martes, 30 de diciembre de 2014

Lesson 13. Phrasal verbs.

Hello everybody. Phrasal verbs are usually two-word phrases consisting of verb + adverb or verb + preposition. Think of them as you would any other English vocabulary. Study them as you come across them, rather than trying to memorize many at once. Here you are a table with some phrasal verbs.

VERB
MEANING
EXAMPLE
ASK OUT
INVITE ON A DATE
Brian asked Judy out to dinner and a movie.
add up to
equal
Your purchases add up to $205.32.
blow up
explode
The racing car blew up after it crashed into the fence.
break down      
stop functioning (vehicle, machine)           
Our car broke down at the side of the highway in the snowstorm.
break in                              
force entry to a building
Somebody broke in last night and stole our stereo.
break up
end a relationship
My boyfriend and I broke up before I moved to America.
break out                          
escape
The prisoners broke out of jail when the guards weren't looking.
bring someone down                   
make unhappy
This sad music is bringing me down.
bring someone up                         
raise a child
My grandparents brought me up after my parents died.
call something off                          
cancel
Jason called the wedding off because he wasn't in love with his fiancé.
calm down                        
relax after being angry
You are still mad. You need to calm down before you drive the car.
Carry out
Complete a plan
The attack was successfully carried out.
Come about
happen
Let me explain how the situation come about .
Come out
appear
All the flowers have come out.
Come up
Occur- a problem
Look, something has come up, and I can’t meet you.
Do away with
Abolish
Dog licences have been done away with.
Draw up
Organise
The contract is being drawn up at the moment.
End up
Finish in a certain way, or place
We ended up staying there for lunch.
Face up to
Have courage to deal with
You have to face up to your responsibilities.
Fall for
Be deceived by
It was an unlikely story but he fell for it.
Feel up to
Feel capable of doing
Old Mr Smith didn’t feel up to walking all that way.
Get across
Be understood
I had the feeling I wasn’t getting the meaning across.
Get down to
Begin to seriously deal with
It’s time we got down to some real work.
Get on
Make progress
Sue is getting on very well in her new job.
Get up to
Do something usually bad when about children.
The children are getting up to something in the garden.
Give away
Betray
His false identity papers gave him away.
Give off
Send off a smell
The cheese had begun to give off a strange smell.
Give out
Be exhausted
When our money gave out we had to borrow some.
Give over
Abandon, devote
The rest of the time was given over to playing cards.
Give up
Surrender
The escaped prisoner gave herself up.
Go off
Become bad
This milk has gone off.
Hold out
Offer
We don’t hold out much hope that the price will fall.
Hold up
Delay
Sorry I´m late, I was held up in the traffic.
Hold with
Agree with
I don’t hold with the idea of using force.
Live down
Suffer a loss of reputation
If City lose, they’ll never live it down.
Look into
Investigate
The police have promised to look into the problem.
Make for
Result in
The power steering makes for easier parking.
Make out
Pretend
Tim made out that he hadn’t seen the no smoking sign.
Make up
Invent
I think you made up the whole story.
Pack in
Stop an activity
John has packed in his job.
Put across
Communicate ideas
Harry is clever but he can’t put his ideas across.
Put off
Discourage, upset
The crowd out the gymnast off, and he fell.
Put up
Offer accommodation
We can put you up for a few days.
Run down
Criticise
She’s always running down her husband.
Set in
Establish itself
I think this rain has set in for the day.
Set out
Give in detail in writing
This document sets out all the Union demands.
Set up
Establish
An inquiry into the accident has been set up.
Take off
Imitate
Dave takes off the Prime Minister really well.
Take over
Gain control of
The army tried to take over the country.
Take up
Time, occupy time
The meeting took up a morning.

domingo, 21 de diciembre de 2014

Task 12: Inversion

This task is related with the main negative adverbs that we used in INVERSION. BE CAREFUL with this task, it is a little difficult but If you have any problem, you can check the grammar lesson. 

Lesson 12: Inversion

  

EXAMPLES: 

 1. Inversion after negative adverbials.



Other negative words and expressions.




2. Inversion after so/such with that.


3. Inverted conditional sentences without if.

 
 


 

 

sábado, 20 de diciembre de 2014

Task 11: Emphasis


  1. Listen.
     2.  What kind of emphasis shows each sentence?

Repetition - Pasive Voice - Inversion - Auxiliary verb do - Position of words - Cleft sentence

Are you ready?

martes, 16 de diciembre de 2014

Lesson 11: Emphasis


Hi, friends! This lesson is about the emphasis. It is used to give an especial importance or attention to something. There are different ways to express emphasis:

INVERSION: it means changing the order of the sentence. In this case, the change is to put the verb before the subject. It is a literary technique for emphasis. For example:

  • I have never seen such a wonderful landscape
  • Never have I seen such a wonderful landscape. 
 In the last sentence, inversion is used to emphasise the fact that in your whole lifetime you have not seen such a wonderful landscape.
There are several types of inversion, but this subject will be explained by my partner in the next lesson.


AUXILIARY VERB DO: It is used in affirmative sentences to express emphasis. For example:



CLEFT SENTENCES: it-clefts change the normal sentence pattern to emphasise a particular piece of information. The emphasis in the resulting cleft sentence is on the phrase after it + be. For example:



REPETITION: you can get your reader’s attention by repeating words (adjectives and adverbs) within the sentence. For example:

  • The room was very, very large.
  • It was a massively large room.

POSITION OF WORDS: by placing an introductory word at the beginning of a sentence, the writer makes the reader pay attention to that word to be alerted for the rest of the sentence.

  • The farmer wearily pushed the wheelbarrow.
  • Wearily, the farmer pushed the wheelbarrow.

PASIVE VOICE: It is used to emphasize the person or thing acted on. For example, it may be your main topic:


miércoles, 10 de diciembre de 2014

Task 10: Reported Speech

Hi guys! Here you are an exercise to improve what you learned about reported speech, as I promised. I also give you a chart with the verb tense changes, in case you need some help.

 


REPORTED SPEECH EXERCISE

REPORTED SPEECH EXERCISE

Gap-fill exercise

Fill in all the gaps, then press "Check" to check your answers. Use the "Hint" button to get a free letter if an answer is giving you trouble. You can also click on the "[?]" button to get a clue. Note that you will lose points if you ask for hints or clues!
01. He said, "I like this song."
→ He said .

02. "Where is your sister?" she asked me.
→ She asked me .

03. "I don't speak Italian," she said.
→ She said .

04. "Say hello to Jim," they said.
→ They asked .

05. "The film began at seven o'clock," he said.
→ He said .

06. "Don't play on the grass, boys," she said.
→ She told .

07. "Where have you spent your money?" she asked him.
→ She asked him .

08. "I never make mistakes," he said.
→ He said .

09. "Does she know Robert?" he wanted to know.
→ He wanted to know .

10. "Don't try this at home," the stuntman told the audience.
→ The stuntman advised .