lunes, 30 de marzo de 2020

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT VOCABULARY.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY THIS CRIME AND PUNISHMENT VOCABULARY PDF :

THE PASSIVE VOICE

Use of Passive

Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action. It is not important or not known, however, who or what is performing the action.

Example: My bike was stolen.

In the example above, the focus is on the fact that my bike was stolen. I do not know, however, who did it.

Sometimes a statement in passive is more polite than active voice, as the following example shows:

Example: A mistake was made.

In this case, I focus on the fact that a mistake was made, but I do not blame anyone (e.g. You have made a mistake.).

Form of Passive

Subject + finite form of to be + Past Participle (3rd column of irregular verbs)

Example: A letter was written.

When rewriting active sentences in passive voice, note the following:

the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence
the finite form of the verb is changed (to be + past participle)
the subject of the active sentence becomes the object of the passive sentence (or is dropped)

Examples of Passive Level: lower intermediate

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Simple Present	Active:	Rita	writes	a letter.
Simple Present	Passive:	A letter	is written	by Rita.
Simple Past	Active:	Rita	wrote	a letter.
Simple Past	Passive:	A letter	was written	by Rita.
Present Perfect	Active:	Rita	has written	a letter.
Present Perfect	Passive:	A letter	has been written	by Rita.
Future I	Active:	Rita	will write	a letter.
Future I	Passive:	A letter	will be written	by Rita.
Modals	Active:	Rita	can write	a letter.
Modals	Passive:	A letter	can be written	by Rita.

Examples of Passive Level: upper intermediate

Tense		Subject	Verb	Object
Present Progressive	Active:	Rita	is writing	a letter.
Present Progressive	Passive:	A letter	is being written	by Rita.
Past Progressive	Active:	Rita	was writing	a letter.
Past Progressive	Passive:	A letter	was being written	by Rita.
Past Perfect	Active:	Rita	had written	a letter.
Past Perfect	Passive:	A letter	had been written	by Rita.
Future Perf.	Active:	Rita	will have written	a letter.
Future Perf.	Passive:	A letter	will have been written	by Rita.
Conditional I	Active:	Rita	would write	a letter.
Conditional I	Passive:	A letter	would be written	by Rita.
Conditional II	Active:	Rita	would have written	a letter.
Conditional II	Passive:	A letter	would have been written	by Rita.

Passive Sentences with Two Objects

Rewriting an active sentence with two objects in passive voice means that one of the two objects becomes the subject, the other one remains an object. Which object to transform into a subject depends on what you want to put the focus on.

	Subject	Verb	Object 1	Object 2
Active:	Rita	wrote	a letter	to me.
Passive:	A letter	was written	to me	by Rita.
Passive:	I	was written	a letter	by Rita.

As you can see in the examples, adding by Rita does not sound very elegant. That’s why it is usually dropped.

Personal and Impersonal Passive

Personal Passive simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive.

Example: They build houses. – Houses are built.

Verbs without an object (intransitive verb) normally cannot form a personal passive sentence (as there is no object that can become the subject of the passive sentence). If you want to use an intransitive verb in passive voice, you need an impersonal construction – therefore this passive is called Impersonal Passive.

Example: he says – it is said

Impersonal Passive is not as common in English as in some other languages (e.g. German, Latin). In English, Impersonal Passive is only possible with verbs of perception (e. g. say, think, know).

Example: They say that women live longer than men. – It is said that women live longer than men.

Although Impersonal Passive is possible here, Personal Passive is more common.

Example: They say that women live longer than men. – Women are said to live longer than men.

The subject of the subordinate clause (women) goes to the beginning of the sentence; the verb of perception is put into passive voice. The rest of the sentence is added using an infinitive construction with 'to' (certain auxiliary verbs and that are dropped).

Sometimes the term Personal Passive is used in English lessons if the indirect object of an active sentence is to become the subject of the passive sentence.

jueves, 26 de marzo de 2020

SPEAKING PRACTICE.

Picture Description: Speculating

FROM WWW.CRISTIANCABAL.COM

Picture Description is an important part of the Oral Exam and it needs to be practised. Two weeks ago, I published a post containing Some Useful Guidelines and Techniques for Picture Description that you might want to read.

One of the things that you need to take into account when describing a picture is that you cannot be 100% sure what is happening in the picture. Therefore, you need to use appropriate language to show you are guessing. You have to speculate about the pictures For example: He is likely to / she’ll probably find it quite tough… etc

Some structures you can use:

Look as if + sentence/ Seem as if + sentence : he looks as if / seems as if he is looking for something
Seem + to infinitive: he seems to be tired/ he seems to be having a great time
Look/ Seem + adjective: They look/ seem quite tired
Appear + to infinitive : She doesn’t appear to be concentrated on what she’s doing

Some modal verbs you can use.

Must : for positive deduction. He must be happy because he’s smiling. The photo must have been taken in summer.
Can’t : for negative deduction. He can’t be going to school because he is not carrying books.
May/ Might/Could : for posibility. He could be telling her something she doesn’t like. The photo might have been taken in winter as they are wearing winter clothes.

Words like : perhaps, maybe…

Let’s listen to an example now.

You’ll hear a girl called Magda practising this part of the Speaking test

HERE YOU HAVE SOME EXAMPLES ON A VIDEO CLASS:

OK. NOW READ THE FOLLOWING TASK AND RECORD YOUR VOICE WITH YOUR MOBILES. PLEASE SEND THE RECORDINGS TO: intermedio1ingles@gmail.com

TASK: DESCRIBE THE FOLLOWING PICTURE WHILE YOU RECORD YOUR VOICE ON YOUR MOBILE. PLEASE FOLLOW THE GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS YOU HAVE READ ON THIS POST.

JUST FOR LAUGHS:

domingo, 22 de marzo de 2020

READING PRACTICE.

GOOD MOORNING. TODAY WE HAVE 2 READING COMPREHENSION TEXTS. IN THE FIRST ONE ABOUT "FOMO" REMEMBER TO CLICK ON THE "CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING AND YOUR VOCABULARY SECTIONS TO DO THE EXERCISES.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO ACCESS TO

A READING COMPREHENSION

WITH 3 ON-LINE EXERCISES TO PRACTICE.

TO DO THE SECOND READING YOU CAN ENLARGE THE PDF WINDOW, DOWNLOAD IT OR EVEN PRINT IT TO DO THE EXERCISES. THE LINK TO THE ANSWERS IS JUST ABOVE THE PDF WINDOW.

READING ANSWERS . GOOGLE

FOR WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY CLASS I WILL TRY TO CONNECT TO YOU IN SMALL GROUPS THROUGH MICROSOFT TEAMS OR ZOOM. I AM STILL PRACTICING AND I WILL SEND YOU AND INVITATION THROUGH EMAIL OR WASAP. PLEASE TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES. SEE YOU SOON.

miércoles, 18 de marzo de 2020

GERUNDS AND INFINITIVES

There are certain words in English that are usually followed by an infinitive or gerund. If you are not sure whether to use the infinitive or gerund, check out our lists or look the words up in a dictionary. From www.ego-4U.com

Infinitive

Use

Certain words are followed by an infinite verb with or without ‘to’.

Use and Word Lists	Example
as the subject of a clause	To know you is to love you.
after certain expressions (without ‘to’)	Why not go to the cinema?
after certain verbs (without ‘to’)	I can swim.
after certain verbs (with ‘to’)	He wants to swim.
after certain verbs with interrogatives (infinitive constructions)	They don’t know how to swim.
after certain verbs with objects (without ‘to’)	He made her swim.
after certain verbs with objects (with ‘to’)	They wanted him to swim.
after certain adjectives and their comparisons	It’s easier to swim downstream.
after nouns deriving from the verbs mentioned above	We made a promise to swim. (derived from the verb ‘to promise’)

Gerund

Form

ing form of the verb

Exceptions in Spelling

See → Present Progressive – Exceptions

Use

Certain words are followed by an Ing-Form.

Use and Word Lists	Example
as the subject of a clause	Cycling is good for your health.
after certain adjectives	He’s afraid of going by plane.
after certain prepositions	Before going to bed he turned off the lights.
after certain verbs	I enjoy cooking.
after certain verbs with prepositions	I am looking forward to seeing you again.
after certain nouns	We had problems finding our way back home.

Words followed either by Infinitive or Ing-Form

Use and Word Lists	Example
same meaning	I started to read. / I started reading.
same meaning but different use	She forbids us to talk. / She forbids talking.
different meaning	He stopped to smoke. / He stopped smoking.
infinitive or present participle	I saw him go up the stairs. / I saw him going up the stairs.

Exercises and Tests

Infinitive

Gerund

Infinitive / Gerund

Infinitive or Gerund • Exercise 2
Infinitive or Gerund • Exercise 2
Infinitive or Gerund • Exercise 2 • Exercise 3
Infinitiv and/or Ing-Form





exercise 1 exercise 2 exercise 3 exercise 4 LISTENING PRACTICE EXERCISE. Listen to the information about the 'best job in the world' competition and do the exercises to practise and improve your listening skills. CLICK HERE. LISTEN TO THE VIDEO AND COMPLETE THE SENTENCES WITH THE SUITABLE WORDS (NOT GIVEN). AFTER, CORRECT THEM. THEN DO THE MATCHING EXERCISE BELOW AND CORRECT IT. SPEAKING EXERCISE: Read the following PDF and record your voice or a video answering the first 6 questions and one of the three AGREE OR DISAGREE topics. Please send it to: intermedio2ingles@gmail.com (if it is too long or heavy, please send me a link to your Drive so that I can listen to ir or watch it. Thank you)

domingo, 15 de marzo de 2020

FEELINGS ADJECTIVES.

WATCH THIS VIDEO. YOU CAN PUT THE ENGLISH SUBTITLES ON AND ENLARGE THE PICTURE TO FULL SCREEN.

LATER READ THE LIST OF ADJECTIVES REFERING TO FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS AND DO THE EXERCISES.

An emotional vocabulary is one in which language accurately describes how you are feeling.

As adults, we are expected to be better adjusted and stable. Over time, feelings that may have once been part of our emotional vocabulary may suddenly be considered weaknesses by others. As result, we may instinctively restrict our vocabulary to anything but the broadest terms (such as "angry" or "happy") or adopt lingo (like "cool" or "awesome") to abstract and generalize our feelings.

As a result, we will often forget how to express our emotions verbally and will instead use emojis or internet slang like "LOL" or "ROFL" to clarify these feelings. These behaviors are not only adopted by kids but encouraged culturally as the very speed of communications shortcuts vocabulary and expression to anything but the mere essentials.

We can help ourselves to improve our vocabulary not only building sophisticated emotional vocabularies but approaching feelings and relationships in a more sophisticated and well-adjusted way.

EXERCISE ONE

EXERCISE TWO

EXERCISE THREE

DOWNLOAD A PDF EXERCISE WITH ANSWERS ABOUT EMOTIONS HERE

HERE YOU HAVE A WORKSHEET IN PDF. PLEASE DOWNLOAD IT, DO THE READING EXERCISES. WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW AND THEN DO THE LAST EXERCISE IN THE PDF.

FIND THE ANSWERS TO THE EXERCISE HERE, INCLUDING MEDIATION PRACTICE MATERIAL.

USEFUL ADJECTIVES ABOUT FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS:

Ashamed – He who is ashamed of asking is ashamed of learning.
Indifferent – People have become indifferent to the suffering of others.
Sorry – It is better to be safe than sorry.
Determined – He was determined to retrieve his honor.
Crazy – You’re crazy to go out in this weather.
Bashful – Don’t be bashful about telling people how you feel.
Depressed – She became severely depressed after her mother’s death.
Enraged – She was enraged at his stupidity.
Frightened – He was frightened at the sight of the dog.
Interested – I’ve always been interested in music.
Shy – He was too shy to speak to her.
Hopeful – I am hopeful that she will come tomorrow.
Nervous – I get very nervous before a big race.
Thirsty – She was so thirsty that she drained her cup.
Suspicious – I think they’re starting to get suspicious.
Stubborn – She can be as stubborn as a mule.
Scared – I’m scared to fly in an airplane.
Regretful – He is regretful for what he has done.
Embarrassed – He always mumbles when he’s embarrassed.
Confident – She sounded more confident than she felt.
Disgusted – I’m disgusted with the way that he was treated.

viernes, 13 de marzo de 2020

CLASES ON-LINE.

BIENVENID@S.

A PARTIR DE HOY Y MIENTRAS DURE LA SITUACIÓN EXCEPCIONAL, SEGUIREMOS CON LAS CLASES DE MODO ON-LINE.

LA PRIMERA UNIDAD ES EL POST ANTERIOR.

LES IRÉ SUBIENDO CONTENIDOS Y EJERCICIOS A RAZON DE DOS BLOQUES POR SEMANA (el mismo número que de clases que tenemos)

Recuerden que el email para contactar conmigo o enviar tareas es:

intermedio2ingles@gmail.com