HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Ancient Origins of Halloween

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in).

The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom, and northern France, celebrated their new year on November 1. This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other's fortunes. When the celebration was over, they re-lit their hearth fires, which they had extinguished earlier that evening, from the sacred bonfire to help protect them during the coming winter.

By A.D. 43, Romans had conquered the majority of Celtic territory. In the course of the four hundred years that they ruled the Celtic lands, two festivals of Roman origin were combined with the traditional Celtic celebration of Samhain.

The first was Feralia, a day in late October when the Romans traditionally commemorated the passing of the dead. The second was a day to honor Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains the tradition of "bobbing" for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve and, eventually, Halloween. Even later, in A.D. 1000, the church would make November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

 

 

 

BACK TO THE FUTURE DAY: OCTOBER 21st 2015.

POSSESSIVE ´S

EXERCISE ONE 

EXERCISE TWO

Possessive ’s. From www.englishgrammartoday.com

We use apostrophe s (’s), also called possessive ’s, as a determiner to show that something belongs to someone or something:

Is that Olivia’s bag?

Britain’s coastline is very beautiful.

We can also use it in complex noun phrases (underlined):

Greg is her youngest daughter’s husband.

We can use two possessive ’s constructions in the same noun phrase:

We went to Jake’s father’s funeral.

We also use possessive ’s to talk about time and duration:

Is that yesterday’s paper?

I’ve only had one week’s holiday so far this year.

Rules for using possessive ’s

We use ’s after a singular noun and ’ after a plural noun.

Compare

singular noun + ’s	plural noun + ’
The girl’s bedroom (The bedroom belongs to one girl.)	The girls’ bedroom. (The bedroom belongs to more than one girl.)

We use ’s with irregular plural nouns (e.g. children, men, people, women):

The children’s parents decided which university they would go to.

They have no respect for other people’s property.

The rules for the pronunciation of a noun with ’s are the same as the rules for pronunciation of plural forms of nouns.

Compare

noun + ’s or ’	plural noun	pronunciation
The cat’s dinner is in the fridge.	The cats were running around the garden.	/s/
The kids’ uncle gave them all some money.	The kids are getting impatient.	/z/
George’s brother was there.	There are three Georges in my family.	/ɪz/

When a first or second name ends in -s, we can either add ’ or ’s. It is more common to use ’ than ’s. When we speak, we usually pronounce the final part of the word as /zɪz/ or /sɪz/:

Is that James’ car? (or Is that James’s car?) (both usually pronounced /ˈdʒeɪmzɪz/)

I love Keats’ poetry. (or I love Keats’s poetry.) (both usually pronounced /ˈki:tsɪz/)

With compound nouns, we add ’s to the final noun:

My sister-in-law’s friend came with us.

Not: My sister’s-in-law friend

We don’t usually use the possessive ’s with things:

the door handle

Not: the door’s handle

the shop window

Not: the shop’s window

the kitchen table

Not: the kitchen’s table

Spoken English:

When we talk about places which are familiar to the speaker and the listener, we sometimes don’t use the noun after possessive ’s:

the hairdresser’s salon – the hairdresser’s

the doctor’s surgery – the doctor’s

We had to take our cat to the vet’s twice last month. (the same as: We had to take our cat to the vet’s clinic twice last month.)

Do you shop in Marks and Spencer’s?

We decided to go to John’s after the cinema. (the same as: We decided to go to John’s house after the cinema.)

In short answers, we can omit the noun if it is not necessary to repeat it:

A:

Is that your coat?

B:

No, it’s Sandra’s.

We use possessive ’s with words such as one, anyone, someone, anybody, somebody:

It’s important to know one’s rights as a tenant.

Is this someone’s coat here?

When we use else with these words, the ’s is added to else:

Why didn’t you come? Everyone else’s husband was there.

Warning:

The pronoun other has the same forms as nouns. We add ’s to the singular form, and we add an apostrophe after the plural -s ending in the plural form:

They took each other’s hand and started walking.

All of our luggage arrived but the others’ cases didn’t. The airline promise they will be here this evening.

Warning:

We don’t use ’s with possessive pronouns:

Is that dog yours?

Not: Is that dog your’s?

I think that car is theirs.

Not: I think that car is theirs’

We don’t use ’s with the possessive determiner its. It’s means ‘it is’:

The city is proud of its parks.

Not: The city is proud of it’s parks.

Possessives with of

Noun phrase + of + possessive pronoun

We can talk about possession using the pattern: noun phrase + of + possessive pronoun:

A friend of mine told me that all of the tickets have already sold out.

A:

Where’s Martin?

B:

He’s gone to pick up a cousin of his at the station.

Is Linda McGrath a close friend of yours?

Warning:

We use a possessive pronoun, not the object form of the pronoun:

A neighbour of mine called late last night.

Not: A neighbour of me …

Noun phrase + of + possessive ’s noun phrase

We can also use the noun phrase + of pattern before a noun phrase with possessive ’s:

He’s a brother of Maria’s.

A friend of my sister’s has opened a café on Dawson Street.

She was a daughter of the President’s.

’s or of or either?

There are some general rules about when to use ’s and when to use of but there are many cases where both are possible:

The film’s hero or The hero of the film

The car’s safety record or The safety record of the car

The report’s conclusion or The conclusion of the report

Sometimes when we first mention a noun, we use of, and later when we refer to it again, we use ’s:

The mountains of Pakistan are mostly in the north. At least one hundred of them are above 7,000 metres … Most of Pakistan’s mountains are in the spectacular Karakoram range.

When we don’t use ’s

We don’t use ’s when the noun is not a person, animal, country, organisation, etc., or when the noun phrase is very long:

The name of the ship was ‘Wonder Queen’. (preferred to The ship’s name was ‘Wonder Queen’.)

The house of the oldest woman in the village. (preferred to The oldest woman in the village’s house.)

When we don’t use of

When we are talking about things that belong to us, relationships and characteristics of people, animals, countries, categories, groups or organisations made up of people, we usually use ’s:

The men’s dressing room is on the left at the end of the corridor.

Not: The dressing room of the men …

The cat’s paw was badly cut.

Not: The paw of the cat …

See also:

• Possessive ’s

Possession: typical errors

• We don’t use ’s with plural nouns:

It’s my responsibility to deal with customers’ complaints.

Not: … to deal with customer’s complaints.

• The possessive determiner its has no apostrophe:

We bought this car because we liked its colour.

Not: … because we liked it’s colour.

• We don’t use ’s to make nouns plural. When we want to show that something is plural, we add -s without an apostrophe:

They had to rebuild the roads after the earthquake.

Not: They had to rebuild the road’s …

PRESENT SIMPLE vs PRESENT CONTINUOUS

READ THE LESSON AND THEN CLICK BELOW AND DO THE ON-LINE EXERCISES.
EXERCISE ONE
EXERCISE TWO 
EXERCISE THREE

Introduction

The simple present tense is often confused with the present continuous tense. This page will explain when to use each one.

1. The simple present tense

The simple present tense is used for two main types of action:

Habits	Actions which happen regularly (for example, every day or every week)
States	Things which do not often change (for example, opinions and conditions)

Some examples will help to make this clearer:

Type of action	Examples	Explanations
Habit	Young-Mi goes to class every day.	“Every day” is a habit.
	It rains a lot in Vancouver.	This means that it rains often.
	Santos always talks about his family.	“Always” means this is a habit.
	Jerry spends Christmas with his parents.	This implies that he spends Christmas with his parents every year.
State	Bianca lives in Florida.	This is a state, because it doesn't change.
	Jean-Paul has red hair.	Someone's hair colour doesn't usually change.
	Martin likes chocolate.	When we like something, usually we will always like it.
	Anna believes in God.	Beliefs and opinions are states. They don't often change.

2. The present continuous tense

The present continuous tense is used for two main types of action:

A temporary action happening now	Something which is going on right now (but it will stop in the future)
A definite plan for the future	Something we intend to do, usually in the near future

Here are some examples:

Type of action	Examples	Explanations
Temporary action happening right now	John is winning the game.	Right now, John is winning, but the game isn't finished yet.
	It's raining outside.	It's raining right now (but it may stop soon).
	Soraya's working in the library.	She's working there right now.
	Sihol is spending Christmas with his family.	He's spending Christmas with his family right now, this year. (Maybe next year he won't.)
Definite plan for the future	I'm playing soccer tomorrow.	This plan is already arranged and definite.
	Sarah's leaving for San Francisco on Friday.	She has probably already bought her ticket.
	The Olympics are taking place here next year.	This is already certain.
	I'm having a party next week.	All the plans have been made.

DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES

Click on the links below to have access to the exercises and vocabulary list:


DESCRIPTIVE ADJECTIVES VOCABULARY LIST

FILL IN THE GAPS EXERCISE

ADJECTIVES FOR DESCRIBING PERSONALITY