Modal Verbs for Possibility

Week 10^th – 12^th

Hi!

What have we done this week?

We’ve gone through the different uses of Modal verbs. Here’s the summary:

+	-	Modals of probability ( present and future)
Will	won’t	They express what we strongly believe to be true about the present. Based on our knowledge of people and things: routine, character etc.	Is that the phone? It’ll be John. He said he’d ring around now.
Must	can’t	Must is used to express what we infer or conclude to be the most logical or rational interpretation of events. (less certain that “will”) / “can’t” is the negative of must.	- Look over there! That must be Jon’s new car. - She can’t have a ten-year-old daughter! She’s only 25!
Should	shouldn’t	It expresses what may reasonably be expected to happen; also that we want that whatever is predicted to happen.	- Our guests should be here soon. (If they haven’t got lost) - This homework shouldn’t take you long.
May	may not	It expresses the possibility that sth will happen or is already happening.	- We may go to Greece for our holidays. We haven’t decided yet. - We may not have enough money to go abroad this year.
Might	might not	It expresses possibility bur in a more tentative way.	- It might rain, but I doubt it. - I might not be back in time for supper, so don’t wait for me.
Could	might not	is used in a similar way to “might”	- It could rain, but I doubt it. - It looks like it could rain, but it might not.
*The negative “couldn’t” has a similar meaning to “can’t,” only slightly weaker. She couldn’t have a ten-year-old daughter! She’s only 25!
Can		We use it to express what it is generally and all-time true. It cannot be used to predict future possibility.(Will be possible or will be able to)	Cycling in town can be dangerous.
Modal  auxiliaries in the past
All the modal verbs given above are also used with have + past participle to express different degrees of certainty about the past.

·         You met a man with a moustache? That would have been my uncle tom.

·         It won’t have been Peter you met at the party. He wasn’t invited.

·         It must have been Simon. He looks like Peter.

·         It can’t have been a very interesting party. No one seems to have enjoyed it.

·         Where’s Henry? He should have been here ages ago!

·         He might have decided not to come. He could have had an accident.

·         He can hardly have forgotten to come.

·         “Can have” is only used in questions or with “hardly, only or never”.

·         Where can he have got to go?

·         They can only have known each other for a few weeks.

We’ll go through other uses of modal verbs next week. (This is a promise, not a possibility!)

Despite all the modals, we had some time for idioms with “out of…”

·         When do you feel out of breath?

·         How long have they been out of work?

·         Did you know that a translator computer translated the expression “out of sight, out of mind” into “invisible, insane”?

·         Is this information out of date?

Finally, could you make the difference between these pair of words?

Policy /politics      economic/ economics    economy/economies    safety/ security        

take over / overtake            complimentary / complementary  

The Amazing World of Phrasal Verbs

Tuesday 3^rd

HI! So, Phrasal verbs aren’t as easy as they look like…

Not only do we have to struggle (fight/ make an effort) with guessing what they mean, but also we have to be able to know if they are separable or not. And depending if they have a transitive or intransitive meaning, the same verb can be both… but don’t panic!

It only takes some time to get used to it!

Thieves broke in and stole £5,000. But, Burglars broke into the house while they were out.

The bus drew up at the traffic lights. But, The committee will draw a list of objections up.

She took some students in to earn extra money. But, I was taken in by his apparent honesty.

Remember!

As long as a phrasal verb is separable you can place the object between the verb and the particle or after the particle:

Take your jacket off. It’s hot in here.

Take off your jacket. It’s hot in here.

If the object is a pronoun and the verb is separable, you can never place the pronoun after the particle.

Take it off. It’s hot in here.

Take off it. It’s hot in here.

We also did a reading comprehension from a TOEFL sample test paper. “The Creators of Grammar”

         ·            Do you think it’s easy to start from scratch?

         ·            Did you know that “pidgins” are strings of words copied from the language of the landowner?

         ·            Sign languages for the deaf aren’t simply a series of gestures; they utilise the same grammatical machinery that is found in spoken languages.

Seen like this, it doesn’t seem much. But we really worked hard, didn’t we?

By the way, when somebody “looks over their shoulder”, they feel suspicious. They think somebody is following them or that something dangerous or terrible is going to happen to them!

It doesn’t mean that they despise other people or show contempt, as it does in the idiom “look down on someone.”

He is the typical snob who “looks down on” anyone who hasn't got an Oxbridge degree.

Get ready for this week because we are having three days of class and we’re going to look into Modal Verbs.

C.U.

FYI (For your Information)

What is the TOEFL® test like?

The next generation TOEFL® iBT test has four sections:

1	Reading	3-5 passages, 12-14 questions each Click here for a free practice test IBT Reading test part 1	60-100 mins
2	Listening	4-6 lectures, 6 questions each 2-3 conversations, 5 questions each Click here for a free practice test	60-90 mins
3	Speaking	6 tasks, 2 independent and 2 integrated	20 mins
4	Writing	1 integrated task 1 independent task	50 mins

An integrated task is one where you have to use more than one skill. For example, you read about something, listen to a lecture, and then write about what you have heard and read.

Relative clauses and an interview with Anita Roddick

Week 26^th -28^th

This week we studied grammar: defining and non-defining relative clauses.

Remember:

Defining relative clauses are essential for the meaning of the sentence. If you remove them, the sentences don’t make complete sense.

Here’s somebody (who speaks English).

Here’s somebody…( ? It doesn’t make sense )

You can use all the relative pronouns in defining clauses: who, which, that, whose, whom, when, what, where and why.

The relative pronoun can be omitted when it’s the object of the relative clause.

The doctor who helped the most was Dr Clark. (Subject. No omission)

The doctor (who) I found the most helpful was Dr Clark. (Object. Omission)

Non- defining relative clauses, on the contrary, aren’t essential for the meaning of the sentence. They add “extra information.”

Mr Jenkins, who has written several books, spoke at the meeting last night.

Mr Jenkins, (who has written several books), spoke at the meeting last night.

If you remove the relative clause, the sentence makes complete sense.

Bear in mind that Non- defining relative clauses go with commas, (in written English; pauses in spoken English. Although these clauses sound formal when used in spoken English).

“That” can’t be used instead of “who” or “which” and the relative pronoun can’t be left out, (omitted).

Prepositions.

Prepositions can come either before relative pronouns or at the end of a relative clause. In spoken English is much more common to put the preposition at the end. Before the relative pronoun sounds rather formal.

This is the book (that)I was talking to you about.

This is the book about which I was talking to you. ( Formal)

And finally,

Difference between “which” and “what”

Which can be used in non-defining clauses to refer to the whole of the preceding clause.

He passed the exam, which surprised everyone.

The lift isn’t working, which means we’ll have to use the stairs.

What is used instead of “the thing that” in some sentences.

Has she told you what’s worrying her?

I have to do what I believe is right.

Let’s change of subject!

We listened to an interview with Anita Roddick, the founder of the Body shop. And we listened to her views on trading, entrepreneurs and running a business.

To her, money and profit aren’t important. Money is just a means to an end. Entrepreneurs just want money because it oils the wheels. She doesn’t want to be the biggest retailer, just the most idiosyncratic, and the bravest. And she also thinks that business should support local farming, pay living wages and not slave wages and eliminate sweat shops and child labour.

In her view, the best thing of wealth is that allows you to be generous.

Well, I’ll see you this week!

Entrepreneurs

Pronunciation & Synonyms

Week 19^{th -} 21^st November

We started with pronunciation. It was interesting identifying the international phonetic symbols, don’t you think?

It wasn’t less interesting, although more difficult, trying to reproduce the sounds and to pronounce  some words properly!

The teacher is rather “wicked” and made you listen to a poem entitled “Hints on English Pronunciation.” It was good practice, wasn’t it?

The poem was based on the different pronunciation of similar groups of syllables. And to round up the subject, we studied some homophones: words with the same pronunciation but different meanings.

To make the week even harder, we saw some synonyms.

Remember:

Little girls giggle when they think something is funny, with their hands in front of their mouths.

Little boys snigger, laugh unpleasantly, when they are laughing at someone who has done something they think is stupid.

To chuckle is a nice way of laughter.

You burst out laughing when you suddenly laugh very loudly.

When you laugh so much that it starts to hurt, you are in stitches.

And also:

If you really hate something, you loathe it or detest it.

Abhor is quite formal.

When you despise someone, you dislike them strongly because you have absolutely no respect for them.

And we finished with a multiple choice exercise, but we’ll continue talking about that next week.

Ready to work hard?

Islands, islands.

Week 12^th – 19^th November

Hi! How was your weekend?

As we did the theory on verb tenses last week, we’re going to start putting it into practice. How? With a listening.

So we did! Paola understood most of it. Álvaro not as much as she did. Maybe it was because the listening was an  extract from a book called “Fair Game,” which is an example of “chicks lit.” ( = chicken's  literature = books directed to young women)

Do you remember the meaning of these words? Why don’t you write some sentences with them?

manky (old combats), in tow, drizzle, bloke, stop to do, stop doing

You also told me about your studies and your choice of subjects. and these words came up :

classic / classical   economic / economical

Can you remember the difference in meaning?

On Thursday we had some guests.

We read about three islands : “The largest island in the world: Greenland, the remotest island in the world: Tristan da Acunha and the most exotic island in the world: Zanzibar.”

Some vocabulary to remember: thriving economy, untapped market, earmarked, burgeoning  & tomb.

Bear in mind that this level is specially (or especially)? focused on vocabulary, so it’d

be a good idea to do the exercises on p.6 (the photocopy I handed you out).

(Homework)

As my laptop went dead, you can enjoy “An Englishman in New York” in here.

 An Englishman in New York

5th - 7th November. QI Answers at Last!!!

Week 5^th -7^th November

Álvaro, welcome to our class!

Last Thursday Álvaro was finally able to have the answers to the questions from the QI quiz, which the teacher had refused to give him before. Were they “Quite Interesting” as in the name of the quiz?

QI stands for “Quite Interesting” according to its creators.

Then we moved onto “more interesting” grammar points, didn’t we?

We focused on tense review.

English tenses have two elements of meaning: Time and Aspect.

Time: present, past or future.

Bear in mind that “tense” isn’t the same as “time”.

I wish I had Sue’s telephone number. So, I could tell her about the lecture.

“Had” is past simple tense but the time it refers to is present. It refers to a present situation.

Aspect: simple, continuous or perfect.

The simple aspect describes an action that is viewed as a whole unit.

The sun rises in the east. (all the time)

I’ve read the book and seen the movie.(complete)

The shop will close at 9.00. (simple fact)

The continuous aspect describes a series of activities viewed at some point between their beginning and end. It focuses on the duration of the activity, the passing of time.

I’ve been painting the kitchen. (We don’t know if it’s finished)

Who’s been drinking my beer? (There’s some left)

I’m staying in a rented flat until they finish painting mine.(Temporary)

The perfect aspect  expresses two ideas:

·        An action completed before another time.

I’ve seen his latest film. (some time before now)

I’ll have learnt my lines before the play starts.(some time before then)

·        An action producing a result or state of affairs relevant to a later situation.

I’ve seen his latest film. (I know the story now)

I’ll have learnt my lines before the play starts.(I’ll know them in time for the play)

Voice: active or passive.

The passive is frequently used in English to express ideas that require a reflexive or impersonal construction in other languages.

Passive sentences move the focus of attention from the subject of an active sentence to the object.

In informal language, we often use you or they to refer to people in general or to no person in particular.

Interesting or boring? Quite exhausting, I should think. Thanks God we had the weekend to relax!