Verbs followed by infinitive (lesson 11B)

There are some verbs that are followed by infinitive. Here you have the most common ones:
WANT     WOULD LIKE     PREFER    HOPE     HAVE     NEED     PLAN     PROMISE     DECIDE
If you have a look, there is a certain idea of future.
Here you have a link to see some verbs followed by gerung (-ING form) or by infinitive; it's quite simple but it helps. Go to this page for the explanation and here for the exercise
If you want to practise further, here you have some more grammar explanation and the following exercise about it; click here

Revision of prepositions

In lesson 8C we have prepositions of place and movement but we have already seen them before. Here you have some exercises to practise with them:

• exercise 1: this is a simple exercise to start with
• exercise 2: here you have a long explanation and a list of prepositions with exercises at the end
• exercise 3: a huge (enormous) list of exercises, some videos and so on about prepositions
• exercise 4: these exercises are very simple and without the key but you can use it to practise your writing. This is the one we've done in class.

Enjoy the exercises!

Other versus Another

The main difference is that OTHER is used for plural but ANOTHER is for singular (an + other); it also has the meaning of one more, one different from the others. Have a look to these examples:

• Some people like cinema and other people prefer TV
• Can I have another coffee please?

You can go to this link with a good explanation and an exercise to practise. Click here. Another good page is this one; click here

I hope you understand this grammar point.

Giving directions

Here you have some links to help you to give directions. Have a look:

• a simple video with the simplest instructions: click here
• another video with directions: click here
• this is the BBC page for directions with listenings; click this

Irregular verbs

We have studied that the regular verbs have the pattern A - B - B like in work - worked - worked.
Irregular verbs have 4 different patterns as you can see here:

• A - B - B like think thought thought
• A - B - C like drive drove driven
• A - A - A like put put put
• A - B - A like come came come

The most usual ones are the two first patterns and there are very few in the last group, as you can see in the photocopy I gave you in class.

If you want to practise with irregular verbs, here you have some exercises:

• a long list with pronunciation; click here
• here you have a blog with irregular verbs, exercises, videos... click this
• another list with pronunciation (but not with the meaning); click here

If you just want to do exercises to write or choose the correct form, here you have some:

• exercise 1: a list of exercises
• exercise 2
• exercise 3 : apart from this exercise you can find some more at the end of the text.
• exercise 4: another list of exercises but this time with levels

Hope you have enough!

See you in class.

Past Simple: regular forms

There are two forms:

• regular: you add -ED
• irregular: the form changes in past and/or past participle.

Let's work with the regular forms. The problems you find are how to pronounce and how to write the forms, but it's very similar to the 3rd person in singular (-S or -ES). The principal rules are:

• consonant + y ------ ied ; copy -- copied
• consonant + stressed vowel + consonant -------- double consonant; stop -- stopped
• ending in -E you only add -D -------- arrive --  arrived

The principal problem is pronunciation. Let's see the rules by using this link  and this or this video

There was/were

We have already seen this impersonal form to work with past simple of the verb TO BE. Have a look at these exercises:

• exercise 1
• exercise 2
• exercise 3
• exercise 4
• exercise 5
• exercise 6

This grammar point will be completed in lesson 8B and 8C in your book.

Lesson 6A: personal prononouns

In class we've been working with subject and object pronous. To have a general idea go to this link where you can find exercises and good practice; click here.
Here you have some exercises to practise with personal pronouns.

• exercise 1

• exercise 2.

We are a family - Revision of Saxon Genitive ('S)

Here you have some exrcises to work with this topic. Let's start with a video to revise the vocabulary and the Saxon genitive ('S). Click here.

If you want to do some exercises you can use these links:

• Saxon genitive: explanation and exercises. Click here
• Family: click here and do this exercise here
• The Simpsons: vocabulary here

Here you have a video with idoms or expressions connected to the family; it's a bit difficult for beginners but it's quite interesting and you can practise some listening if you are not a beginner of English. Click here to see the video.

Present continuous versus habitual present

In lesson 5B we are studying present continuous. The form is very easy:

•  TO BE (AM / IS / ARE) + ________ING

Here you have some examples:  I am playing with my children     She's writing an email

This tense is used for specific time, especially now or at the moment, but it's also possible with short periods of time like I'm a teacher but now I'm working as a shop-assistant.
Here you have a video to practise present continuous. Click here. 

There is a problem with the spelling of the -ING form: you must double the last consonant if the infinitive ends in CONSONANT + VOWEL + CONSONANT and the vowel is stressed. Let's see some examples:

• get --- getting        swim ---swimming      BUT    open --- opening     listen --- listening 

If you have problems with the spelling go to this page

Once this is clear we have the problem to choose between present simple or present continuous. Remember present simple is connected to habits or routines and you usually have it with frequency adverbs or answering the question how often?, while present continuous is referred to a precise action. Look at the example:

• I usually go to the gym but today I'm going to the swimming pool

If you need more information about these tenses go to this link. The differencse between these two tenses are in lesson 5C in our student's book.

If you want to practise here you have some exercises:

• exercise 1      exercise 2     exercise 3 

Here you have a song Eternal Falme to practise with both tenses.

the verb CAN

The verb CAN is used to speak about "poder" or "saber" in Spanish. The main characteristics of CAN are:

• it's a modal: it is used to say "poder" or "saber" . It means ability / possibility / permission / impossibility / prohibition; depending on the form and the context.
• it's defective: with NO -s in the 3rd person, NO infiniteve (to be able to) and NO past participle ( been able to)
• it's auxiliary: you use it in interrogative and negative forms Can you open this?  No, I can't

To practise with listening, here you have this song with CAN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lpcWqecyak

Saxon Genitive

There are plenty of teachers who use blogs to teach Englsh, like me. Here you are a link to one of those with a lot of exercises to practise: http://elenacarriles.wikispaces.com/THE+SAXON+GENITIVE but you also have these links: click here or this one (but this includes past tenses)
To finish with, try to do oral exercises using this structure:

• Sara has a dog. It's black --- Sarah's dog is black
• Joe has a cat. It's white --- Joe's cat is white

Howerver, be careful with nouns ending in -S or sibilant sounds like in the following examples. The pronunciation changes a lot:

• Alice has a daughter --- Alice's daughter (you have to pronounce an extra syllable /ælɪsiːz/)

However, you don't write or pronounce the extra 'S with plural forms

• My cousins have a house --- my cousins' house ( /ˈkʌzənsiz/ )

Notice that if it's ending in -S you don't write an extra -s like in the Simpsons' dog.

See you in class.

Present Simple

I prefer to call it habitual present because it's connected to how to use this tense, quite different from the present simple in Spanish, but you can call it as you like. It's referred to habits, routines, general truths, etc.

Present simple is formed with the infinitive and you must add the subject pronoun to know who does the action; e.g.TO PLAY --- I play, they play. there are 2 exceptions:

• the verb TO BE has 3 forms: I AM - he, she, it IS - we, you, they ARE
• the verb TO HAVE has 2 forms: I, you, we, they HAVE - he, she, it HAS

But in these two verbs the rule of having an -S in the 3rd person in singular is there. The problem is the spelling and the pronunciation, but it has the same rules as we have for plural forms:

• ending in CONSONANT+Y ---  -IES e.g. copy -- he copies  but play -- she plays
• ending in sibilant sound you add an extra syllable  /IZ/ : Peter finishes work at 5

As we saw in the previous lesson with the imperative form, we use DON'T for the negative form, but we have to use DOESN'T for the 3rd person in singular. As I explained in class this auxiliary is like the initial interrogative mark ¿ in Spanish. Have a look the examples: Do you like chocolate? Does she go with you? 

If you want to know something else about this tense go to this useful link but the explanation is in English:

http://esl.about.com/od/thebasics/a/beginner_present_simple.htm and then you can do the exercise at the end of the link or click here

If you need a simpler explanation you can go to this link: http://isabelperez.com/happy/tenses/present_simple.htm

To finish with go to My Name Is Luka : this is a marvellous song and present simple is used in it.
The other song to practise with present (simple and continuous) is Eternal Flame

I hope you can understand this tense. See you in class!

Starting with prepositions

I've just found this page to learn the most important prepositions of place. It is for children but I think it's quite funny and interesting, especially if you use it with your own children. Enjoy it!
When you are sure about the use of these prepositions you can work with them using these examples:

• Where's my laptop?  It's on the table, near the lamp, between the books and the printer, etc.
• Where are my pencils?  They're in the box and on the table, behind the laptop, etc.

If you still have problems go to this link to see a diagram of prepositions and the translation into Spanish:

http://www.lingolex.com/prepositions/prepositionsen.htm