LANGUAGE REFERENCE
UNIT 1 - THE BODY
LESSON HEALTH ADVICE – IMPERATIVES
Very good introduction to imperatives: https://youtu.be/J8hRhkDKTCo
Examples of imperatives in Hollywood movies. https://youtu.be/UMLNIZJfA8M
LESSON AT THE DOCTORS – DESCRIBING ILLNESS
For “enfermedad”, you can use illness (the most general word). Trivial illnesses are sometimes called ailments. Serious illnesses, especially if infectious, are sometimes called diseases.
Sometimes (but not always!) pain (dolor) can be a symptom of an illness. For “me duele”, there are a variety of expressions:
(a) In a few cases, you can use a compound noun with -ache:
I’ve got stomachache / earache / toothache (dolor de muela) / backache (dolor de espalda) / a headache.
Note that only “headache” is countable and needs “a”. Also note that “heartache”, a word you will hear a lot in pop songs referring to romantic disappointment, isn’t something you can go to the doctor with!
(b) You can also use “ache” in the present simple or continuous as a verb. This often refers to muscular pain:
My legs are aching after that long walk we did yesterday.
(c) You can use “sore” as an adjective with a part of the body in some cases. A pain in the throat is normally called “a sore throat”. Sore often refers to a pain resulting from excessive movement:
I practised the piano for five hours yesterday. Now my fingers are sore.
(d) You can use “hurt” in the present simple or continuous after a part of the body. This is OK to use with any part of the body.
My back is hurting. I hope it’s nothing serious.
Note that “hurt” is an irregular verb. The past tense is “hurt”, not “hurted”.
(e) You can also say “I’ve got a pain in my ...” (followed by any part of the body):
I’ve got a pain in my leg. I’ve been running too much.
LESSON WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE
Remember that “like” has more than one meaning in English. Don’t confuse the following sentences:
· What does he like? (¿Qué cosas le gustan a èl? – aquí, “like” es un verbo, por eso necesita “does” como auxiliar. Se trata de preguntar por los gustos de alguien.)
· What is he like? (¿Còmo es él? – aquí, “like” no es un verbo. El verbo es “is”. Esta pregunta se usa para pedir una descripción general de algo o de alguien. Ejemplos similares: What’s the weather like in Quito? What’s your new teacher like? etc.)
· What does he look like? (¿Qué aspecto tiene? ¿Cómo es físicamente? – Aquí, “like” tampoco es un verbo. El verbo es “look” o si quieres, “look like”. Se suele usar para preguntar por el aspecto de una persona, pero también puede ser de una cosa: “What does your car look like?”)
· How is he? (Esta pregunta no significa ¿Cómo es? sino ¿Cómo está él? Es decir, estamos preguntando cortésmente por el estado de salud de alguien.)
DESCRIBING PHYSICAL APPEARANCE (2)
Extra information and practice:
AGREEING AND DISAGREEING (2)
Extra information:
https://www.englishclub.com/speaking/agreeing-disagreeing-expressions.htm
LESSON EXCUSES, EXCUSES – CONNECTING WORDS
Watch this video for information about more connecting words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwps3mPLZGo
UNIT 2 - THE FUTURE PLANS
LESSON LET ME CHECK MY DIARY – PRESENT CONTINUOUS FOR FUTURE ARRANGEMENTS
Present Continuous for Future Arrangements
The Present Continuous (or Present Progressive) consists of
Subject + verb “to be” in the present tense + verb-ing
The negative form uses “not” after the verb “to be”, with possible contractions (is not = isn’t, are not = aren’t, etc), and the question form has the subject after the verb “to be”. “Do” is not used.
As you already know, you can use this tense to talk about something happening at this moment:
Are you listening to me?
It can also be used to talk about something that happens regularly, but for a limited time including the present:
I don’t have much free time these days because I’m doing this online English course and it’s really hard.
Here, we have learned we can also use this tense to talk about the future. There are only two requirements for this:
(a) There has to be some reference (in the sentence or in the context) to the future time you are talking about. (If there is no time reference, people will think you’re talking about the present.)
(b) The action or event referred to has to be “an arrangement”. Often, this means something that involves another person (not the speaker) who has given his or her agreement. Other times, it might mean you have paid for something (e.g. you have bought a plane ticket). In general: if it is difficult, complicated or expensive to change your mind (cambiar de idea) about something planned in the future, then we say there is an “arrangement” or “commitment” (compromiso), and use the Present Continuous to talk about it.
Example 1:
I’m seeing the dentist immediately after work.
Time reference: “immediately after work”.
Meaning: I have organized an appointment (cita) with the dentist. She is expecting me. If I don’t go, it will be a problem (for her or me or both).
Example 2:
I’m meeting some old friends from school.
Time reference: there is no time reference in this sentence but there is in the original context of the listening exercise (“Oh, no – Thursday’s out.”)
Meaning: My friends and I have organized a get-together on Thursday. If I don’t go they will be disappointed.
Meet
Meet (past tense: met) has three meanings in Spanish:
LESSON AT THE BANK – WILL + INFINITIVE
will + infinitive
(a) We heard people using “will” in the restaurant: “I’ll have a lasagna” (I’ll = I will). This word is used, especially in the first person, to announce new decisions, often in response to new situations or new information (like you find in a menu). This use is called “spontaneous decision” in grammar books. This category also includes offers and promises, for example:
I’ll ask him to phone you.
I’ll pay it back in instalments.
(b) Will (negative: will not or won’t) is also one of a group of modal verbs (see unit 7) that are used to make predictions (the others in the group, like “might”, indicate different levels of possibility: see Unit 7B). Examples of predictions:
I think I’ll be able to earn much more money.
You won’t get a very good car for five thousand pounds!
Remember: prediction, by definition, means talking about things that don’t depend on our decisions.
Also note that “Will you…?” is a request (pidiendo algo), not a way of asking about someone’s plans. If you say “Will you go to Quito next week?”, it means “Por favor, vaya a Quito la semana que viene”!
UNIT 3 - LIFESTYLES
LESSON ROCK 'N' ROLL LIFESTYLE – VERB PATTERNS: TRY
The verb try can be followed by verb+ing or to + infinitive, but the meaning of the verb is different in each case.
try + verb+ing - do something with the intention of achieving something else
try + to + infinitive - do something and find it difficult
Examples:
He tried learning Italian to impress his girlfriend. → Aprendió italiano con la intención de impresionar a su novia.
He tried to learn Italian, but it was too difficult for him. → Intentó aprender italiano, pero fue demasiado difícil.
LESSON ONLY THE BRITISH – VERB PATTERNS: FORGET
The verb forget can be followed by verb+ing or to + infinitive, but the meaning of the verb is different in each case, and we don’t use forget + verb+ing very often.
forget + verb+ing - do something and not remember you did it
forget + to + infinitive - not do something because you didn’t remember to do it
I’ll never forget buying that present for my mother. → Nunca olvidaré cuando compré ese regalo de cumpleaños para mi madre.
I always forget to buy a birthday present for my mother. → Siempre me olvido comprar un regalo de cumpleaños para mi madre.
UNIT 4 - EXPERIENCES
LESSON WHAT HAS HAPPENED RECENTLY – IRREGULAR VERBS
In MOOC Module 1, you learned that irregular verbs don’t normally form the past simple with –ed. “Irregular” means that there is no rule about how to form the past simple with these verbs - you just have to memorize them. The same thing is true with the past participle, which we use to form the Present Perfect. Again, if the verb is irregular, you just have to memorize the correct form for each verb.
Important details to remember about irregular verbs:
· Unlike Spanish, where foreign learners have to memorize dozens of different forms for each irregular verb, in English you only have to remember three: infinitive, past simple, past participle. That’s it! Easy!
Learning irregular verbs is not an optional extra! Unfortunately, the list of irregular verbs includes the most important and commonly used verbs in the language.
We often list irregular verbs in alphabetical order. See https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/irregular-verbs-list.htm
Note 1: Be careful with the verb “read”! The three forms look the same on paper, but the pronunciation changes: the past simple and past participle are written as “read” but pronounced the same as the colour “red”.
Note 2: Some irregular verbs are slightly different in British and American English. The most important difference is with the verb “to get”. British English: get – got – got; US English: get – got – gotten.
Note 3: If you find it difficult to memorize irregular verbs (most people do), it’s strongly recommended that you practice writing them in a notebook or maybe in an Excel spreadsheet, putting them in different groups as we have suggested, because sometimes copying things and classifying them is a good way to remember them. Also, in Excel you can have a column where you put a number according to how useful/important you think they are (look at the translations to decide this). 1=really important and basic, 5=I will probably never want to use this verb! That way, you can then reorder them by importance, and test yourself on only the most useful ones.
LESSON JOB INTERVIEW – PRESENT PERFECT VS. PAST SIMPLE
Here are some simple rules to help you use the Present Perfect and Past Simple:
· Never use the Present Perfect with the word “when”!
INCORRECT: I have had an accident when I was a child.
CORRECT: I had an accident when I was a child.
INCORRECT: When have you learned Spanish?
CORRECT: When did you learn Spanish?
· Never use the Past Simple with “since”! This word always refers to a period including the present, so Present Perfect is the correct option. If it’s “Desde… hasta…” then “desde” is “from”, not “since”.
INCORRECT: Since 2007 until 2011 I worked at the Colegio San Isidro.
CORRECT: From 2007 to 2011 I worked at the Colegio San Isidro.
INCORRECT: I’m really hungry. I didn’t eat since 7 o’clock this morning!
CORRECT: I’m really hungry. I haven’t eaten since 7 o’clock this morning!
· With time expressions beginning “for”, Past Simple means it’s finished, Present Perfect means it hasn’t:
I worked as a teacher for 10 years. (But now I’m not a teacher)
I’ve worked as a teacher for 10 years. (I started teaching 10 years ago, and I’m still a teacher now.)