ETB Grammar

We looked again at the third conditional, and then at mixed conditionals If I hadn't bought a house in 2007, I would have more money now.  If I hadn't bought a house - third conditional - refers to an unreal situation in the past ...I would have more money now. - second conditional - talking about a situation in the present.  More practice here ....

In this class we looked at the third conditional in English.... If Mark hadn't got sick, he wouldn't have missed his flight. If + had + past participle, would + have + past participle.... We use it to talk about an unreal situation in the past - something that didn't happen but which we imagine happening. We often use it with regrets.....

In this class we looked at countables and uncountable nouns. Countable nouns Uncountable nouns Plurals possible Pens People Children Apples How many…? A lot of Lots of Not many A few Very few Plurals not possible Water Air Money music How much…? A lot of Lots of Not much A little Very little We learned that "few" and "a few" and "little" and "a little" are different..... I have few friends - I have almost no friends. I have a few friends - I have some friends. more practice here

We revised the past tense, concentrating on Questions and Negatives We need to use “Did” in the questions and “didn’t” in the negative I didn’t (or did not) go to the party last week. Where did you go on holidays? We did an exercise on p.7 and 8 with the Past Simple, Present Continuous and Present Simple. We also practiced the Present Continuous for use in the future….. What are you doing at the weekend? I’m visiting my friend and then we’re going to the cinema. We then moved on to Comparatives A lion is bigger than a duck. For a short adjective – big – we add “er” A lion is more dangerous than a duck. For a longer adjective – dangerous – we use “more” A duck is not as dangerous as a lion. We can use “not as __________ as” also to express comparison Note: we use the normal form of the adjective – big, dangerous, beautiful, tall, happy, etc.  NOT the comparative Sligo is not as big as Dublin. 

IN this class, we looked at the present perfect and the present perfect continuous for actions or states that started in the past and continued to the present.... Present Perfect Simple I have know my friend for 15 years. How long have you been here? Present Perfect Continuous I have been studying English for 10 years. How long have you been working here? There are a number of differences...... If we want to emphasise the result of the action, we use the Simple I have made three cakes today. (I have the cakes, they are complete) If we want to emphasise the action or activity itself , we use the Continuous I have been studying all day. (that is what I have been doing, there is no result mentioned) Also, there are certain verbs that we do not use in the Continuous State Verbs: Be, Have Senses; see, hear, touch, taste, Verbs of cognition: believe, understand, etc... We especially practiced the verb Have How long have you had......? More practice here .....

In this class we revised the Present Simple, and specifically the third person and questions. It is important to remember that the verb To Be does not need Do or Does in the questions. Are you married? Is he happy? Are we tired? We then looked at the Present Continuous. This is used to talk about what is happening now, at the moment. I am studying. We are working. Is she cooking? For the questions, we invert the subject and the verb To Be.... He is driving. Is he driving? She is working. Is she working? We also looked at the difference between the Present Simple and Present Continuous. Present Simple For routines, usual actions, general situations With: usually, every day, never, always, three times a week Present Continuous For now, at the moment. We can also use the Present Continuous to talk about the future What are you doing at the weekend? This summer I am going to France. Tonight I am visiting my mother. more info here . Practice here .

We continued studying verb patterns. We looked more closely at one particular verb; Stop I was working hard. I  stopped to have  lunch at one o'clock. stop to do  tells us  why  somebody stops something. I  stopped smoking  because I wanted to improve my health. stop doing  tells us  what  somebody stops something. ·          I worked hard all morning and at one o’clock I stopped ______________________ (have) some lunch. ·          I stopped _______________________ three years ago and I feel much better. (smoke) ·          The runner stopped __________________________ her shoelaces. (tie) ·          “Stop __________________!” said the teacher to the child. (talk) ·          On my way to the shops, I stopped _____________________ to my neighbour. (talk) ·          The day was hot so I stopped _______________________ in the garden to drink some water. (work) ·          Maria cooked all morning and stopped _______________________ a phone call. (make) ·      

This course is a continuation of a course that began in October 2017. If you want to see last year´s course, it is here ....(If you are having trouble opening the file, click on "Open with" and then click on "Google Docs".) In this class, we concentrated on the Present tense, and especially on the third person - She, he or it. I travel she travels I eat he eats I sit it sits For the third person, we need "s" or "es" For verbs ending in "consonant - y" we change to "ies" I study He studies For verbs ending in "ch" or "tch" we add "es" I teach He teaches I watch She watches In the negative, we use don't/doesn't I don't work he doesn't work In questions we use "do" or "does" Do you live in Ireland? Does your brother live in Ireland? More practice with questions here . Note: There