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!