viernes, 25 de noviembre de 2011

Recuperación de clases

Hi all! I remind you next day and on 15th December our class will finish at 21:00!

How / What!

Exclamative sentences are used to make exclamations. These are also referred to as exclamative sentences or exclamatives. These are used to express strong feelings, strong emphasis or emotion.
Exclamative sentence can begin with "what" or "how":

WHAT + NOUN Phrase (sintagma nominal: (adjetivo) nombre)
What a stupid man he is!
What a surprise!
What a nice hat!
HOW + ADJECTIVE / ADVERB (adjetivo o adverbio)
How wonderful you look!
How well everyone played!

To practise click on these links:
1. Choose the correct option
2. More practice

jueves, 17 de noviembre de 2011

(A) few vs. (a) little

The use of "a few" and "a little" depends on nature of the following noun, that is, if the noun is countable, "few" is used. On the contrary, if it´s uncountable, "little" is the correct one. Remember countable nouns are those which can be counted and therefore, they have singular and plural forms. On the other hand, uncountable nouns cna´t be counted and they always appear in the singular (they don´t have plural forms).
As you know, "little" and "few" can appear without article "a/an" and when this happens their meaning changes.
Let´s do some exercises!
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3

miércoles, 16 de noviembre de 2011

Second Conditional Sentences

The second conditional is used to talk about a future unreal situation, that is, there isn´t any possibility this condition will happen. On these links you have some exercises. In the first one you have to make second conditional sentences and the second one is a gap filling exercise.
Remember the first conditional is different in construction and use (we talk about a real possibility in the future). Let´s do this exercise where you have to decide what conditional is the correct one !

domingo, 13 de noviembre de 2011

Past Perfect Simple

We use the past perfect simple to talk about an action taking place before a certain time in the past:
"When Sarah arrived home, their parents had already gone to bed." Which action happend first? 
Sarah´s parents went to bed before she arrived. he past perfect simple is also called "the past of the past".
Exercise 1: Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the past perfect simple.
Exercise 2: Past simple or past perfect?
Exercise 3: Past simple, present perfect or past perfect?

domingo, 6 de noviembre de 2011

Listening: Past Tenses

Now, let´s practise the listening comprehension skill!

1. You are going to listen to a conversation between friends talking about the past. Hear the conversation (click on the link to download the file) and answer the questions.

2. A challenge: this is a difficult video about puffins, a small bird which lives in the north areas.

Past Simple vs. Past Continuous

In this unit you study the difference between the past simple, the past continuous and the present perfect simple, let´s see when to use them.
- you enumerate a series of past actions which happend one after another:
   "She came home, switched on the computer and checked her e-mails."
- you just want to mention that an action took place in the past:
   "Collin visited us yesterday."
- two past actions happened at the same time:
   "Simon was playing on the computer when his brother was watching TV."
- you want to put emphasis on the progress:
  "At six o´clock Simon was playing football yesterday."
  • Use both, past simple and past continuous when:
- you want to express that a new action happened in the middle of another action:
   "The telephone rang while I was having dinner."

Exercise 1: Group the sentences according to the tense used.
Exercise 2: Match the first part of the sentence to the second.
Exercise 3: Type the correct tense.
Exercise 4 and exercise 5: Put the verbs in the correct tense.
- you want to put emphasis on the result:
   "I´ve written a book."
- the action has stopped recently:
   "Peter has cooked dinner today."
- finished action that has an influence on the present:
   "I have lost my keys."
- you talk about  "experience" without mentioning the time:
   "I have been to  London."
Exercise 1: Put the verbs into the right form using the present perfect.
Exericse 2:
Exercise 3: Irregular verbs


miércoles, 2 de noviembre de 2011

Regular Past Pronunciation (-ed)

Hi all! The past ending -ED pronunciation always presents a big problem for English students. This final -ED is pronounced in three different ways, depending on the previous sound: / Id/ or / t/ or / d/. But what is the rule? The first thing you should keep in mind is the type of sound preceding the -ED:

1. If it is /t/ or /d/, the -ED pronunciation is / Id/
2. if the sound is VOICED (the vocal chords vibrate when producing voiced sounds, sonidos sonoros), the pronunciation is /d/
3. Finally, if the sound is UNVOICED (our vocal chords don´t vibrate, sonidos sordos), the correct pronunciation is /t/.

But which sounds are voiced and which unvoiced? Have a look at this link and try to remember.
Now, let´s practice:
-Exercise 1: Classify the past forms of the verbs according to their pronunciation
-Exercise 2: Choose the correct pronunciation
-Exercise 3: Listening!! Hear the story and choose the correct option
-Exercise 4: Click on the play, which is the correct pronunication?

And if you really want more, go to my place and practise with the videos!