B2 - Verbs followed by gerund or infinitive

This topic is quite important in English grammar but it's also very difficult for Spanish speakers. Let's work a little on this.

This is a good link with exercises to work on the topic and this one has explanations to start with, but pay attention to the level you need and/or want. Although you are in the intermediate level, I'd rather you use the basic level in the beginning to check you don't have any doubt, but, as you can see, you have many exercises to work with. Another good link is this one with different levels as well.

This is the video  from British Council to show you how the pattern verb works and this link is quite simple but it's a start to refresh the principal verbs followed by infinitive or gerund.

As a summary, you may use this diagramme:

• VERBS followed by:

• -ing form (gerund): verbs related to likes and dislikes, followed by preposition and with reference to past or previous actions; e.g.  I enjoy listening to music,   My father gave up smoking last year   or   She denied being guilty (compare it with the verb "to refuse")

• infinitive : related to future actions
• with TO:   I'd like/want to go with you   or   She refused to go there     
• without TO (bare infinitive):   She made me laugh a lot  or  Let me tell you something

• both (infinitive or gerund)
• with a change in meaning:   
• I always remember to buy some bread for my mother  (I never forget to buy some bread for my mother)
• I remember buying some bread with my mother as a child (it's a memory)
• without changing the meaning:   I began reading - I began to read

If you want to have a good review about this topic, go to Test English and then start with the exercises.

If you need more practice, try with these ones: exercise 1     exercise 2       exercise 3

This last exercise is a listening comprehension about your spare time; remember that most of the verbs related to likes and dislikes are followed by -ing: click here

Keep in mind the importance of the verb pattern when you use introductory verbs in Reported Speech:

• Reporting verbs + -ing: go to this link
• Reporting verbs + infinitive: go here

Verbs and adjectives with prepositions

Although this is a gammar point we are working with in NI1, I think it's quite useful as a revision for everybody so here you have some links to work with adjectives with prepositions:

• exercise 1     exercise 2    exercise 3

But we also we saw verbs followed by prepositions. Here you are some more exercises to work with:

• exercise 1     exercise 2

Another way of practising is by using a preposition and think about all the posibilities you can find with that preposition. As an example, think of all the possibilities with ABOUT: think about, speak about, worry about, etc.

Hope this will be helpful. See you in class.

NI1 - Past simple and past continuous

Althouhg both tenses are very similar to Spanish tenses they`re not used in the same way. Remember that you have two simple forms in Spanish ("iba" and "fui") while we only have one in English. Besides you should be able to use the two tenses in context. Let's have a look on the way of using these two tenses:

• BBC Learning English: an clear explanation click here
• this link has a quite long explanation but it could help you a lot and there are some exercises at the end of the page: click here

But the best way of learning how to use them is to do some exercises. Try to do these ones:
exercise 1    exercise 2    exercise 3

Just to finish with, here you are a video about sense verbs and the difference between static and dynamic verbs. This distinction will help you in the use of progressive or simple forms: click here

See you in class!

NI1 - The use of simple past

In lesson 2 we are working with simple past. We have already seen the difference between regular and irregualr forms and we worked with the pronunciation in both. Then we saw different ways of learning/reviewing irregular past:

• using the first letter: "Irregular verbs starting with... L" (much better if you do it as a competition with your partner or a friend)
• using topics: verbs conneted with money (spend / buy / get / steal / lose / pay); with schooling (learn, teach, read, write, speak, do...); with ordenary actions (eat, drink, sleep, have, take, go, wear...) or senses (hear, see, other topics: verbs of senses / schooling and learning verbs / daily activities / movement...
• according to the pattern: A-A-A, A-B-B, A-B-C or A-B-A (remember the photocopy I gave you in class) Here you are a video which explains the groups and it gives you the principal verbs as examples, and then this link with a list of verbs grouped by pattern.

Another problem is the rules of spelling. To review them, click here.

Just in case you lose the photocopy I gave you in class, here you are a traditional list (in alphabetical order) with the neaning in Spanish: click here or here (mind the phonetics in this last link!)

To finish with, here you are the typical questions you'll find in an oral exam to practise past tenses orally. If you do it alone, say it aloud and record your performance with your movile:

• What did you do last weekend / yesterday? Try to be precise so tell us what you did on Friday night, on Saturday morning/evening and on Sunday. To speak about yesterday explain what you did in the morning, in the afternoon and at night.

• Where did you go to last holiday? How did you get there? How long? Where did you stay?What did you do there? Did you do anything special?

• Tell me an anecdote that happened to you and try to cover these questions: What happened? When? Where? What happened in the end? How did you feel? Why?

NI1 - Present simple versus present continuous

In these first lessons of our book we are dealing with present tenses. Here you are some explanation and exercises to practise.

PRESENT SIMPLE or habitual present is used to speak about ordinary actions, something you usually do (habitual actions). That's the reason why this tense is normally related to frequency adverbs (usually, hardly ever, never, often, sometimes...) or similar expressions of time (once a week, from time to time, every Monday, every other week...)

PRESENT CONTINUOUS or present progressive is used for actions which are being performed at that moment or for a period of time (actions in progress). It also has a sense of future when you are very sure that the action is going to take place in a short time (dates, arrangements...)

Let's see some examples:

• I always go to work by car but today I'm going by bus.
• I usually play tennis with my friend Tom but tomorrow I'm playing with Susan.

Here you have some links to work with:  

• this web page has a long but clear explanation and many exercises at the end: click here
• this link has grammar points and some exercises: click here
• try these exercises: exercise 1     exercise 2       exercise 3 

Hope this heps you. See you in class!

NI1 - The difference between HAVE and HAVE GOT

Some students asked me about this confusing point. Here you are some explanations and a couple of exercises to help you.

The main difference between them is that HAVE is a simple form and HAVE GOT is a compound or perfect form. This means that with HAVE you need an auxiliary, like any other verb, but with HAVE GOT the auxiliary is have.
Let's see these examples:

• I have a dog  ----  I've got a dog
• She DOESN'T have a car  ----  She HASN'T got a car  (a different auxiliary)
• DO they have any children?  ----  HAVE they got any children?
• No, they DON'T  ----  No, they HAVEN'T

The other difference is about meaning. HAVE is used for possession and as a sinonym of take, especially in American English but HAVE GOT is used only for possession in British English:

• I've got a big house   but   I have a shower every morning (British English)
• I have a big house    and   I have a shower every morning (American English: no difference)

But this works only in present simple because in the rest of the tenses this doesn't happen like that:

TENSE	AFFIRMATIVE	NEGATIVE	INTERROGATIVE
PRESENT CONTINUOUS	She is having a lot of problems	She isn't having many problems	Is she having any problem?
PRESENT PERFECT	He has had a problem	He hasn't had any problem up to now	Has he had any problem up to now?
PAST SIMPLE	I had a car	I didn't have a bike	Did you have a car?
With modals	I can have a pet	I shouldn't have a dog	May I have a cat?

So if you check in the list of irregular verbs, you'll see that the three columns are like this:

HAVE / HAVE GOT           HAD         HAD        Tener, tomar, tener que

Here you are some links to practise with this grammar point:

exercise 1     exercise 2