Adjectives ending in -ED or -ING

 As I explained in class about these adjectives, when you use -ED the meaning is a bit "passive" or you feel the consequences or result of the action, while when you use -ING adjectives they are "active" and you focus on the action itself.

We have something similar in Spanish, when we say "interesante" (interesting) and "interesado" (interested) or some more like "amante/amado" or "estresante/estresado". The problem is that in English this kind of adjectives are much more frequent and we don't have a similar adjective in Spanish, like "boring" or "tiring" (aburriente? and cansante?)

Compare these two sentences:

• She's a loving mother : she loves her children very much, so it's an active meaning, based on the action itself more than in the result.   
• She's a loved mother : she's loved by her children so the meaning is passive; she receives the consequences, the result of the action, not the actor of the action.

If you need further explanation, you may go to the this link of the British Council.

Here you are some exercises:

• exercise 1  (from Perfect English)      exercise 2  ( a list of exercises from agendaweb)       exercise 3  (from Test English)      exercise 4  (quite long but interesting)
• some other exercises to parctise just in case: exercise 1       exercise 2

I hope it'll be useful but remember to use these forms in spoken language as well so try to use these questions/topics to check how usual they are. Practise with some other mates or friends:

• What hobbies are you interested in? What hobbies do you find interesting? Why?
• Describe a thrilling activity you like doing.
• What are the most boring programmes on Spanish TV channels? Give reasons. And the most amusing ones?
• Tell me/us the most exciting place you've ever been to.
• Do you get tired/bored/excited easily? What for?

Keep in touch!

Contractions

 Contractions or no contractions? That is the question

We use a contraction in informal English and especially when we speak. To mark that there’s something missing in the sentence, we use the apostrophe (‘). We CANNOT use contractions with principal verbs but just with auxiliaries, as you can see in these examples:

• I’ve got a car (right)    but    I’ve a car (wrong)  I have a car (right)

• We’ve got to go (right)     but    We’ve to go (wrong)   We have to go (right)

• They’d like to go with us    but   You had to be careful (right)   You’d to be careful (wrong).

As usual, the only exception is with the verb TO BE because it’s principal and auxiliary at the same time (remember the negative and the interrogative forms of that verb) but when the verb “to be” is in a short answer, it can’t be contracted either:

• Aren’t they British? Yes, they are. They’re from Bristol.

The main problem with contractions is to know which verb is the one you’ve used and that’s easy if you pay attention to the following verbal form. Let’s see some examples:

• He’d like to go   (WOULD as it’s followed by infinitive without TO)

• He’d been busy   (HAD because it’s with a past participle; compare it with He’d BE busy)

• He’d have been busy   (WOULD as it’s a perfect infinitive: have been not has been)

• He’d better stay at home   (HAD, a special modal verb, also followed by infinitive without TO)

There are some contractions which are so frequent that it's difficult or weird (or even impossible like “o’clock”) to find them without being contracted. These are some examples but there are some more:

• Let’s…  You’d better…   I’d rather…   If you don’t mind…  What’s wrong/the matter?   I’d love to.

But there are some occasions where contractions are not used, no matter if they’re right or wrong; the principal rules are these:

• very formal/academic writing: I cannot accept that    or   Let us explain that issue further

• to give emphasis: I do not like that shirt (as when you say I do like it)

• in positive short answers: Yes, I am     but    No, I’m not.

• very old fashioned forms, especially in negative: shan’t    oughtn’t   mightn’t

If you need more explanations or you’d like to know more about this matter, you can visit these pages or links:

• Cambridge dictionary

• How to use contractions

• Grammarly (very short but clear)

• Contractions in spoken English (very specific and long)

To sum up, use contractions as much as possible, especially when you speak, because it sounds more natural; however, take into account that if you’re writing something formal or if you want to be emphatic, don’t use contractions.

Coming back after Christmas!

 Welcome to the blog! Happy New Year! I guess everybody thinks 2021 will be much better than the previous one so let's do our best to make it true. This is also the time for New Year's Resolutions and one of them may be to improve your English, review your English book and come up with your homework, have a look at the vocabulary and grammar, watch and read in English as much as you can...

To start with, let's do some exercises to refresh your English:

• Listening comprehension: 
• go to this entry of a blog with this topic about New Year's Resolutions. Then, 
• watch this video about tips for keeping your resolutions, but if you want. 
• Randall's listenings: go to this link
• This is a very easy but funny exercise with the use of "gonna" instead of "going to" about how easy it's to fail your resolutions: click here.

So remember that the aim of new year's resolution is not to get everything immediately, but to be able to keep on working in order to fulfill your expectations...if they are affordable, of course.

I'll try to fo on with the blog regularly. Keep in touch!