Verb Patterns, Colours and Time...

Week 21^st- 23^rd

As promised, we learnt some “Colour idioms”.

But it wasn’t until we had reviewed verb patterns.

·         I was so happy to receive your present. (After adjs, to +infinitive)

·         She was busy looking after her little sister. (Exception;after “busy”, ing)

·         He went to the sop to buy some bread. (To express purpose, why?)

·         Doing sport is healthy. (When the verb is the subject, ing)

·         The kid wasn’t tall enough to reach the door knob.(After too and enough)

·         Don’t leave the office without locking the door. (After prepositions)

·         They didn’t know where to run.(After question words, except “why”)

·         We went swimming last weekend. (After “go” for physical activities)

·         My niece would like to become a teacher when she grows up.(After would like, would love etc.)

 After certain verbs we use , to + infinitive and after other verbs we use “–ing”. And this is the most difficult part to remember because there are no rules for it. Read a lot. Do exercises and above all, learn the verbs in context with sample sentences.

·         What did they plan to do?

·         My friends agree to stay in the hotel closer to the beach.

·         She promised not to tell anybody.

·         I refuse to go by bus. It takes longer than the train!

·         I hope to finish my degree next year.

·         They seem to have forgotten what happened before.

·         I decided to take the job.

·         Avoid drinking tap water if you travel to India.

·         There’s no point warning him, he’ll go anyway.

·         He denied taking the money.

·         He confessed to killing the man.

·         They objected to having the shop open until 9pm.

·         We are looking forward to hearing from you.

We learnt idioms with colours.

·         Is there anybody in your family who’s got green fingers?

·         Have you ever been green with envy?

·         When is anybody black and blue all over?

·         Do you know anybody who has a yellow streak?

And we also talked about “time”

·         What would you do if you had more time in your hands?

·         Are you usually on time?

·         What do you do to kill time?

·         Are you often pushed for time?

·         Do you run out of time in exams?

Llistening Practice

New Year, New Term, New Students!

Week 14^th – 16^th

New Year, New Term, New Students!

Nice to meet you!

After introducing each other, we started talking about the topic “When we were young.”

 Do you remember these words?

         ·       The springs of the rocking horse needed oily.

         ·       It was a splendid horse that sprang forwards and backwards. (spring- sprang- sprung)

         ·       She tried to run away (escape) because her family had told her off.(scolded)

         ·       Rainy weather makes me feel miserable.(unhappy)

You also told me “All about you,” as an excuse to review verb patterns.

One day, I want to live in a foreign country.

I often forget to buy the travel card till the very last day!

I wish people would stop fighting against each other.

I would never refuse to go out with my friends.

Once, I helped a blind lady to get on the bus.

Our teacher often tells us not to learn things out of context.

In our next classes we’ll talk about “Time” and “Colours”.

Are you intrigued?

Childhood memories

Verb Patterns - Exercises

Happy 2014

Week 7^th – 9^th January, 2014

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your holidays and that you are ready to work!

I went through the last blog and an English adage came to my mind “Man plans, God laughs.” Indeed!

Yes, it means that one makes arrangements but then you have to change them because God, fate, luck or whatever it is, makes you to do so. I had planned to have three days of class the week before the last in December, but we had to put it off.(cancelled, delayed) I had planned to continue with modal verbs but nobody came to class on the last day, so …

Yes, you had warned me that you may not attend to class on that date.

My New Year Resolutions? To fulfil those delayed plans!

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