Use of English, Reading, Use of English and Books!

Week 22^nd - 29^th April

We are working basically on “Use of English”, which seems to be the part of the test you feel more worried about.

So, we did exercises under these headings: “Getting to the Root of Bonsai Crime”, “Lost Luggage”, “Jogging”, “Opera Review”, “Crime Prevention Leaflet” and “Waste Not…”

We also did another “Use of English” and a “Reading”.

We reviewed modal verbs and expressions.

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.

Remember:

·         You’d better (had better) go with them or they’ll get lost. You should go with them or they’ll get lost. You ought to go with them or they’ll get lost.

·         I’d rather (would rather) go by train. It’s cheaper. I’d prefer to go by train. It’s cheaper. BUT I’d rather you cooked. (When you want sb to do sth and you use “would rather” you have to use the verb in the past).

·         He wasn’t used to driving on the left but he got used to driving on the left while he was living in the U.K. (to be used to/ get used to +-ing)

·         When we were children, we used to go to the village every weekend. (used to + infinitive. Repeated actions or states in the past)

We revised the use of “in, at, on” for place.

·         He lives in the south of England. BUT He lives on the south coast of England.

·         I’m sitting on a chair. BUT I’m sitting in an armchair.

·         Write your name at the top / bottom of the photocopy. BUT Write your name on the front /back of the photocopy.

·         Children have to sit in the back of the car; not in the front.

·         We could see the performance perfectly because we had seats at the front of the hall. BUT in the front row.

And we had some time to talk about books.

·         Which book did you find heavy- going?

·         Do you like reading thought-provoking books?

·         I don’t like fantasy books because their characters are implausible.

·         I absolutely adore thrillers because they are intriguing, gripping and usually fast-moving.

·         “The Hunger Games” trilogy is said to be directed to teenagers but I find it gripping and thought-provoking.

·         Is there a book you haven’t been able to put down?

Well, guess what we are going to do this week… ‘Use of English’! and something else…