Passive and Active

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QUESTION TAGS

                           

Joa Herrera is the mayor of Soledad, isn´t he?             Carlos Vives sings vallenato, doesn´t he?
                  Yes, he is                                                                            Yes, he does



            
   Esteban Chaves doesn´t play soccer, does he?          You haven´t seen Mary, have you?
   No he doesn´t.   He practices cycling                                    No, I haven´t

Does he? and have you? are questions tags (= mini questions that we often put on the end of a sentence spoken English).
Question tag is a question added at the end of a sentence. Speakers use tag questions mainly to make sure their information is correct or to seek agreement.
In question tags, we use an auxiliary verb (have/was/will etc). We use do/does/did for the present and past simple.

Karen plays the piano, doesn´t she?     "Well, yes, but not very well."

Positive sentence      +       negative tag

You didn´t lock the door, did you?  " No, I forgot"

Negative sentence     +       positive tag


AFFIRMATIVE                                                 NEGATIVE                                  ANSWER
  SENTENCE                                                  TAG QUESTION                           EXPECTED

Alexander is a good teacher,                               isn´t he?                                       Yes, he is

Mary likes mathematics,                                    doesn´t she?                                  Yes, she does

Fabiola and Lila work in the same school          don´t they?                                    Yes, they do


  NEGATIVE                                                AFFIRMATIVE                           ANSWER
  SENTENCE                                               TAG QUESTION                       EXPECTED

Mady is not a tennis player,                               is she?                                    No, she isn´t

 Duperlis doesn´t like maths                             does she?                                  No, she doesn´t

Carmen and Ivon don´t work as nurses            do they?                                    No, they don´t


The tag pronoun for this and that is IT.

The tag question for these and those is THEY.


This / that is your classroom, isn´t it?

These / those are your notebooks, aren´t they?


Formal English                                                       Common

I am late, am I not?                                              I am late, aren´t I?


After let´s... the tag question is ... shall we?

Let´s go to Panorama, shall we?

After the imperative ( Do / Don´t... etc) the tag is usually ... will you?

Open the door, will you?                Don´t be late, will you?


Tag question

IF CONDITIONAL

   IF   CONDITIONAL

         


                                                 
                         If I have extra money, I usually buy a laptop equipment with it.

                         I will buy a new laptop next month if I have some extra money.

                 If I had some extra money, I would buy a new laptop today or tomorrow.

             I would have bought a new laptop last month if I had had some extra money.


Conditional sentences are also known as conditional clauses or if clause. They are used to express that the action in the main clause (without if) can only take place if a certain condition (in the clause with if) is fulfilled. There are three types of conditional sentences.

SITUATION	IF CLAUSE	RESULT CLAUSE	EXAMPLE
1.True / in the present /    future	Simple present	Will +  simple form	If I have enough time. I watch TV every evening. If I have enough time I will watch TV later on tonight.
It is possible and also very likely that the condition will be fulfilled.
2. Untrue / in the present / future	Simple past	Would + simple form	If I found her address, I would send her an invitation
It is possible but very unlikely, that the condition will be fulfilled.
3. Untrue / in the past	Past perfect	Would have + past participle.	If I had found her address, I would have sent her an invitation
It is impossible that the condition will be fulfilled because it refers to the past.

USED TO

 

Mary and Sophia stopped playing with their dolls three  years ago.

They do not play with their dolls any more.

They used to play every day.

You can use USED TO to talk about past habits and situations.

Something used to happen: something happened regularly in the past but not longer happens.

                      I used to play tennis a lot but I do not play very often now.

I used to do something is past. There is no present form. You cannot say "I use to do" 

You also use USED TO ... for something that was true but it is not true any more.

This buiding is now a furniture shop, It used to be a cinema.

The formal question form is DID (YOU) USE TO...? 

Did you use to eat a lot of sweets when you were a child?

Yes, I did  /  No, I didn`t

The negative form is DIDN´T USE TO

I didn´t use to eat a lot of sweets

ACTIVITIES

ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY

                    
  Kevin never comes to computer class.      He spends a lot of time with his friends from
                                                                            the soccer team.



How often do you usally exercise?    I lift weights every day.
                                                           I go jogging about once a week.
                                                           I play basketball twice a month.
                                                           I exercise about three times a year
                                                           I don`t exercise very often.


Do you ever watch television in the evening?     Yes, I almost always watch TV after dinner.
                                                                              I sometimes watch TV before bed.
                                                                              I seldom watch TV in the evening.
                                                                              No, I never watch TV


We use adverbs of frequency to talk about how often we do something. We place them:

* Before the main verb. Ex:  John often plays football on Saturdays

* After the verb BE.  Ex: She is never late for school.

ACTIVITIES

1. Complete the dialogue with the present simple of the verbs in parentheses.

A: What ______________________________ (you / usually / do ) in your free time?
B: I __________________________ ( usually / spend ) time with my friends. They ______________________ ( sometimes / come ) to my house  and we _________________( watch) TV or ______________________ (listen) to music together. ____________________ (you / spend ) time with your friends?
A: Not really. My wife ____________________ (always / go ) to the gym in the afternoon and I _________________ ( surf ) the Internet, so we ____________________ ( not / see) our friends very much.


2. Put the adverbs in the correct place. Then practice with a partner.

A: What do you do on Saturdays morning ? ( usually)
B: Nothing much. I sleep until noon. (almost always)



A: How often do you play sports? (usually)
B: I go out with my classmates. (about three times a week)


A: How often do you exercise? (usually)
B: I exercise. (seldom)

Taken from American Channel Elementary
                                                                      

http://easyglobalenglish.blogspot.com.co/2012/05/short-dialogue-11-adverbs-of-frequency.html

SUPERLATIVES

                            
The Magdalena is the longest                          Amazonas is the biggest department
    river in Colombia                                                           in Colombia

What is the longest river  in the world?

What was the most enjoyable holiday you have ever had?

Longest and the most enjoyable are superlative forms.

The superlative form is EST or MOST...  . In general, we use EST for short words and MOST ... for longer words.

Long -  longest               hot  -  hottest                   easy  -  easiest          hard  -   hardest

most famous                  most boring                      most difficult            most expensive

These adjectives are irregular:

good  --  best                        bad  --  worst                far  -- furthest

We normally use THE before a superlative (the longest / the most famous, etc...);

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year.

The film was really boring. It was the most boring film I have ever seen.

After superlatives we use IN with the places (towns, buildings, etc...)

Ex:  What is the longest river in the world?

We normally use OF for a period of time.

Ex: What was the happiest day of your life?

We often use the present perfect ( I have done ) after a superlative

That was the most delicious meal I have had for a long time

Taken from English Grammar in Use 

COMPARATIVES

   

           
            Edgar Renteria is taller than Nairo Quintana

                Nairo Quintana is shorter than Edgar Renteria      

       

                                   How shall we travel?  By bus or by plane?

                                           Let´s go by bus. It is cheaper.

                                      Don´t go by plane. It is more expensive.

Cheaper and more expensive are comparative forms.

After comparatives you can use than

It is cheaper to go by car than train

Going by train is more expensive than going by car.

The comparative form is ER- or MORE...

We use -er for short words (one syllable)

cheap - cheaper                             fast - faster
large - larger                                  thin - thinner

We also use -er for two-syllable words that end in -y (-y - ier)

Lucky - luckier                              early - earlier
easy - easier                               pretty - prettier          

We use more... for longer words (two syllables or more)

more modern                              more serious
more quietly                                more comfortable

You are more patient than me.

These adjectives and adverbs have irregular comparative forms:

good / well  - better

I know him well, probably better than anybody else.

bad / badly - worse

He did very badly in the exam, worse than expected.

far - further (or father).

It is long walk from here to the station, further than I thought.

ACTIVITIES

1, Complete the sentences using a comparative form (older/ more important, etc)

a) It is noisy here. Can we go somewhere _______________________ ?

b) The hotel was surprisingly big. I expected it to be __________________

c) Your work is not very good. I am sure you can do _____________________

d) Don`t worry, the situation isn`t so bad. It could be ____________________

e) I was surprised how easy it was to use the computer. I thought it would be ________________

2,  Complete the sentences. Each time use the comparative form of one of the words in the list. Use than where necessary.

a) I was feeling tired last night , so I went to bed ______________________ usual.

b) Unfortunately her illness was ____________________ we thought at first.

c) In some parts of the country, prices are __________________ in others,

d) There were a lot of people on the bus. It was _________________ usual

e) Health and happiness are __________________________ money,

BIG          CROWDED                EARLY                   EASILY                HIGH

IMPORTANT                INTERESTED            PEACEFUL               RELIABLE

SERIOUS                     SIMPLE                   THIN            INTERESTING 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn676-fLq7I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf43LCtGrj4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyC6rtCivbU