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Showing posts from May, 2017

LEVEL 5 GRAMMAR, JUNE 30, 2017

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We began by revising obligation and permission in the past. We also introduced the idea of: to be supposed to. I was supposed to do the project, but I didn't have time. It is often something we should do, but which we choose not to.... We then went on to look at the Present Perfect. I have eaten She has lived in Spain We have been there three times. P.P. with Yet and Already. We use Already with positive statements. We use Yet wtih negatives and questions. I have already cleaned the kitchen I haven't hoovered the living room yet. Have you finished yet? P.P. with Since and For We use since with a point in time: I have been here since three o'clock. We use For with a period of time: I have been here for three hours. Some examples I have had my car for three years. We can use the present perfect with "had" and treat it as a normal verb, for a situation that began in the past and continues to the present. I have known Joe for 35 ye

LEVEL 4 GRAMMAR, MAY 25TH, 2017

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This week we continued talking about the passive Some examples... I was born in Russia. Spanish is spoken in Latin America. The Euro is used in many countries in Europe. America was discovered by Columbus. Cricket is played in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Farmers grow 10,000 tonnes of potatoes every year. Subject    verb           object This is an active sentence When we are interested in "potatoes" and not "farmers", we put "10,000 of potatoes" first in the sentence. We now need to make it passive.... 10,000 tonnes of potatoes are grown every year. To do this, we need .... To Be (am, are, is, was, were....) + past participle (3rd part of verb)            are                                     grown We also looked at the passive in the future The factory will produce 1000 cars next year. 1000 cars will be produced next year. Active          -   Passive Will produce - will be produced We played a game and asked the question...

LEVEL 5 GRAMMAR, MAY 23RD, 2017

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We continued this week talking about obligation and permission. Obligation have to must be obligatory be compulsory Prohibition must not cannot Not be allowed to No obligation don't have to Permission can can't/cannot be allowed to may we pointed out the difference between Have to and Must Have to: for external rules - "In my job, I have to wear a uniform" Must: for internal obligation - "My shoes are old; I must get some new ones." Though usually they are used in a similar fashion Also: I have to = I must (more or less) But.... "I don't have to" is not the same as "I must not" - I don't have to sleep on the plane, though I can if I want. - I must not take a gun on board the plane. We also practiced "Be allowed to" You are not allowed to smoke on a plane. In school we were allowed to wear makeup, but we were not allowed to smoke. Then we looked at talking about this area in the pa

LEVEL 4 GRAMMAR, MAY 18TH, 2017

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Today, we looked at the Passive from p.82, 83 and 84 Some examples of passive sentences........ Medications are produced in Sligo. Potatoes are grown in Ireland. Champagne is made in France. William Roentgen discovered X-rays. X-rays were discovered by William Roentgen. The first sentence is an Active sentence - it has the normal word order - subject + verb + object The second sentence is a Passive sentence - the object comes first, as we consider it the most important part of the sentence.  To make the passive, we need  To be (am, is, are, was, were, have been, has been....) + past participle (3rd part of the verb) In the Present tense.....(am/are/is + past participle) Active: Doctors use X-rays in medicine. Passive: X-rays are used in medicine. In the Past tense......(was/were + past participle) Active: Someone stole my money last night. Passive: My money was stolen last night. In the Present Perfect......(have been/has been + past participle) Active:

LEVEL 5 GRAMMAR, MAY 16TH, 2017

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We began by revising question tags. We use them to ..... - check information we are not sure about or - confirm information that we are more or less sure about. Firstly, if the sentence is positive, the tag is negative.... Secondly, the tag changes, depending on the tense..... To Be We use the verb in the sentence You are Russian, aren't you? We aren't happy, are we? Present Simple we use "do", "don't", "does" or "doesn't" You live in Sligo, don't you? She plays golf, doesn't she? Past Simple We use "did" or "didn't" He played well, didn't he? It didn't rain last week, did it? Present Perfect We use "have" "haven't", "has", or "hasn't" She has not finished yet, has she? We haven't had a lot of luck, have we? If someone asks us a question using a tag that is wrong, we respond with "actually..." You a

LEVEL 4 GRAMMAR, MAY 11, 2017

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We began by revising the three past tenses - Past Simple, Past Continuous, Past Perfect - We used them to tell some stories.... This is the story from p.80. My cousin Sam is a daredevil. This means that he likes doing dangerous things. Just last week, Sam visited (visit) my house. While we were eating (eat) dinner, Sam suggested that we go for a ride on his motorbike when we finished our pizza. He had just bought (just buy) a new one. I wasn’t sure, because I knew (know) that Sam wasn’t very safe, but I was bored and so I decided (decide) to go. At first it was fun. Sam was riding/rode (ride) fast, and the sun was shining (shine), so I was enjoying (enjoy) myself. Sam had brought (bring) some bottles of Coca Cola; he gave (give) me one and I drank (drink) it. Suddenly, we saw (see) a little cat on the road in front of us. Sam put (put) the brakes on but he was going (go) too fast. Sam loves animals, so he didn’t want (want) to hit the kitten. He tur

LEVEL 5 GRAMMAR, MAY 9TH, 2017

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We began by revising the passive... People produce dairy products in Sligo. .... Present Simple Dairy products are produced in Sligo. Someone stole my wallet. ...... Past simple My wallet was stolen. Thieves have stolen the painting........ Present Perfect The painting has been stolen. The company will produce 1000 cars next year....... Future 1000 cars will be produced next year. The cleaner is cleaning the room....... Present Continuous The room is being cleaned. We then looked at a text about the invention of paper... We learned how to make questions in the passive.... Paper was invented by Ta'ai Lun in China. Who was paper invented by? To make the question we invert the subject and the verb To Be Paper has been used for hundreds of years. How long has paper been used for? We then moved on to learning about Question Tags - p.96 and 97 eg. - You are from China, aren't you? "aren't you?" is the question tag We use it to .....

LEVEL 4 GRAMMAR, MAY 4TH, 2017

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In this class we looked again at the Past Perfect..... had + past participle We often use it with the past simple....                     2.                                      1. - When I got home, the children had gone to bed.  In this example the children had gone to bed before I got home - the Past Perfect (had gone) tells you what happens first, the Past Simple is second We looked at some other sentences and discussed the differences from p.77. A. When I got to the party, they were drinking champagne B. When I got to the party, they had drunk the champagne. In sentence A, there was still champagne left and people were drinking it. In sentence B, all the champagne was gone, there was no champagne when I arrived. A: They thanked their teacher for all that she was doing to help them pass the exam. B: They thanked their teacher for all that she had done to help them pass the exam. In sentence A, the course had not finished yet, it is still continuing In se

LEVEL 5 GRAMMAR, MAY 2ND, 2017

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We began by revising the Passive..... William Roentgen discovered X-rays. Subject                  Verb          Object X-Rays were discovered by William Roentgen. Object        Passive verb             Subject The second sentence is passive - we use it when the object (X-rays) is the most important part of the sentence and we want to put it first. We need To Be    +     Past Participle (3rd part of the verb) Present Simple Guinness is produced in Ireland Past Simple Paper was invented in China. Present Perfect The window has been broken. Present Continuous The room is being cleaned. More practice here . Homework is p.93 no.22.3 and p.94, the first 17 exercises.