar direcciones? Ahora debers aprendertlas: turn [tern], (girar) right [rait](derecha), left [left] (izquierda), straight ahead [sstreit ahed] (recto hacia adelante).... Nota: Esta tcnica y la anterior las aprend de Clover Dale, mi profesor de ingls favorito, al que adoro (aunque no lo conozco). Ver aqu. Ligar: Este es un mtodo infalible. Si te buscas una pareja de habla inglesa aprenders mucho ms rpido. Primero con gestos y luego vas entrando en

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detalle. Dnde encontrarla? Puedes empezar con un intercambio...

Las canciones: Son fciles de aprender sobre todo cuando son pegadizas; as que a cantar seores, todo el da cantando. Curiosamente, cuando consigues entenderlas te sientes decepcionado porque en realidad son a veces frases muy simples. Diccionarios: Utilzalos para jugar e incrementar tu vocabulario. Ejemplo de juego utilizando un diccionario ingls-ingls: Te reunes con otros estudiantes y alguno de vosotros trae un buen diccionario de ingls-ingls. El jugador que empieza el juego busca una palabra en el diccionario y apunta tres definiciones en ingls de esa palabra; solo una de ellas es la definicin correcta (las otras dos corresponden a otras palabras). A continuacin, lee en voz alta las tres definiciones que has apuntado. El resto de los jugadores tiene que adivinar cul es la definicin correcta. Luego, el siguiente jugador hace lo mismo con otra palabra. Gana el jugador que ms aciertos tiene. Traducciones rpidas: Piensa frases cortas en espaol e intenta pasarlas rpidamente al ingls. Si no sabes alguna palabra bscala en un diccionario. Tmatelo como un reto. Viajes: Cuando te vayas de viaje y tengas que hablar ingls, toma t la iniciativa de hablar para comprar algo, pedir algo, preguntar algo por la calle... No te cortes -la timidez es un gran enemigo a la hora de aprender cualquier idioma- aunque viajes con otras personas que hablen ms ingls que t. Si te atreves y lo haces mal, la siguiente vez te saldr mejor y, si no te entiendes o t no entiendes utiliza los gestos como ltimo recurso. Si eres demasiado tmido y no te atreves a tomar la iniciativa, piensa que la persona a quien preguntas no te va a comer y adems lo peor que te puede pasar es que te ponga mala cara, y qu? Si no la volvers a ver. Compra revistas de ocio en ingls e intenta traducir los ttulos y las frases que aparecen debajo de las fotos. Por ejemplo, revistas de cotilleos o de coches que puedes encontrar en los aeropuertos. Si ves una foto y una frase relacionas mejor el significado. Cuando vayas por la calle o al trabajo o colegioimginate cmo diras en ingls ciertas expresiones, por ejemplo, llego tarde I'm late[am leit] Compite con otro estudiante a ver quin sabe ms palabras o expresiones. Los alumnos suelen "picarse" en clase y suele gustarles saber ms que otros. Puedes, por tanto, retar a algn amigo a ver quin se aprende ms "phrasal verbs". Pero, ojo! con la pronunciacin . Slo contarn aquellas palabras bien pronunciadas. para saber el sonido correcto, podis ayudaros utilizando www.wordreference.com, o un diccionario que incluya fontica. Scale el jugo a tu reproductor de mp3: Pasa cds, o cualquier tipo de audio adaptado a tu nivel al formato mp3 y escchalo cuando vayas por la calle. Utiliza tu serie de tv preferida: Compra en dvd una de tus series de televisin preferidas (de habla inglesa, por supuesto). La pones primero en ingls con subttulos en espaol y luego en ingls con subttulos en ingls.

Coges una escena y te pones a imitar al protagonista, diciendo exactamente lo que dice, una y otra vez. Asombra luego a tus amigos con un sketch en el cual t eres el protagonista de la serie que dice todo en ingls. Quiz no te entiendan, pero t aprenders y todos pasaris un buen rato.

En definitiva, toma un papel activo y no te comportes como un mueble pretendiendo que el conocimiento del idioma te entre por osmosis. Aprende jugando, as ser ms divertido y aprenders ms.

- Pronunciation I (La pronunciacin)

Actualizacin 17/09/2006: He encontrado esta fantstica pgina de la BBC donde te dan la posibilidad de descargarte un programa gratuito para aprender los sonidos en ingls. Pincha aqui.

Dejo adems el alfabeto fontico en espaol.

Pincha aqu para saber ms sobre los sonidos (en ingls americano e ingls britnico). Te recomiendo que escuches todos los sonidos que aparecen en esta pgina como ejercicio para ir haciendo odo.

Unos de los principales problemas que presenta el ingls para los hispanohablantes es la pronunciacin; pues es una lengua que se escribe de una forma muy diferente a como se pronuncia.

Durante los aos que he enseado ingls en el entorno empresarial, nunca he conocido a nadie que supiese el alfabeto fontico (y es lgico, no son estudiantes de filologa, sino gente que necesita el ingls para trabajar). Por esta razn; y aunque desde el punto de vista de un fillogo, esto es probablemente un aberracin; cuando enseo ingls intento buscar sonidos semejantes al espaol (an incluso cuando muchas veces no existe tal equivalencia). Hago esto porque, desde el punto de vista prctico, creo que es mejor intentar buscar una referencia en espaol, que pronunciar las palabras en ingls como si se tratase de espaol. Por ello, en el blog encontrars entre estos corchetes [] un sonido aproximado en espaol.

Para empezar algunos consejos sobre pronunciacin:

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Un nativo anglosajn descubre fcilmente que eres hispanohablante por la tendencia a pronunciar de manera incorrecta, especialmente, los siguientes sonidos (inexistentes en espaol):

La letra "i" que aparece, por ejemplo, en palabras como: bit (pedazo, trozo); it (lo,la); him (lo, le); tip (punta, consejo); in (en, dentro). Se pronuncia como si fueras a decir una "e" y acabas diciendo una "i", con los labios cerrados. Nunca se debe pronunciar como la "i" espaola, que es mucho ms abierta. En fontica se representa con el smbolo //. Yo la sealo en mi propia simbologa as: [I]para distinguirla de la "i" normal.Recuerda siempre empieza diciendo una "e" y acabas con una "i"; es decir, bit [bIt]; it [It]; him [hIm]; tip [tIp]; in [In].

La letra "s" que aparece, por ejemplo, en palabras como: Spanish (espaol); space (espacio); student (estudiante).

Dado que la "s" lquida no existe en espaol, hay una tendencia generalizada en los hispanohablantes a pronunciar estas palabras como que si hubiese una "e" delante de la "s". Por ejemplo; "Espanish" o, "espace".

Hay que tratar de evitar esa "e" y pronunciar nicamente la "s" imitando el sonido que hace una serpiente "sss". El smbolo fontico es /s/. En mi propia simbologa, yo sealo la "s" as:[ss], para recordarte que no hay una "e" delante de la "s". Recuerda siempre como "ss"; es decir, Spanish [sspaenish]; space [sspeis]; student[sstuudent].

La letra "v" que aparece, por ejemplo, en palabras como: very (muy); verb (verbo); vampire (vampiro).

Desafortunadamente, este sonido que exista en el castellano antiguo, se perdi. Actualmente, en espaol se pronuncian igual "v" y la "b". Por esta razn, este es uno de mis grandes caballos de batalla como profesora. Todo el mundo suele pronunciar la palabra "very" como "beri" y suena fatal. Hay que intentar diferenciar ambos sonidos ("v" y "b").

La "v" en ingls se pronuncia casi mordindose los labios inferiores con los

incisivos superiores. Si no lo logras, intenta primero decir "f". En realidad, es un sonido ms parecido al de la "f" que al de la "b". La "b", en cambio, como podrs comprobar si te fijas en tus labios, se pronuncia cerrando los labios. Smbolo fontico:/v/. Mi smbolo tambin es [v], pero recordando que casi es una "f".

La letra "j" que aparece, por ejemplo, en palabras como: jam (mermelada); jet; John (Juan).

Se pronuncia casi como una "ch". El smbolo fontico es://. Yo utilizo este smbolo:[ch], que aunque no es exacto pero es el ms cercano al sonido real. Este sonido, no presenta mayores dificultades; pero se suele confundir con el siguiente, el de la letra "y".Recuerda siempre como "ch"; es decir, jam [chaem]; jet [chet]; John [chon].

La letra "y" que aparece, por ejemplo, en palabras como: yes (s); yet(todava, an); young (joven).

Se pronuncia como una "i". El smbolo fontico es:/j/. Yo utilizo la letra "i" como smbolo:[i],

Entre los hispanohablantes hay una tendencia a pronunciar la "y" como "ch" (al igual que el sonido anterior "j" de "jam" o "jet") lo cual origina confusin. Recuerda siempre como "i"; es decir, yes [ies]; yet [iet]; young [iang].

La letra "h" que aparece, por ejemplo, en palabras como: hat (sombrero); hot (caliente); he (l).

Se pronuncia como una "h" aspirada, igual que si echas el aliento sobre un cristal antes de limpiarlo. El smbolo fontico es:/h/. Yo utilizo la letra "h" como smbolo: [h].

Entre los hispanohablantes hay una tendencia a pronunciar errneamente la "h" como "jota" de jamn. Recuerda siempre como "h" "empaando un cristal"; es decir, hat [hat]; hot [hot]; he [hi].

101 l Personal matters