English Clockwork - Demystifying Grammar - Lesson 2

English Clockwork – Demystifying English Grammar – Lesson 2

Study Block 1: The verb and its characteristics

Part 1: Nice to meet you, I'm a verb.

2 – Seeing the time inside the tenses: The Present Simple vs the present continuous

In our last lesson we studied how the verbs can be classified as stative or dynamic verbs according to their duration. We also studied that stative verbs can't be used with continuous tenses because we can't establish their duration. Today we'll go a little deeper and we'll see how the duration has its influence over sentences in the present simple and the present continuous.

The present simple - He, she, it + s - Interrogative Do/Does;

Negative Don't/Doesn´t.

The main characteristic the present simple shows us when we consider the duration of the verbs is the fact that this verbal tense talks about a 'wide present', that is, we can't precise when the action or the state the subject has got started and we can't also precise when it will finish. The only thing we know it that the information provided by the verb happens in a moment of time we call present, and this 'present' is flexible. We can consider the period of time we want in our minds. For this reason the present simple have the following uses:

We use the present simple for:

*thoughts and feelings - I think so. I like it.

* states, things staying the same, facts and things that are true for a long time: We live quite near

* repeated action: We come here every year.

* Meaning future when we're talking about a time, usually a public one such as a train timetable: The train leaves at seven thirty-three tomorrow morning.

The present continuous - am/are/is + main verb + ING

While the present simple talks about a 'wide present', the present continuous does the opposite.

The main characteristic of the present continuous is to point a specific point inside this 'wide present' and thus establish much more precisely when the information provided by the verb took place. Contrarily to the present continuous we can't consider the time freely because the moment when the action happens is at least considered as the moment of speaking. Another important thing we must remember is that stative verbs are never used in the present continuous once these kinds of verbs, by definition, provide information that we can regard as outside an established time.

For this reason it is extremely important to be aware about the context you provide to the person you are sharing information.

We use the present continuous:

* When we are in the middle of an action - I'm waiting for the train.

* When things are changing after a long period of time: The number of cars in the road is increasing

* Meaning future for what someone has arranged to do in the future: - I'm meeting Harriet at six o'clock.

At work Alan is talking to Mark in the corridor. Complete their conversation using present simple or present continuous.

Mark: Are you looking (you/look) for someone?

Alan: Yes I need to speak to Neil (I/speak). He is'nt in his office.

Mark: (1) _______________(he/talk) to the boss at the moment.

(2) _____________(you/think) (3) ___________(they/be) discussing money at the moment?

Alan: Oh, right! How about you? (4) ________________(you/look) for someone too?

Mark: Yes. Linda (5) ________________ (you/know) where she is?

Alan: Oh! She isn't here today. She only (6) ___________(work) six days a week. (7) ______________(she/not/work) on Fridays. She'll be here on Monday.

Mark: Thank you! (8) _______________(you/know) a lot of things about Linda.

Alan: Well, most days (9) __________________(I/give) her a lift, or (10)___________________(she/give) me some. (11)_________ (she/live) quite close to me. (12) ____________ (it/save) petrol.

Mark: Yes, of course! Good idea (13) ______________(I/agree).

Well,(14) ______________(I/waste) my time here. I'll get back to my computer.

The answers to the questions may be sent to:
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Reading in the Garden - Lesson 2

Part 1

 a ) Look at the title and the picture. What kind of story is it? Does it interest you?

b) Read the back cover. Can you understand the story? What's it about?

c) What's White Death?


Back Cover:

WHITE DEATH

Sarah Harland is nineteen and she's in prison. At the airport they find h... in her bag. So now she's waiting to go to court. If the court decides that it was her h..., then she must die.
She says she did not do it. But if she did not, who did? Only two people can help Sarah: her mother and an old boyfriend who does not love her now. Can they find the real criminal before it is too late?

Part 2

Read Extract 1 once. Answer the questions.
1. What do you know about the woman?
2. Which country is she in?
3. What does she want to do?

EXTRACT 1

The woman (stood) in front of the (prison). The woman was very (hot), and she did not like the (noise) from all the cars in the road. She was an English woman and she did not like hot countries or a lot of noise. She was tall, about fifty years old, with blue eyes and a long (face). Her face was red, and she looked tired and (angry). She (knocked) at the door of the prison. For a long time nothing happened. Then a little window opened in the door, and a man looked at her.

Part 3

1. Read Extract 1 again. Are the words in round brackets nouns, adjectives, or verbs?
2. Guess the meaning of the words.

Part 4

Read Extract 2. Who are the woman, the man and the girl?

EXTRACT 2

'Yes? What do you want?'
'I want to see my daughter. It's very important.'
'Name'
'Anne Harland'
'Wait a minute.'
After twenty minutes the door opened. 'Come with (me)', the man said. She walked a long time, past hundreds of doors. Then the man opened one of (them). 'In here´, he said. 'You can have ten minutes'. Anne Harland walked into the room and the man went in after (her). He closed the door behind (him). There was a table in the room, and two chairs. On one of the chairs sat her daughter. (She) was a tall girl, about nineteen years old, with big blue eyes.
'Mother!' she said. 'I'm so happy to see (you).'
Part 5

1. What do the pronouns in round brackets mean?


Part 6

Read Extract 3. Answer the questions

1. When and where did the police arrest Sarah?
2. Was she alone?
3. What did the police find in her toothpaste?
4. How does the story end?

EXTRACT 3

'Sarah, what happened?' she said. 'When did they bring you to this prison?'
'Last week, I think. Yes, last week. At the airport, when we arrived ... The police stopped us, and looked in our bags. They said there were drugs in my bag. Then they brought me here'.
'I see. Where were the drugs, then? Where did they find them?'
'Didn't they tell you?' Sarah looked up, and there was a smile in her face, but it was not a happy smile. 'The drugs were in a tube of toothpaste.'
'And you didn't know about it?'
'No, mother, of course not. Do you think I clean my teeth with heroin?'

VOCABULARY

court; noun = a place where judges and lawyers work.
death; noun = end of life
toothpaste; noun = stuff for cleaning your teeth
brought; verb = bring (past simple)
sat; verb = sit (past simple)
stood; verb = stand (past simple)


Source: English File Book 1 by Clive Oxeden & Paul Seligson - Oxford Universty Press - 19th Edition 2003

The answers to the questions may be sent to:
e-mail: eng.4.today@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/eng4today
Facebook: www.facebook.com/eng4today 
All the answers will commented by the teacher and sent back by email.
Please comment and give suggestion about the lessons and the prgramme.
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How should my English sound? Lesson 3

How should my English sound? Lesson 3

Pardon me? Could you say that again? - Understanding conversation

Let's check this conversation:

A: I've just got this one bag.

B: Wow! Do you always travel so light?

A: Yeah. I can't stand the wait, you know at the airport...

B: Yeah. I know. My bag's really heavy. But it's got wheels, so I don't have to carry it.

A: No, I mean the waiting, you know, waiting for your cases to come out on the belt.

It seems we have a little misunderstanding here. What is the cause of it?

Though the speaker may pronounce the words clearly when they speak there can be a misunderstanding if in the context there are words with the same pronunciation.

Another good example is when you ask a Londoner the time and he answers: It's 'free' forty-four. In this case we can understand that 'free' actually is 'three' from the context.

Look at this video: Can you get all the misunderstandings in the video? Sometimes it's difficult to understand what people say due to their accent.

Exercise:

In each of the sentences below there is one word misspelt because it reproduces a different kind of accent. Guess from the context which word is wrong.

1. She is a very famous rider of romantic novels.
2. I read about it in the noos paper.
3. She went to the casualty because she suffered a art attack.
4. We watched the film and den we went to bed.
5. We want to tank you.
6. With a bit of look we can win the game.

Bibliography: HANKOK, Mark. English Pronunciation in Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

he answers to the questions may be sent to:
e-mail: eng.4.today@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/eng4today
Facebook: www.facebook.com/eng4today
All the answers will commented by the teacher and sent back by email.
Please comment and give suggestion about the lessons and the prgramme.
This blog is a non commercial, non profit educational website.

English for Today by Nimlot Logan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

How should my English sound? Lesson 2

How my English should sound? Lesson 2

Eye, my, mine – Introducing syllables.

We can divide a word in one or more syllables. For example 'mum' has only one syllable, 'mother' has two syllables and 'grandmother' has three. A syllable is a group of one or more sounds. The essential part of a syllable is the vowel (V). Some syllables are just one vowel sounds as in eye /aɪ/ and owe /əʊ/.

Syllables can have consonant sounds (C) before the V (CV), after the V (VC) and before and after the V (CVC). Here are some examples. All the words has only one syllable.

CV – go /gəʊ/; my /maɪ/; know /nəʊ/; weigh /weɪ/.

VC – if /ɪf/; egg /eg/; ice /aɪs/; eight /eɪt/.

CVC – ten /ten/; nose/nəʊz/; mouse /maʊs/; knife /naɪf/.

Remember! Letters are not the same as sounds. For example the consonant letters 'w' and 'y' are not consonant sounds if the come after the vowel in words like 'law' /lɔː/ and 'pay' /peɪ/. They are part of the vowel sound, that is, 'aw' = /ɔː/ and 'ay' = /eɪ/. It can also happen in some southern English accents with the letter 'r', for example: car /kɑː/, hair /heə/ and poor /pɔː/.

It is common to call syllable the number of parts in a written word. In phonetics, syllable is the number of times we need to emit a sound to pronounce a word. For example we can divide the word chocolate as cho-co-late, but when we say it, we only pronounce two syllables /ˈtʃɒk.lət/. The dot shows the syllabic division. Here are some other examples. Some words may be pronounced with fewer syllables than in writing: different /dɪf.ər.ənt ; comfortable /kʌm .fə.tə.bl/; interesting /ɪn.trəs.tɪŋ/; *secretary /ˈsek.rə.tri/. (* In American English this word is pronounced /ˈsek.rə.ter.i/).

The first syllable in these words has the same sounds, but in the opposite order: chicken /ˈtʃɪk.ɪn/; kitchen /ˈkɪtʃ.ən/. When we build a sentence with similar words like these, it may be difficult to say. It is called 'tongue-twisters' like in: Richard checked the chicken in the kitchen.

Now it's time to exercise:

1. Organise the words according to the groups below:
   
   aunt, cook, dad, doctor, grandfather, officer, passenger, sister, teacher, uncle
   
   1 syllable:
   2 syllables:
   3 syllables:
   
   
2. The spelling changes if you change the order of sounds in these one-syllable words from CV to VC.
   a) /lɔː/ /ɔːl/
   b) /deɪ/ /eɪd/
   c) /nəʊ/ /əʊn/
   d) /peɪ/ /eɪp/
   e) /tiː/ /iːt/
   f) /meɪ/ /eɪm/

Bibliography: HANKOK, Mark. English Pronunciation in Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

The answers to the questions may be sent to:
e-mail: eng.4.today@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/eng4today
Facebook: www.facebook.com/eng4today
All the answers will commented by the teacher and sent back by email.
Please comment and give suggestion about the lessons and the prgramme.
This blog is a non commercial, non profit educational website.

English for Today by Nimlot Logan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

English Clockworking - Demystifying English Grammar

Study Block 1: The verb and its characteristics
Part 1: Nice to meet you, I am a verb.

In this first block we will discover the verb is a mate full of special powers and weaknesses. We will see they have conjugation characteristics, duration, meaning, voice, mood, etc.

1. Duration of a verb: Stative verbs vs dynamic verbs:
   
   The verbs according to its duration, that is the meaning period of time described by the verb, can be stative or dynamic.
   
   Stative verbs are those ones who have no duration and no distinguished endpoint because they describe states, characteristics about something or someone and states and characteristics can't be considered over time Let's see some examples:
   
   Jeff has red hair. ('has' shows a characteristic about Jeff).
   Nimlot likes his students very much. ('likes' shows Nimlot's feelings).
   Julia wants a computer. ('wants' shows Julia's desire about a computer).
   
   One important thing about the stative verb is the fact they can't be used in the continuous tenses because of their indefinite duration. So we can never say 'Jeff is having red hair' because his hair is always red.
   
   Here are some important verbs that deserve our attention once they are stative: Like, know, belong, love, realise, fit, hate, suppose, contain, want, mean, consist, need, understand, seem, prefer, believe, depend, agree, remember, matter, mind, recognise, see, own, appear, look (=seem), sound, taste, smell, hear, astonish, deny, disagree, please, impress, satisfy, promise, surprise, doubt, think (=have an opinion), feel (=have an opinion), wish, imagine, concern, dislike, be, have, deserve, involve, include, lack, measure (=have length etc), possess, owe, weigh (=have weight). These verbs CAN'T be used in continuous tenses.
   
   Dynamic verbs ave duration, that is, they occur over time. This time may or may not have a defined endpoit and may or may not have ocurred. Let's see some examples:
   
   Jeff teaches French with CEM. ('teaches' show an action Jeff performs as a routine).
   Linda travels to her parents' house every year. ('travels' shows an action linda performs every year). Dynamic verbs can either be simple or continuous once they express actions over time. So, we can also say 'Jeff is teaching French with CEM at the moment' and 'Linda is travelling to her mother house'.
   *** Observation***
   
   Some verbs can be either stative or dynamic depending on the meaning.
   The main verbs in this category are: be, have, see, taste, think. Let's some examples with more details.
   
   You are stupid! (stative – 'are' shows a personality trace).
   You are being stupid” (dynamic – 'are being' in this case means behaving or acting)
   
   I have a car. (stative – 'have' shows something which is mine).
   I'm having lunch. (dynamic – 'have lunch is an expression which has the meaning of eating).
   
   I see two red birds there. (stative – 'see' is an ability you have).
   I'm seeing the doctor tomorrow. (dynamic – 'seeing' has the meaning of meeting).
2. Exercise: Decide if the verb is stative or dynamic.
   a) I have lunch with my family most evenings.
   b) I own two cats.
   c)I think orange juice is healthy.
   d) I'm thinking about moving to a new place.
   e)The new dish you prepared tastes great!
   f)I'm tasting the soup to see if it is too salty.

The answers to the questions may be sent to:
e-mail: eng.4.today@gmail.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/eng4today
Facebook: www.facebook.com/eng4today
All the answers will commented by the teacher and sent back by email.
Please comment and give suggestion about the lessons and the prgramme.
This blog is a non commercial, non profit educational website.

English for Today by Nimlot Logan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Reading in the garden - Activity 1

Reading in the garden – Activity 1

Alliteration

Even notice how many cartoon characters have alliterated monikers. Woody Woodpecker. KO KO the Klown. Betty Boop. Duffy Duck. Tom Terrific. Pepe Le Pew. Mickey Mouse. Clyde Crashcup. TinTin Dudley Do-Right Count Chocolate, Tony the Tiger, Captain Crunch (boy I loved that stuff, three bowl in the morning a good time was to be had by all) Superman’s girlfriends were all alliteraty. Lana Lang from Smallville, Lois Lane reporter for the Daily Planet, Lori Lemaris, a mermaid from the sunken city of Atlantis Lyla Llerol, an actress from the bottle-city of Kandor, and Lena Luthor, Lex Luthor's sib. Sufferin' succotash.

Drip

Drip.
Drip.
Drip.

The faucet on the bathroom sink is leaking.

I get out of bed, walk to the bathroom, and tighten the knob.

And then go back to bed.

The water company will probably charge us more this month.

Not because of the wasted water, mind you. They have plenty of water.

Too much water, and it's gone to their heads.

Now, instead of charging people for the water they use, they hold everybody ransom with the threat of opening the valves at night and drowning you in your sleep.

It starts with a drip, I hear.

Drip.
Drip.

Glass beads

When you're done working a glass bead in the torch, you can't just drop it in a cooling blanket.

You need to cool it slowly so it doesn't cool too quickly.

If the bead cools too quickly, it'll break as it cools or weaken it so it will eventually break from stress fractures.

You need to cool it gradually to relieve those stresses.

That is why we must anneal it in the kiln.

It's kinda like life, really. Taking time to cool down properly.

Now put down that knife and get off the ledge slowly, please. You're making a scene.

Source: 100 world stories http://podcasting.isfullofcrap.com/

This blog is a non commercial, non profit educational website.


English for Today by Nimlot Logan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

How should my English sound? Lesson 1

How my English should sound? Lesson 1

Part 1: Introduction to letters and sounds.

In writing words are made of letters. In speaking words are made of sounds. But letters are not always the same as sounds. For example the words 'car' and 'key' begin with the same sound /k/, but they are spelt different. If we see them in using phonemic symbols, that are a kind of special alphabet for writing sounds, they would be /kɑː/ and /kiː/.

The following group of words have use different letters (spelling) but they have the same sound.

Buy – Bye
Week – Weak
Two – To – Too
Sun – Son
Weigh – Way
Write – Write

The modern English alphabet consists of 26 letters. In this alphabet we can find vowels (a,e,i,o and u) and consonants (b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,q,r,s,t,v,w,x,y and z) and we use all of them to write any word in English. If we consider speaking, we also have vowel sounds and consonant sounds. The number of spelling consonants and vowels are not always the same number of phonetic consonants and vowels. A good example is the word 'calf': It is composed of 4 consonant and 1 vowel in spelling, but it has only 3 sounds – a consonant, a vowel and a consonant (CVC). If we compare the spelling with the sound we'll have: calf – /kɑːf/.

Let's practise a little bit:
1 – How many sounds are there in each word? Remember that in English the number of letter is not always the number of sounds.
1. dog
2. rabbit
3. frog
4. gorilla
5. snake
6. bee

2 – Now let's analyse the sounds according to the rhymes. Do they have the same first sounds? Do they rhyme? A rhyme happens when we group two or more words together and they have similar sounds. It is widely used to create, for example, cartoon names.

1. Phil the fox
2. Mary the canary
3. Ida the spider
4. Claire the bear
5. Polly the parrot
6. Deborah the zebra
7. Myrtle the turtle
8. Kitty the cat

Bibliography: HANKOK, Mark. English Pronunciation in Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

This blog is a non commercial, non profit educational website.


English for Today by Nimlot Logan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.